With Valentine’s Day creeping up on us, the talk of date nights is getting more and more common but if you’re watching your weight and don’t want to waste all your calories on an indulgent dinner on Valentine’s Day then we’re here to help.
We’re going to be sharing with you our top 10 places to go to get a healthy dinner on Valentine’s Day, including restaurants and supermarket dine-in meal deals!
Restaurants
Pizza Express
Our first recommendation for a healthier date night meal is Pizza Express. Italian food is a classic favourite, so the menu is bound to have something to please every couple but there’s also plenty of lower-calorie yet super tasty meals to choose from!
Our go-to healthy three-course:
Starter: Slow Roasted Tomatoes – 67 calories
Main Course: Leggera Peperonata Pasta – 542 calories
Dessert: Chocolate Brownie Dolcetti (with mint tea) – 206 calories
*Save calories by skipping a course and opting for just two!
Wagamama
If you enjoy Thai inspired food then the menu at Wagamama is going to be right up your street. Made with fresh, natural ingredients, a lot of Wagamama dishes are naturally packed with vegetables and really good for you and the atmosphere is always great for a casual date night!
Our go-to order:
Main Course: Chicken Harusame Glass Noodle Salad – 441 calories
Side: Wok-Fried Greens – 182 calories
Dessert: Pink Guava and Passion Fruit Sorbet – 163 calories
Pho
From Thai to Vietnamese, if you’re a fan of full flavours and naturally clean food then you’re going to love the menu at Pho. The restaurant has locations in London, Manchester and more and they serve up authentic Vietnamese dishes, many of which are naturally low in calories.
Our go-to three-course menu:
Starter: Veggie Goi Cuon – 99 calories
Main Course: Pho Tai Lan – 347 calories
Supermarket Meal Deals
Tesco
The Tesco Dine-In Meal Deal costs £10 and for your money, you get one main, one side, one dessert and a drink and if you choose wisely, you can definitely share one meal deal between two.
For the healthiest choice from Tesco, we would recommend choosing:
Main: Pesto and Parmigiano Breaded Chicken – 123 calories per ½ a pack
Side: Green Vegetable Selection – 106 calories per ½ a pack
Dessert: Chocolate and Salted Caramel Pots – 227 calories per 80g pot
Drink: 6 Pack of Coke Zero Bottles – 0 calories per bottle
Waitrose
Waitrose’s ‘takeaway in a bag’ is a great option for saving you money and potentially calories too! Still a more indulgent option than making it yourself but less fat and grease than a takeaway, their ‘takeaway bag for 2’ is available in Indian, Chinese and Asian varieties.
The Indian bag is the lowest in calories at 945 calories per ½ of the pack, however, that would involve eating:
- ½ chicken tikka masala
- ½ chicken korma
- ½ pack of Bombay potatoes
- ½ portion of pilau rice
- 1 mini naan bread
The likelihood is, you won’t need all that food in one serving, so your calorie count is bound to be even lower!
Ocado
Ocado have a great and super healthy meal deal available to buy online where you can make a tasty stir fry for just £6! Perfect for sharing and will probably even leave you with leftovers, you get your noodles, sauce, veg and meat for just £6!
For the lowest calorie option, we’d recommend choosing:
Noodles: Rice Noodles – 196 calories per ½ pack
Sauce: Sweet Chilli Stir Fry Sauce – 58 calories per 70g serving
Veg: Organic Sunripe Vegetable Stir Fry Mix – 25 calories per ½ pack
Protein: Cooked and Peeled Coldwater Prawns – 48 calories per ½ pack
Asda
Their own take on the dine-in meal deal, Asda do a deal for £8 that gets you two mains, a side and a dessert, perfect for sharing between two!
There’s plenty of options to choose from but for the healthiest choice, we’d recommending picking up:
Main 1: Beef Stroganoff with Wild Rice – 451 calories per pack
Main 2: Beef Rump Steak – 325 calories per 227g steak
Side: Green Vegetable Medley – 53 calories per ½ pack
Dessert: Sicilian Lemon Baked Cheesecakes – 378 calories per cheesecake
Morrisons
Similarly to Waitrose, Morrisons have done a ‘takeaway in a bag’ for just £7.50, containing takeaway classics to feed two including a variety of Indian and Chinese inspired options.
If you’re counting the calories, the healthiest out of the range is the Chinese Takeaway containing Black Bean Chicken and Sweet & Sour Chicken.
Each serving contains 932 calories, however, this includes:
- ½ pack of Chicken in Black Bean Sauce
- ½ pack of Egg Fried Rice
- ½ pack of Prawn Crackers
- ½ pack of Sweet and Sour Chicken
- ½ pack of Vegetable Spring Rolls
The above is more than you would usually eat in one sitting, so your calorie total for the meal is likely to be even lower than this.
So, if you want a delicious and healthy date night this Valentine’s, without doing all the hard work yourself, one of these 8 options are bound to be perfect.
Our top tips? Watch your portion sizes and share starters and desserts where possible!
