Best options at Chipotle?

msuzie

I just finished my Chipotle lunch a few minutes ago! I had a burrito bowl with barbacoa, brown rice, pinto beans, fajita vegetables, pico, hot tomatillo salsa, and lettuce. FANTASTIC. A little over 500 calories.

CWSpiegel

You people DO realize Chipotle is owned by the McDonald's corporation right? Yes, it's a better option than a burger, but I would still treat it as fast food and only eat it sparingly. Remember, the caloric totals posted on websites reflect food and portions that are made by THEIR kitchen staff. Each restaurant will vary, and I'm sure they are using far more oil and salt then the people making it at the corporate test kitchen.

Also, Mexican food is probably the easiest cuisine to make at home, considering black beans come ready-to-eat in a can, and they have microwavable brown rice individual servings that take 60 seconds to nuke, and a chicken breast has to be literally thrown in the oven for 45 minutes. Add cheese and some sour cream, and you've got one of those "bowls" everyone is raving about. Take 1 hour at home and make yourself homemade mexican food for a week, for half the cost of a meal at Chipotle, and probably 98% better for you.

Sorry to be a downer. Flames to PM.

taso42

You people DO realize Chipotle is owned by the McDonald's corporation right? Yes, it's a better option than a burger, but I would ....

Short Answer: No, Chipotle is not owned by McDonald's.
Long Answer:
Chipotle became a susidiary of McDonald's in 1999 when McDonald's acquired the controlling stake of the company. At one point, McDonald's owned shares accounting for approximately 87% of the voting power of Chipotle's common stock. In Chipotle's earlier stages, McDonald's helped Chipotle's operations by sharing its own distribution networks.

Currently, Mcdonald's no longer has anything to do with Chipotle Mexican Grill. They have divested completely from Chipotle.

Source: Joe Stupp, General Manager, Chipotle.com

via http://www.chipotlefan.com/index.php?id=chipotlemcdonalds

And besides. Who the hell cares who owns them. They serve delicious food with great macros. As far as fast food goes, it's one of the best options around.

gspaulding3

Fajita Burrito bowl with brown rice, no beans, (any meat is about the same) -- NO CHEESE, NO GUAC, NO SOUR CREAM. Any salsa is about the same. Corn salsa has a few more calories. Like others said-- NO TORTILLA SAVES 300 CALORIES. Also try to avoid the chips if you can.

gspaulding3

Well corrected!!

gspaulding3

You people DO realize Chipotle is owned by the McDonald's corporation right? Yes, it's a better option than a burger, but I would ....

Short Answer: No, Chipotle is not owned by McDonald's.
Long Answer:
Chipotle became a susidiary of McDonald's in 1999 when McDonald's acquired the controlling stake of the company. At one point, McDonald's owned shares accounting for approximately 87% of the voting power of Chipotle's common stock. In Chipotle's earlier stages, McDonald's helped Chipotle's operations by sharing its own distribution networks.

Currently, Mcdonald's no longer has anything to do with Chipotle Mexican Grill. They have divested completely from Chipotle.

Source: Joe Stupp, General Manager, Chipotle.com

via http://www.chipotlefan.com/index.php?id=chipotlemcdonalds

And besides. Who the hell cares who owns them. They serve delicious food with great macros. As far as fast food goes, it's one of the best options around.

rubygarcia86

i just did the calculations on the website for my fave: chicken, white rice, black beans, pico de gallo (tomato salsa), a bit of sour cream, guac, cheese and lettuce = 875! AHH thats horrible. but now i know where i can cut corners to make it a bit better.

Rilke

You people DO realize Chipotle is owned by the McDonald's corporation right? Yes, it's a better option than a burger, but I would ....

Short Answer: No, Chipotle is not owned by McDonald's.
Long Answer:
Chipotle became a susidiary of McDonald's in 1999 when McDonald's acquired the controlling stake of the company. At one point, McDonald's owned shares accounting for approximately 87% of the voting power of Chipotle's common stock. In Chipotle's earlier stages, McDonald's helped Chipotle's operations by sharing its own distribution networks.

Currently, Mcdonald's no longer has anything to do with Chipotle Mexican Grill. They have divested completely from Chipotle.

