Gwynedd Stuart
A lot has changed in the frozen aisle over the years, but one thing has stayed the same: Michelina’s frozen meals are still cheap as hell. Nowadays, a generic frozen pizza will set you back roughly 8 bucks, but those little green boxes of frozen food still cost roughly what they cost in the 1990s. If only they still aired that incredible commercial featuring a sendup of Los Del Rio’s 1993 megahit “Macarena.”
Hot take in the era of oligarchical rule: People who are on a budget shouldn’t be forced to eat trash. Based on pricing alone, I wasn’t expecting much from our taste test of every Michelina’s meal we could find—but we were all pleasantly surprised. The portions are on the small side (some of these are way more like snacks than meals), but the flavor to cost ratio is there all the same. Of the 13 meals we tried, six were good enough to recommend—and in the realm of frozen meals, that’s a pretty good batting average.
Before we get into our ranking, what’s the deal with the Michelina’s recall?
In 2024, precooked chicken from a producer called BrucePac tested positive for listeria. Their chicken goes in a lot of products, from Trader Joe’s salads and wraps to frozen meals from brands including Jenny Craig and, yes, Michelina’s. When it comes to Michelina’s frozen meals, the potentially contaminated chicken apparently went to Wegman’s stores in eight states, but the products were pulled from shelves and, anyway, the expiration dates on the impacted products have all passed. So we felt okay about housing 12 of these suckers.
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- Michelina’s Fettuccine Alfredo
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This meal of noodles in a creamy sauce is bland in a very satisfying way. I’d add more parm and more black pepper, for sure, but it’s a good start if you don’t feel like actually cooking. Plus, there’s enough sauce that you could toss some frozen peas in the tray as a supplement, too.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Michelina’s Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken & Broccoli
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We really loved the chicken in Michelina’s Asian-inspired dishes (which we’ll get to in a sec), but we didn’t love the chicken in this meal. I described it in my notes as “pale and nude.” Also, wow, this could use way more broccoli (there was one floret and a bunch of stems in the meal we nuked), but all the same, hey, it tastes good! There’s a lot of sauce, and the noodles are bloated but in a way that’s nostalgic if you grew up on microwave meals. They actually kinda remind me of the dumplings in chicken and dumplings at some Southern restaurants. The broccoli and chicken make this feel more like a meal, but the plain fettuccine is good too.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Michelina’s Pepperoni Pizza Snack Rolls
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Don’t want to commit to a whole-ass bag of Totino’s Pizza Rolls? Well, Michelina’s is selling a snack-sized portion in a little tray—and I think I might actually like them more than Totino’s. Okay, well, Michelina’s combination pizza rolls were dreadful, but the pepperoni rolls are good. The wrappers taste like freshly fried wontons and the filling isn’t quite as gluey as Totino’s. I think they might be a little less stuffed than Totino’s, but that’s okay because the filling is really salty and flavorful. I’d rather have less good filling than too much gluey filling. This Michelina’s frozen meal is a great easy after-school snack for kids.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Michelina’s Chicken Lo Mein
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This lo mein is more like spaghetti, but, hey, what do you expect from a brand named after an old Italian lady. The noodles have bite and that’s all that matters. You get some vegetables and the sesame garlic sauce has a hint of gingery-ness that’s really quite nice. Plus, this is one of the Michelina’s frozen meals that has the good chicken. It comes in little cubes that are WAY more like tofu than chicken, but we like them. I’d rather have tofu-adjacent chicken than the “pale and nude” chicken in the alfredo dinner.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Michelina’s Stir Fry Rice with Vegetables and White Chicken
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I really wouldn’t shut up about the chicken in this frozen fried rice! As I said, it comes in perfect, firm little cubes. If you like tofu in fried rice, it’s genuinely pretty fun. There are also green beans, carrots, and peas—maybe a little bit of red pepper, but not too much. The rice isn’t mushy and the sauce is subdued and pleasant. Okay, the peas are a little on the hard side, but all in all this is totally inoffensive and filling for a buck fifty.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Michelina’s Salisbury Steak
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Salisbury steak is a frozen aisle staple, and Michelina’s makes a cheap, tasty version that we couldn’t find much to complain about. This is definitely a snack-size portion (especially compared to Hungry Man and other brands), but it’s still really good. The meat patty is soft and not gristly. The gravy is very, very savory with lots of mushroom flavor. It’s rich and beefy and kinda reminded me of French onion soup that was left in the bottom of the pot to congeal. I realize that doesn’t sound good, but I mean it as a good thing. And the mashed potatoes are creamy and buttery and taste like instant mashers, a good thing in this format. We eat so many impossibly bland mashed potatoes in frozen meals, so it’s nice when they’re seasoned. This really surprised us!
Credit: Merc / Walmart
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Other Michelina’s frozen meals we tried
Michelina’s Pizza Snack Rolls Combination, Michelina’s Five Cheese Ziti, Michelina’s Wheels & Cheese, Michelina’s Pop N Chicken, Michelina’s Beef & Peppers
Justine Sterling
Matt Crowley
Ariana Losch
