Help eating lunch out

lgumby13

So maybe I'm misunderstanding the eating rules but it feels like there's nothing I can eat when i want to get a quick lunch during the workday.  So no deli meat unless well heated and I feel like sandwich places never heat meat until "steaming". With salad there's the issue of cold meat, right? If I go to panera and order a salad does the chicken need to be heated, or do u all eat it cold?  Then there's the cheese in the salad that has to be pasteurized.  

The easy solution for me is to eat vegetarian but I'm really trying to add more protein.  Does anyone have ideas that I haven't thought of?

CCBelATC

This is my first time, and I haven't had my nurse visit yet to have them tell me what I can and can't have, so all my info comes from pregnancy books I'm reading and on various boards on here.

A lot of women are saying lunch meat is fine. Right after my BFP (before I started reading) I had deli sandwiches every day for a week. I had an early US at 6 weeks and the baby was fine. I haven't had any since, but I do plan to get the prepackaged kind without nitrates and will heat it up to steaming, then let it cool off, and eat it.

I don't think there's an issue of cold meat (someone correct me if I'm wrong). The stuff in Panera salads is whole meat, like chopped chicken. No problem with that. If you get a chef salad somewhere, they ususally use processed cuts of meat and I think that is what would need to be heated. So I won't get a chef salad.

I've been trying hard to eat well, but I've seen lots of posts of women still having soda, fast food, whatever. Luckily the baby's needs are pretty small right now, so as long as you can find something that tastes good at the time and can stay down, and you're staying hydrated you're doing well. Try soups, pastas, grilled chicken sandwiches, nitrate free BLT's, salads, fruits. I'm trying to freak out less about this myself. Best of luck!

CCBelATC

KatieKarasin:

Unless you go somewhere weird, all of the cheese will be pasteurized. It's even hard to find unpasteurized cheese at the grocery store.

Agreed! I think anything sold at a restaurant in America has to be pasturized cheese. Some specialty stores might have the unpasturized cheese, but the milk it's made from is the first listed ingredient, so just make sure it says pasturized.

MrsJax2011

The only thing I didn't eat while pregnant was eggs over easy for fear of salmonella...but other than that, I ate everything....my doc said not to worry about everything else provided that it came from a clean establishment.

JBos82

The only place I was careful about what cheese I ate was when I went to dinner at a fromagerie. Cheese at Panera, or any deli or normal restaurant, is made with pasteurized milk. If in doubt, you can always ask the people who work there to check the packaging on the cheese, or to ask the chef.

I ordered a salad at Panera recently (the one with chicken and fruit and sesame seed dressing). The chicken is cooked, so from what I can tell, it's fine to eat. I only ended up picking at it and just pretty much dipped the fruit in the dressing and ignored the lettuce. Not because there was anything wrong with it, but because I felt like garbage and only wanted fruit. Panera cooks almost every sandwich in those presses, so the meat should be heated through just fine. If you're afraid it isn't, ask them to press the sandwich for an extra minute, or to toss it in the microwave for a minute or two extra if you're super paranoid. They won't mind!

AmieVan

There is just so much conflicting info out there! My doctor said just make sure cheese is pasteurized and don't go to a sketchy deli to get lunch meat.  I still go to panera and I still eat the deli meat I buy at ShopRite...and I eat a tuna sandwich a week.  As long as you are keeping your diet varied and eating lots of fruit and veggies and drinking water you're fine.

kristen47

Eat anything you want.  If you want to be overly cautious, have soup in a breadbowl from Panera (since you mentioned it!).

elizabethnseanny

I agree with others that the meat on the panera salad is fine, and that the cheeses are all pasteurized.

I've started picking a few all natural healthy choice frozen lunches- no preservatives, lots of proteins, to eat for lunch. I also started bringing leftovers from dinner the night before. I was a big cold wrap with lunchmeat eater too, and it's just gross heated up, so I was in a bind. I also found some all natural, no preservatives nut butter that doesn't taste half bad, brought in some roasted almonds, and have been boiling eggs and eating the egg whites- that helps for the protein. 

At least your not craving hot dogs and vienna sausages! Yuck!

buggirl72

CCBelATC:

This is my first time, and I haven't had my nurse visit yet to have them tell me what I can and can't have, so all my info comes from pregnancy books I'm reading and on various boards on here.

A lot of women are saying lunch meat is fine. Right after my BFP (before I started reading) I had deli sandwiches every day for a week. I had an early US at 6 weeks and the baby was fine. I haven't had any since, but I do plan to get the prepackaged kind without nitrates and will heat it up to steaming, then let it cool off, and eat it.

