precious time, but are they good for you? Instead of eating a well balanced meal you may be filling your body with a load of fat, a shaker of salt and an overdose of calories.

A typical frozen entree contains 700-3500 mg of sodium even though you only should be taking 2300 mg or less for the whole day.

No one would put 10 1/2 tsp. butter on their meal, but that's how much fat is in a Hungry Man's Salisbury Steak dinner. This meal contains 54% of the calories from fat. Ideally, your diet should be 30% fat or less and most of the frozen food entrees are much higher than this.

The next time you go to the grocery store, check the labels for the total calorie, fat and sodium content. You might be in for quite a surprise.

For example, Banquet Man Pleaser Chicken contains 1026 calories, 45% calories from fat, 10 tsp. butter and 3500 mg. sodium; Swanson Hungry Man Salisbury Steak contains 890 calories, 54% calories from fat, 10 1/2 tsp. butter and 1759 mg. sodium.

A healthier choice would be Weight Watchers Chicken a la King which has 230 calories, 31% calories from fat or 1 1/2 tsp. butter and 900 mg sodium or Shrimp Creole Dinner which has 230 calories, 12% calories from fat or 1/2 tsp.

butter and 420 mg. sodium.

So what can you do? Try to limit your intake of frozen dinners to no more that one to two times a week.

Read labels and look for the product with the lowest amount of fat, calories and sodium. Most of the labels now will tell you the percent of fat and the grams of fat per serving. Remember 5 grams of fat equals 1 tsp. butter. Try to find one that is close to 30% calories from fat and one that has 800 mg. of sodium or less per serving.

Note: If you are on a special low sodium diet, these products are generally not allowed.

Oriental meals tend to be lower in calories and fat. The Weight Watchers and Lean Cuisine brands are usually better options than the other dinner entrees.

Enhance the overall quality of your meal by adding one or more of the following, since frozen entrees are usually low in calcium, fibre, vitamin C, vitamin A.

Add: extra frozen or fresh vegetables, salad, fresh fruit, glass of nonfat milk, whole wheat roll or fresh bread.

Try to control the portion. If the label says "serves 4'', then you need to portion your food accordingly. Some packages do, however, have unrealistic portion sizes.

The Good News It's not all bad news when it comes to convenience foods. It's true that many ready prepared meals are nutritional disasters, as the earlier part of this article reports.

However, the good news is that not only can you improve the nutritional content of packaged meals, but there are also several items available now which need little or no improving to become a fast and easy healthy meal option.

With most packaged products, there are many ways available to alter the nutritional quality of the meal itself.

Omit or decrease the added fat, ie margarine or butter.

Substitute skim milk for whole milk in the sauce packages.

Add low fat shredded cheese instead of regular cheese.

Add additional rice, pasta or noodles to reduce the total amount of sodium and fat per serving. This will also increase the yield of the dish, to make it more economical and allow you to have leftovers for the next day's lunch.

Add chopped fresh or frozen vegetables to improve the vitamin and mineral content.

Add your own lean meat to the dish if not already called, for example, canned tuna, frozen shrimp or scallops, ground chicken or turkey, or boneless skinless chicken breasts. This will increase the protein content, making the dish "a meal in itself''.

Do not add any additional salt, as most convenience foods are already quite high in sodium.

We have tried a number of these suggestions with the following convenience foods and give examples of these below.

Betty Crocker Tuna Helper Follow the package instruction for preparation, making the following changes: Add 2 cups of extra cooked macaroni.

Add 1 package (2 cups) of frozen broccoli.

Add one extra can of tuna.

Use skim milk.

Omit the 3 tablespoons of butter, or reduce to 2 tsp.

Serve with salad and fresh bread or dinner roll.

2 cup serving provides: 341 calories, 27 grams protein, 4 grams fat, 800 mg.

sodium.

Another type of convenience food which requires little or no nutritional improvements can be found in the frozen goods section at your grocery store.

These are Jolly Green Giant's "Pasta Accents'' and Create-a-Meal "Meal Starters''. Low in fat and sodium, these simply require the addition of a lean meat to provide a health, balanced meal. There are several different flavours and varieties. We still recommend reading the label for fat and sodium to make the best choice.

Pasta Accents "Garlic'' Follow package instructions for preparation. Add: 9 ounces stir fried, skinless boneless chicken strips (1 tsp. olive oil).

2 cups steamed chopped broccoli or other fresh or frozen vegetables.

Serve with French bread or salad.

2 cup serving provides: 378 calories, 27 grams protein, 12 grams fat, 700 mg sodium.

Create a Meal `Meal Starter' Sweet and Sour Stir Fry Follow package instructions for preparation. Add: 9 ounces cooked chicken breast, or shrimp or scallops.

2 cups fresh or frozen vegetables.

Serve with rice. (Can use boil in bag rice for further time saving) 2 cup serving and 1/2 cup boiled rice provides: 335 calories, 24 grams protein, 1 gram fat, 196 mg. sodium.

Fast and complete salad meals can now be found in the fresh produce section of your grocery store. Dole makes complete salad kits which contain vegetables, croutons and dressing pouches. Grilled chicken can be added for a fast healthy lunch or light supper meal.

Dole Spinach and bacon salad Follow package instructions for preparation. Add: 9 ounces chicken breast meat, sliced and grilled.

Serve with a slice of French bread.

1 1/2 cup serving provides: 319 calories, 31 grams protein, 12 grams fat, 723 mg. sodium.

Substitute lite salad dressing for the pouch supplied to lower the fat and sodium content.

Sitting down to a quick healthy meal can be a challenge with today's demanding lifestyles. This article should leave you better informed to use convenience foods wisely to provide yourself, your friends or your family with a fast flavourful well-balanced meal.