Low Carb Fast(ish) Food Options 2018
 

Hey folks,

I don't often have time to prepare breakfast or lunch at home, so buying something for these meals is just a reality I have to deal with. I'm looking for suggestions for the least worst options out there if you have any.

Unfortunately in Canada we have a lot less choices than in the USA, but by all means post American options as well. I'll be taking a trip down there this summer, and I hope this thread might be helpful for everybody.

Here are just a few that I've found:

1. Wendy's Salads (with grilled chicken). These are reasonably good salads and with grilled chicken can be reasonably low carb. Unfortunately a full size salad is about $10 CAD which is highway robbery, but sigh. :( For even more money you can get a crappy iceberg lettuce side salad.

2. Carl Jrs. lettuce wrapped Jalapeno Thickburger or lettuce wrapped Chicken Club. . These are reasonably tasty and reasonably low carb. Unfortunately they actually charge you 50 cents extra for the lettuce wrap as if to say FU to low-carbers, and they come out to about $9 CAD just for the wrap and nothing else, which is insane. :( They also fall apart about halfway through eating and you need to finish off with a knife and fork.

3. Denny's or Smitty's Steak and Eggs or Omelletes. You can usually ask them substitute a (usually lousy) salad for the hash browns and toast. Sometime they'll bee jerks and charge you extra for it. And sometimes the sliced tomatoes are rancid. Sigh. :(

4. McDonald's Iced Coffee (Sugar Free Vanilla). Summertime must and reasonably priced. :)

5. Opa Souvlaki Skewer(s) on Greek Salad. It's not on the menu board but you can usually get them to sell you a skewer (or two, for me), your choice of meat, on a greek salad. The price isn't the best for what you get. Costs about the same as the big platter you'd get with the salad + rice + potatoes and they don't exactly replace the starches with that much more salad.

I've noticed most places have piss poor veggie or salad option into which they put no effort, and give you fleetingly small portion sizes if you ask them to sub them for the starches. Does lettuce really cost that much more than rice, bread and potatoes?

Of course there are exceptions. Went to a fancy steakhouse the other day and they were very happy to sub a salad for the potatoes and although it wasn't big, it was prepared exquisitely. You could even tell the dressing was made in-house. They didn't even charge extra, which was decent of them considering how much I was paying for the main. Veggies don't have to suck but they require some effort and very few places even make the effort.

But life would be simpler if potatoes didn't make you fat. :yum: :agree:

So do you guys have any other ideas or go-to fast(ish) food meals? Please post. I need more ideas.
Thanks.

You can order a double meat burger most anywhere and just use the bread to hold it and tear off pieces as you go. Like holding a banana and throwing away the peel.

Wendys has chili and you can order a side salad if you throw away the beans as you eat that will lower the carb count.

Dennys and other breakfast type of places you can order steak breakfast with a couple of fried eggs.

So I was checking out the menu and nutrition data on iHop omelettes and wondering why they seemed to be so high in carbs and then I found this old thread:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...75&page=1&pp=15

They put pancake batter in them! :eek: :mad:

I feel like the whole world is out to sabotage me.

I can't even find a box of chicken broth without "dehydrated cane juice" in it.

~also the chicken on many of those FF salads have sugar in the highly processed chicken.

The Atkins website has always had good lists for eating out, both fast food and sit down. https://www.atkins.com/how-it-works...st-food-options

To your lists I would add all types of sub shops...Jimmy John's Unwich, Jersey Mike's Sub in a Tub, even Subway will put deli meat on a bowl of lettuce or has salads. Keep an eye out for Chik Fil A, it started as a Southern thing but quality ingredients and well managed for a fast food option. Choices are in Atkins list.

Many large chains now have interactive menus, Where you can "remove the bun and ketchup" and see carbs what remain. Red Robin is my favorite. Five Guys Burgers super simple, and you can pick peanuts out of shell while they custom make your burger.

There are "breakfast bowls" at many chains, some with potato cubes you can pick out. And messier but good, get two sausage patties to use like bread, with egg between.

I know this isn't what you asked for but...



Assuming you have a microwave oven available at work, consider cooking an extra portion or two of whatever you cook for dinner and put the "planned leftovers" into microwaveable containers to have for lunch later in the week. It usually doesn't take any longer to fix extras than it does to cook dinner in the first place. You'll eat BETTER and cheaper (and probably more quickly) than you will if you have to get in the car and make a run to some fast-food joint!



