Eat Healthy Fast Food and Stay Within Your Food Budget

Eat Healthy Fast Food and Stay Within Your Food Budget
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Choosing Healthy Fast Food In General

In general, it’s easier to eat healthy at fast food restaurants than you would think. So here are some general tips to help you learn more about fast food nutrition.

  • Choose as small a portion as possible to sate your hunger. Choose small sides, small drinks and smaller portions if given a choice, such as with chicken finger meals.
  • Go sauce free whenever possible. Mayonnaise, ranch and other creamy dressings add a lot of calories. Ketchup, mustard and barbeque sauce are fewer calories.
  • Grilled chicken is better than deep-fat fried.
  • Go without a side item or choose more healthy alternatives if you can.
  • Salads tend to be healthier than burgers and chicken, though they may be more expensive and depending on what’s on the salad, they may have more calories than you’d expect.
  • Choosing a wrap option rather than a sandwich may save you some calories and fat.
  • Remember that you’re getting calories from your drinks, unless you choose diet options. Your healthiest and cheapest option is to not get a drink and have a glass or bottle of water from home.

Staying Within your Food Budget

Of course eating healthy is only part of the battle; you also want to save money while eating fast foods. So here are some general tips about staying withing your food budget.

  • Choose smaller portions. Not only will they be healthier, but they’ll cost you less.
  • Think about how hungry you really are. Do you really need that side order? Could you get a drink from home or work rather than buying one?
  • Go the websites of your favorite fast food restaurants and sign up for e-mail alerts. While you will get advertisements, you’ll also get coupons. Consider creating a junk e-mail address just for this purpose.
  • Order off the value menu, if your fast food restaurant has one. Often these foods are smaller, cheaper and a little healthier.
  • Learn about specials. Some fast food restaurants, such as Chick-Filet, allow kids to eat free on certain days of the week. Other fast food restaurants will do special promotions for new menu items.

Comparing Entrees

By now you know in general what to choose on the menu at fast food restaurants that’s a little healthier. But how do the specific entrees match up? I’m going to compare Chicken Sandwiches, Salads and side items from Wendy’s, McDonalds and Burger King and then compare those choices to foods you could have from home.

Chicken Sandwiches

Since this article is supposed to show you how to eat healthy on a food budget at fast food restaurants, I’m going to compare the health of grilled chicken sandwiches at three fast food restaurants and then compare it to what you could make at home. All the nutrition information comes from the websites of the fast food restaurants.

Wendy’s

Wendy’s has a grilled chicken wrap which clocks in at 260 calories, 11 grams of fat and 760 mgs of sodium. They also have the Ultimate Chicken Grill with 320 calories, 7 grams of fat and 950 mg of sodium. You can get the sandwich for around three dollars (depending on the Wendy’s and where you live) or get it as part of a meal deal for five to six dollars. The wraps at Wendy’s are part of the value menu which means the wrap itself costs around two dollars.

McDonald’s

McDonalds has many grilled chicken sandwich options. They also have many wraps. The Honey Mustard Snack Wrap (grilled) has 260 calories, 9 grams of fat and 800 mg of sodium. The Premium Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich has 530 calories, 17 grams of fat and 1470 mg of sodium. The snack wraps around two dollars and the Chicken Sandwiches are around three to four dollars with a meal deal costing from five to six dollars.

Burger King

The Burger King calories for the TenderGrill Chicken Sandwich is 490. It also has 21 grams of fat, and 1220 mg of sodium. They do not have wrap options. The sandwich costs between three and four dollars with a meal deal costing around five to six dollars.

Salads

When people typically think of eating healthy, they usually think of eating a salad. But not all salads are healthy, particularly the ones at fast food restaurants. They also tend to be expensive (seven to nine dollars) if you add a drink.

Wendy’s

The Mandarin Chicken Salad with Grilled Chicken Fillet has 540 calories, 25 grams of fat and 1260 mgs of sodium. While it may seem healthy, this is one of the worst choices you could make from a cost and health perspective. Their healthiest salad is the Chicken Caesar Salad with a Grilled Chicken Fillet with 490 calories, 33 grams of fat and 1200 mgs of sodium.

