How to Avoid Getting Fat And Going Broke While Eating At Chain Restaurants

by Ryan Vagabundo

Since the last article here contained a giant list of free food offers, I thought it would be a good idea to do a follow-up that covers how to eat healthy (and affordably) when you're stuck with nothing but chain restaurants for options.

(As always, I'm a U.S. boy so this is gonna be U.S.-centric ... but I would love to hear tips from readers on chain deals from their native lands.)

The long-term traveler diet is often tough due to lack of consistent access to a kitchen. Often the best equipment you're making do with is a mini-fridge, microwave and coffee maker ... if you even get that much.

So you're stuck foraging for whatever happens to be around you ... and often the only way to eat affordably is to go to chain fast food places. It's tough enough to just keep a reasonable budget while doing this, let alone keep your meals healthy and balanced!

Fortunately, I've had long experience with making this situation work and I'm here to share some quality tips.

MY FIRST AND BEST TIP - FIND A SUPERMARKET DELI!

It might not be an option, but if a chain supermarket with a deli is available, ignore the chain restaurants and go straight to that instead.

They'll have better-quality food at the same or lower prices. Some ideas include:

• A whole roast chicken for probably around $5

• Chicken, tuna and egg salad

• Bean salads

• Greens-based salad (a lot have something they call a "superfood salad" now)

• Single-serve rolls or bagels w/ sliced meat, cheese, peanut butter or canned tuna (try tuna with BBQ sauce, it's surprisingly good)

Of course, your options expand if you have a microwave to cook with, but this stuff will work for an immediate meal even if you have bupkis where you're staying.

TOP-TIER FAST FOOD CHAINS FOR CHEAP & HEALTHY EATS

El Pollo Loco: The Original Pollo Bowl combo for $5 is unbeatable if you're in the western states, it's super filling. It's a simple rice bowl with beans, pico de gallo, onions, cilantro and roast chicken, but you can load up with stuff at their salsa bar to make it more interesting. You can get their good chips on the side with that (or tortillas), and add some horchata as your drink for a little treat. The dinners for about $7 with two pieces of chicken, two sides (beans, broccoli, side salad or mashed potatoes for healthy options) and chips are also good.

McDonalds: The Southwest Salad with grilled chicken is actually pretty good, and the price is OK at $5.50. The Southwest dressing is only 120 calories, but you can go balsamic or Italian for even less if you want. I have a trick to eating these things - eat the chicken with forkfuls of greens and cheese first, THEN put about 2/3 the packet of Southwest dressing on and mix the rest of it up. Add a basic hamburger on the side for $1 if you need more protein. A yogurt and a Sausage McMuffin (you get some fiber from an English muffin) are a pretty decent breakfast for $2. I think snack wraps are no longer available at most stores, but some still have them - you can get a grilled chicken version and last I saw they were $1.50 each, two was a passable meal ideally with some fibrous filler on the side.

Wendys: A small chili or grilled chicken Go Wrap, sour cream and chives baked potato and garden side salad should run you $6 at most locations. Make it $7 to get the Bigly Chili. If you just want a protein lunch, two Go Wraps or one plus a small chili is about $4.

Del Taco: At Del Taco the main thing is the 1/2 lb. bean and cheese burrito (red sauce strongly recommended) which is indeed a beast for $1, or if you don't want the tortilla you can get a bean and cheese cup for the same price. You can add on some protein in the form of a couple regular beef tacos for 80 cents each or grilled chicken for $1 each. Del Taco also often has 2 for $5 full-size burritos that are pretty substantial. And if you can get hold of one of their coupon mailer sheets around, they make the already cheap food even cheaper.

Subway: Subway changes their deals so often it's headache-inducing. But often, at least one of the following is $5 for a footlong: cold cut combo, meatball or Black Forest ham. Not the world's most quality meat, but get some wheat bread (for fiber) and load it up with veggies and it's alright for you.

MAKING THE MORE COMMON CHAINS WORK

Hopefully one of those is around, but admittedly that's a pretty short list. So here's your best bet at some of the more common chains:

Burger King: Burger King is fantastic for cheap junk food, but if "healthy" is a goal then it becomes a lot more of a problem. The best bet is probably the 2-for-$6 with either two grilled chicken sandwiches or one of those and a Whopper. Off the dollar menu, two or three basic hamberders are probably the best choice. A 10 piece nugget for $1.50 by itself actually isn't too awful for you as long as you aren't adding other fatty and sugary stuff on top of it. One of those and a plain berder is fine here and there. BK isn't even trying with their token salads, just ignore those.

Taco Bell: Some of their dollar menu really isn't too bad if you don't overdo it. I would go triple layer nachos, chicken mini quesadilla or bean rice and cheese burrito in some reasonable combination. They also have a black bean and rice cup for $1.50 that is hard to find on their menu. Where you get in trouble here is those $5 boxes loaded with crap plus a bigly soda.

Jack in the Box: The Breakfast Jacks for $1.50 each really aren't bad, and you can get them all day. A Jumbo Jack or Jumbo Jr. isn't too bad for a cheap burger. The whole rest of their menu is pretty rough though, they have a few allegedly "healthy" things but they taste like butt.

Carl's Jr. / Hardees: One or two Big Burgers ($1.50 -2 each depending on location). Not much other choice here.

Jimmy Johns: Pretty much any of their sandwiches are alright and at an alright price

Panda Express: You would think brown steamed rice here, right? But their version doesn't really give you much fiber and that's the only advantage of it. I would actually go half-and-half fried rice (since that has peas in it, peas + rice = a complete protein) and super greens for the side. Top it off with any one or two veggie-incorporating entrees like the various lean chickens or broccoli beef. Really not a bad meal, but not cheap since they charge like over $8 for two items now.