Healthier choices on a pub food menu?

rougenoire

Help! I am meeting a friend tonight and we are going for food in a pub, this is a long standing plan and for various reasons it's not changing and so to help me (even vaguely!) stay on track I am trying to plan what I can have from the menu. I have around 800kcal left but I have a feeling that isn't enough!

It's quite a traditional British pub with steaks, pies, fish and chips, bbq glazed chicken, gammon and eggs, local butcher burgers and sausages etc. Nothing immediately jumps out as a good choice and the majority of things come with something friend or are fried themselves. What kind of things would you go for if you were me?

Rarity2013

I mentioned it just a little while ago on another thread, but a lot of pubs have menu options marked for 500 calories or less now (this is true of Marston pubs, and I think Wetherspoons put calorie content on all their items). You may be able to check online as well.
If this pub doesn't, possibly try something vegetarian? Lots of the vegetarian options are things like pasta with a chunky veg sauce, so its hard to imagine where they crowbar in much fat, but really, if it's the exception rather than the rule, I wouldn't worry about it.

Next time, just make sure you hit a pub where they do have a low calorie menu.

hjy319

See if they would prepare a chicken breast plain with glaze on the side, and some veggies. Otherwise a grilled steak isnt a bad choice as long as it isn't later drenched in butter or blue cheese ect.
Good luck!!

EmmaKarney

Jacket potato with tuna or something like a veggie chilli would be a good option.

Stay off the booze too to save a few more calories.

Rachshuv

Steak and jacket potato with salad. All pubs will do jacket instead of chips and steak is a healthier alternative esp if grilled. Gammon if they haven't got beef...

Rachshuv

If you're drinking then a vodka and soda water no pints!

kennie2

quite a lot of pubs now offer "healthy" options too, do you have a menu of the place? im sure we could find a few things that arent too bad from there

Vailara

It depends what you mean by "healthy". (Low-sugar, low-fat, low-carb, high-veg, low saturated fat, high "good fats", etc., etc. There are so many different interpretations and goals!).

Glazed BBQ chicken will probably be sugary, for instance, but if you don't mind a bit of sugar, it's fine. I've managed to get a portion of veg instead of chips before (although the veg wasn't that well cooked ). A small steak with veg/salad might be a good choice. You could have chips but not eat them all. I would say jacket potato but I always want to put a load of butter on them . Burger without the bun if you want to cut back on some of the carbs/calories.

I rarely eat out, so when I do I often just have something I like, don't stuff myself, and don't worry too much about it. You don't need to eat ALL the chips if you order them. My boyfriend loves eating out with me, because he says he always gets 1 and 1/2 portions! So if you have a big eater with you, offer them some of yours!

rougenoire

Thanks everyone! While the menu is online they don't have calorie counts or healthy options so I'm guessing blind really to the actual contents of the food. The veggie options are loaded in sour cream/cheese or bechamel sauce so good for actual vegetables but less good for calories although I will consider that next time as I hadn't though about going for the veggie choice.

the best choices filtering through with your advice seem to be
gammon and eggs with salad/veg instead of the gorgeous sounding skin on hand cut chips.
bbq glazed chicken with salad or veg again instead of the chips
steak with veg or sald (noticing a theme yet?)

there are salads nestled in a corner of the menu but they are the opposite end of the scale with mainly salad leaves and a token bit of protein and a low cal dressing - I'd have to add the chips to them to make me satisfied!

Shadowknight137

Steak and potatoes.

Freaking delicious after a pint or two. ;D