Healthy and low-cost fast food?

icewyche

I need some recommendations for healthy(ish), low-cost fast food. Here's the situation: Twice a week I take a ballet class after work - because of horrendous rush hour traffic and a not-very-well-designed intersection by the school, I leave work, eat dinner and unwind for about 45 minutes to an hour, and then go on to class. There aren't a whole lot of restaurants to choose from - there's Wendy's, McDonalds, Waffle House, and a truck stop. If I wanted to risk traffic and a fairly dangerous exit (I'd have to cross two lanes of traffic exiting the Interstate to reach the school) I could add Burger King, Taco Bell, and KFC to the list. I'm also on a budget, so I'd like to keep per-meal costs under, say, $8. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

xLyric

What kind of options does the truck stop have? I usually find gas station foods easier to keep track of calorie-wise. They also usually have veggie-trays and salads and fruit.

ETA: Have you thought about packing a dinner? It's usually cheaper, healthier (depending on what you pack, of course), and you get more unwinding time since you're not battling traffic.

cheekitty

Without knowing what your definition of healthy is, it's difficult to say. I know Wendys does have some salads (but looking at the nutrition information was kind of surprising- 800 calories for a salad? Gracious!).

I guess my suggestion would be deciding what you want to focus on- high protein? Low carb? And then consider the options available to you. If you're going to be dancing, do you really want a greasy burger? All of those chains (except waffle house) have nutrition data online, which will make it easier for you to make your choices.

Mr_Knight

What kind of macros are you trying to hit? If you're protein-heavy, get a couple of McDoubles off the value menu, throw away the buns from one of them and put it inside the other. Less than $3.

McDonalds value menu is generally a great place to hit any of your macros for pretty cheap.

SherryTeach

Twice a week seems like a lot of fast food to me. I would batch cook on the weekends and try to take more food with you. I'm pretty busy at work and it's not unusual for me to leave the house in the morning with enough food for a couple of meals and snacks. Yet, I only cook on the weekends. It can be done. I don't want to eat fast food eight times a month.

bigk098

Basically, you can get a grilled chicken sandwich with no mayo or cheese at any of these places and be okay. McDonald's has a Southwest chicken salad that Snack-girl.com recommended. You can ask for it with grilled chicken, no cheese, no tortilla chips, and with the dressing on the side. (http://www.snack-girl.com/snack/new-mcdonalds/) She also talked about the oatmeal there, which you can get all day. At Taco Bell, you can order a lot of things "fresco," which significantly cuts the fat, although the sodium is high with all of these. I like the Fresco Chicken Burrito Supreme at Taco Bell. It's filling, and 340 calories and 8 grams of fat. The bean burrito is not bad as well, and you can also order chicken soft tacos with just the lettuce and tomatoes. (http://www.tacobell.com/nutrition/information). At Burger King, the veggie burger without mayo or cheese is a good option. Here's info about Wendy's: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/sparkdining-eatery.asp?id=4. Depending on the truck stop, you may be able to get a regular dinner, like grilled or roasted chicken and vegetables. As far as the Waffle House, you're on your own! We don't have any where I am.

PaulaWallaDingDong

Wendy's: I've gone from the spicy chicken fillet for 510 cal (except on naughty days) to the ultimate grill chicken sandwich for 370 cal. It's pretty good. It has some kind of honey mustard stuff on it. If you can tolerate unsweetened iced tea (it's an acquired taste) theirs is decent. Otherwise you could go with a diet something-or-other to drink.

2BeHappy2

Yeah, the McDoubles are not only cheap but youll get 2 patties in 1 so if you got 2 that would be 4 patties for next to nothing!
McDonalds also has their Fruit & Yogurt Parfaits under their dollar menu.
IDK if Burger King is still offering but for awhile you could get a 10 piece chicken nuggets for $1.50.

kimny72

The barbecue chicken salad and the Asian cashew chicken salad are good and pretty filing. They fit into my calories just fine, but you haven't provided any numbers so not sure if they would fit yours. Most of those places have all their nutrition info online. You should find everything you need there.

ljorgensen83

Wendy's chili is awesome!!! Cheap and healthy too! Make sure to ask for the chili seasoning at the window, it adds a kick and is only 5 calories. The large chili is only 270 calories or the small for 180. Whenever i need to eat fast food and am trying to stick to my diet, this is always a good go-to food.

