Who else loves eating out?

xospa812
xospa812 Posts: 4 Member
edited November 19 in Food and Nutrition
Any others who get a majority of their meals from eating out? I'm a single, 23 YO who lives alone and works 12 hour days M-F in my corporate job. Apart from packing snacks, I don't prepare much food at home and when I do, it tends to be unhealthy processed/frozen foods (lots of lean pockets, haha).
I don't have too much time to commit to cooking my meals - and frankly, cooking nice meals for one isn't worth it since i spend a lot on ingredients and I end up with a lot of leftovers that get thrown out(no one wants to eat the same meal 5 nights in a row). Weekends, I'm dining out with friends and family anyway. Over time, I seem to spend less eating out (for example, one foot long sub from subway- half for lunch and half for dinner). In summary-
•it fits my hectic work schedule
•I prefer the taste
•I like not spending time in the kitchen when I'm tired from work
•Typically, I eat fresher vs at home where it's prepackaged and frozen

Anyway- I would love to hear some of your suggestions on healthy meals when eating out (both restaurant and fast food). I've been eating the same stuff- panera, chick fil a, and subway so I can count the calories- but would love new suggestions! Thanks!

Replies

  • stv1520
    stv1520 Posts: 199 Member
    I do too, but make sure I order the best option available. Subway--tons of veggies on sandwich, no chips. Had a bacon cheeseburger the other night-no bun or fries. Things like that. Toughest part for me is beer! And trying to cut down on that during a nice summer ride....
  • l911jnt
    l911jnt Posts: 164 Member
    I seriously love eating out tho I do cook at home alot. My biggest help is going online before, looking at their menu and planning out what I am going to get to fit my calories. My biggest help is plan, plan, plan ahead. ALMOST all restaurants have stuff you can eat, you just have to search. Some are really hard, like I have found that Beef O Bradys has ridiculously high calorie counts in their food and I hate trying to find something there.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,571 Member
    When I was your age I dropped about 25 pounds naturally, while never cooking. My lifestyle went from sedentary/lightly active to active. I was eating pretty cheaply as well, because I moved to NYC. So my packaged meals were "a can of soup". I worked at a restaurant and remember being a bit weight conscious so I did try to choose wisely. But yeah. Weight just flew off.

    Now I cook and I can't lose a freaking pound.
  • DanaReel180
    DanaReel180 Posts: 463 Member
    Subway has a lot of carbs. I only eat Sara Lee 45 cal. a slice bread. I have that in the morning with peanut butter and fruit. (under 300 cal.)
    You can pickup pre-made salads at the grocery store that are pretty good too.
    Eating out is a bit tricky. I'm retired now but when I worked downtown Austin, I would bring a salad that I made the night before. Make it upside down so the lettuce doesn't wilt. Flip it over on a paper plate. Also bring fruit for snacks.
    I had my desk stocked with lunch supplies and kcups to save money. I would walk around the corner to Starbucks for a treat once in a while or go out to lunch. But lunch is expensive downtown!!
  • Momepro
    Momepro Posts: 1,509 Member
    A lot of smaller restaurants will help out, even if they don't have a calorie count. Invest in a small ultra thin scale to measure portion sizes while traveling. And don't be afraid to ask how much "average" of certain ingrediants are in dishes like omelets or pastas with sauce and meats. Worse they can say is sorry, we don't keep track that way.
  • sarahdelrosso
    sarahdelrosso Posts: 19 Member
    It's liberating to eat out and not have to clean so much. Very careful about those menu items. I tried Plant in Burlingame, but the service wasn't that great. I like the veggie soups or chopped salads.
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    No. I've never had the single life. Growing up, we were a family of 6, 2 parents and 4 children, and we generally ate home cooked meals. I left home when I got married and over a period of time had 3 children, so that's a family of 2 gradually growing to 5, and we've mostly had home cooked meals.
  • aerdnaveg
    aerdnaveg Posts: 9 Member
    I make my own breakfasts and lunches but eat dinner out quite often. Here's where I usually go/what I usually eat (I'm in Canada):

    - Subway
    - Extreme Pita
    - Freshii
    - Chipotle (I always opt for a burrito bowl
    - Harvey's
    - Zoup
    - Sushi
    - Thai (veggies and tofu with rice and curry sauce or rice noodles, usually enough for 2 meals)
    - Indian (one curry and rice or naan, usually enough for 2-3 meals)
    - Mediterranean (a plate usually comes with a huge salad and rice, plus whatever protein you choose, easily 2 meals)
    - Starbucks (grab a drink and a salad)
    - Vegtarian roti (eat half, save half for another meal)
  • raquele3394
    raquele3394 Posts: 180 Member
    I try not to go out, usually end up eating more than I should!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    raquele3394 wrote: »
    I try not to go out, usually end up eating more than I should!

    This, lol.
  • mjbnj0001
    mjbnj0001 Posts: 1,272 Member
    I love eating out.

    It's made me twice the man I used to be. Literally.

    Well, to be honest, I voluntarily helped the weight-gain along the way, so it's not all on the eating-out places.

    I'm much more constrained in my eating out now - and I especially try to avoid the fast food and casual-eating places because they make it very easy to pack on the pounds. I also find that getting more creative in the kitchen and progressively "cleaning up" our eating makes some of these places less attractive in terms of the foods being offered. It also helps, and I recognize this, that I'm semi-retired and have a lot more time to prepare better food at home than when I was younger and we had jobs, kids activities and all those other run-around things to do.
  • mjbnj0001
    mjbnj0001 Posts: 1,272 Member
    sarahdelrosso wrote: »
    It's liberating to eat out and not have to clean so much. Very careful about those menu items. I tried Plant in Burlingame, but the service wasn't that great. I like the veggie soups or chopped salads.

    Burlinghame near San Francisco? I did a lot of extended-travel "away" projects in my day (I live in USA Mid-Atlantic), which meant a lot of eating out. We used to go to a decent seafood place ("K"-name, I forget - it was the 90s/00s) on the water, a back-bay kind of place off the freeway, as part of our "restaurant rotation." Still there?

    Following up on my posting above, the no-cleanup aspect is great. I'm in the kitchen now, in my semi-retired status, seven days a week, cooking for the family. Since they're all still full-time working, I'm also usually the cleanup crew as well. I love the creative part of the cook's job; the drudgework, not so much, LOL!
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