CHEAP EATS: The American Fast Food Lunch Box Challenge

Now that I'm unemployed (retired) and living on a fixed income, I have to watch how much I spend on food. It's always affordable to eat at home but sometimes you just want to break out and let someone else to it for you.

Enter the challenge of eating out cheaply. Not an easy thing to do here in high-cost-of-living Southern California but we're going to give it a go.

This week, we're going to do the fast food lunch box challenge.  Many quick eating establishments now have lunch box meals with a complete lunch going in the range of $4-6.  Tim is going to be my taster.

We'll rate on these three criteria...how much food to you get for the money? How good does it taste? and does it fill you up or leave you wanting more?

First, we'll try Taco Bell. Tim's having the nacho fries combo box with comes with a beefy burrito, taco, nacho fries with queso dipping sauce, and a drink. We're mixing it up with Taco Bell's Fire and Diablo salsa.

The taco is a Doritos loco taco, with the shell made out of Doritos, and has beef, lettuce, and cheese.

Tim liked the meal a lot. Everything tasted good and he liked the spicy taste of Taco Bell's beef. The nacho fries were the star of the show, next the taco...but he didn't care for how it fell apart so quickly...then the burrito.

It's a messy lunch so an apron was in order to keep everything neat and clean. Tim could only eat about two thirds of the meal, leaving half of the burrito and some fries, so it's very filling.

We got in on special for $5 but the regular price is $5.99. They have several combos but usually only one at a time is on sale for $5.

Tim liked the taste very much and he got more food than he could eat, so the price is pretty good...you can actually feed two people on this if you wanted to.

Next up is Carl's Jr. For $5, we got a fiery chicken sandwich (chicken tenders is the other option), fries, drink, and a chocolate chip cookie for dessert.

Tim didn't think the fries were as good as Taco Bell. Let's see what he thinks of the chicken...

He likes it! He really likes it! 

Tim loved the taste of the sandwich. "I thought those were pickles in the sandwich but they were jalapenos," he says. "They were very fresh and spicy."

The cookie for dessert was also very good. Tim rates the taste very high on this meal. He thought it was filling and didn't want any more but he did finish it and not leave any leftovers. Great deal for the money.

Wendy's has a meal for a buck less. They're 4 for 4 meal features a 4 piece order of chicken nuggets, medium fries, drink, and your choice from about half a dozen sandwiches such as chicken sandwich, cheeseburger, and more. Tim's choosing the Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger.

Tim says the burger is better than the Taco Bell offerings but not quite as good as Carl's Jr.

The nuggets come with two dipping sauces, we have ranch and barbecue sauce.

Tim says the nuggets are very good. The fries are good, too, maybe a bit better than Carl's but not as good as Taco Bell's nacho fries.

Finally we're going to finish with Popeye's Louisiana Chicken's entry into the $5 arena.

At Popeyes, five dollars will get you six boneless wings (basically chicken tenders), spiced fries, and a biscuit. Drink is extra here so Tim just grabs a can of diet Sunkist from the fridge.

You get a choice of dipping sauces, Tim's going with the Cajun Buffalo sauce.

Popeye's gets poinst for serving food Tim can feed himself (something to think about when you're disabled). The fries were the best of the bunch, even besting Taco Bell's nacho fries which Tim didn't think was possible.

The chicken was better than Taco Bell's entrees but he still likes the offerings from Carls Jr. and Wendy's better. Tim liked the spiciness of the chicken but felt it could have been even stronger.

He got plenty of food for his five dollars but, other than water, a drink would have blown the budget.

Here's how they stacked up for Tim...

1. Carl's Jr. Tastiest overall.

2. Wendy's. Good food, best value for the money.

3. Popeye's. Best fries of the bunch.

4. Taco Bell. Food was good but not as good as the others. Fries were better than Carls Jr. or Wendy's.

Next time you're looking for a cheap lunch away from home, keep Tim's tips in mind for a good, filling lunch.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

This Week's Menu: Pan Fried Pork Chops with Mustard Cream Sauce and Grilled Egg White, Ham, and Cheese Sandwich

Here's a killer pork chop recipe for your Sunday dinner. And you know what? Since the chops were on special at the market, the entire dinner...including the potatoes and asparagus as sides...cost less than four dollars, which made three servings.

Along with that delicious dinner, I've got a protein-rich, diabetic friendly, grilled cheese sandwich which makes a great quick lunch or even a dinner replacement.

Recipes are at the links below.

DINNER: Pan Fried Pork Chops with a Mustard Cream Sauce

LUNCH: Grilled Egg White, Ham, and Cheese Sandwich

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

LUNCH: Egg White and Ham Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Even though I haven't posted any D-Day articles lately, I'm still firmly on the Type II Diabetes train. Here is a very glucose friendly recipe for a quick and filling lunch or dinner.

