Eating Out Strategies

Macha

We're coming up to the festive season and my diary is starting to get full of invitations to dinners in restaurants. Of course sometimes I just eat whatever I want but at this rate I'll be eating out at least once a week between now and Christmas! So how do you deal with eating out?

My tips are:
-drink a pint of water before you leave the house so you're not starving by the time the food arrives.
-keep drinking water throughout the meal, or try to make every second drink a glass of water.
-banish the bread basket to the other side of the table.
-go for a starter over a dessert and just ask for a taste of someone else's dessert (if possible!).
-try to make either the starter or the main course a salad.
-ask for salad dressings on the side.
-you CAN ask for changes to what's on the menu, ie ask for extra veg instead of potatoes.

Any more advice?

BraziliaNZ

i was misled by the title

MissFlitworth

I normally would have something small to eat before I leave the house, like a bowl of veg soup or some carrot batons or something. Just to take the edge off my appetite, if I'm very hungry when I'm ordering I tend to make a pigs ear of the whole thing and start suggesting bowls of chips/onion rings/something starchy and cheesey to share as well as dinner .

If I can I try to get involved in picking the restaurant we're going to, that way I can ward off any obvious disasters and pick somewhere that I'll be able to order a meal I can enjoy and feel good about eating. I'd normally also scope out the menu for where we're going online to have some idea of what they serve so I can do some research and go armed with good choices I can make

jdivision

If you're eating out once a week and the rest of the time you eat healthily I don't personally think it's a problem.

thorbarry

jdivision wrote: »

If you're eating out once a week and the rest of the time you eat healthily I don't personally think it's a problem.

It really depends on what you eat, when you eat out

Pongxiaojie

You can decide what your going to eat before you go to the restaurant by going on menupages.ie

Macha

Helping chose the restaurant and checking out the menu beforehand are great ideas, thanks!

taconnol

taconnol wrote: »

-go for a starter over a dessert and just ask for a taste of someone else's dessert (if possible!).

Please don't do this, it's really annoying. I hate when I end up giving away half my dessert to people who 'didn't want one' when the waiter was at the table - you always feel like you can't say no!

As for strategies, I just eat what I want, but I make sure to choose a very light starter so I'm not half full by the time the main course arrives, just because I don't enjoy it as much. Likewise I make sure not to drink carbonated drinks, as they make me feel full when I'm not really and I end up wasting food.

Macha

[quote=[Deleted User];63035051]Please don't do this, it's really annoying. I hate when I end up giving away half my dessert to people who 'didn't want one' when the waiter was at the table - you always feel like you can't say no![/QUOTE]
Well..I only do this with my boyfriend. Or I share a dessert with a girlfriend. I wouldn't do it with anyone else!

I know what you mean though - it drives my brother mental.

rubadub

[quote=[Deleted User];63035051]As for strategies, I just eat what I want, but I make sure to choose a very light starter so I'm not half full by the time the main course arrives, just because I don't enjoy it as much. Likewise I make sure not to drink carbonated drinks, as they make me feel full when I'm not really and I end up wasting food.[/QUOTE]
These sound like the opposite of what taconnol should be doing so!, a filling starter might be soup, which if non-creamy should be lower in cals and filling. Also the delay between starter and main is good, gives your body time to realise it has eaten and does not need much more energy. Do not feel obliged to eat everything off the plate when the main arrives many places give huge portions.

Those carbonated drinks keeping you full might be of benefit too.

[quote=[Deleted User];63035051]I end up wasting food.[/QUOTE]I am a glutton and finish everything, (and everybody elses;)). At weddings my trick is to say out loudly "jaysus -how many calories must be in those desserts!?!", then I get about 3-4 handed to me :pac::)