Healthy Fast Food?

Chic Fil A Market Fresh Salad (no dressing or toppings) its 200 cals and it really fills me up. I dont think there are too many cals if you add the dressings or toppings, but I personally dont need them. Add my coke zero and I'm set.

I look for a grocery store and grab stuff there. You can always go up to the deli counter and get a portion of lunch meat sliced for you. Get a chopped salad maker bag or a pre-prepped salad and a yogurt or fruit or granola bar and you're all set. You could get 3 oz of meat for about 2 dollars, a bag of salad mix for 3 dollars and a yogurt for 1 dollar. That is all less expensive than most other wholesome, balanced and filling fast food meals.

I had an Egg McMuffin for bfast a week ago as I had to be at a customer site 150 miles from my home by 9am.

It threw the McD's counter girl for a loop when I asked for apple slices instead of the hashbrowns to go with my black coffee.

She had to get a manager to help her. Apparently, I'm the only one who has ever made that breakfast order.

IIRC, ~330 calories for that breakfast and a good spread of carbs, fat and protein. Had I had the hashed browns instead, it would have been closer to 500 and blown through my prescribed carb limit for a meal.

I don’t have kids but I do have a crazy-busy job and can empathize that sometimes quick and easy is what you need most.

I try to manage busy days by making sure I always have low calorie ready meals in my freezer. I’m a vegan so I opt for Amy’s kitchen, but check out the freezer section in your grocery store and you’ll find something that appeals. I find frozen meals that have about 350 calories and then I’ll add veggies to it (Frozen are quick and healthy). That way I know I always have a dinner in my freezer that can be ready in under 10 mins. I try to head home and eat rather than stopping on the way home.

Eating out is a psychological challenge because there’s so much good food on offer it’s easy to given in and blow the diet, especially when you’re hungry before you’ve even walked in.

Most chains have nutritional info on their website so you can use that make good choices. I like Panera bread and seasons 52 for low cal options. Yesterday my hubby wanted pizza so we ended up at California Pizza Kitchen. Walked in thinking “what on earth can I eat here?!” But after taking a look at the nutritional values I realized I could have a bowl of pea soup and a flatbread (no cheese) and still be within my calorie allowance for dinner. Result!

Canned black beans with frozen broccoli and Ro-Tel (together) are often savior. Less than 5 minutes.

OP, I'm not in your situation anymore but I was at one point (Full time job, long commute, two kids). The crockpot was out of the question for me during the week because I was gone way longer than it's longest cycle, nor did I want to be putting things together at 5AM in the morning. SO....I would actually do my crockpot cooking on the weekend and save it for later. Chili, beef stew, pulled pork for BBQ sandwiches. Can you do that for one day on the weekend? Then you have one meal down.

For another meal, don't ever underestimate "breakfast for dinner?" My kids loved this and breakfast is usually pretty quick to throw together. You could make several Egg McMuffins at home, or pancakes. For you, you can make it an egg-white, canadian bacon thing and keep the calories low.

For going out, my best calorie friendly place is Panera. To me, they aren't overly cheap though so I can imagine with a family of 4, plus yourself, that's a pretty pricey "fast" food.

You've gotten great suggestions from Chipotle, Taco Bell, Subway and Chick-Fil-A. All of them can keep you in check.

You don't say if you have any $$ issue, but this can get pretty pricey, not to mention the sodium. Another poster upthread mentioned eating frozen meals at home. While they are not the healthiest due to the sodium content in some of them, I believe they are an improvement over some of the dining out options. Buy some kid-friendly ones and steam some veggies on the side.

At Mcdonalds I usually just grab an artisan chicken fillet or two(not the sandwich, just the meat, and if I'm feeling really hungry have tomatos and lettuce on the side.
Jack in the box it's the chicken fajita pita without the grilled onions. Subway, it's generally just the tuna or other sandwich fillings without the bread for me. Taco Bell, I give up, because a soft taco supreme, extra cheese extra sour cream and a bean burrito extra cheese are guilty pleasures that have little nutritional value, and are stupidly high in calories for the very small amount of time they are filling, and are never going to fit properly into my budget, lol.

Hell, I only have ONE kid and our weeknights are usually crazy. I walk in the door after work and then rush her over to taekwondo several nights a week. Good to know there are decent options for the nights that we grab 'n go.

A lot of places you can order a side salad and get plain protein on it either burger Patty or piece of grilled chicken- if hungry get 2 protein. I break up the meat. I've noticed I get almost same amount of lettuce and goodies like tomato and carrot etc in some fast food places (Wendy's and mcds) so it comes out cheaper to do it this way than getting a specialty salad with sad cheese and whatever else they can throw at it that leaves me hungry for too many calories. Usually a tasty Italian dressing is available for low calories.