INGREDIENTS

2 slices whole wheat (or your favorited whole grain) bread
1 slice cheddar cheese
a pinch of shredded cheddar jack blend
1 egg white
1/2 slice Danola low fat, low sodium ham (or something similar...I'm using Trader Joe's healthy ham, which is basically the same thing)
1 pat soft butter
1 tablespoon olive oil

Heat up the oil in an 8" frying pan. Slice up the ham into 1" squares. Spread evenly across the surface of the pan. 

Add the egg white. When it is fully cooked, fold into a bread shaped and size square and remove to a plate.

Thinly coat each side of the bread with butter.  Place the cheese and ham 'n egg on the bread, making a sandwich.

Put in the hot frying pan, cooking for two minutes then flipping over. When the bread is a nice golden brown, you're done.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved.

LUNCH: Triple Grilled Cheese with Ham

This is super easy. Well, it's a grilled cheese sandwich which, by definition, is a quick and easy lunch. Just punching this one up in the cheese flavor and adding some healthy protein.

To keep it diabetic friendly, we're using low fat and low sodium ham with multigrain bread.  It's as delicious as any grilled cheese sandwich I've ever had, maybe more so, and the great result is it lowered my blood sugar by 8 points.

INGREDIENTS
1 slice cheddar jack cheese
1 slice Havarti cheese
2 slices sandwich bread (we're using multigrain)
1/2 slice cold-cut ham (we use Danola low fat/low sodium or Trader Joe's Healty Ham)
1 pat butter

Spread a thin layer of butter on both sides of the bread.  Layer your cheese and ham on it.

Put in a hot frying pan. 

Cook about 3-4 minutes and flip over. Cook the same on the other side.  Cook 10 seconds again on each side while pressing down with the spatula.

Plate, cut in half and serve (we're serving ours with Trader Joe's delicious Sriracha potato chips).

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

This Week's Menu: French Omelet and Spring Ham Salad

We're trying to be healthy and diabetic friendly this week with a couple of meals that actually lowered my glucose, one (the omelet) by almost 40 points!

The omelet is a super tasty and very filling entree that can be served for any meal.  The salad is a bit lighter but still very tasty and satisfying.

Recipes are at the links below.

BRUNCH: French Omelet

LUNCH: Spring Mix Salad

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

LUNCH: Spring Ham Salad

This is my go-to meal for a quick, easy, amazingly tasty, satisfying, and healthy lunch.  Super easy to throw together, low carb, good protein, and good fats for a meal you'll never feel guilty about eating.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups spring salad mix
6 or 7 cherry tomatoes
1/4 oz. shredded Mexican cheese blend
1/2 oz. sliced ham
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Simply put the salad mix in a bowl, sprinkle the tomatoes, cheese, and ham over the top.  Mix the oil and vinegar and use as the dressing.

For this one, I'll even include the nutritional info...

Calories - 176
Protein (grams) - 9
Carbs - 15
Fat - 9
Sodium - 218
Sugar - 5

Glucose Effect:
Pre-meal level   - 127
Post-meal level - 118

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

LOS ANGELES: Three Meals a Day, All Across L.A.

 

Here's the second chapter of our book, pick up your copy here: Golden State Eating, Nine Tales of California Food Destinations. Enjoy!

Our hometown of Los Angeles is a foodie’s paradise.  Thousands of restaurants of almost every variety and ethnic persuasion you can think of.  We often like to go out and explore the region, looking for new places to eat.

Eating is a huge part of a vacation for us and for most travelers.  One of the big questions we get from visitors to our city is, where should we eat? 

Watch the Video!

OK, we’re going to give you just a few places you should eat at.  In the video above, we give you a representative look at three of our favorite places to eat.  Two are in locations well known to most tourists, the third not so much but they’re all great places to eat.  As a bonus, none of them are what I’d call expensive.

To go along with the video, we’ll give you a few more places you should try in L.A. below…

BREAKFAST – Our video pick is Charlie’s, located in the west patio of the Original Farmer’s Market at 3^rd and Fairfax.  It’s just east of downtown and on the southern edge of Hollywood.  The Farmer’s Market is a unique  and historical place all its own…see our previous report on it…but it also has its share of good places to eat.

Charlie’s is a counter where you can get different foods all day long and eat at one of the nearby open air tables.  It’s a great, relaxing way to start your day.  We like to get here before most of the market opens, around 8:30 in the morning, to start a day long adventure.

What I really like about Charlie’s is their French toast.  It’s not fancy…no cinnamon roll bread, challah, or any fancy bread.  Just egg bread, dipped in batter and cooked.  What Charlie’s does is after cooking, they put butter on it and melt it in thoroughly throughout the bread before serving it to you.  It takes a few minutes extra to get but, boy, is it good.

