Packaged foods, either ready-to-eat or microwaveable, have long been the convenient whipping horse for anyone with an ax to grind about how fat- and calorie-laden the American diet has become.

For many years, those people have had a very good point. We are, after all, the culture that invented the Hungry Man XXL Southern Fried Boneless Chicken dinner, which packs a belly-busting 1,010 calories and an artery-stunning 41 grams of fat and 155 mg of cholesterol.

However, in recent years, two great things have happened in the world of packaged foods.

First, the fat content in even the non-diet offerings -- other than the aforementioned XXL and a few others -- has dropped, and the availability of low-fat, low-carb and other diet foods has skyrocketed.

Second, the loss of fat, once a big source of flavor, has forced packaged food makers to actually pay attention to things like herbs and spices, creating some surprisingly refined and enjoyable flavors.

In this article, you'll play the part of an average hassled, harried, hurried working stiff, hustling out the door in the morning and running all day, only to rush home at night in time to grab a quick dinner. We'll compare your day if you choose the drive-through to your day eating from the microwave.

Fear not: All the prepared-food choices here have been thoroughly vetted for taste. We won't have you trading your juicy, fat-dripping burger for something that tastes the same as the box it comes in.

Hitting The Drive-Through

Say an ordinary morning would find you hitting the golden arches for that most iconic of American breakfast sandwiches, the Egg McMuffin. You get the combo with hash browns, of course, but just black coffee to drink. The Egg McMuffin is actually one of the leaner breakfast sandwiches out there, but your bag-o-breakfast still hits you for 440 calories, 21 grams of fat, a mind-boggling 260 mg of cholesterol -- 87 percent of your daily allowance -- and 1,110 mg of sodium, almost half your daily allowance.

It's lunchtime! You're feeling virtuous, so you head to Kentucky Fried Chicken for a roasted Caesar salad with the creamy parmesan caesar dressing. You'll be getting a fair serving of vitamins A and C, and almost one-third of your daily calcium. You'll also get 540 calories, 37 grams of fat -- more than half your daily allowance -- 85 mg of cholesterol and a whopping 1,500 mg of sodium.

You've made it to dinner, and it's time to visit the creepiest mascot in the fast food business, the Burger King. You decide to splurge a bit and go for a Whopper with cheese, a medium onion rings and a Dutch apple pie for dessert. Your meal gets you almost half your day's iron, one-third of the calcium and good amounts of vitamins A and C. On the heavy side, you'll take in 1370 calories, 75 grams of fat, 115 mg of cholesterol and 2,180 mg of sodium.

The final tally for your day of drive-through dining: 2,370 calories, 133 grams fat, 460 mg cholesterol and 4790 mg of sodium. Many nutritional guidelines are based on a 2,000-calorie diet.

Eating From A Box

Let's compare that to a day spent with prepared foods, primarily those available at your grocer's freezer case.

For breakfast, we'll go with a Jimmy Dean "D-Lights" English muffin breakfast sandwich with turkey sausage. These are truly awesome, and they'll hit you for 260 calories, 7 grams fat, 35 mg cholesterol and 840 mg sodium. Add an Ore-Ida toaster hash brown patty, and that brings the total to 370 calories, 13 grams fat, 35 mg cholesterol and 1,090 mg sodium. The most startling savings there is the cholesterol, with the total coming in 225 mg lighter than the fast-food option.

Lunch gives us the best one-to-one comparison of the survey, with a Fresh Express Caesar supreme salad topped with a serving of Tyson oven-roasted chicken strips. There is a "serving size" listed on the salad bag that indicates there should be three servings in the bag, but have you honestly ever eaten only part of one of these salad kits? Even if you down the whole bag, your lunch only hits you for 620 calories, 44.5 grams fat, 95 mg cholesterol and 1350 mg sodium. The Fresh Express salad by itself is great, with croutons I'd buy as a snack food if they'd sell them by the sack, and an outstanding dressing. Add the chicken and it's quite a meal, and you'll get most of your fresh vegetable requirement for the day taken care of.

For dinner, we're going to go far afield from burger land, but there's a reason. I burned out on frozen diet entrees years ago, having exhausted what I took to be every flavor option available. Then, one evening not long ago, I found a Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers grilled whiskey steak dinner in the depths of the freezer, the product of one of my better half's coupon-shopping binges. I was starving and short on time, so I popped it in the microwave.

Wow. The flavor was simply incredible. The sauce was as good as any I've had, and while I wasn't stuffed when I finished, I knew I'd had something substantial to eat. And the damage? 250 calories, 4 grams fat, 30 mg cholesterol and 580 mg sodium. For dessert, add a Weight Watchers Smart Ones Key Lime pie and your total is 440 calories, 8.5 grams fat, 40 mg cholesterol and 665 mg sodium.

So, what's the tale of the tape for your day of processed-food exploration? You'll take in 1,430 calories, 61.5 grams fat, 170 mg cholesterol and 3,105 mg sodium. That's far lighter than fast food across the board, and you won't go to bed hungry or feeling like you've been eating cardboard all day.