Source: Joe Stupp, General Manager, Chipotle.com

via http://www.chipotlefan.com/index.php?id=chipotlemcdonalds

And besides. Who the hell cares who owns them. They serve delicious food with great macros. As far as fast food goes, it's one of the best options around.

Thank you.

Siggy86

I always get the the salad (same thing as a bowl but they put the lettuce at the bottom and give you dressing). I always ask for light brown rice, pinto beans, chicken, medium salsa, and guacamole. Depending on my calorie count for the day I use the dressing (which is like 270 cals Yowzers!). I never add cheese or sour cream though so I'm able to save a ton of cals there.

Krissy366

Also, Mexican food is probably the easiest cuisine to make at home, considering black beans come ready-to-eat in a can, and they have microwavable brown rice individual servings that take 60 seconds to nuke, and a chicken breast has to be literally thrown in the oven for 45 minutes. Add cheese and some sour cream, and you've got one of those "bowls" everyone is raving about. Take 1 hour at home and make yourself homemade mexican food for a week, for half the cost of a meal at Chipotle, and probably 98% better for you.

Actually - I totally agree with this part of your post. Everytime I go to Chipotle I do think to myself that I could easily make a weeks worth for what they charge me for one bowl. Haven't gotten around to doing it yet, but at some point I basically want to make and freeze my own bowls to just take with me to work. And as soon as all my veggies grow I'll be able to make my own salsa to go with it. :-)

CWSpiegel

Thank you for that information. I stand corrected.

But, and I'm sorry if I didn't make this clear, my main point was that Chipotle is still fast food and you should eat it sparingly, and would really be better off to be cooking at home. Yes, it is probably the best option out there if you are really in a rush, not only because, well it's healthier and they try to use natural products whenever possible, but because it IS very tasty and everyone will usually agree on it. That's much better than going to another fast food place and having to eat one of those terrible salads with the sugar-dressing while your pals wolf down a bacon cheeseburger.

I often see threads about people not understanding why they aren't losing weight, and then you look at their diary and it is full of take-out and fast food. Maybe I'm cynical, but I don't trust information on caloric content that is subject to the individual restaurant's (and cooks) own method of preparing. I love Thai food, but the Pad Se Ew at my restaurant is definitely different from the Pad Se Ew at your Thai restaurant, even if they use the same brand of noodles and have essentially the same ingredients, simply because it is an individual that is making the food, and they may have a heavy hand with the canola oil or peanuts. One of the things that IS great about Chipotle is that each restaurant has disgression over the products they buy and they aren't just zapping or steaming the a frozen patty, but that same selling point also creates differences in the caloric nutrition of the dishes from restaurant to restaurant.

When you cook for yourself, you know what you are putting in the food. Take the time to do it. It's fun, you get to be creative...it even helps with dating! And I know what dissenters will say "Oh, I don't have time". You make time. I have a 9-5 job soul-sucking corporate job, I'm going for my MA at night 3 days a week, and I coach a middle school lacrosse team. Would I rather spend a Sunday afternoon watching the baseball game and having a beer. Yes, I would. But thats short-term, fleeting happiness. I would rather be healthy, live longer, and look good naked. So I take the time to make some meals ahead of time, so that when I am truly busy, I have the easy choice for health instead of eating out.

I'm sorry if I offended the Chipotle lovers out there. Hell, I even like Chipotle. There's one 3 blocks from my house. The only fast food I will eat is Evo's and Chipotle. I just do it sparingly. I got overweight by eating out, and losing weight is mostly about nutrition. This probably wasn't the thread to post my opinion on cooking vs. eating out, but at the time it seemed sensible. Then again "Want to get into an argument online? Post your opinion and wait."

Thanks for reading,

Chris

sweetpea129

Just went here yesterday for dinner! I loooove chipotle. I get a barbacoa bowl, lettuce, tomtatoe, sour cream, cheese and white rice. Yeah, i should probably do brown but i love their white rice and i dont go often so whatever, i "splurge".

Rilke

Thank you for that information. I stand corrected.

