Prepared foods

Prepared foods covers composite dishes assembled from multiple ingredients: pizza, burgers, burritos, sushi rolls, mac and cheese, fried chicken, lasagna, sandwiches. This category also picks up popular fast-food items when USDA Branded has an entry. Values reflect the typical restaurant or packaged version — home-cooked variants can score very differently.

Prepared foods are where portion size and overall diet quality collide. A fast-food burger is not ruinous in isolation, but a burger-fries-soda combination stacks calories, sodium, and saturated fat in a single meal. The USDA DGA does not ban any food but recommends these items be occasional rather than daily.

Bean burritos, sushi rolls with rice and vegetables, and lean chicken sandwiches typically score in the 40-55 range. Cheese pizza and mac and cheese sit around 35-45. Fried chicken, cheeseburgers, and loaded breakfast sandwiches fall below 35 because of combined saturated fat, sodium, and NOVA classification. Portion size — which FoodScore does not directly penalize — compounds the effect.

Score distribution

1. 01
   POLAR SARDINES IN TOMATO SAUCE

   Very good
   85
2. 02
   365 WHOLE FOODS MARKET ORGANIC RED LENTILS

   Very good
   84
3. 03
   Bumble Bee Foods, SARDINES IN SOYBEAN OIL

   Very good
   84
4. 04
   GREAT VALUE GARBANZOS CHICK PEAS

   Very good
   84
5. 05
   O ORGANICS ORGANIC GARBANZO BEANS

   Very good
   84
6. 06
   ONE DEGREE ORGANIC FOODS ORGANIC GREEN LENTILS

   Very good
   84
7. 07
   TRUROOTS ACCENTS, SPROUTED LENTIL TRIO

   Very good
   84
8. 08
   TRUROOTS BEAN & LENTIL BLEND SPROUTED MUNG BEANS, SPROUTED GREEN LENTILS & SPROUTED ADZUKI BEANS, BEAN & LENTIL BLEND

   Very good
   84
9. 09
   TRUROOTS ORGANIC SPROUTED GREEN LENTILS

   Very good
   84
10. 10
    TRUROOTS, ORGANIC ACCENTS SPROUTED LENTIL TRIO

    Very good
    84
11. 11
    Bumble Bee Foods, BUMBLE BEE, WILD ALASKA BLUEBACK SALMON

    Very good
    83
12. 12
    BEACH CLIFF SARDINES IN SOYBEAN OIL, SOYBEAN OIL

    Very good
    82
13. 13
    SEA FARE PACIFIC SMOKED SALMON

    Very good
    82
14. 14
    TRUROOTS SPROUTED MUNG BEANS

    Very good
    82
15. 15
    WILD SELECTIONS SARDINES IN OLIVE OIL

    Very good
    82
16. 16
    BREAST O' CHICKEN, CHUNK LIGHT TUNA IN VEGETABLE OIL

    Very good
    81
17. 17
    FESTIVE, TURKEY BURGERS

    Very good
    81
18. 18
    BELLA PORTOFINO SOLID YELLOWFIN TUNA IN EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL, SEA SALT

    Very good
    80
19. 19
    BELLA PORTOFINO SOLID YELLOWFIN TUNA IN EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL WITH SEA SALT

    Very good
    80
20. 20
    SEA FARE PACIFIC, WILD CAUGHT SMOKED ALBACORE TUNA

    Very good
    80

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