Restaurant and fast-food meals can be high-calorie money-wasters, but they don’t have to be. By learning about the menu beforehand and knowing what to ask for, you and your family can have tasty, nutritious meals for little money.

Do your menu homework

It is a standard practice for chain restaurants to offer nutritional information on menu items. You should be able to find data on calories, fat, and sodium. Whether you plan to eat at a chain restaurant or a stand-alone eatery, check online for a menu to find healthy choices and what they cost.

You may be surprised at what you find. Not all salads fit the “healthy” label (that is, high nutritive value with relatively low fat and calorie counts). Nor does poultry always beat beef as a healthy choice. And pasta dishes, like salads, can be all over the map. You may also be surprised by the prices of the healthier dishes—they can be among the cheapest entrees on the menu.

Don’t go out hungry

“If we eat in a restaurant, we are usually given more than we eat at home,” says Heather Mangieri, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based registered dietician and a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. When we’re served more, she adds, “we usually eat more”—even if it’s more than we would be comfortable eating at home. The problem is not just portion sizes but the extras, like the bread restaurants put in front of you.

One way to avoid stuffing yourself is to ask for smaller portions or splits (see below). You can also help prevent overeating at the restaurant by not working up an appetite. Kelly O’Connor, R.D., an outpatient dietician at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland suggests eating a snack at home before going out and making sure that your previous meal is the normal size. “You don’t want to go ravenous to a restaurant,” she says. “You’ll eat a lot of bread.”

Ask about splits and substitutions

Cut portion sizes by opting for half-size dishes. Sometimes these are listed as such on the menu, or featured as part of a combination (like a half-sandwich and soup). If the menu doesn’t offer these portions, ask for them. If two or more of you are dining, ask to share an entrée, salad, or other item. Restaurants may charge a split fee for this, but you still end up paying less than you would if you ordered two full-sized items. Splitting desserts, not just two ways but three or four, is routine nowadays and you normally won’t be charged a fee.

Consider appetizers as entrees

Given the general scaling-up of portion sizes, appetizers can be as big as a normal main dish at home. A soup and salad can likewise make a meal. If the restaurant has side dishes, such as vegetables normally served with entrees, these might also help fill out your dinner.

Don’t limit yourself to just the dinner menu. Lunch portions are usually smaller and less expensive than the same food offered on the dinner menu, so choosing mid-day meals for eating out is one way to save money. Even later in the day, you should look to see if lunch items are still being served.

Eat grilled, not fried

Fish and poultry can be Jekyll-and-Hyde menu items, depending on how they’re prepared. Grilled, they can be lean, healthy, and a nutrition bargain. Breaded and fried, they can turn into overpriced fat and calorie bombs. You can usually tell the difference from the restaurant’s nutritional data (see above), but if you’re eating where this information isn’t available, stay on the right track by keeping “grilled, not fried” in your mind as a sort of menu mantra. Though some fish, in particular, can be pricey, Mangieri says “you can still get a basic white fish like tilapia or cod fairly inexpensively.”

Mangieri says you should also not be shy about asking how food is cooked and requesting alternatives. If your restaurant prepares chicken parmagiana by breading and sautéeing, she suggests asking if they can bake the chicken instead.
 
“Creamy” means trouble

A good rule for pasta, salads and soup is to avoid anything creamy. With pastas, this means choosing red over white—marinara sauces over high-fat concoctions such as Alfredo sauce. Mangieri says marinara is also a good alternative to oil-based sauces that lack the creamy texture but still pack plenty of fat. With soups, avoid “cream of...” varieties. When ordering salads, avoid ranch or other creamy dressings, and ask to have your dressing served on the side so that you use only what you need.

“Value” items can be anything but

“Value menus” or “all-you-can eat” buffets aren’t good deals on the healthy eating scale. They encourage you to eat too much food of low nutritional quality. “You’re getting a cheaper product, but it’s also high in fat,” says Mangieri. The same warning goes for “super-size” menus and meals.

Be careful with the kids’ menu

Parents should apply the same rules to these menus as they do to the grown-up dishes. If it’s food that would be good for an adult, it’s good for the kids. You might avoid fried chicken fingers or macaroni and cheese, although spaghetti with marinara sauce might be fine.

Why not go a step further and get the kids interested in the good stuff you’re eating? You could split a regular entrée two or three ways among the youngsters, or share some of your own food with them. It’s not a bad idea to widen the menu choices for your kids at home, too.

Keep track of how often you eat out and how much you spend

The only way to tell if you’re saving money on eating out is to know how much you’re spending and then compare it to what you’ve budgeted.

Resources

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has some tips for healthy eating when dining out at www.eatright.org/resource/health/weight-loss/eating-out/eating-out.

For information on menus and nutritional data at specific restaurants, go to the restaurant’s website and look for links with a label such as “Food,” “Menu,” or “Nutrition.” Sometimes the link to nutrition information is on the menu page rather than the home page. 

