The #1 Best Prepared Meal At Sam's Club Right Now

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Let's face it: there are some nights when cooking a meal from scratch just isn't going to happen. Whether you're exhausted from work, shuttling kids around to after-school activities, or the bell peppers in your vegetable draw have started to grow enough mold that they're now officially a science experiment, sometimes we need a little help. Enter Sam's Club and its prepared-meal options.

Sam's Club is a star when it comes to cheap grocery staples, but it pays to have an already prepared meal in your fridge or freezer for those times when you just aren't going to start dicing and sautéeing ingredients. When you need a hot meal fast, prepared foods can be a lifesaver.

But, looking at all of the options, how can you know which ones will be tasty and which won't? To find this out, I roamed the grocery aisles at my local Sam's Club and picked out six of the best-looking prepared meals to taste test. All the meals were prepared according to the instructions on the package, and no extra ingredients, toppings, or spices were added.

One thing I noticed is that most of these meals are loaded with fat and sodium, which is certainly not ideal. A healthier option could be to batch cook some protein in advance for the week or to pick up a rotisserie chicken and pair it with a simple salad and baguette.

But, if you're looking to stock your fridge from Sam's Club, you should definitely read this before you hit the store. One meal was so awful that I trashed it after one bite, while another was so good, I wish I were eating it right now! Here's ranked the prepared meals from worst to best.

Monterey Gourmet Foods Teriyaki Beef Udon Stir Fry

Per Serving (1 cup): 300 cal, 7 g fat (1.5 g saturated fat, 0 trans fat), 1140 mg sodium, 49 g carbs (2 g fiber, 14 g sugar), 9 g protein

Priced at $13.48, this stir fry kit was the ultimate dump-and-go meal. Just toss the meat, noodles, and sauce in the microwavable container and heat! Unfortunately, this tasted so bad that I ended up dumping it in the trash. While this dish was easy to prepare, the pre-packaged Udon noodles were extra gluey, and the teriyaki sauce was super thick, sweet, and gooey. The end result reminded me of the infamous "snake surprise" dish from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. For this price, you'd do better by ordering some takeout.

Rating: 1

Member's Mark Five Cheese Bacon Macaroni

Per Serving (1 cup): 410 cal, 21 g fat (13 g saturated fat), 810 mg sodium, 30 g carbs (1 g fiber, 5 g sugar), 21 g protein

After baking up this big dish of mac and cheese, the first thing I noticed was how oily it looked. It was also a glowing yellow color that, while enticing to my kids, I had hesitations about serving. While some parts of the dish browned up nicely, biting in, the salty taste of the bacon was overwhelming. At $9.98, this was expensive for what is essentially pasta and not a complete meal in my book.

Rating: 3

Flo's Checkerboard Kitchen Chicken Parmesan

Per Serving (1 cutlet with sauce and cheese): 310 cal, 11 g fat (5 g saturated fat), 860 mg sodium, 25 g carbs (1 g fiber, 5 g sugar), 27 g protein

Chicken parm is a comforting favorite and this heat-and-eat version would be super convenient to have on hand when you don't have time to make it yourself. The sauce and cheese came in separate packets, and while pasta was not included, I liked that they included extra sauce so you could use it on your own spaghetti! Biting in, the cutlet was very thick and bready tasting. The cheese was bland and tasteless but the sauce had a zippy flavor and some visible tomato chunks. This meal was edible and priced well at $14.98. Still, it would not be my first choice.

Rating: 4

Giovanni Rana Beef and Sausage Lasagna

Per Serving (1 cup): 350 cal, 18 g fat (9 g saturated fat, 0 trans fat), 770 mg sodium, 26 g carbs (3 g fiber, 9 g sugar), 19 g protein

This lasagna comes already assembled so all you need to do is heat and eat. The combination of noodles, melted cheese, and sauce did look pretty appealing. Taking a taste, I noticed right away how fatty the sausage was. It was a chewy component to an otherwise pretty good dish. At $14.98, this is a good buy and could easily feed a family of four or five.

Rating: 5

Don Miguel Chicken and 2-Cheese Mini Tacos

Per Serving (4 mini tacos): 190 cal, 8 g fat (2 g saturated fat, 0 trans fat), 380 mg sodium, 21 g carbs (1 g fiber, 1 g sugar), 8 g protein

These tiny tacos feature white meat chicken, two cheeses, and roasted corn salsa in a crispy corn tortilla. After getting these home and putting them on a baking tray, I quickly realized that they looked more like appetizers than a meal. They crisped up nicely in the oven and the filling was actually very flavorful! I think that with the addition of guacamole and sour cream, plus lettuce and tomatoes, this could be a filling dinner. Of course, you'd need to eat way more than the suggested serving size of four to be satisfied. Unfortunately, Sam's Club didn't have a dinner-sized taco kit for sale. For $11.98, I would buy these again but for a cocktail party or after school snack.

Rating: 6

Fresh Creative Foods Gyro Express Meal Kit

Per Serving: 430 cal, 24 g fat (11 g saturated fat), 1040 mg sodium, 36 g carbs (3 g fiber, 3 g sugar), 15 g protein

The instructions for this enticing beef and lamb gyro kit call for heating the pita and gyro meat on a skillet. This felt a little too much like cooking, but the meat browned up so nicely and the smell was so good, it was worth the effort. While the pita was too small to fold the contents inside like the picture on the package, this was a delicious sandwich. The included Fire Feta Sauce was okay, but it was the addition of the tzatziki sauce and cheese that put it over the top. The package suggestion to add lettuce, tomato, red onion, cucumbers, parsley, lemon juice, and dill would make this even better. For $13.98, this gyro kit is the overall winner for sure.

Rating: 8