Brianna Tobritzhofer, Open Arms’ Senior Manager of Nutrition Services, offers tips for healthy takeout and suggested meal choices from the Nutrition Team’s favorite neighborhood restaurants.
Tips for healthy takeout:
• Prioritize veggies: Opt to order something that includes veggies, either mixed in or as a side. Some restaurants allow you to double-up on veggies, like adding extra lettuce or tomatoes to burgers and sandwiches. You can also ask to substitute veggies for French fries or chips as the side.
• Avoid fried food: Opt for baked, steamed, roasted, or grilled foods instead of those that are fried. Fried foods are typically high in unhealthy fats. An example would be ordering steamed vegetables instead of fried wontons, or a baked potato instead of fries.
• Customize sauce/dressing: Ask for sauce and/or dressing to be served on the side. You can also ask for less sauce, or order a veggie-based sauce like marinara instead of a cream-based one.
• Limit saturated fats: To limit saturated fat intake, focus on ordering dishes that are plant-based or made with lean sources of protein, like chicken and seafood.
• Practice portion control: Since takeout portions are typically large, split the meal in half when you get it and package the rest to enjoy later. A tip to help with this is to serve a meal portion on a smaller plate or bowl instead of eating from the larger takeout packaging.
NOTE: Don’t fret! Getting takeout should be enjoyable. It’s OK to have a meal that isn’t perfectly healthy every once in a while. A takeout meal here and there can fit into a well-balanced diet.
Restaurant picks + meal suggestions
• French Meadow: Organic healthy plate, blackened fish or tempeh tacos
• Lynhall: Smokey tomato soup, Chickpea panisse
• Birchwood Café: Turkey Salad Sandwich, Green curry
• BACIO – Tomato & avocado flatbread
• Barbette – Roasted beet salad, roasted Ferndale turkey sandwich
• Bardo – vegetarian black bean burger
• Black Sheep Pizza – Fresh tomato, green pepper & Kalamata olive pizza (plus delicious sides, like farmers market salad and oven roasted vegetables)
• Bookclub – grilled skewers, red coconut seafood curry
• BRASA – Curried chix bowl
• Copper Hen – Farmhouse salad, avocado toast, chicken pot pie stuffed w/ root veg
• Copper Cow – Portobello mushroom burger, beet & bean burger
• Fig and Farro: buffalo cauliflower, ribollita soup
• Firelake: grilled Alaskan wild salmon, carrot polenta
• Handsome Hog: BBQ chopped salad, whole roasted fish
• Harriet Brasserie: Chickpea ragout, scallop risotto
• Kieran’s Kitchen: Barley veg soup
• Nolo: sprouts & cauliflower starter, chicken tortilla salad
• Nightingale: Shrimp toast
• Red Rabbit Mpls: Roasted cauliflower plate, stuffed acorn squash
• SmackShack: Lobster guacamole, stuffed salmon
• Tavern23: Pad Thai noodles w/ chix
• Tulibee: Kale & apple salad, mushroom risotto
• WiseAcre: CSA Hash, vegetable curry
Find a map of our partners currently offering takeout here:
