Are you tired of paying close to $10 for lunch? I am! My midtown NYC lunches usually cost between $8 - $10 (and they aren’t even that good!). Why pay $8 for a chicken wrap?  I think most city girls and guys are looking to tighten their belts a bit with this economy. Why not start with cutting back on the ridiculously expensive lunches that most of us pay.  I decided to do a little investigation to see if I could find some lunch options for $5 or less.  (pic is of my $8 wrap)

Here were my criteria:
1. Lunch needed to be $5 or less (ok - so the tax may bring it slightly over $5)
2. It needs to be at least somewhat healthy. For example, I’m not going to recommend street vendor hot dogs or fast food burgers and fries! On the other hand, don’t expect organic greens and wild salmon for $5.
3. It can’t be excessive in calories. I was looking for lunches in the 300-500 calorie range.

My quest began….
 I was focusing on the areas near my offices (57th St and 68th St). As I wandered from restaurant to restaurant in midtown and the upper east side picking up take out menus, I soon found that this was not going to be an easy task! There were VERY few choices for $5 or less. I also found that many restaurant workers seemed to think it was strange that I was in their stores with a notebook looking at their menus and taking notes. One store manager at Hale and Hearty actually approached me to see what I was doing! 

Here are the lunches I found for $5 or less: 
1. Subway sandwiches. Most are ~ $4.60 or so. Healthiest choices are turkey and grilled chicken with a lot of veggies, mustard on a 6″ whole grain bread.

2. Deli. Turkey sandwich or grilled chicken sandwich on whole wheat bread with lettuce, tomato and mustard at a local deli versus gourmet sandwich shop such as Cosi’s, Pax, or Metro cafe. Wraps/sandwiches at those establishments tend to be close to $7 whereas the deli sandwich prices are in the $4.50 range.

3. Chinese restaurant lunch special for $5. This includes soup (avoid the crispy noodles), entree (best bet would be to order steamed chicken and veggies) and brown rice.

4. Equinox bowl of soup and slice of bread for $4.49. Try to order a soup with beans, barley and/or protein to help keep you feeling full longer. Avoid cream soups.

5. Street meat (from those street carts). Grilled chicken with hot sauce on a pita (400 calories) or grilled chicken on salad with a little tahini sauce on the side. Both are $4. While I might question the cleanliness of some of these carts, the one near my office at the New York Presbyterian Hospital has lines of people from 11 am to 3 pm, so I would feel fairly comfortable ordering lunch from them. But some of the other street vendors may not be quite as clean … order at your own risk!

6. Hale and Hearty medium sized soup with a piece of bread for $4.39.  As I mentioned previously, order a heartier soup with beans, rice or barley and/or protein to help hold you longer.  Calories will range depending upon your soup selection, however they would average at 400 calories for soup and bread.

7. Slice of cheese pizza with veggies for about 500 calories. Pizza often gets a bad wrap as not being nutritious, but it actually isn’t so bad - assuming you can stick to one slice! In addition, one slice of pizza pizza  is a much better choice than a caesar salad or most of the gourmet wraps (which can contain 800-1000 calories!) And it’s cheap - $2.50 a slice.

8. Fast food grilled chicken sandwiches from restaurants such as McDonalds or Burger King.   OK - I usually am NOT a fan of fast food, however these sandwiches are not a bad choice if you are on the run and looking to save a few bucks. Keep in mind the chicken is processed and the buns are often refined carbs. Grilled chicken sandwiches are in the $4 range.

9. Fast food mexican:
       -  Fresco Tortilla (1167 Third Av). Each grilled chicken fajita is $1.79. Order 2 for $3.58
       - 879-Taco (yes - that’s the name!) on 1st and 66th St. Each taco is $2.50. Each fajita ranges from  
         $2.95-$3.50

10. Chirping Chicken (multiple locations) 1/4 chicken with pita bread and homemade spiced tomato sauce for $4.35

11. Chicken Bar (multiple locations): Grilled chicken sandwich on bun with greens and hour sauce for $4.25. Grilled chicken wrap with BBQ sauce or grilled chicken wrap with rice and beans and salsa for $3.95

12. The Grill (1st and 68th St). Sandwiches (ham, grilled chicken and turkey in different flavors)  on a variety of breads for $4.75 - $5.  They also have a salad bar. I was able to make a good sized salad for $4.49. I used the small salad container and filled it with shrimp, roasted brussels sprouts and about 1/2 cup of cellophane noodles. It was a filling lunch for under $5.

