Last week was relatively uneventful in the world of food. I cooked some dinners, made some more granola bars, and ate a lot of fruit during the day. Surprisingly, I didn’t alter too many of my routines, although I tried to select Jersey Fresh veggies instead of whatever it was I was fancying that day, I rejected the out-of-season strawberries and instead went with some peaches from closer Southeastern states. All in all, a few select changes, but nothing spectacular.
Friday night, however, was a new challenge. Dinner ended up occurring quite late due to Dennis getting home around 9, and we were both tired and wanted nothing more than a quick bite to eat and a cold beer. As often happens, we ended up close to home, which meant the spectacular selection of 3 or 4 chain restaurants. We ended up at Applebee’s, which is ok, not great, but passable for a quick bite.
With my new-found rules in mind, I scanned the menu and quickly realized that most of the full meals were out – the sauces were of unknown origin, the breads in sandwiches had the potential for a variety of preservatives and even HFCS (in bread, WHY?!), and most of the typical sides (fries and mashed potatoes) could contain any variety of unknowns. However, I did have a few options to choose from. I finally settled on a salad containing boston lettuce, shrimp, avacado, tomato, and egg. I skipped the dressing that typically comes with the salad, opting instead for simple oil and vinegar. To round out the meal, I went with a simple baked potato with butter. They couldn’t possibly much that up with preservatives or processing.
The dinner was good – I’ve had the salad before, and having it with simple oil and vinegar didn’t alter the taste or enjoyability of the meal. The potato was simple, but delicious – I had actually been craving a baked potato for a few days so it was a welcome treat.
So, all in all, my original fear of being unable to eat in restaurants was somewhat unfounded. I simply had to follow a few key guidelines -
- Avoid sauces/dressings of unknown origin
- Select items that are made with few ingredients
- Avoid breaded items (breading is up there with sauces in terms of unknown ingredients)
- Find something you like and tweak it to get rid of any unknowns
Which just goes to show you, that with a little alteration, and some careful selection of dishes, even chain restaurants can provide tasty, healthy, preservative and process-free meals.
