My Favorite Healthy Fast Food Meals

Do you find that your nutrition is pretty on point – until…

• You have to ferry your kids around to practices or lessons for four straight hours after school…?
• You spend an entire Saturday out of the house running errands…?
• You get stuck at work for an entire evening and need to order takeout…?

Everything was going perfectly…. until…!

While studies like this one and this one show that cooking unprocessed foods at home is generally better for your health and your weight, it’s not realistic to expect that you will cook every single meal at home. In fact, a lot of my work with clients is focused on how to create achievable nutrition goals, which include smart options for healthy fast food meals where cooking is not possible.

So in this blog post, I’m sharing some of the top recommendations for specific orders at fast food (or at least “fast casual”) restaurants like Jimmy John’s, Jersey Mike’s, Chipotle, and more. To be clear, I also work with these clients to create slick systems for better, faster meal prep so that they’re still eating more of their meals homemade (so that their diets are only 30% “fast food” instead of 70%).

But please note that not all of my tips are for takeout – I’m also going to sneak in some grocery shopping strategies that can help you cover your bases better, too. The whole goal is to avoid flying by the seat of your pants, and then becoming so hungry that you reach desperation levels and eat anything in sight!

What Constitutes a “Smart” Order?

First things first. I’m not a food moralizer. So what am I basing my recommendations on? What makes something a “good” choice?

There are a few criteria I’m considering:

• Protein content – at least 20-25 grams, but hopefully more like 30-40
• Calorie content – ideally less than 500 calories, and hopefully closer to 400
• Possible veggie or fruit availability (fiber and nutrients)

And generally speaking, the higher the protein content within fewer calories (for example, 35 grams of protein with 390 calories) is better than lower protein content within higher calories.

That’s it! That’s literally all I look at when I look through the nutrition facts on various restaurant websites.

Now that you know this, you can look at the websites too, and figure out the best combinations of food to fit your goals and your tastes. You can hit these targets (or get pretty darn close) whether you’re at McDonald’s or Cava. Obviously the more actual vegetables/greens your meal has, the less processed the ingredients are, the stronger the numbers are, the better off you’ll be – but sometimes, you just need to grab something in a pinch and need to make a reasonably good decision.

Here are some specific orders that you can try!

Chipotle

Chipotle has a fantastic nutrition calculator that is extremely easy to use! I love it.

Salad with Greens, Steak, Black Beans, Fresh Tomato Salsa, Roasted Chili-Corn Salsa

(no rice, no cheese, no guac, no “dressing”)

390 calories, 32 grams protein 

Jimmy John’s

Jimmy John’s has a PDF that is not extremely easy to use, but if you use a combination of the PDF and actually modifying on the interactive menu, you can figure out an order that hits your targets.

Beach Club Unwich – No Mayo

350 calories, 32 grams protein 

Jersey Mike’s

Jersey Mike’s also has a great nutrition calculator that allows you to customize your order – it’s a great place to order from.

#8 Club Sub – Mini – wheat bread, no mayo, no olive oil blend 

410 calories, 31 grams protein (and even has 4 grams of fiber!)

Starbucks

If you just look at their menu online, you can look up all the items individually fairly easily. You can also Google individual items if you get lost, since it can be a little convoluted.

Egg White and Roasted Red Pepper Egg Bites + Tall Skim Latte + “That’s It” Apple Blueberry Bar

420 calories, 23 grams protein

Subway

Like Jimmy John’s, Subway has a PDF you can consult. It’s less user-friendly, but still helpful.

6″ Multigrain Rotisserie Style Chicken 

320 calories, 26 grams protein 

Chik-fil-a

Chik-fil-a has a guide that’s not quite a calculator, but is still pretty easy to view and use.

12 Count of Grilled Chicken Nuggets + Large Fruit Cup

320 calories, 39 grams protein

Sweetgreen

Just by looking at their menu online, you can see the nutrition facts.

Kale Caesar (with Chicken) 

(this is a classic!!!)

490 calories, 35 grams protein 

Wendy’s

By creating an order online, you can interact with the menu and customize your nutrition.

Apple Pecan Salad

450 calories, 32 grams protein (salad dressing adds an additional 90 calories, making it 540 calories)

Panera

Panera uses a PDF that requires you to scroll a lot, but it gets the job done.

Asian Sesame Salad with Chicken – Whole

410 calories, 29 grams protein

Smoothie King

Smoothie King has a range of “Get Fit” Blends, lists all of its nutrition info online, and it’s easy to customize.

Gladiator Chocolate with added strawberries and banana

330 calories, 46 grams protein

Create Your Own On-the-Go Meals

You can also prevent on-the-go meal emergencies by having certain grocery items always stocked up in your house, purse, or car, and combining snack items to create a meal.

Premier Protein Shake + 1 Bag Skinny Pop + Apple

390 calories, 33 grams protein

2 Chomps Beef Sticks + 2 Clementines + Emerald 100-Calorie Snack Pack of Nuts 

370 calories, 23 grams protein 

Siggi’s Non-fat Vanilla Yogurt + The Only Bean Sriracha Roasted Edamame + Dark Chocolate Nuts and Sea Salt Kind Bar

410 calories, 33 grams protein 

I have been meaning to write this post for a long time, and it was on my mind after doing a deep dive on this topic with a client recently. I hope it is helpful for your busy lifestyle!

Need more help organizing your nutrition? Schedule a free consultation to chat with me for free for 30 minutes!