McDonald’s

The Premium Asian Salad with Grilled Chicken has 300 calories 10 grams of fat and 890 mg of sodium. This McDonald salad is one the healthier salads. The worst McDonald’s salad health-wise is the Premium Southwest Salad with Crispy Chicken with 430 calories, 20 grams of fat and 920 mg of sodium.

Burger King

Burger King doesn’t have a lot of salad options. The Burger King calories in a ChickenGrill Chicken Garden Salad is 220 with 7 grams of fat and 790 mg of sodium.

Entrees from Home

Your healthiest and cheapest option is going to be to eat at home.

Chicken Sandwich

A grilled chicken sandwich with chicken, a bun, a tomato slice and lettuce prepared by you will have about 200-250 calories (depending on the bun). If you add 1 tablespoon of a light mayonnaise, you’re looking at an additional 25-50 calories (depending on the brand). The cost will run you about two to three dollars depending on where you live and the cost of items such as chicken, lettuce and tomato. Of course, if you don’t use the lettuce and tomato for another meal, you’re wasting additional money.

Salad

There’s a lot of variation in calories in a salad. One and half cups of lettuce, a cup of cherry tomatoes, a cup of cucumber and a quarter cup of croutons will have about 90 calories in it. Two tablespoons of a light ranch dressing is about 90-120 calories (depending on brand) and two tablespoons of a light vinegrette will have about 50-90 calories (depending on brand). The cost is going to vary depending on what you put in your salad and the time of year from a dollar or two all the way up to four or five dollars. If you add cheese, chicken and other fun items, you’re going to increase the cost and calories.

Choosing Side Items

If you have to eat at a fast food restaurant, it can be easy to choose a healthy entree and choose a not-so-healthy side item. Luckily, many fast food restaurants now allow you to choose between many side items, some of which are healthier than others.

Wendy’s Side Items

At a Wendy’s restaurant customers can choose from many side items including french fries, salads and mandarin oranges for no extra charge. But nutrition will vary on the side items and some of them can be deceptively poor. For example, a small french fry at Wendy’s has 340 calories, 16 grams of fat and a whopping 290 mg of sodium. But if you choose a side Caesar salad, you’re still getting 260 calories, 19 grams of fat and 490 mg of sodium. Depending on how you look at it, the french fries may be better. Your best side choice is going to be mandarin oranges with 80 calories, no fat and only 15 mg of sodium.

Depending on where you live and whether you buy your side items as part of a meal deal, you’ll pay one to three dollars for your side items at a Wendy’s restaurant.

Burger King Side Items

Burger King gives you three choices for side items–onion rings, french fries and apple fries. A small french fry has 340 calories, 17 grams of fat and 590 mg of sodium. The onion rings are slightly better with a small order giving you 310 calories, 17 grams of fat and 490 mg of sodium. Your best choice is the apple fries with 25 calories, no fat and no sodium. If you use the packet of caramel sauce included you add 45 calories, half a gram of fat and 35 mg of sodium.

Depending on where you live and whether you buy your side items as part of a meal deal, you’ll pay one to three dollars for your side items at Burger King. Substituting side items doesn’t usually cost any extra, though there may be exceptions.

McDonalds Side Items

McDonalds only offers french fries on their menu as side items. A small McDonalds french fries has 230 calories, 11 grams of fat and 160 mgs of sodium. However, rather than ordering a side of McDonalds french fries with your meal, you could ask to substitute the apple dippers from the Happy Meal. Apple dippers are cut up apples with a side of caramel sauce. They have 100 calories, no fat and 40 mgs of sodium.

Depending on the McDonalds, there may be an additional charge to substitute french fries for the apple dippers.

Choose a Side Item From Home

Of course, your healthiest and cheapest option is to buy your entree from a fast food restaurant and then choose a side item from home. An apple will cost less than a dollar and has about 100 calories, no fat and no sodium. A cup of grapes (also less than a dollar, usually) has 62 calories and no fat or sodium. 3 ounces of baby carrots has 35 calories and 65 mgs of sodium. If you want something a little less healthy but still cheaper and healthier than what you’d get at a fast food restaurant try getting a large bag of chips and limiting how much you eat. From the Lay’s website, an ounce of SunChips has 140 calories, 6 grams of fat and 130 mg of sodium.