Saturday I spend the day with my daughter and her family and we picked up lunch at Fazoli's. Calorie-wise it worked out fine for me. I went with my husband to pick up the food and they had a brochure with their nutritional info right next to the door. I had a small penne with meat sauce. As soon as I opened my take-out container, I set aside half for dinner so the 520 calories were spread out over two meals. Also, whenever eating out, I add an additional 100 calories because I don't fully trust their calorie contents. There was plenty of food to be satisfied both meals!

Anyway, I took the nutritional info brochure home and studied it so next time I will just know what to order. The Kid's meals are very reasonable. The Kid's meal fettuccine Alfreda is 290 calories for a 6.5 oz serving. That sounds really great to me. Since we will usually be picking up, I would not think that they will question if a child is really getting the meal.

Do any of you ever get a Kid's meal when eating out?

I order a kid's meal the odd time that I'm in a chain restaurant...I just tell them I'm dieting and need that portion size, never had an issue. I tip well too.

I have in the past but sometimes it is things I don't like (uhh spaghetti) or things I don't eat (meat, cheese, etc). I admit though I do look through it to see if it is something I'd eat.

Yeah Nelie, it's the same with me...99% of the time it ends up being pasta and I sub steamed veggies for the fries that could be a side item! Coco's is where I've done this. I also don't like to eat pasta like that but it's either that or nothing in those cases!

I used to do this all the time at McDonald's (after I stopped eating big mac meals and started trying to lose weight, that is). A kid's meal is just about right, and if you're gonna eat fast food that's the way to go IMO. I haven't tried it in restaurants but would if I was carrying out!

I've ordered kids meals with a side salad before. You'd be amazed a LOT of places that will not want to accommodate you! I split it often with my son who eats maybe half of any kids meal, they just look at me like I'm being cheap. My hubby laughs over the looks we get.

I've ordered a happy meal at McDonalds if I am going to eat there. I usually try to eat before or after we go if I take my son, although I don't consider what he eats unhealthy (a plain burger and he chooses to not eat the bun, apple dippers and milk or juice) and could get something comparable but I choose to spend my calories differently. But the couple of times I've wanted to eat then, the happy meal works great - even with FF, it's a small enough portion to fit pretty easily into my daily calories.

If I was getting take out from a restaurant, I might try it but even then, since it's just me and my son, I think they would question an adult picking up two kids meals and no adult entree. I don't mind that they won't serve a kids meal to an adult, they don't really make much money on them and it's more of a customer service thing so that parents can take their kids out without having to spend a full entree price for something. Offering half portions would be nice though, or a lot of time, I'll just order an appetizer for my main course.

go on admit it you just want the toy

i never go for specific kids meals etc from chain places i have a unproven suspicion that the contents of kids menu food is different from that of adult menus' i.e i suspect higher use of colourings and flavour enhancers and all sorts of other nastiness to make them more yummy and appealing to the kids unrefined palate.

totally unproven but generally these places are concerned more about making money than anything else which makes me trust them as far as i could throw them.

in generall all my home cooking is from scratch and the only processed food i've eaten in the last week is the olive oil i dress my salad with. the rest has been fresh meat salad leaves eggs and water.

I'd have to fight my 5 year old for it! He loves that he gets the extra toy.

I do have to admit that McDonalds toys are actually pretty high quality - we have some he's played with for years and even a few that were handmedowns from my nieces!

I usually just go with the chicken and a salad lol

I always do for fast food. The toy is a perk, I'll admit it.

I get kids meals a lot when I go out. Usually I offer to pay full meal price for the meal, but most restaurants don't take em up on it (I make up for it in tip) At one place, the manager asked if I would be willing to write a short note as to why I wanted the kids meal, and stating that I had offered (and was willing) to pay full price. He wanted to pass it on to upper management as a suggestion to help accomodate patrons that were trying to make healthy choices.

Fazoli's is a family favorite. We often take out there when at DD so next time, I think I will try the kid's meal. We buy plenty of adult plates so I don't feel bad for the restaurant.

I always order the kids meal when I break down and have to have french fries! Fortunately it doesn't happen very often here because I lost my taste for fast food.....although I will admit that I love McDonalds ice cream cones!!

I have (but I will admit it was for the toy. I've never been a big fast food fan).

When the Ty Beanies and the Madame Alexander dolls first came out as McDonald's toys, there were stories of adults buying the happy meal and throwing the meal away to get the toy. A friend said "that's stupid, you can get the toy without the meal for $1." It was like a lightbulb moment.

Seriously though, I often make special requests at restaurants (fast food or not). I was craving a Big Mac during TOM (I have burger cravings only during "that week"), and instead of buying the Big Mac, I ordered a small cheeseburger with pickle and onion and a side of Big Mac sauce. I made a Mini-Mac of it.

I also order appetizers as meals, or ask for items not on the menu. For example a restaurant near our house has a great gyro plate, but I don't eat bread, so I ordered the greek salad and a side of gyro meat.