And for breakfast, when you have a little extra time on the weekends, make up a crustless quiche. Takes about 10 minutes to put one together and about an hour in the over. Cooked quiche will store in the fridge for a week easily. A full-sized quiche makes 6 very nicely-sized servings and you can reheat a slice in the MW in about 30 seconds. Much quicker than waiting in a fast-food line. You can also make a dozen small quiches in a muffin (cupcake) pan which will also allow you to put different fillings in each one so you have some variety. Two muffin-pan sized quiches make a nice breakfast that you can easily eat in the car on the way to work. Again, quicker, tastier, and cheaper than fast food. And YOU have total control over the amount of carbs.

Bevangel has a great idea with the Quiche. I was going to recommend that the other day.
Here is my recipe and it's so easy.
Basically scrambled eggs, cream and cheese. Add your meat.


Dozen large or jumbo eggs
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar, swiss, mozzarella, monterey jack etc)
1 to 2 cups of cooked meat (bacon, sausage, ham etc)
chopped onion to taste (optional) - (remember the carbs!)
cooked drained broccoli, spinach, mushrooms or other cooked veggie (optional)

Whip up the eggs and cream. Fold in other ingredients. Pour in a 9x13 inch pan. Or pour in a large muffin pan (makes 12 muffins). Either way use cooking spray first or butter the pan. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until cooked through (a little longer if in the 9x13 pan). This freezes exceptionally well, just nuke in microwave for 90 seconds or so. Make a batch on the weekend for quick and easy breakfast during the week.

I use glass lasagna pan and cook at 350 for 35 minutes.. let cool before cutting.
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=466969

IHOP and Denny's too - you have to tell them no batter, just eggs (I think they call them a flat omelet?).

If you have WhatABurger, they have fantastic burger patties, you can get them with grilled peppers, onions and cheese. Their grilled chicken is also very good topped with the peppers, onions and cheese.

If you want burgers and want to "kick it up a notch" as Emeril would say, I just discovered Built Custom Burgers.
http://www.builtcustomburgers.com
Same folks that own The Counter, but faster. Go down a line, add toppings to a burger and cheese on greens. Check the premium toppings...Guacamole, Bacon, a fried egg, sautéed mushrooms, you can add them all. Only one in Toronto, but more Counters and Builts in the US.

Hey, I do travel to Toronto occasionally. I will have to check them out next time I'm there.

The sub shops mentioned earlier are a good way to go. Hardees is offering a low carb, especially breakfast item in some locations. Taco Bell has a power menu bowl instead of a burrito, they have a breakfast one too. You can customize it to leave off the beans, rice, potatoes, etc and add extra meat...but it will cost you, they hit with a charge every time you say, change cheddar to three cheese blend for instance.

I'm finding the fast casual pseudo-Mexican places' salads offerings are pretty good. Just like Taco Bell you can opt for the salad instead of a wrap or taco shell then you just DONT have them put beans, rice, etc on and you can add extra meat for a reasonable price. One we found recently is Qdoba, the ingredients were varied and very good and they dont nickle and dime you on every ingredient...like guac is free for one measured portion for instance, more is extra but what they gave me was fine for free.

https://www.qdoba.com/

This guy is doing a whole series of fast food low carbing:

https://mrskinnypants.com/

He also has recipes. But he helps cut through the menus at fast food places and breaks down your limited options and brings to attention items that may seem like they would be low carb but in fact are high carb. Subway is a funny one like that, they have a spinach wrap that looks like it would be a healthy option, but if you look on their menu, you'd be better off having a sub roll for the carb count!

I cant for the life of me figure out why the Mexicanish/burrito places arent offering low carb tortillas...even our local walmart has offerings of reasonably priced low carb tortillas, and now they are carrying Josephs low carb pitas for like $2.25 for a pack of 6...and they are good!

I've seriously considered carrying my own tortilla or pitas in a restaurant and eating my low carb order with them...maybe they'll get smart and get the hint! Problem is you have to anticipate that and have them with you, but if you know you are traveling, if you are like me I always have a cooler with me. Tortillas and pitas keep for a while unrefrigerated and keep fine after opening in a cooler or fridge (like in a hotel room fridge!).

Now, when will someone make LC hamburger buns and sub rolls that arent highway robbery price-wise?!

I've recently started having Atkins shakes for breakfast. Can drink them on-the-go, too.

15 grams protein, 2 net carbs. Tasty, too.

We get them from Amazon or Walmart.

I was pleasantly surprised at the lettuce wrapped sandwiches at Jimmie John's. Crisp romaine lettuce and you can get extra meat if you like.

The Burger's Priest, a chain in some major Canadian cities, has keto buns as an option now, for $2.50 extra. Appears to be made from almond flour and such. I tried it and it's okay.

https://www.theburgerspriest.com/

https://ketobuns.com/

Top 5 fast foods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npmxhGXHVnI