The Marie Callender's menu claims to prepare American-style entrees using only the highest-quality ingredients. The restaurants include a salad bar in addition to the regular menu, which includes American classics, breakfast, soups, salads and chili. Marie Callender's also serves hamburgers, sandwiches and a variety of desserts, including a wide assortment of pies. Reading the nutrition information will reveal that many of your choices have far too much fat, calories and sodium to be considered healthy choices, even if they are made with high-quality ingredients.
Classics
The Classics at Marie Callender's are among some of their most popular main dishes. The portions are large and can contain more than an entire days worth of fat and saturated fat on one plate. The Artichoke and Mushroom Chicken is 1,030 calories and 76 g of fat. The meal also includes 34 g of saturated fat, but is a good source of calcium, vitamin A and protein. The St. Louis BBQ Ribs and the Double Shrimp Pasta are two popular options that each contain well over 1,000 calories, but contain fiber and protein as well. The ribs include 82 g of fat as well. The pasta has 95 g of fat, equaling 146 percent of your daily fat needs in just one entree. The most famous Classic menu item is the Chicken Pot Pie, which has 1,140 calories and 79 g of fat, with 24 of them being saturated.
Breakfast
The breakfast choices at Marie Callender's cannot be considered a healthy way to start your day since they have too many calories, fat and sugar. The Buttermilk Pancake Stack is one of the better choices, but still includes 660 calories and 45 g of sugar. The pancakes also have 18 g of fat, with 5 of them saturated. The Eggs Benedict is another unhealthy breakfast that contains 1,060 calories and 54 g of fat per serving. The meal has 8 g of fiber and 33 g of protein as well. The least-healthy option is the Bacon Quiche, which has 2,490 calories and 157 g of fat per serving, which totals 242 percent of what you need each day. Even scarier, the quiche has 66 g of saturated fat, which totals 330 percent of your daily needs.
Soups, Salads and Chili
The soups, salads and chili are among your best choices while at Marie Callender's. Most choices have a reasonable amount of fat and calories and offer additional nutrients as well. The cup of chili can be considered a healthy choice with only 280 calories and 8 g of fat. The chili also provides healthy doses of fiber, vitamin C and iron. The Turkey Creole Soup is another good choice with only 90 calories and 2.5 g of fat. The soup provides you with vitamin C as well. The creamed soups are much higher in saturated fat and calories, so choose broth-based ones instead. The salads include a variety of fresh vegetables to boost your vitamin C and vitamin A intake. The Chinese Chicken Salad has 510 calories and one third of your vitamin C needs. The Classic Cobb has 570 calories and provides more than half of your vitamin C and A requirements.
Hamburgers and Other Sandwiches
The hamburgers and sandwiches have impressive amounts of protein, but also have huge amounts of calories and fat. The Classic French Dip has 5 g of fiber but also has 1,000 calories, 45 g of fat and 3,380 mg of sodium. The Original Burger has 46 g of protein, but 870 calories and 59 g of fat is too much to be considered healthy. The Original Chicken Sandwich with cheese provides one third of your calcium needs, but contains 820 calories and 18 g of saturated fat.
Dessert
Marie Callender's desserts have so many calories and grams of fat that they total more than what you need in an entire meal. The Apple Pie has 570 calories and 31 g of fat in just one slice. The pie also contains 29 g of sugar. The Banana Cream Pie is just as bad with 570 calories, 32 g of fat and 33 g of sugar. The Triple Chocolate Brownie Sundae is the poorest choice because it has 1,580 calories and 155 g of sugar in just one serving. The brownie also has 65 g of fat, 30 g of them being saturated.
Considerations
One of the easiest ways to cut your fat and calorie consumption at Marie Callender's is to pay attention to portion size. Order a meal to share among your friends or eat only a small portion of your meal and save the rest for tomorrow. Michael F. Jacobson and Jayne Hurley, authors of "Restaurant Confidential" report that meats often increase your fat and calorie intake and ordering vegetarian meals is an additional way to improve the nutritional value of what you order. Other ideas include ordering your sandwiches without mayonnaise or cheese and having your salad dressing placed on the side rather than poured on top.
References
- Marie Callender's: Nutrtional Calculator
- Marie Callender's: About Us
- "Restaurant Confidential"; Michael F. Jacobson and Jayne Hurley; 2002
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