I don't think there's an issue of cold meat (someone correct me if I'm wrong). The stuff in Panera salads is whole meat, like chopped chicken. No problem with that. If you get a chef salad somewhere, they ususally use processed cuts of meat and I think that is what would need to be heated. So I won't get a chef salad.

I've been trying hard to eat well, but I've seen lots of posts of women still having soda, fast food, whatever. Luckily the baby's needs are pretty small right now, so as long as you can find something that tastes good at the time and can stay down, and you're staying hydrated you're doing well. Try soups, pastas, grilled chicken sandwiches, nitrate free BLT's, salads, fruits. I'm trying to freak out less about this myself. Best of luck!

This.  The issue with deli meats is possible Listeria contamination so cooked, chopped chicken, even if cold, is okay.  I've seen a lot of people say that when they go to Jimmy Johns or some other sub place they just ask for the meat to be heated in the microwave first for 30 seconds.  Based on this board, doctors are all over the place on whether deli meat is okay or not.  CDC and APA both say to not eat it. The issue is not whether the establishment is clean, it's whether the meat was contaminated by the manufacturer.  Listeria cases are rare but if you are pregnant and get listeriosis it can be devastating to the fetus.  Unfortunately, someone on my board posted that a friend of theirs lost their fetus because of listeriosis. Even though the risk is small, it just is not worth it to me.

ally2011

LoisLane23:

buggirl72:

.  Unfortunately, someone on my board posted that a friend of theirs lost their fetus because of listeriosis. Even though the risk is small, it just is not worth it to me.

Because of lunch meat or because of something else? The risk is astronomically higher for someone to get listeriosis from produce than from lunch meat, but the deli always gets the bad rap.

I have only ever seen this repeated here....do you have a reference for that...specifically the risk being so much higher for produce?  Not trying to be snarky at all, I just have not seen it anywhere except in posts here so was just curious.    

I follow the APA/Mayo Clinic/CDC guidelines - heat meat (I actually don't do this b/c it seems gross so I just don't have it at all) and thoroughly wash all produce (including melons and things you might not think of if you don't eat the skin). 

synchrosally

Most cheese is pasteurized, you'd be hard pressed to find non-pasteurized unless you're in a specialty shop. Deli meat can be a risk, but whole chicken cut up is fine, even when cold. You are probably safe eating deli meat if you get it grilled at the store.

[Deleted User]

Don't eat feta.  Not even a fingernail full.  You will be doomed.  DOOMED!

synchrosally

sofamonkey:

Don't eat feta.  Not even a fingernail full.  You will be doomed.  DOOMED!

LOL. 

amykins1283

sofamonkey:

Don't eat feta.  Not even a fingernail full.  You will be doomed.  DOOMED!

TB never forgets, ladies!!  LOL!

buggirl72

sofamonkey:

Don't eat feta.  Not even a fingernail full.  You will be doomed.  DOOMED!

Lol! We went to a friends house for dinner and he put feta in the salad. I asked if it was pasteurized, which it was. He's a doctor and gave me a bad time that I even suggested that he was giving me something potentially bad.  We then proceeded to joke about food born illnesses for the rest of the evening.  He called us the next morning  panicked. Apparently, he had woken up in the middle of the night super sick and was worried that he gave us food poisoning. The rest of us were fine.

buggirl72

LoisLane23:

buggirl72:

.  Unfortunately, someone on my board posted that a friend of theirs lost their fetus because of listeriosis. Even though the risk is small, it just is not worth it to me.

Because of lunch meat or because of something else? The risk is astronomically higher for someone to get listeriosis from produce than from lunch meat, but the deli always gets the bad rap.

I'm thinking it was the Canadian lunch meat incident from a couple years back. I'll have to dig through the old posts and double check that. 

It does seem like produce is in the news more. Here is a link to the FDA's updated food recall list: https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls/default.htm

It includes Dippin Stix Apple Snack packs, Armour pizza kit snack packs, whole cantaloupes (again!), white and yellow onions, various salsas, prepackaged salads, and pre-made sandwiches (from Publix).

CrazyMary77

My doctor basically told me nothing unpasteurized, no raw meat/fish/eggs, and eat fish no more than twice a week ( for risk of mercury). I have read that deli meat/cold cuts isn't good. A lot of sandwich places have carved turkey breast, which is OK to eat. As a huge fan of Panera, there's lots to choose from there that's perfectly fine.