The No Salt, No Fat, No Sugar Journal

McDonald’s in recent years has been systematically eliminating any menu items that were even remotely healthy. Gone are yogurt parfaits (which were still high in sugar) and McDonald salads (which packed a lot of salt if you used the store dressing).

*Stuck at a fast food outlet? Try to find one still offering salads like this one at Buona Beef in Chicago.*

Now, according to a report by TastingTable, McD’s is adding insult to the very real injury its menu can cause your health by charging small order fees for delivery. I’m assuming this is in addition to any fees the delivery app charges you too.

My days of loving it at McDonald’s are long gone, In its salad days, pre-Covid, I would have salads and yogurt there two or three days a week. Then I could feel like a normal human being instead of one with heart issues that had changed all my eating habits.

I could just blend in instead of thinking about the two stents holding my arteries open. No more, though.

So I’ve been testing out other fast-food salads and found two I’m enjoying at Chicago’s Buona Beef chain and at the Potbelly sandwich shop chain.

Pancake house menus are pretty much all the same right — lots of pancakes, eggs, waffles, you know the drill.

When I go to one, I look for something heart-healthy, like an egg-white veggie omelet.

But recently I discovered a place near my father-in-law’s new retirement home that had a non-heart-healthy dish I simply could not pass up — waffle flights!

If you’ve ever done a beer or whiskey flight, you know the concept — four varieties of something in smaller sizes than normal but each with a very distinctive and wonderful flavor.

That’s exactly what Elly’s Pancake House in Glenview, Ill., is doing with waffles! Exclamation point? Yes, because this flight was really that amazing.

The waffles included are called s’mores, fruitopia, dalmation and apple pecans. You have to look back to the pancake section of the menu to find out what those include, namely:

S’mores — oreo, marshmallow spread, graham cracker crumbles
Fruitopia — strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, bananas, mascarpone sauce
Dalmatian — white chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips

Regular readers know I don’t eat nuts, so I asked for the apple pecan without the pecans and our waitress was very accommodating about that.

Continue reading →

My incredible oyster plate at Pearl Tavern.

Oysters and clams distributed in nine states are being recalled because they could make you violently ill, reports the Food and Drug Administration. The suspect products went to restaurants and food retailers in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Oregon and Washington.

They may be contaminated with norovirus, which sickens millions each year.

Involved are oysters from Washington-based Drayton Harbor Oyster Co. and manila clams from the Lummi Indian Business Council from Feb. 13 to March 3. Given the time that’s past, those should not be on fresh fish counters any longer regardless of the recall.

It’s still unclear if the contaminated products were sent to other states, so avoid raw oysters and clams for a bit. They’re an acquired taste for some anyway.

I grew up near a clam bar in Brooklyn and watched my cousins compete in contests to see who could down the most. But I never ate them raw myself until years later when I moved to the Midwest and was anxious to find any dishes I had been familiar with in New York.

With food prices continuing higher, looking for deals, coupons, sales, etc. is even more important now than in years past. I’ve written about seeking out supermarket deals. But a lot of us turn to drug stores for personal care items. So you need to work every available deal in those as well.

The two national chains, CVS and Walgreens, each have extensive couponing programs. But after trying both, using tips I found online from extreme couponers, CVS is the clear winner in offering deals to consumers.

The Walgreen’s program has more conditions, fine print and road blocks than does CVS. It really seems designed to be a bait-and-switch system, luring you to shop at Walgreens but then forcing you to spend more than you expected.

One recent example I ran into — I bought something there that offered me a $5 register cash reward. Walgreens register rewards are printed coupons that normally come with the restriction they must be used in seven days. So they basically draw you back, likely before you need to shop there again otherwise.

But the coupon I got was even more convoluted. It was for $5 off a future purchase. But it was only activated after I shopped there again and spent a certain amount (I think it was $20). Only then would it be activated — and for my next trip!

So I would need to make three shipping trips to get that $5; the first one, the second to activate it and the third to spend it! It’s an insult to shoppers, really. Shame on you Walgreens.

Continue reading →

Month: March 2026

McDonald adding insult to injury?

Experience Unique Waffle Flights at Elly’s Pancake House

Contaminated Oysters and Clams: What You Need to Know

Maximize Savings: CVS vs Walgreens Couponing Tips

Start here