Quote:
Originally Posted by YepBrook
As a family we usually eat dinner out at somewhere nice once a week, usually Saturday night. We love a local family-owned Thai place that has the best sushi. That's my absolute favorite. We also eat at a Mexican place in town, it's not a chain restaurant and it's always packed. They have the best freshly made salsa, steak fajitas and MARGARITAS. Mmmm.... They also make a mean chicken soup I often buy it for myself when I'm sick... loaded with yummy stuff like chicken, cilantro, onion, and avocado.
When we do eat chain restaurants (usually on the weekend for lunch one day or a weeknight when Ben has a swim meet really late) we do Chipotle, Panera Bread, and Jersey Mike's subs mostly. We do eat at Chick-Fil-A with friends every week before the kids go to Awana clubs but I can't tolerate their food anymore... I'm fairly certain it's the MSG in their chicken. I just get the grilled chicken wrap there because it doesn't have MSG. But it's not my favorite place to eat.
All in all, we eat out probably 4 meals a week. Probably too much, but we try to make healthy choices when we do.
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We don't eat out much because my daughter has some food intolerances. MSG is one of them and it's not always easy to see as an ingredient. It's interesting that you mention Chick-Fil-A because I have not been able to find out if it's safe for Emma or not.
About 2 years ago I called the restaurant before a fundraiser our school was having there just to find out what items on the menu might be safe so I wouldn't hold up the line when we got there. They said to call the home office. The home office said to check the website. No ingredient list and MSG wasn't one of the allergies listed. I called back and they said to call the local restaurant. I added it to our "don't bother going there" list.
When we do eat out, maybe once a month, it's usually dictated by where our daughter can eat safely. As far as chains go, Chipotle, Red Robin, Olive Garden, & the Cameron Mitchell restaurants don't use MSG in anything so they are usually our top picks. Subway can tell us immediately what's safe so we go there sometimes too. And always Donato's Pizza. Their founder has the same problem as our daughter so she can eat anything including all of the meat! They even have Marzetti's make ranch dressing with no MSG for them. No, they don't sell it to the public, but they told me to always ask for extra to stock up!