JessieLMay

Mcdonalds....eat a grilled chicken sandwich, and a parfait instead of fries. Depends how much calories you are looking to use when it comes to your drink. I usually do a medium Dr Pepper if I have extra, or just a unsweet, or half and half tea if I don't.

JessieLMay

JessieLMay wrote: »

Mcdonalds....eat a grilled chicken sandwich, and a parfait instead of fries. Depends how much calories you are looking to use when it comes to your drink. I usually do a medium Dr Pepper if I have extra, or just a unsweet, or half and half tea if I don't.

Which btw you can have cheese on. Imo, it's not too bad in calories.

LovelyIvy466

ljorgensen83 wrote: »

Wendy's chili is awesome!!! Cheap and healthy too! Make sure to ask for the chili seasoning at the window, it adds a kick and is only 5 calories. The large chili is only 270 calories or the small for 180. Whenever i need to eat fast food and am trying to stick to my diet, this is always a good go-to food.

Seconding this! You can add a plain baked potato to it as well if you're really hungry. I used to get the small and crumble the potato in it. Filling, easy, cheap, not that bad.

2BeHappy2

LOL LovelyIvy...my husband & I do the same but in reverse!
We like to add things to make our baked potatoes seem more like a meal and not just as a "side" and pouring the chili all over it makes the potato less dry!

hncary

I agree with the whole bringing a lunch thing because it would just be easier IMO and I wouldn't have to worry about the calories so much, but some ideas for those places would be

KFC grilled chicken (breast 220cal) green beans (25gal) mashed potatoes w gravy (120/90 without gravy) corn on the cob (70)

McDonald's- Buffalo ranch mcchicken (370cal) Filet o fish (390cal) hamburger (240cal) cheeseburger (290cal) Grilled ranch snack wrap (290cal) Bacon ranch salad with grilled chicken (260cal) Southwest salad with grilled chicken (340cal) Fruit n yogurt parfait (150cal)

Taco Bell- Cinnamon twists (170cal) Shredded chicken mini quesadilla (180cal) Bean burrito (370cal) Chicken or steak chalupa (350cal) Beef chalupa (370cal) Fresco crunchy taco (150cal) Fresco Burrito supreme chicken (340cal) Fresco burrito supreme steak (350cal) Fresco chicken soft taco (140cal) Fresco grilled steak soft taco (150cal) Side of black beans (80cal) side of black beans and rice (180cal) Cheesy fiesta potatoes (270cal) And you can get most any taco for 300 cal and under.

Wendy's grilled chicken wrap (260cal), Full size asian cashew salad (380cal)- this is actually really delicious, but I don't find it extremely filling. Caesar side salad (250cal), Garden side salad (210cal), Ultimate chicken grill (370gal)

Okay, that's all I've got in me to look up right now. There are more options obviously, but those were just some ideas.

juliev1121

I would 100% say, dont even eat those - pack your meal. Why eat stuff that you have to pick about with what to choose, when its all full of chemicals (hormones in the poorly treated meat, preservatives, carcinogens) anyway. You can eat better and save money by packing something. A spinach salad with nuts and cranberries, a chickpea one with peppers and healthy spices, a black bean and corn on lettuce or not, wraps of all types. Its not JUST about calories, its about what those calories are made of and what they do to your body. If you cant find a natural and reasonable place to eat out (when I do, its a little Mexican place where I know how they make everything with organic local ingredients for 8.50/meal) then just dont do it. Its cruel to your body to put all those negative chems in you and just makes you addicted to the sugars and additives. There is zero good reason to do it. You know your going to need to eat on the go those days, plan and pack.

LovelyIvy466

Eh. The OP sounds legit extremely busy. When you are on the go like that sometimes you really just don't have the time and you need a fall-back. That's what she's looking for here.

