take out meals for family?

aplhabetacheesecake

Hi Mfp'ers! I need some suggestions!
we are a super busy young family and I do up a dinner menu plan once a week-generally with 1 take out/fast food night

I was completely stumped last night, while writing up the menu plan- as wednesday is our shop night-its busy, i get home from work and head right back out to get groceries, pick up kids and then grab take out for dinner...the rest of the week is planned with the groceries we bought.

In the past we usually rotated that take out night with pizza, chinese, sometimes subs, or fish n chips

so, each week I have been gradually making healthier changes to the family meal plan so its not a complete shock to kids and hubby, but I was truly stumped what to do for take out after grocery shopping tonight!

I am pizza'd out, hubby suggested chinese but I dont trust my own estimation on the calories- the suggestions on mfp for wonton soup range from 150cal to 650 cals!!!!

fish n chips or fish n salad is a NO- just dont want the deep fry

hubby-who is also mfp'ing suggested mcdonalds LOL um no, yes the kids would eat it, yes i have calories for it, but why waste so many cals on so little food?

I resolved to get one of the grocery stores rotisserie chickens and will serve with some corn tortillas salsa and lettuce and cheese


its fast, but I still have to do some prep, and I would really just prefer to put groceries away and have dinner already made

I know I should have made something last night to just "reheat" today, but im not THAT organized!

What do you all grab for a quick take away meal?

I am also in Canada- not so awesome take out places here lol

shyfranklinstein

Mongolian BBQ is great! You can load up on veggies and choose less sugary sauces! I love love love it!

youngmommy2

My husband can eat anything and not gain a pound, so frustrating!

So what I do for quick takeaway meals on those busy nights:

If everyone wants McDonald's, I get a grilled chicken salad and use one packet of balsamic vinaigrette. That with a large unsweetened iced tea or diet coke usually fills me up and not very many calories at all.

My favorite is Wendy's. I get a small chili (180 c) and a garden side salad (20c). I just top the salad with the chili and no dressing. If I have enough calories I'll get a 4 piece spicy chicken nuggets (170c) yum.

the Fresco steak or chicken soft tacos from taco bell are not bad and filling.

I also get the rotisserie chickens from the store and just use the frozen steam-able veggies and Birdseye also makes frozen rice in the steam-able packs too. I think you can also get potato/veggie blends too? Just pop them in the microwave while your putting groceries away.

ImaWaterBender

I like Chick Fil A's Asian Salad with grilled chicken. I don't use the toppings and I use my own dressing. The others eat the sandwiches and fries.

StaciMarie1974

I don't know what fast food options you have but I've learned to have go-to meals at a lot of places.

Zaxby's - awesome salads w/ grilled chicken.
McD's - in a pinch, a cheeseburger happy meal w/ mini fries & apples is 415 calories. Enough food for me but bland on the burger so its really a 'I don't have time but I must eat something' situation
Chick Fil A - like their fruit, grilled nuggets or grilled sandwich
Subway-plenty of options

I have not done Chinese food recently for my own meal, though did have an egg roll when picking up something for Hubby. Found a listing in MFP for 190 calories and figured that was fair as the bulk of the inside is veggie. I think I could estimate reasonably well w/ sweet & sour chicken/rice. And just watch my portion sizes. I imagine the chicken would be 80-100 calories per ounce.

Francl27

I don't. I mean seriously... it takes as long to make pasta or eggs as it takes to go get take out or wait for the delivery, and we always have that in the house - and soup, cans of tuna, rice, bread, frozen chicken nuggets for the kids, frozen meatballs, frozen veggies... We could make four different things for the four of us in like 10 minutes.

We only order pizza when we want pizza.

JenSD6

If you want rotisserie chicken, what about Swiss Chalet? Can get a family pack to go.

hirstrl

sometimes if we want to go out but dont have the time i will call an order in to chili's or applebees (would work at any take out restraunt) and i can tell them what time i want to pick it up. so if i have to stop at the store or run some errands i can do that first then swing by and pick up dinner. i like applebees 550 picks and chilis has some good selctions too. alot of the dinners at chili's are big enough to share so i can order one meal and share it with my youngest daughter. does double duty...one meal feeds 2 and i only consume 1/2 the calories i also like the taco bell fresco style foods also in a pinch