Food Trucks?

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Wondering how often, if ever, do you frequent F.T.'s?

Also, which ones do you go to (what city too)and what do they serve?

Does any city have any that actually know and list the nutrition(ie Calories/fat/sodium, etc.,)?

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Very rarely anymore. I used to frequent them often when I was out and about on the town, but I have a wife and kids now and pretty much a good party night consists of me drinking a few beers and staying up past 10...

    I doubt you will find any that list nutritional information. Most of those are mom and pop type of operations and aren't going to be able to have all of the testing necessary to accurately determine nutritional information without charging you a million dollars for your taco.
  • sofaking6
    sofaking6 Posts: 4,589 Member
    edited December 2014
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    (This is in San Diego, CA)

    I mostly am very good about staying away, but my apartment complex brings one in every single weeknight and they park in the entrance circle that I have to drive through to get home...sooo tough!

    Most do not post their info, because they are usually SUPER high calorie, but there is one awesome healthy/organic truck that has all the info posted, because their stuff is not super high calorie lol.

    There is one truck that is only grilled cheese sandwiches. One that is Chicago dogs with various toppings. One that rolls out a bona fide pizza oven.

    Your best bet is to just make a recipe here with all of their ingredients and rough measurements.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,981 Member
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    I ate at food trucks (in Washington, D.C.) for lunch about once a week while losing my first 30 lbs (since then I've been doing a little more telecommuting and brown-bagging, and we've had a few more good brick-and-mortar lunch places open up near my office, so I'm probably only hitting the food trucks once or twice a month). I've never seen a truck that posted nutritional information. I just deconstruct the meal to the point that I can find entries for the parts or ingredients (a lot of the ones I eat at serve fairly unusual stuff, like Korean- or Vietnamese-influenced tacos, so it's hard to find a match for the whole dish -- plus, entries for a dish generally don't indicate weight or amount of food, so there's not much point to using them). I've been weighing my food long enough that I feel reasonably confident estimating how much pulled pork or beef brisket is in the taco, for instance, and I do enough cooking to feel like I can tell whether there's just a half-teaspoon or a whole tablespoon dressing the cup of boiled collards on my platter.

    Mostly out of food preferences, but also to limit the calorie impact, I don't generally go to trucks that serve deep-fried foods, pizza, most sandwiches (they tend to be huge, and a big calorie "spend" on bread that often isn't that tasty), or stuff smothered in cheap cheese (cheese is yummy, but melted orange plastic cheese isn't worth the calories). Among my favorites are tofu tacos with kimchi; koshary (an Egyptian dish of rice, pasta, lentils, chick peas, tomato sauce, and fried onions); and an Ethiopian vegetable platter with injera (a spongy sourdough bread made teff flour).
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    shartran wrote: »
    Wondering how often, if ever, do you frequent F.T.'s?

    Also, which ones do you go to (what city too)and what do they serve?

    Does any city have any that actually know and list the nutrition(ie Calories/fat/sodium, etc.,)?

    Oh man, back in the day about 10 years ago they were all the rage. I loved em.

    Kinda wish that trend would come back.
  • shartran
    shartran Posts: 304 Member
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    Funny...in
    dbmata wrote: »
    shartran wrote: »
    Wondering how often, if ever, do you frequent F.T.'s?

    Also, which ones do you go to (what city too)and what do they serve?

    Does any city have any that actually know and list the nutrition(ie Calories/fat/sodium, etc.,)?

    Oh man, back in the day about 10 years ago they were all the rage. I loved em.

    Kinda wish that trend would come back.

    In my city, we didn't even know about food trucks 10 years ago...we just got the city's 'ok' to have them about 2 years ago!

  • dakotababy
    dakotababy Posts: 2,406 Member
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    shartran wrote: »
    Funny...in
    dbmata wrote: »
    shartran wrote: »
    Wondering how often, if ever, do you frequent F.T.'s?

    Also, which ones do you go to (what city too)and what do they serve?

    Does any city have any that actually know and list the nutrition(ie Calories/fat/sodium, etc.,)?

    Oh man, back in the day about 10 years ago they were all the rage. I loved em.

    Kinda wish that trend would come back.

    In my city, we didn't even know about food trucks 10 years ago...we just got the city's 'ok' to have them about 2 years ago!

