Fast food lunch ideas

S

SteelerGirl

New member
Good morning All!

I get an hour lunch break every day and was wondering if anyone could advise some lunch ideas? I would prefer to go to fast food and I obviously know when ordering any sandwich, to get it without the bun. But is there anything else? I'm afraid I will get tired of the same thing (burgers or chicken) over and over again. I am doing the low carb diet.

GREATLY appreciate it!!
 
SteelerGirl said:
Good morning All!

I get an hour lunch break every day and was wondering if anyone could advise some lunch ideas? I would prefer to go to fast food and I obviously know when ordering any sandwich, to get it without the bun. But is there anything else? I'm afraid I will get tired of the same thing (burgers or chicken) over and over again. I am doing the low carb diet.

GREATLY appreciate it!!
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You would prefer fast food but you're trying to lose weight? To me, that makes no sense.

I would recommend making your lunch. That way, you know exactly what you're eating. Plus, you're not eating overly fatty, over salted, fried foods all the time.
 
Hey Steeler Girl,

I completely agree with Chef. I have been on South Beach since last August, and have lost about 55 pounds. The only way I could really eat low-carb at lunch, was to make my own. What I do now, is cook about 4 meals/ week, with 4 servings. My wife and I eat 2 servings for dinner, and then over the week, take the left-overs in a cheap lunch-cooler from Target. The lunch cooler and an ice-pack (re-usable) were about 10 bucks total from Target. It keeps the lunch cool all morning until lunch-time.

This is the only way to keep processed sugars from ending up in your food. Even dressings on salads in take-out places are sweetened.

If you MUST eat take-out, I typically eat a salad from a place like Panera. They have a couple of salads that are only about 400 calories (with easy dressing)... it's great, and low-carb.

I didn't really start losing weight, until I started really planning ahead and making my lunch, and making healthy, low-carb snacks (celerey and laughing cow cheese, hard-boiled eggs, etc.)..

good luck!
 
I have no idea what you really can/can't have on low carb diet...so these suggestions might not help you at all based on some of them being starch & carb based.
I am eating low fat & complex carbs before 5 pm, so these are things I allow myself from fast food:
Wendy's small chili with onions, side salad w/ 1/2 pkt. light ranch, OR sour cream & chive baked potato w/o margarine
Mc Donald's: oatmeal w/ fruit, small yogurt parfait with a sm. amount of the granola,
Subway chicken terriyaki sandwich with double veg. on wheat oat
Big Spoon fat free frozen yogurt w/ chopped almonds 1x per week.

I did have a Low Carb Six Dollar Burger w/o sauces or pickles (added salsa) the other day after walking 5 miles with my hubby & the dogs. I was ravenous! that's the most sat. fat I've eaten in 3 mos. at one sitting... But it was good....and I stayed within most of my other allotments for the day thanks to the exercise.
Aren't you worried about sat. fat & sodium with a diet based around fast food? Not trying to judge, just curious!!!
 
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LeggedEgg said:
I have no idea what you really can/can't have on low carb diet.
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HAHAHA, I'm the same way. And, you'd think I would know better, considering I had to take nutrition in culinary school :doh:

I mean, it wasn't too long ago that I learned that corn, peas and beets had carbohydrates. So...yeeeeeah.
 
Well, let me clarify my statement: I know what a carb is, both complex or simple. LOL (didn't know about beets, but don't eat them, so...) BUT, I DO NOT know a thing about the low carb diet and how many carbs, or what types you're allowed to have. I would assume not many...based on name alone.
BTW- I am a self taught cook & LOVE it. Wanted to be a chef, but rheumatoid arthritis & fibromyalgia have pretty much put an end to that dream, unless I somehow become my own boss. Now I get to cook simply for pleasure of friends & family. learning how to switch from creme brulee to low fat options is intriguing!

Where'd you study? I dreamed of CIA...but most likely it would have been Scottsdale.
 
Definitely make your own lunch. Healthier and costs you less. But if you have to go the fast food route Subway is your best bet, at least for a cold sandwich with a lean meat. Go with the wheat bread and skip the mayonaise. Or, better yet, find a locally owned sandwich shop as their food will probably be fresher and ten times tastier.
 
There are many low carb diets, Atkins, South Beach, 4HB, etc...

low-carb, or low glycemic Index Carb diets are EXCEPTIONALLY hard diets to follow eating out. Atkins is easy, because you can eat bacon, 50-patty cheeseburgers, etc... but the other ones are tough, because not only do they focus on healthy carbs (like beans, caulliflower, etc.) they focus on low-calorie as well... things that are harder to find eating out for lunch/ dinner.
 
LeggedEgg said:
Well, let me clarify my statement: I know what a carb is, both complex or simple. LOL (didn't know about beets, but don't eat them, so...) BUT, I DO NOT know a thing about the low carb diet and how many carbs, or what types you're allowed to have. I would assume not many...based on name alone.
BTW- I am a self taught cook & LOVE it. Wanted to be a chef, but rheumatoid arthritis & fibromyalgia have pretty much put an end to that dream, unless I somehow become my own boss. Now I get to cook simply for pleasure of friends & family. learning how to switch from creme brulee to low fat options is intriguing!