But, and I'm sorry if I didn't make this clear, my main point was that Chipotle is still fast food and you should eat it sparingly, and would really be better off to be cooking at home. Yes, it is probably the best option out there if you are really in a rush, not only because, well it's healthier and they try to use natural products whenever possible, but because it IS very tasty and everyone will usually agree on it. That's much better than going to another fast food place and having to eat one of those terrible salads with the sugar-dressing while your pals wolf down a bacon cheeseburger.

I often see threads about people not understanding why they aren't losing weight, and then you look at their diary and it is full of take-out and fast food. Maybe I'm cynical, but I don't trust information on caloric content that is subject to the individual restaurant's (and cooks) own method of preparing. I love Thai food, but the Pad Se Ew at my restaurant is definitely different from the Pad Se Ew at your Thai restaurant, even if they use the same brand of noodles and have essentially the same ingredients, simply because it is an individual that is making the food, and they may have a heavy hand with the canola oil or peanuts. One of the things that IS great about Chipotle is that each restaurant has disgression over the products they buy and they aren't just zapping or steaming the a frozen patty, but that same selling point also creates differences in the caloric nutrition of the dishes from restaurant to restaurant.

When you cook for yourself, you know what you are putting in the food. Take the time to do it. It's fun, you get to be creative...it even helps with dating! And I know what dissenters will say "Oh, I don't have time". You make time. I have a 9-5 job soul-sucking corporate job, I'm going for my MA at night 3 days a week, and I coach a middle school lacrosse team. Would I rather spend a Sunday afternoon watching the baseball game and having a beer. Yes, I would. But thats short-term, fleeting happiness. I would rather be healthy, live longer, and look good naked. So I take the time to make some meals ahead of time, so that when I am truly busy, I have the easy choice for health instead of eating out.

I'm sorry if I offended the Chipotle lovers out there. Hell, I even like Chipotle. There's one 3 blocks from my house. The only fast food I will eat is Evo's and Chipotle. I just do it sparingly. I got overweight by eating out, and losing weight is mostly about nutrition. This probably wasn't the thread to post my opinion on cooking vs. eating out, but at the time it seemed sensible. Then again "Want to get into an argument online? Post your opinion and wait."

Thanks for reading,

Chris

I think you make good points here. Caloric values of any food in any restaurant will be estimates at best, and probably more often ballpark figures. The most accurate are likely places like McDonald's where the foodlike substances are all uniform, like plastic products off an assembly line. Obviously, Chipotle's good sourcing practices and actual food offerings are a better choice.

I, too, got overweight by eating burgers, chicken sandwiches, Blizzards, fettucine alfredo, and other crap from fast food joints and chain restaurants. I take complete responsibility for all this, mind, but the facts stand.

However, I don't think the question posed in this thread and others like it are completely about exact calorie counts. Maybe for some people they are. But I participate in them with my opinions and preferences because seeking decent options when eating out is also about overall healthfulness of these dishes, which usually coincides with avoiding calorie bombs. That's why I really appreciated the "Eat This, Not That" series when I was losing the bulk of my weight. People who aren't super knowledgable about nutrition and are trying to learn how to intuitively make good choices appreciate others' input. Even if the calorie counts are not exact, it sure is nice to know that those Chipotle tortillas are ~300 calories and really not worth it.

Also, now I want Thai, so thanks a lot man.

MelMena

I like Chipolte because I CAN portion control more than I can at other places. I know that their sodium is out of control and I pay for it the next day but I can control most of the rest.

jillianmaduray

Naked Burrito...with chicken...best ever

LilacDreamer

the worst thing in chipotle is the salad dressing (high in sodium and it has like 28 grams of fat). avoid that and you're golden.

marilyngrant18

I'm another Chipotle fan; I just had my usual for dinner: salad (no dressing) with brown rice, black beans, veggies, chicken, mild salsa, green chiles and cheese with lime juice for dressing. It's scrumptious and about 600 calories, around 450 without the rice. I often get two meals out of one bowl but today I was starving and ate the entire salad in one sitting. It's HIGH in sodium so be careful there. I usually drink water with my meal but if I want something with a little kick I go for a blackberry IZZE--sparkling water with blackberry juice.