    Same in Sask...they are just getting popular here. Typically if one parks in the city somewhere - it will be in the news and the lines are massive.
  • sexymonicat
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    Here in southern california theres taco trucks and theyre everywhere. If you drive down any busy street youll see atleast one.
  • iheartinsanity
    iheartinsanity Posts: 205 Member
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    I moved out west almost 3 years ago and had NEVER stopped at one before. I live in a small navy town right now and we have 2, and moving to the Portland (OR) area next month and there are lots from what we've been seeing from our trips there, one like a block from our new home. I personally don't eat them often (my husband has always lived on the west coast) but my husband said though they taste better than fast food, they're just as greasy and high in calories.
  • apparations
    apparations Posts: 264 Member
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    dakotababy wrote: »
    shartran wrote: »
    Funny...in
    dbmata wrote: »
    shartran wrote: »
    Wondering how often, if ever, do you frequent F.T.'s?

    Also, which ones do you go to (what city too)and what do they serve?

    Does any city have any that actually know and list the nutrition(ie Calories/fat/sodium, etc.,)?

    Oh man, back in the day about 10 years ago they were all the rage. I loved em.

    Kinda wish that trend would come back.

    In my city, we didn't even know about food trucks 10 years ago...we just got the city's 'ok' to have them about 2 years ago!

    Same in Sask...they are just getting popular here. Typically if one parks in the city somewhere - it will be in the news and the lines are massive.

    Toronto as well, they just blew up a year or two ago. There are a lot of permits and etc. to get through, and they've loosened up the by-laws a bit. Still, they're mostly around during food festivals in the summer, or around the university campuses. I've tried to avoid them this year because of calorie counting, but I know there's some good ones I haven't tried yet. I ate at one at a music festival this past summer and got some kind of cold noodle salad which was delicious (can't remember the name of the truck though..). It was always a dream of mine to open my own food truck, but it's very difficult if you don't have a restaurant to work out of, plus now there is a lot of competition :(
  • apparations
    apparations Posts: 264 Member
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    I visited San Francisco a few years ago and they had a Creme Brulee stand, that was pretty great :)

    http://www.thecremebruleecart.com/
  • Charlottesometimes23
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    The best food truck food I have had has been from the shrimp trucks in Hawaii. I usually have garlic shrimp with rice and coleslaw. It's one of the things I really look forward to when I go there.

    At home in Australia, most food trucks seem to be associated with craft markets. The last thing I remember having from one of those trucks was chocolate covered frozen strawberry skewers.
  • Charlottesometimes23
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    I visited San Francisco a few years ago and they had a Creme Brulee stand, that was pretty great :)

    http://www.thecremebruleecart.com/

    Yum!!

  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    mmmmm....street meat.


    No I never eat at them. I only dream.
  • Krock83
    Krock83 Posts: 64 Member
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    Food Trucks were my entire college experience (Phila). I haven't really gone while trying to lose weight, but because they make everything to order, I'd bet you could get them to make you something delicious and low cal.
  • Keladelphia
    Keladelphia Posts: 820 Member
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    I eat from a food from a truck a couple of times a week (none of which post nutritional info). There is one right outside of my office (Philadelphia) that makes great omelettes. They'll make them however you like (egg whites, veggies etc.). There is also a burger truck and a crepe truck (both savory and sweet crepes) a few blocks away that I know must be terrible calorie wise but is totally worth it every once in a while.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    The best food truck food I have had has been from the shrimp trucks in Hawaii. I usually have garlic shrimp with rice and coleslaw. It's one of the things I really look forward to when I go there.

    At home in Australia, most food trucks seem to be associated with craft markets. The last thing I remember having from one of those trucks was chocolate covered frozen strawberry skewers.
    The one on the north shore of Oahu? Less a truck, more an RV that's been converted?

    I know that one, right near the town whose major industry is shrimp farming. So. Good.

    I remember this one food truck I liked, this was in Boston.
    Liege waffles with a little sauce or sausage on them. Very good.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    Ah yes, I remember my most interesting meal came from a taco cart in Tijuana. Dog taco. They had donkey too, but I didn't want to mix my odd.
  • sofaking6
    sofaking6 Posts: 4,589 Member
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    dbmata wrote: »
    Ah yes, I remember my most interesting meal came from a taco cart in Tijuana. Dog taco. They had donkey too, but I didn't want to mix my odd.

    Anthony Bourdain's latest series has an episode about Baja, including a part just on Tijuana food stand tacos.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    They're something else. I think Rosarito had better ones, but that was late 80s. For all I know Rosarito is all "South Oceanside."