13. Le Gourmet (1st Avenue and 68th St.): Many deli sandwiches on sliced bread are $4.98, whereas the wraps and sandwiches on a roll are more. For the healthier sandwiches, limit mayo, cheese and fatty luncheon meat such as pastrami, salami.

14. Food Fair (1st Avenue and 68th St.). Grilled chicken on a pita for $4. Fresh roast turkey for $2 for a 1/4 pound. Buy a roll for 75 cents and you have a sandwich for $2.75.

15. Fast food salads.  
       - McDonalds grilled chicken salad (southwest, asian or caesar) with low fat dressing
       - Wendy’s Mandarain Chicken Salad with grilled chicken, roasted almonds (no noodles) and balsamic vinaigrette. Both salads are under $5 and 400 calories or less. (Pic is of McDonalds Asian Chicken Salad)

 Here are some additional $ saving lunch tips:
1. Best choice is to bring lunch from home. You can make a sandwich that comes out to ~ $2.00. Or bring leftovers. More on these kinds of lunches at a later date.
2. Don’t waste money on fancy coffee drinks. Get your co-workers to chip in and invest in a coffee maker for the office or at least buy coffee from a non-Starbucks kind of place (although I will still splurge each day for a Starbucks regular coffee - nothing fancy!)
3. Since some of the above lunches may be smaller than what you are used to eating (not a bad thing!), add a fruit that you buy from the street fruit venders for 25 cents.
4. Don’t waste money on drinks. Get water from your office water cooler (hopefully they have one)
5. Local deli’s tend to have less pricey items as compared to Cosi’s, Prete-a-manger, Pax, etc.
6. While I normally do not recommend fast food places, they are very reasonably priced and you can actually find some healthy choices. Not bad for an occasional lunch.

Has anyone else found a healthy restaurant lunch for $5 or less? Please share - we could also use some tips to save some $

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It’s a warm day and you are looking for something “light” to eat. You are also trying to drop a few pounds so your attention automatically turns to the salad section of the menu. A Cobb salad sounds healthy, after all it contains grilled chicken and heart healthy avocado. 1200 calories later, you have finished your “light” lunch.

One of the biggest misconceptions I see in my private practice is that salads are low calorie. Sure, then can be … but they can also have more calories and fat than a bacon cheeseburger. Chef, Caesar and Cobb Salads are the biggest culprits. Today, I’m going to address Cobb Salads. The calories in a Cobb Salad will vary depending upon where you get it. Think about the ingredients in this salad: greens and other assorted vegetables, bacon, blue cheese, maybe grilled chicken and some kind of fatty dressing. The dressing alone can add up to over 600 calories!

Here is a sampling of Cobb Salads from a variety of places. As you can see, some are acceptable choices (especially if you order a light dressing), while others can make up over 75% of your calories for the day! Looks like McDonalds and Pax take the prize for the lowest calorie Cobb Salads!

1. Pax Turkey Cobb Salad  220 cal / 12 gm fat    Blue cheese dressing 160cal /17 gm fat  Fat free italian or lemon herb dressing ~ 20 cal /0 gm fat

2. Cosi Cobb  425 cal /28 gm fat   Reduced fat sherry Shallot dressing 94 cal /6 gm fat   Cosi Vinaigrette 357 cal/ 39 gm fat

3. Generic Cobb salad per cup 179 cal /15 gm fat (from fitday.com)  However, keep in mind that the average salad = 4 cups.   This would bring the total to 716 cal /60 gm fat 

4.  Cobb_salad  Jerry’s Famous Deli (Marina del Rey, California)  757 cal/ 50 gm fat

5. McDonald’s Grilled Chicken California Cobb Salad - 280 calories/14 fat grams  Newman’s Own® Light Balsamic Vinaigrette - 90 cal/8 gm fat

6. Southwestern Cobb Salad from Chilis  970 cal/60 gm fat

7. Typical restaurant Cobb Salad 1000 - 1,200+ cal /90 gm fat

8. Au Bon Pain  330 cal /19  gm fat  Blue cheese dressing 230 cal/ 24 gm fat   Fat free raspberry vinaigrette 70 cal/0 gm fat

Bottom line, think twice before ordering a Cobb Salad. If you are going to a chain restaurant, check out the calories on line first to see what you are dealing with. If you really must have this salad, at least order dressing on the side and try to order a low fat dressing. If they are generous with the blue cheese and bacon, eat only 1/2. At least this will do some “damage control”.

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