Our vegetarian staffers have been raving about the Lunds & Byerlys Roasted Vegetable Lasagna ever since they tried it. Seriously, they will not shut up about it! Our review (which was written by one of these vegetarian staffers) called it “the best frozen lasagna we’ve ever had,” and it was so beloved that we even wrote a second review.
But what about our staffers with more carnivorous inclinations? This vegetarian-friendly stuff is all fine and good, but where’s the beef? Well, the meat-hungry masticators are finally getting their day of reckoning, because today we’re checking out the Lunds & Byerlys Ground Beef Sauce Lasagna. We’re very excited about it.
What was that? You’ve never heard of the Lunds & Byerlys brand? Don’t feel too bad about it; L&B is a chain of upscale grocery stores in the Minneapolis, MN, area, and you won’t find their proprietary products outside of their own stores. So if you’re not in central Minnesota, you won’t find this stuff anywhere. The Freezer Meal Frenzy office is located in Minneapolis, which means we have easy access to L&B products, but we know that’s not the case for most of our readers.
So let’s get cookin’, shall we?
Since this is a frozen lasagna, it comes with a hefty cook time. In the microwave, it will take six to eight minutes. We went with the oven, however, which requires 50-60 minutes of cook time. This is not a quick meal, but we thought this was the sort of dinner that really deserves the extra cook time. Besides, the oven method is the one recommended by the box. (If you want to see the full cooking instructions, check out the package scans at the bottom of this review.)
The sauce is a thick, dark red affair that’s rich with tomatoey flavor. There’s just a hint of a bite to it — we don’t see anything spicy on the ingredients list, so this might just be the acidity of the tomato paste due to how rich it is.
Now, there is ground beef in the sauce — as the title would suggest — but there’s not a ton of it. We actually don’t mind. When lasagna sauces rely to heavily on ground beef, they can taste a bit generic. This one uses just enough meat to get a nice texture while letting the tomato paste do all the talking in the flavor department. It’s a classy choice, in our opinion.
Inside what the box refers to as the “lasagna sandwich” is a blend of ricotta, parmesan, romano, and fontina. It’s delightfully creamy and absolutely loaded with cheesy flavor. It was really hard for us to get a decent picture of it because the lasagna gets a bit smashed down when you dig into it with a fork. So you’ll have to trust us when we say that the layer of cheese is surprisingly thick — the center of our lasagna had a batch of cheese almost half an inch thick.
Lunds & Byerlys frozen food isn’t usually designed for dieters. This lasagna contains 440 calories and 900 mg of sodium, which is a lot, but we’ve seen higher numbers on L&B boxes. (We’ve tried their pizza, and those numbers will make your head spin!) If you’re on a strict diet, you’re probably going to pass this one by.
We now understand why our vegetarian friends have been so excited about L&B lasagna. The Lunds & Byerlys Ground Beef Sauce Lasagna is absolutely fantastic, and we recommend it to non-vegetarians who are looking for a tasty lasagna treat. Of course, you have to be in Minnesota in order to find it!
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this frozen L&B lasagna, check out our package scans below.