Where'd you study? I dreamed of CIA...but most likely it would have been Scottsdale.
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When I went to school, it was known as the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago (which is a Le Cordon Bleu school). Since then, they've changed the name to the Le Cordon Blue College of Culinary Arts in Chicago (thank God - walking around with "CHIC" on our chef coats was kind of embarrassing).

The school was really good, but I feel as if the program was too short - only 15 months, 3 of which were an externship working in a restaurant. CIA would've been great to go to, but I wanted to move to Chicago, so I chose CHIC. I know a lot of people who have graduate from CIA and, although the culinary basis was pretty much the same, the amount of information and "text book learning" that CIA students received seemed to be far beyond what I was taught at CHIC.

But, none of that matters once you step onto the line. School umm...school doesn't help you for shit once you start working, HAHAHAHA.
 
Kinda figures...like anything else "real world" experience is more useful than book learning. Until it comes promotion time! I can only imagine the first day on the line!! You better know your chops, quite literally. lol
 
While the previous posters gave good advice, I'd like to put my two cents in.

As for fast food, it can be healthy (subway & blimplie for example). But I do know what you mean by getting tired of the same old thing down the road.

I pack my lunch usually a sandwhich, or cold cereal w/ milk or hot oatmeal w/ fruits.

I like the idea of cooking a weeks worth and then just re-heating it but I haven't tried that yet.

The area I live in is heavily populated with restaurants and places to eat so I get to find places that have healthy lunches that are portioned correctly *not a lunch that is meant for 3 people* (things like cooked veggies, soups, burgers, rice, meat, etc.)~ If you have this option then, great!, if not play around with making foods to re-heat later. I would assume there are websites that give good recipes and show you how to do them.

Hope this helps and good luck with your Journey!
 
LeggedEgg said:
Kinda figures...like anything else "real world" experience is more useful than book learning. Until it comes promotion time! I can only imagine the first day on the line!! You better know your chops, quite literally. lol
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HAHAHAH yup. And, you do receive a lot of good hands-on training in culinary school - it's just that most of it doesn't really help you while you're working on the line. I mean, ok...it does help, but not to the degree where it will make you a good chef or even a good line cook. For instance...

Our classes lasted 3 and a half hours. Once a week (or more) we would have practical exams, where we would have to make certain dishes to perfection and present them to our chefs. Well, here is one example of how cooking in a culinary school kitchen doesn't really help you work in a professional kitchen - one of my exams was to make a salad, a soup and an entree (which had to have protein and a side dish) - I had THREE AND HALF HOURS to make those things, HAHAHAHAHA!!! In a professional kitchen, you might have 3 MINUTES to throw all of that stuff together and get it plated. So, in THAT sense, culinary school doesn't help you.

However, the training you receive is very, very beneficial. The base knowledge and kitchen skills you learn are absolute fundamentals that definitely help you out - it just isn't enough to make you an instant success as soon as you're thrown on the line - the experience matters the most.
 
okay SteelerGirl, I did this and lost the weight.

I ate breakfast at home, it was usally hot oatmeal, a fruit about 10 then for lunch, at:

Wendy's - I had a small garden salad, no croutons, no salad dressing, a plain baked potato, and a small chili with a small sweetened iced tea extra lemon. (Can we say Fiber)

McDonalds - I had a garden salad, no croutons, no salad dressing, squeezed lime over the salad and water.

KFC - I had on orginal breast, without the skin, no skin, at all, not even a little bit, a drumstick, sans skin and water

And everywhere else (a deli or a diner) a chef/garden salad no croutons or salad dressing, and if I had meat, only boiled or baked, no skin, not even a pinch. with water or lightly sweetened iced tea.

Stick with that, you will lose the weight, but you know what, after a while you realize there is only so much salad you can eat, and you start bringing portion sized meals from home.
 
Its the best lunch diet and i myself usually take this in lunch and it makes a good combination and sense to the lunch. And has not much calories if you eat this in a lunch. So have good fast food and be happy.
 
Hi ya.

The only fast food place that's "safe" in my opinion is Subway and ONLY their Fresh Fit Menu Subs.

There are so many selections/good choices for Brown Bagging it.

You have to be in control of calories/carbs/sodium/ and portion size!

;)
 
If you really must Zaxby's has a great grilled chicken house salad... but it's huge so have half for lunch & half for dinner or the following day? Split it before adding a dressing and the lettuce should stay if you refrigerate it! (I personally love there light raspberry vinaigrette dressing)
 
low-carb and fast food is an impossible comination unless you limit yourself to salad, and even then you have to throw some things out.

Those sandwhiches, even without the buns, are loaded in carbs go to any fast food website look up nutritional information.

Also, the trans fats/hydrogenated oils will destroy your attempts for healthy weightloss.
 
I don't know if this counts as "fast food" in the way the OP meant it (nor do I know about low carb, sorry), but my boyfriend's trying to bring better food to work with him (mostly on my urging) rather than going to the crappy and expensive canteen (he doesn't have time to go elsewhere). Probably the closest thing to fast food would be leftovers from last night's dinner, heated up in the work microwave. But another thing he does which gives you a fresh meal is an individual (unflavoured) can of tuna, a bag (preprepared from the supermarket or buy the bits and make up your own) of mixed salad, and a dash of light soy sauce (I would also add cherry tomatoes or similar but he doesn't like them), mixed up in a tupperware container. Takes no time at all to prepare and is much better than actual fast food.
 
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