Food Truck Food

artanis50

Thursday is food truck night at our community. Our family is attending and I need to make the best choice off this menu. And how the heck do I calculate the calories for this? HELP! What's my best option?

SuzySunshine99

As with any time you are not cooking the food yourself, you basically have two options to estimate the calories (and it will always be an estimate):

1. Log each element of the dish separately, estimating the serving size. So, if you chose the buffalo chicken sandwich, you'd log the chicken breast, the buffalo sauce, the bun, the toppings, all separately.

2. Find a similar dish at a chain restaurant that posts their menu calories. So, log it as an Applebee's buffalo chicken sandwich.

It will be far from exact, but might at least give you an idea.

apullum

Assuming you don't often eat this way, I would choose the food that you want to eat for that meal, log it as best you can, and move on. One larger-than-usual meal has no impact on your weight-related goals; it's only going to have an effect if you are frequently not hitting your calorie target.

Personally, I'd probably go for the Caribbean or "Chicken Izzy" sandwiches and one of the flavored fry options. Since I don't eat meat, I'd ask if they could put the veggie patty on my sandwich instead of chicken. That's because I think those options sound good, not because those are inherently low calorie choices

artanis50

apullum wrote: »

Assuming you don't often eat this way, I would choose the food that you want to eat for that meal, log it as best you can, and move on. One larger-than-usual meal has no impact on your weight-related goals; it's only going to have an effect if you are frequently not hitting your calorie target.

Thanks. I don’t normally eat like that - well at least not since I started tracking calories this month. But I’m also going out Friday night which will make 2 days eating out in a row so I wanted to make the best calorie choice possible.

apullum

artanis50 wrote: »

apullum wrote: »

Assuming you don't often eat this way, I would choose the food that you want to eat for that meal, log it as best you can, and move on. One larger-than-usual meal has no impact on your weight-related goals; it's only going to have an effect if you are frequently not hitting your calorie target.

Thanks. I don’t normally eat like that - well at least not since I started tracking calories this month. But I’m also going out Friday night which will make 2 days eating out in a row so I wanted to make the best calorie choice possible.

We go out 1 or 2 times a week. I save a few hundred calories in the days before for those larger meals, so I still hit my calorie goal for the week.

Lattesweet

Since I see a lot of sandwich based meals, you should get something and just ask for no roll..instead of fries, get salad. That alone will save you some calories and will make the meal feel lighter.

artanis50

miriamkotku wrote: »

Since I see a lot of sandwich based meals, you should get something and just ask for no roll..instead of fries, get salad. That alone will save you some calories and will make the meal feel lighter.

That was the plan - to skip the bun. Trying to decide between the grilled buffalo chicken or the burger. I’m guessing the chicken is the better choice.

kristen8000

When eating out I tend to get what I want, not eat the bun and maybe leave a few toppings out...

But, on that menu, I'd do the PB Bowl with Chicken. Guac on the side (eat minimal of it). I'm a volume eater!

I usually order what I can be satisfied by and be full.

artanis50

I think I’m going to go for that without the guacamole.