Can Frozen Lasagna Match Homemade?

Lasagna is one of the five great comfort foods, up there with mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, meatloaf and whatever one you personally follow. Recipes for it vary, but they all come down basically to layers of filling separated by wide sheets of pasta.

In most recipes, at least some of those layers of filling are meat-based, although in this test you will find one vegetarian offering.

Like most comfort foods, traditional lasagna contains a belt-busting amount of calories, fat and carbs. When you pile that much meat, cheese and pasta in a dish, it's inevitable. However, there are viable ways to trim the toll, and in that vein we've included two diet lasagnas in the mix.

Even in their pre-made. frozen form, lasagnas are not the fastest food items around. Almost all of them require a two-stage cooking process in the microwave or regular oven. If you're looking for a three-minute lunch, the lasagnas here won't be of much use to you. If, however, you're looking for something beyond the usual breaded/sauced/steamed frozen meals, read on.

While all these were prepared using the microwave directions, it is worth noting that all of the full-bore lasagnas are far tastier when cooked in a standard oven. Plan ahead a bit at dinnertime and you should be able to pull that off easily.

Each lasagna was tasted by a panel of four adult and two child testers, each of whom was allowed to award a maximum of 20 points to each lasagna for a possible perfect score of 120 points. Entries were graded on taste, consistency, accuracy of cooking instructions and overall impression.

We'll start with the three full-strength dishes:

Michael Angelo's Lasagna with Meat Sauce: 300 calories, 11 grams fat, 55 mg cholesterol, 560 mg sodium, 30 grams carbs

The noodles in this one were the best of the bunch, but the sauce didn't quite live up to expectations. It was too tomato-heavy, with very little trace of oregano or other herb flavor. The meat was fairly flavorless. The cheese was good, but a bit too concentrated in the center of the dish. Final score: 89.

Marie Callender's Meat Lasagna: 260 calories, 10 grams fat, 35 mg cholesterol, 960 mg sodium, 32 grams carbs.

The meat sauce in this offering was quite good, with a mixture of beef and pork that, while it wasn't true Italian sausage, at least imparted some character. The ricotta cheese layer was a bit anemic but nicely creamy, and the noodles were middle-of-the-road quality. There was abundant cheese on top, and it was nicely gooey, although it would have been far, far better out of a conventional oven. Final score: 103.

Stouffer's Lasagna With Meat Sauce: 350 calories, 11 grams fat, 40 mg cholesterol, 930 mg sodium, 38 grams carbs.

The giant Stouffer's lasagna, with its two-hour cooking time, has long been a standby for when you need to feed a lot of hungry folks but really don't want to cook from scratch. This smaller version was an excellent chunk off the old block. There wasn't quite as much meat as in the other two full-fat offerings, but it was far tastier. The pasta was perfectly tender even from the microwave, and the seasonings were nicely balanced. Final score: 112.

And now we'll leave the beaten path for our two diet and one vegetarian offerings. It should be noted that while the nutritional numbers may in some cases be very close to the full-strength versions, the portion sizes are much larger for these three entries.

Amy's Vegetable Lasagna: 310 calories, 12 grams fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 680 mg sodium, 35 grams carbs.

Out of the microwave, this one certainly looked very good. The lowfat cheese melted nicely and the layers, viewed side-on, were appealing. The flavor, however, was disappointing. The pasta was leathery and tough. With all the zucchini, carrots and spinach promised by the ingredient list, the tasters expected much more in the way of both texture and taste, but the layers were watery and had little impact. Final score: 71.

Smart Ones Traditional Lasagna with Meat Sauce: 300 calories, 6 grams fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 780 mg sodium, 43 grams carbs.

The Weight Watchers Smart Ones brand has been hit-and-miss in the past, with the hits being truly outstanding and the misses being truly appalling. In this case, the verdict was decidely on the "miss" side of the scale. The sauce tasted solely of tomato, and very sweet tomato at that, with no trace of garlic or other seasoning. The noodles were oddly spongy, and the meat was small in quantity but very salty in flavor. Final score: 65.

Lean Cuisine Lasagna With Meat Sauce: 320 calories, 7 grams fat, 30 mg cholesterol, 590 mg sodium, 43 grams carbs.

Lean Cuisine is made by the Stouffer's folks, which might explain why this diet offering stood head and shoulders above the competition. There was the best garlic "hit" of any dish in the entire test, and the meat sauce had excellent flavor and consistency. The reduced-fat cheese didn't taste like it had lost anything, and the pasta was tender. Final score: 108.

So, in both of the halves of this test, the Stouffer's products notched the top scores. This is not to disparage vegetarian lasagnas. There are some great recipes out there, and all of the adult testers could cite ones they'd had and loved.

How do they compare to homemade? That's hard to say. Since everyone has their own version, and everyone's tastes are different, you'll have to decide that for yourself.