2BeHappy2

Yeah...it doesn't take much to make up your own salads and in a pinch buy the doles pre-made if you have to!
Grill some chicken and pre-slice so all you have to do is toss it into your mixed greens. Purdue has pre-cooked grilled chicken strips that all you have to do is re-heat.
Add any of these grilled chicken ideas and make fajitas by grilling some veggies!
If you like crunch and want nuts or like sweets, buy some dried fruit and variety of different types of nuts to put on your salads or wraps!
This way You control the cal total...it doesn't take much to pack a cooler...slice up different veggies that you can eat by hand in the car
You can also add in your own whole or cut up fruits....sliced mangos, kiwi Or a banana, apple that you can munch on while on your way!

juliev1121

@LovelyIvy466 Not that I want to get into this debate - but the post only said ballet class twice a week, nothing about the rest of the sched. I have days where I go straight to classes from work too, hit the gym every night, 10 hr a day job, take the bus. I can still plan my weekly meal prep to have what I need. Its about priorities and making it habit. There's situations where you have no choice, but this isnt that case - ya know its going to happen, you can plan. The food at these places causes cancer, obesity, addiction.. avoiding it as much as possible is just smart. In the end, diverse advice is always good to receive. I see lots of tips on here for how to eat the least junky of the junk.. or at least get the least calories while filling yourself with chems. I just offered a different approach.

PaulaWallaDingDong

Fast food doesn't cause obesity or addiction. That is 100% false. OP didn't ask for people's opinions about chemicals and whole organic locally-grown hormone/antibiotic-free foods. She asked about fast food options. If you'd like to lead a crusade, you're free to make your own thread, group, blog or whatever you like.

Castrofreak

I get a mcdouble (380), mcchicken (w/ mayo, 390ish) 10 piece nugget (like 400 i think??) at mcdonalds, or a bacon double cheeseburger (390) at burger king. Everything at Wendys except for the chili is super calorific. I dont know about taco bell or kfc. Havent tried that while on this diet. And never been to waffle house.

guacamole17

I second both Wendy's chili (put that on the baked potato, delicious!) and the Southwest Salad from McDonalds, with the grilled chicken plus all cheese, tortilla chips, and dressing, comes out to like 450 calories or so. And its delicious.

WinoGelato

Op you've gotten some good advice, I don't have an issue with fast food but I often prefer my own cooking so I would probably pack my own sandwich or salad and try to find a park to eat at for at least one of those week nights. Truck Stop may have cups of fruit, those hummus packs, or even a frozen meal and a microwave.

The value menu at McDonalds and Wendys has some good option, Taco Bell is always cheap, and Waffle House serves breakfast all day so you could get eggs and oatmeal if that interests you.

kristydi

I've recently discovered the Jr Cheeseburger Deluxe at Wendy's. Its only 340 cal and if you skip the mayo you save 50cal. Add a garden side salad for 310 (Subtract 90 if you leave off the croutons and lose 50 more if you only use half the dressing for a total of 170) Then I usually use 200 of those calories I saved on a Jr chocolate frosty. That's 660 cal for the meal and I love eating a cheeseburger and chocolate ice cream and not totally blowing my calories.

Waffle House could be OK too depending on how many calories you want to spend. My usual there is between 700-800 calories, I can't remember exactly. 2 eggs scrambled with cheese, hash browns with onion skip the toast and drink water. They also have grilled chicken that's pretty good.

icewyche

Thanks for the recs. Packing a homemade dinner isn't an option; I don't have time to go home, staying at the office to eat would get me stuck in rush hour traffic, and there isn't anywhere to go to eat a homemade meal. And frankly, sometimes I just don't want to fix my own meals - I do it for the whole rest of the week and it gets tiresome. I appreciate that some of you are very (VERY) opposed to fast food, but everyone's life is different.

foursirius

Tacobell fresco style isnt bad at all. I prefer chipotle if im typically going with this kind of meal but a chicken burrito supreme fresco style is tasty and wont bust your diet.