The hot dog gets a bad rap, mainly due to the amount of the fat in the bun and the condiments everyone adds. But is it really as bad as corn on the cob? The vegetable is healthy—before you consider the butter, salt, and juices added to give it the sweet taste. It’s a picnic favorite that can really add up the calories.
Don’t let the words “potato” and “salad” fool you on this one. The popular German picnic dish might be delicious—but that’s because it’s loaded with mayo. Just one cup of potato salad is roughly equal to a piece of fried chicken.
Despite its name, sweet tea is not actually that bad for you. But a sweet tea cocktail is a little bit different, especially since it is made with sweet tea vodka. Cole slaw, meanwhile, suffers from the same problem as potato salad: Lots of mayo. What saves cole slaw from being as bad as potato salad, though, is the lack of calories in everything else in there besides the mayo.
The sandwich part of a turkey club sandwich is where you’ll be going wrong if you think this is a healthy option. With a lunch that includes bacon and mayo, who needs dessert? No really: a turkey club sandwich is roughly equal to ¾ths cup of Haagen Dazs peanut butter ice cream, considered the most fattening of all the ice creams.
Want to skip the hamburger and go for the meatless protein option? Well peanut butter and jelly might not be so much healthier than a hamburger after all. The calories in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich are roughly equal to that of a hamburger before all its condiments—meaning that going vegetarian is not always the healthiest option.
It’s hard to find any drink that better symbolizes summer than pink lemonade. While there are plenty of low-calorie and low-sugar options, two 8 oz. servings of Snapple pink lemonade will pretty much land you directly in the same category as the cheesy delight of mac and cheese. Hope all that pink’s worth it.
There’s nothing more American than apple pie—and it’s a healthier option than a ham and cheese sandwich. Deli meats can easily bring the calories, but it’s still shocking to hear that a sugary piece of pie has less than half the calories of a lunch dish. Guess Americans should be proud of saving some calories after all.
This Bud’s for you—and it will save you calories. When drinking during your picnic, Bud Light will not bring as many calories as most of the options on the picnic blanket. In fact, two servings of low-calorie guacamole (made mainly of just avocados and tomatoes) equals one bottle of Bud Light.
There are plenty of ways to grill your vegetables, but some of the most delicious combinations can be filled with calories. Especially when you add in the juices and oil. Meanwhile, you can cut your dessert calories with low-calorie blueberry coffee cake—and two servings are equal to one serving of those grilled veggies, so enjoy!
