The order of restaurants to eat lunch at if concerned about calorie count below is ranked by most (worst) to least calories (best) using my preferred lunch order at each restaurant. These are well known chain restaurants that you might find in your area as well. The following restaurants were ranked (links to the nutritional pages/guies for other chain restaurants are included after the rankings):

1. Jack In The Box (most calories)
2. Little Caesars Pizza
3. Taco Bell
4. McDonald’s
5. Taco Time
6. Subway (least calories)

You might consider making your own meal calculations using these restaurants and see how the list looks for your dietary and nutritional concerns. All links lead to the nutritional information linked from the official websites of each restaurant.

Jack In The Box
After building my favorite Jack In The Box lunch with calorie count in mind only one word comes to mind: ouch!

My lunch includes the 974 calorie Ultimate Cheeseburger and 642 calorie natural cut fry. Throw in a 32 ounce soda and this badboy goes over 2,100 calories! Let’s forget the soda and maybe drop those three delicious mozzarella sticks and it’s still my whole calorie intake for the day. And I didn’t even factor in the marinara sauce for the mozzy sticks. With small soda: 1,998, without: 1,858.

Little Caesars Pizza

In our area Little Caesars has been making a major comeback by offering $5 cheese and pepperoni pizzas. You just walk in, tell them how man you want, pay and they hand them over. No waiting for the pies, as long as they are stocked. It’s working so well that nearby competitor pizza shops have begun to match their offer. Their nutritional guide:

I can just about devour an entire pizza myself. Let’s say 8 out of 10 servings which clocks in at a whopping 1,840 calories without soda or crazy bread, which I’m in for 1 crazy bread piece (100 calories) and about half the crazy sauce (22 calories). Add this up and it’s a calorie killer for the whole lunch. If I cut back and go with only 5 servings (half a pepperoni pizza), a small soda and no crazy bread, it’s still more than most of the other lunch options. I don’t know if I can cut this one out of my weekly lunch stops, calories be damned. With soda: 1,290, without: 1150.

Taco Bell

When it comes to Taco Bell it’s all about their sauce which according to their nutrition calculator has 0 calories? No way.

Put me in for 3 bean burritoes and a ton (10 at least) of their mild sauce and loads of tabasco sauce. I prefer a small soda to wash this down, but might be able to go with water only. With soda: 1190, without: 1050 (pictured).

McDonald’s
Who doesn’t have the golden arches nearby? According to McDonald’s Nutrition Calculator (link is on page toward bottom) my favorite meal at McDonald’s: quarter pounder with cheese, large fry and large drink is over 1,200 calories.

If I scale it back to a medium fry and small drink, it clocks in at 1020. By skipping the soda and going with water it’s down to 880, almost half my daily calorie intake at my height and weight. Not terrible, but it could be better. With soda: 1020, without: 880.

Taco Time

I love the crisp bean burritoes at Taco Time and my usual order consists of: 1 crisp bean burrito (394 calories), 1 soft bean burrito (377), 1 chips (150) and medium salsa (8), 1 sour cream (85) and small soda (140). I rarely eat the entire soft bean burrito, more like half or not at all, depends on how hungry I am. The calorie figures in parenthesis above use Taco Time’s nutritional info (PDF only).

Like Taco Bell I prefer a small soda to wash this down, but might be able to substitute water. As it turns out looking at the other restaurants, I don’t need to. I probably could not eat the soft bean burrito but the calculation that follows includes half the calorie count of a soft bean burrito. Without the soft burrito this would be among my best lunch choices. With soda: 816, without: 676.

Subway
Subway (nutrition PDF), you know that place where the guy lost weight with his only eat at Subway diet? At least from a calorie counting perspective, it looks like a promising place to eat lunch.

My sandwich of choice: 6" Roast Beef with cucumbers, onions, yellow peppers, mayo, mustard, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper is going to set me back about 350 calories.  I usually go through a small bag of BBQ chips which for every 20 chips is 150 calories. Factor in a small soda (140 calories) and a Subway lunch will clock in at 640 with soda and 500 without soda. I’m going to have to start eating at Subway more often. With soda: 640, without: 500.

Additional restaurant nutritional pages (not ranked)
Links to a few other restaurant websites nutritional calculators and/or guides I looked up and compiled alphabetically sorted:

Arby’s
Burger King - site is in Flash and doesn’t allow direct linking (?), go to this link and then choose "nutrition"
Domino’s (PDF)
KFC (PDF)
Panda Express
Papa Johns (PDF)
Pizza Hut
Quiznos - this guide is incomplete
Wendy’s (PDF)

Brown bagging it beats them all?
Subway looks like my best bet but I’m curious what is your best place to eat lunch at as far as calorie count is concerned? Brown bagging lunch like mom used to do is probably easier on the calories than any of the choices above. Mother knows best.

Did this post make you go hmm?

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