I absolutely love Subway! Pre SW days I would always go for a foot long sandwich but that isn’t the best option if you are trying to lose weight or just want to eat healthier.
It can be quite overwhelming when it comes to ordering – the vast choice of breads to choose from, all the different meats, salads and sauces too. If you are following SW it can be quite straightforward though. First choice is to not have the bread! Opt for a bread-free sub – the salad bowl.
Subway Beef Salad
You can chose to add any of the salad options to your salad bowl including – lettuce, tomato, cucumber, gherkins, jalapenos, red onion, sweetcorn, peppers, olives and even grated carrot (although I found not all branches do the carrot).
All of the salad options are free apart from olives which you can count 1/2 syn if you enjoy a small sprinkle on your salad and the rest are all Speed options (apart from the sweetcorn) which makes it perfect if you are following Extra Easy SP.
You then chose from the meat options to add to your salad bowl. You can have that cold or ask them to warm it up for you (there may be a small charge for this). Choose from beef, chicken breast, chicken tikka, chicken teriyaki, turkey ham and turkey breast – all fab Free fillings as it is all lean meat and they’re not processed which tend to contain hidden syns and be high in Syns, such as the meatballs, pepperoni and salami.
Not all Subway franchises are halal but if you live in Birmingham there are quite a few branches to chose from. My favourite branch is the one in Hall Green, the staff are super friendly and make up your salad beautifully and are generous with their portions! You can search the Subway website to check if your local branch is halal or not http://www.subway.com/en-gb
If you are vegetarian watch out for the veggie pattie – although it contains Free Foods, it also contains hidden extras and is high in syns – around 9 syns for the pattie! If you don’t have a halal Subway nearby then a better option can be the Tuna Mayo for 4.5 syns.
There is also the option to have cheese with your combo – count 2.5 syns for a slice of Peppered and 5.5 syns for a serving of Monterey grated cheese. I always count the cheese as syns and never use them as part of my healthy extra A choice as these types of cheeses are not listed as healthy extras. I know that there are many people that do count it as healthy extra, so if you decide to do so and it is not affecting your weight loss then why not? As a SW consultant I would always advise to syn the cheese but you can make your own mind up!
Then you can chose your sauce for your salad (I always ask the staff to add the sauce to my salad before they add the meat! If you like me prefer to not have a dry salad, ask them for the dressing on the salad first).
Sauces in general are where a Free Food salad can quickly become packed with Syns. In Subway, you’re in charge so you can have as much or as little dressing as you like. If you find the staff have been generous with the dressing then increase the syns. My favourite go-to dressing is sweet onion!
- Sweet onion – 1.5 syns per serving
- Honey mustard – 1.5 syns
- BBQ sauce – 2 Syns
- Ranch dressing – 2 syns
- Sweet Chilli – 2.5 syns
- Light mayonnaise – 2.5 syns
- Chipotle Southwest – 4.5 syns
If you are super organised and want to make sure your salad is all syn free then you can have it without any of the sauces or carry your own dressing or measured amount of cheese with you. I have a couple of members that do that every time they go to Subway. I am not that organised and I love the dressings and cheese from Subway anyway, that’s what makes the salad special in my opinion.