In addition to Charlie’s, we like to go to the Original Pancake House with locations in Redondo Beach and Orange County, Philippe’s serves a great breakfast, The Monrovian in Old Town Monrovia serves some of the best chicken fried steak and eggs you’ll have, and the Gaffey Street Diner in San Pedro had a large and delicious breakfast menu.

LUNCH – Speaking of Philippe’s, this is our pick on the video for lunch.  Turning 103 years old this year, Philippe’s is old school…and proud of it.  There is a bit of controversy in their claim, but they say they invented the French dip sandwich.  Legend has it that a policeman came in for a beef sandwich.  The carver at the counter accidentally dropped the bun in the beef drippings.  The cop was in a hurry and took the sandwich as is.  The next day, he brought in several of his friends and asked that they make them sandwiches the same way…thus, the French dip sandwich was born.

You can get your choice of meats…beef, lamb, pork, turkey…add cheese, if you like, and the sandwich on the dipped bread is served plain.  We ask for beef, with jack cheese, double-dipped (where they dip both sides of the bread).  At the table, you can add Philippe’s own hot mustard…sparingly…for quite a flavor kick to your sandwich.

The extensive menu also includes such items as pickled eggs, pig’s feet, and beets.  I like to get a slice of cheesecake with mine.  If you’d like a cup of coffee to go with it, it’s only 9 cents.  An entire meal here can be had for less than $10.

Did I say controversy?  Another downtown restaurant, Cole’s…about 10 blocks south at the corner of Main and 5^th Streets…also claims to have invented the French dip sandwich.  Also started in 1908, this is more of a sit-down restaurant with waiter service and a full bar.  The dips here are more traditional with the meat sandwich served with a cup of au jus to dip it in.

We tried it recently, for the sake of fairness, and found the sandwich good but not quite as good as Philippe’s.  It’s also a few dollars more expensive.

Other places we like to visit for lunch include two of the area’s best pizza restaurants…Tony’s Little Italy in Placentia and Joey’s Red Devil in La Verne, the tiny Market Grill sandwich shop in Monrovia (great for a picnic), Zankou Chicken with locations across L.A., the Shaky Alibi for authentic Liege waffles in Hollywood, Carney’s and Skooby’s for hot dogs also in Hollywood.  For burgers, In ‘n Out is so good and such a Southern California icon that we have to recommend them for your burger fix while you’re in town.

DINNER – Picked for the video is one of two really great restaurants located at the fun and lively Redondo Beach Pier.  Usually, restaurants with great ocean views don’t go together with good food but there are at least two of them here.  For the video, we went with Kincaid’s on the pier who is known for some of the most succulent and juicy prime rib around.

What is also good here are their Southern dishes.  A heaping plate of chicken and waffles, better than Roscoe’s, is available for only $21.  That’s comparable with Roscoe’s prices too, if you consider that Roscoe’s charges extra for everything. 

The seafood étouffeé is, according to my wife, among the best she’s ever had.  The clam chowder is finished tableside, and there is a large list of wines available by the glass at normal prices, or by the bottle for $25 each.

This is all done with great service, right over the water, with incredible views.

The other restaurant here that didn’t make the video is Gambrinus, a Russian restaurant at the edge of the marina.  Service is a little slower here, it’s a hole in the wall, and not quite as fancy as Kincaid’s so it’s our video runner-up. 

The food and beer here is excellent.  The fish and chips is the only version I’ve ever found that I like.  The Russian raviolis, the pirozkis, and the ice cold Czech beer on tap are wonderful and the prices are very reasonable.  We’ll usually each get a dish and share, kind of like a Russian version of tapas.

Other great places for dinner in L.A. include a third great pizza place, Casa Bianca in Eagle Rock, that is only open for dinner, O’Malley’s Irish Pub in Seal Beach, Russo’s Italian restaurant in Naples (Long Beach), Aruffo’s Italian in Claremont, Carolina’s Italian restaurant in Garden Grove, Red Lion in Silverlake and the Phoenix Club in Anaheim for German food, Din Tai Fung for juicy pork dumplings in Arcadia, El Picoso in Azusa for tacos, and Rudy’s in Monrovia for sit-down Mexican with full bar.  An honorable mention goes here for La Paloma in La Verne strictly for their powerful and tasty margaritas in the bar.

There you have it, a selection of restaurants from our list of favorites.  True, this is only a sampling of the great variety of eateries we have in the area, but there are plenty here…all very good…for your next trip to Southern California

-Darryl

Copyright 2011 – Darryl Musick

All Rights Reserved