My house is being worked on for a week and I will be at a hotel for that week so it will be dining out for every meal that entire week. We do have a small fridge and I already have a shopping list of fruits and other good snacks but I don't want to make my kids and husband live on salads with me at the hotel.

I have a feeling this is going to be a rough week food wise as well as sanity wise for me!

In response to your post, try to stick with lean meats like chicken breast, and turkey. You can always load up on steamed veggies as well in most restaurants. And make sure you drink plenty of water. That will curb your appetite. Best of luck to you!

Do you live near a Whole Foods? They have amazing delis/salad bars that could be a great option for at least one night. Send the family off to hit the deli and you can make yourself the most fabulous salad.

You will be sick of restaurants and the time you'll waste if you eat out all three meals. If you have to get kids to school and go to work also that week, you'll be hard pressed to find time to do it- eat out 21 times that is.


Take a small cutting board and a sharp knife with you to the hotel. Have a couple kitchen towels, handi-wipes, zip-lock bags, napkins and paper plates. You can do a lot without going to restaurants for all meals.

Simple breakfasts could be handled with the fridge: cereal & milk, cold cuts and bread, cottage cheese and fruit. Buffets (if you can handle them) and cafeterias can be faster restaurants with better choices than fast food. If you have to do fast food, you can stick with the salads and grilled meats. Take the grilled chicken from a bun and add it to a salad to get more protein in the salad.

For lunches, Kids can eat at school and you can pick up or make a salad for yourself.

Do a "cracker barrel" dinner - sliced "cracker sized" coldcuts, sliced fruit, olives, chunked vegetables (cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, etc. Go for ones that are already prepared at the grocery and may not even need to be washed) low-fat triscuits, hummus. Go heavy on the veggies for yourself, or use lettuce or spinach leaves as your crackers. Count out the crackers and coldcut slices for yourself.

Get a couple of Subs and cut them into small sections to mix and match. Serve them with raw veggies and fruit instead of chips.

Best wishes.

Can you stay at a place that offers a free breakfast? I stayed at Country Inn's and Suites last week on a business trip.

They at least had instant oatmeal and some fruit.
There are were choices that probably are about what the family would get at home. Cold cereal, muffin, bagel, toast etc. They had you make it waffles. That might not be good for you but the family might like it.

Embassy Suites should have something similar.

I have stayed at Summerfield Suites and the one I stayed at had a full kitchens.
They even had limited dishes and cookware. I think they had the same kind of breakfast that Country Inn's had.

With my busy work/grad school schedule this semester, we have eaten out a LOT lately! But, I have not gained weight because I have learned how to make great choices. When we eat out at breakfast, I limit my carbs and bulk up on protein choices like eggs and turkey sausage, stuff like that! Then, I eat less throughout the day.

The grilled chicken snack wraps at McDonald's are great! And not too bad on carbs & calories

Well, it has been a few days and I have been doing pretty well. Had a chicken wrap with lotsa veggies on Sunday night. Had steak tips with steamed broccoli and a salad yesterday for lunch. Had a vanilla frozen yogurt for a snack. A fresco soft taco from Taco Bell for dinner last night. And unfortunately my husband wanted Cracker Barrel for breakfast today so I got the ham biscuit with a side of hashbrown casserole (a favorite of mine) I ate all the ham and half the biscuit and left about half the hashbrowns for my son. We had a late breakfast so only a kids cheeseburger from Mcdonalds for lunch around 2 pm. The gas station outside the hotel has a Subway we might head over there for Dinner. I know some of the better choices there. Thank god! But overall I think I have survived. Also, my husband and I have only used about half of our budgeted money amount on each day so we may go for a nice dinner after all this mess is over if we can keep that up.