Restaurant and fast-food meals can be high-calorie money-wasters, but they don’t have to be. By learning about the menu beforehand and knowing what to ask for, you and your family can have tasty, nutritious meals for little money.

Do your menu homework

It is a standard practice for chain restaurants to offer nutritional information on menu items. You should be able to find data on calories, fat, and sodium. Whether you plan to eat at a chain restaurant or a stand-alone eatery, check online for a menu to find healthy choices and what they cost.

You may be surprised at what you find. Not all salads fit the “healthy” label (that is, high nutritive value with relatively low fat and calorie counts). Nor does poultry always beat beef as a healthy choice. And pasta dishes, like salads, can be all over the map. You may also be surprised by the prices of the healthier dishes—they can be among the cheapest entrees on the menu.

Don’t go out hungry

“If we eat in a restaurant, we are usually given more than we eat at home,” says Heather Mangieri, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based registered dietician and a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. When we’re served more, she adds, “we usually eat more”—even if it’s more than we would be comfortable eating at home. The problem is not just portion sizes but the extras, like the bread restaurants put in front of you.

One way to avoid stuffing yourself is to ask for smaller portions or splits (see below). You can also help prevent overeating at the restaurant by not working up an appetite. Kelly O’Connor, R.D., an outpatient dietician at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland suggests eating a snack at home before going out and making sure that your previous meal is the normal size. “You don’t want to go ravenous to a restaurant,” she says. “You’ll eat a lot of bread.”

Ask about splits and substitutions

Cut portion sizes by opting for half-size dishes. Sometimes these are listed as such on the menu, or featured as part of a combination (like a half-sandwich and soup). If the menu doesn’t offer these portions, ask for them. If two or more of you are dining, ask to share an entrée, salad, or other item. Restaurants may charge a split fee for this, but you still end up paying less than you would if you ordered two full-sized items. Splitting desserts, not just two ways but three or four, is routine nowadays and you normally won’t be charged a fee.

Consider appetizers as entrees

Given the general scaling-up of portion sizes, appetizers can be as big as a normal main dish at home. A soup and salad can likewise make a meal. If the restaurant has side dishes, such as vegetables normally served with entrees, these might also help fill out your dinner.

Don’t limit yourself to just the dinner menu. Lunch portions are usually smaller and less expensive than the same food offered on the dinner menu, so choosing mid-day meals for eating out is one way to save money. Even later in the day, you should look to see if lunch items are still being served.

Eat grilled, not fried

Fish and poultry can be Jekyll-and-Hyde menu items, depending on how they’re prepared. Grilled, they can be lean, healthy, and a nutrition bargain. Breaded and fried, they can turn into overpriced fat and calorie bombs. You can usually tell the difference from the restaurant’s nutritional data (see above), but if you’re eating where this information isn’t available, stay on the right track by keeping “grilled, not fried” in your mind as a sort of menu mantra. Though some fish, in particular, can be pricey, Mangieri says “you can still get a basic white fish like tilapia or cod fairly inexpensively.”

Mangieri says you should also not be shy about asking how food is cooked and requesting alternatives. If your restaurant prepares chicken parmagiana by breading and sautéeing, she suggests asking if they can bake the chicken instead.
 
“Creamy” means trouble

A good rule for pasta, salads and soup is to avoid anything creamy. With pastas, this means choosing red over white—marinara sauces over high-fat concoctions such as Alfredo sauce. Mangieri says marinara is also a good alternative to oil-based sauces that lack the creamy texture but still pack plenty of fat. With soups, avoid “cream of...” varieties. When ordering salads, avoid ranch or other creamy dressings, and ask to have your dressing served on the side so that you use only what you need.

“Value” items can be anything but

“Value menus” or “all-you-can eat” buffets aren’t good deals on the healthy eating scale. They encourage you to eat too much food of low nutritional quality. “You’re getting a cheaper product, but it’s also high in fat,” says Mangieri. The same warning goes for “super-size” menus and meals.

Be careful with the kids’ menu

Parents should apply the same rules to these menus as they do to the grown-up dishes. If it’s food that would be good for an adult, it’s good for the kids. You might avoid fried chicken fingers or macaroni and cheese, although spaghetti with marinara sauce might be fine.

Why not go a step further and get the kids interested in the good stuff you’re eating? You could split a regular entrée two or three ways among the youngsters, or share some of your own food with them. It’s not a bad idea to widen the menu choices for your kids at home, too.

Keep track of how often you eat out and how much you spend

The only way to tell if you’re saving money on eating out is to know how much you’re spending and then compare it to what you’ve budgeted.

Resources

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has some tips for healthy eating when dining out at www.eatright.org/resource/health/weight-loss/eating-out/eating-out.

For information on menus and nutritional data at specific restaurants, go to the restaurant’s website and look for links with a label such as “Food,” “Menu,” or “Nutrition.” Sometimes the link to nutrition information is on the menu page rather than the home page.