What are your meals when you are out and have no plans?

This question got asked on the menu board. I used to kinda panic about this when I was newly out. I'll list some current faves for eggs.

Eggs--Any breakfast joint has eggs. Boiled eggs. One dollar McDonald's egg and sausage burrito. I eat the insides with salsa..it's a buck. It will fill me up for 2-3 hours out in the wild. Starbucks's sous vide egg bites. I don't know how to pronounce sous vide. I always get the bacon ones but the egg white ones don't suck. I can eat 1 and 1/2 of them.

Where do you like to stop?

I am the queen of gas station food now! My husband has always preferred to stop quickly at a gas station because he's a big fan of bananas and jerky and any self-respecting gas station has both.

I target pre-peeled hardboiled eggs, cheese sticks, jerky, protein bars (most have Quest bars, but the Power bars have a 'clean whey' version that is low-carb and often there. Some of them even have the Quest cookies), pepperoni and cheese cups (although I have to be careful with this one because sometimes the serving and therefore the calories are huge). Oh, and pork rinds. NC is the home of ALL THE PORK and they have their pork rinds, fatback rinds, cracklins, etc DOWN.

So far I have avoided eating any drive-thru food, simply due to the temptation to order something that isn't on plan. I do use drive-thrus for quick access to calorie-free liquids that I enjoy (Diet Coke, Diet Cherry Limeaid, Diet Lemonade, coffee, etc). If I have something I love to drink then I don't need to eat.

Our favorite non-drive-thru fast food is Five Guys and it's our go-to when we're out with the kids. I order a bunless burger in a bowl with whatever toppings I'd like on the side and I'll munch on the free peanuts too.

When traveling some of our favorite chains are: Texas Roadhouse (or similar) - you can order a steak without any sides and you don't get strange looks. Or I'll ask green beans and chilli as a side and have them packed up before they are brought to the table. Instant second meal! Chili's - We like that chips are an appetizer you have to order so they don't sit there and tempt you. They have a bowl of chili that's only 200 calories and the carbs aren't bad in a pinch. Any local BBQ place - pick your shredded meat and add vinegar BBQ sauce! I like that here most BBQ places have smoked chicken or turkey which lowers the calories compared to pulled pork or brisket.

If you can believe it I've only had breakfast out ONCE in 16 months since surgery (except random breakfasts in the car when traveling). I hate going out for breakfast because I'm basically paying for something I could have just made at home (ie: eggs).

I like someone else cooking me a steak.

Some great ideas here! Thank you!

I'm pretty much obsessed with the Starbucks Sous Vide (sue veed, btw!) Egg Bites. Can't really beat them for the yum to protein ratio! Other than that, the only fast food thing I think I have tried is the Wendy's chili. I'm more likely to run into a convenience store and grab almonds and cheese than I am to turn to takeout.

I have just enough of a residual Okie accent to not make sue veed work.

We have a chain of fast food restaurants here called Zaxby's. They serve wings and battered and fried chicken fingers, but they do have a grilled chicken breast sandwich that I'll get without the lettuce and the bun, and it's the perfect size. Sometimes I'll get the honey mustard dressing ( comes with ) smeared on it, sometimes not.

We also have Bojangles, another chicken joint, also mostly fried of course, but there's a "roasted chicken bites" on the menu, so that's what I'll get if I find myself there.

I can also find things at most gas stations/convenience stores-cheese sticks, jerky, nuts-along those lines, and really almost anywhere, I can find decent menu choices.

Last night, we went to Chuy's for the first time. It's a VERY carb heavy place of course, but I got a taco minus the shell. I had a small side of guacamole and poured a little bit of queso on my taco meat.

Chuys is a favorite in Austin. I don't think I can make that work. I love Queso. You don't find that much in Seattle. One time I ordered queso and got a bowl of shredded cheese.

shredded cheese. That was very on-the-nose. They DID bring you queso...lol.

I've been here too long; I hadn't even ever heard of Chuy's or had any idea there were any in Texas.

They started in Austin. It's usually my post flight meal with my sis.