tisha - i have tried healthy choice, wasnt too happy with them but i never had the lean cuisine. stouffers and hungry man are okay tho. thanks for the link to hormel. i will have to give those a shot. susy - i dont know how you do it. you are the busiest person i know and still have time to look so good! it is plain not fair! LOL, i have tried those "just meats" your talking about and that is exactly what i got, too. 4 slices of turkey and tons of greasy, yuky gravy. have you tried the prepared meats in the meat section? now they arent too bad. i got a rolled pork honey mustard roast already that was pretty tasty. that was an easy meal. just shove it in the oven with some potatoes and a pot of corn. i made it so much we sort of got sick of it... i do cook larger roasts and than freeze some for another meal, meldy. trouble is that doesnt happen to often in this house. i like making stews and pot pies in the winter, but i am not a fan of left overs. hub likes them, so nothing goes to waste but like you said, who wants to eat stew all week? mj, i bet you are like me in that you could make a meal out of raw veggies and fruit? when hub works late i just love it. i dont have to cook ( even frozen meals) and i can make a meal out of a piece of cheese, some crackers and a bowl of blueberries. there is certainly a lot of votes for lean cuisine. i must try some. we arent talking diet meals here now are we? because i surely am not on one nor do i worry too much about my salt intake ( maybe i should?) so the meals dont have to be 'special diet" meals. i agree tho, that the portions arent big enough for me in any meal that is in the frozen section. i have to laugh at those 'family' size meals that say serves 4 or so. ha! that just about feeds hub! the deli chicken at wally world is tops and we get one of those about 2 a month. it is lovely with rice and a veggie. marie calendar is one of our favs too, gabriell. it sounds as tho you have the same problems i have. there are days when my back plain up and refuses to allow me to cook. those days hub has to fend for himself. geez, dare i say i dont iron either? g

It also depends on for what purpose. Some people have extremely serious gluten allergies, and just a tiny bit of flour landing on the sliced fruit in a non-gluten free kitchen could give them reactions. Some with Celiac disease (gluten makes them sick) are that bad, but some are fine with that kind of random contamination, and can eat from kitchens where foods containing gluten are used so long as they avoid the gluten containing foods themselves. Some people are just on a gluten free diet for general principles, and would have to eat more than a little soy sauce, or a sauce thickened with barley flour, to notice that they'd eaten gluten. The grains with gluten are wheat, rye, barley and triticale (this may not be comprehensive). Wheat includes all forms of wheat such as durum semolina, farro, spelt, einkorn, emmer, etc. Bulgar is a par-cooked wheat. There are a lot of other names that are used for things that are wheat. Some people call couscous a grain, but it's actually a wheat pasta. So if you're concerned, it's important to know what's in what. Regarding your sandwich, what's in it? Say turkey and swiss with lettuce, tomato, mustard and mayo. Standard deli sandwich. Does the turkey have gluten? Turkeys don't. Cooked turkeys can. Even if it was home roasted on site, what was put on it? A seasoning mix which has flour in it for bulk? What about the mustard and mayo? It's not a standard ingredient, like with soy sauce, but you can't be sure. That's what those funny ingredients labels that say the egg salad "may contain: eggs" are about. The "may contain" is the note to people with allergies, and then the common allergens are listed, even if they're the number one on the ingredients list. There's also "prepared in a facility that processes X". That means that they cleaned up after processing X, but that a trace amount still could have gotten in. If it says "wheat" you know to avoid it, but I don't think rye and barley are on the list of common allergens, so there might be trace gluten and it not be listed. If there was more than the threshold amount, the ingredients list would say, though. It's that part in between, where it's small enough not to be listed and not on the "may contain" or "processed with" lists that you run into trouble.

Glenda, if that doesn't work out with Bea's son I would love for you to join us at my house for TG. We were supposed to go to Anniston but DSIL's Grandmother is in the hospital in Mobile so his Mom is down there with her. Soooo, TG has been moved to my house. We can always squeeze in another plate and there will be plenty of food. DSIL's Dad, Uncle and Aunt will be joining us. They are a fun group so join us if you don't make other plans. I think it's awful that "the other side of the family" doesn't include you in their plans. Then again that's not always a bad thing if you don't want to spend time with them. LOL!

IMO, you can't have turkey often enough and they are hard to find (fresh) at other times of years, so we tend to focus on them for holidays. And turkey parts - which you can find - are not at all the same as roasting a whole turkey! I will have three turkey dinners this T'day :-) We had one family gathering last Saturday with roasted, brined turkey and all the trimmings with one section of the family that will be off visiting other family members on T'day. And we will have another dinner on T'day with the other local half of the family. And because I love turkey and miss out on the leftovers, I am roasting a tiny one (8 LB) just for me (and the dog :-)) tomorrow. Prime rib is for Christmas and ham for Easter. But always turkey for Thanksgiving!