Wendy's can also get small chili and plain baked potato. - dump chili on it for a pretty filling meal.

I eat bread but do find it's a great thing to avoid to save calories if eating out. Sauce and cheese too. Love cheese but I almost never even notice it's not on fast food when I order without.

Taco Bell has the bowls but ours seems to load way too much delicious rice into it that makes me very wary of the calories it's supposed to be. I find a couple spicy tostadas light sauce (ask because it comes on it already) are very filling for about 270* each tostada. That is the most filling option for me. Hard tacos are around 170 each so you could have 2 or 3.

McDonald's salad like someone above mentioned. With grilled chicken it's 350, with crispy it's 450. Dressing is 100 if you add it. A buddy of mine works there and he says it's pretty healthy compared to how they make other food

Chunkahlunkah wrote: »

There's of course the meal prep route of having whole meals or meal components ready ahead of time that you just throw together. And other quick meal ideas at home. But if I were busy with 4 kids, I could definitely see myself wanting to occasionally have quick meals prepared for me by someone else. If that feeling struck, I don't think even getting prepared foods at the grocery store would cut it; I'd want to just order something and eat it. So I'd probably fit a Five Guys burger into my dinner calories once or twice a week or some other fast food meal that I like.

Five Guys? You have to get their "little hamburger" and put nothing but lettuce and tomato on it to get under 500 calories and then just barely; ketchup would put you over. That's just the burger with no sides. Yes, you can fit it in if it is that important to you. But I would not put Five Guys on the list of Healthy Fast Food (the topic of this thread).

If for you and the kids but you want something besides a quick sandwich, having microwaveable bags of rice and veggies and easy protein (canned beans, cheese for example) would only take a few minutes to toss together. Uncle Ben’s and Seeds for Change have nice ones. They say two servings, but I get four servings out of them for myself.

For just yourself - as the only human in the house, kitchen-challenged and low energy sometimes, I use snack and sandwich zip bags and small containers (oxo baby blocks and Rubbermaid half cups are really sturdy) to portion out veggies and fruit and individual veggie burgers and sausages and rinsed canned beans etc. for the freezer. Sometimes I use fresh fruit and veg for this if ambitious, otherwise get frozen. Canned (rinsed) works as well. Frozen fruit packs are like instant sorbet... Just about any fruit or veg can be frozen this way, cut in pieces when necessary. Frozen berries, seedless grapes, and citrus segments are especially nice. I also portion out nondairy ice cream in the Oxo 2oz containers.

I just grab the relevant packs of veggies and/or beans, pour them into a paper bowl (no cleanup!), and microwave for a few minutes. If needed, I add peanuts or nuts/seeds or some commercial veggie protein.

For example, I was portioning out a bunch of Birdseye steamer bags yesterday (on sale!!!) and putting the weights on each pack for quick tracking: Brussels sprouts, peppers/onion stir fry, rice with tiny bits of veg, a barley/kale etc. mix that was very tasty and nonallergenic (vegetarian here with dairy/egg allergies) plus Green Giant roasted broccoli. Also packed up some canned beans and portions of some baked sweet potatoes. The leftovers from the veggie packs I wanted (by weight) became a nice quick meal together with a full pack of beans and a piece of veggie sausage. If you can eat dairy with no problem, Birdseye also has a lot of protein/veg/bean/sauce steamer bags. One of them can actually be a meal in itself. I also freeze cups of soup and other things in small Pyrex bowls with tight lids (for example, I will eat one half of a can of soup and freeze the other half).

I protect servings of raw greens and other raw veg (whole or cut up) in the fridge by putting servings in zip bags, placing a small piece of paper towel in each. Much less spoilage this way for one person and can’t get more convenient. (Yes, having to pull out a big bag is an impediment for me...) Those snack size bags are great - 4 oz of baby carrots fit in one, for example. 1/4 of a 14oz bag of shredded coleslaw cabbage fits in a zip sandwich bag. Cut up bell peppers last longer this way also. The plastic bags can be washed out and reused. Quart and gallon size slider bags are great for holding the packs in the freezer or fridge, or else plastic box containers. .

The advantage of this is not only speed in prep when actually in a hurry, but also it lets me have a lot of variety. Much better than eating the same thing every day to get rid of a big pot full.

Of chains I would go to: Sweetgreen, Chop't, Pret, Cava, Protein Bar, Roti, Taylor, Chipotle, Paul, or Au Bon Pain.