Whether you are not a fan of cooking or simply don't have the time, frozen dinners have been a beacon of modern convenience since the 1950s. While TV dinners were originally single servings, many long-standing frozen dinner producers now offer frozen meals to feed your whole family. To find the best of the bunch, we tasted and ranked 14 different family-sized frozen meal brands, and our favorite is Zatarain's Frozen Blackened Chicken Alfredo.

Along with taste and texture, we ranked a diversity of different frozen meals according to ease of preparation, cost, and nutrition. Zatarain's Blackened Chicken Alfredo was on the expensive side of our frozen dinners, but well worth the extra dollar or two. Not only was this meal large enough to feed six people, but the whole dish was ready after a mere five minutes in the microwave. It also has a well-rounded nutrition profile, with plenty of protein from the chicken, carbs from the pasta, and a calorie-per-portion ratio that won't leave anyone hungry.

Of course, the most important factor is how this meal tasted, which you can probably guess was delicious enough to merit a first-place ranking. The penne pasta was perfectly tender and al dente, its cylindrical shape catching all that rich, creamy, and cheesy Alfredo sauce. But what really stood out was the blackened chicken, seasoned with Zatarain's characteristic Creole and Cajun spice blend. The smoky, spicy, and zesty chicken breast was the perfect complement to the richness of the Alfredo sauce.