What’s For Dinner: Sweet Chili Poultry Wrap

Published on by Lindsey B.

First, and ever so important, this is a judgement free zone.  Seriously.  No judgement.  If you can’t be kind in your thoughts and words, skip to another post.   If you have a hard time looking at someone’s lifestyle and not comparing it to all they *should* be doing, then you might get a little worked up over this one.  If you can’t look past that, I don’t suggest you proceed. If you do proceed and find yourself wanting to dish out non-helpful and self-important opinions, I definitely suggest you keep them to yourself.  Sorry… not sorry. Food and nutrition are always touchy issues, but I’m not looking for a debate on how our family eats.

I will (unashamedly) admit that there are days I absolutely crave McDonalds, but when I hit the drive thru, there are actually only a few menu items I enjoy.  Fries are a given once in a while (is it the sodium?) and I can go days with that hankering gnawing at me subconsciously – but in general, I think their fries are disgusting.


One of the few selections I do enjoy is the Sweet Chili Crispy Chicken Wrap.  It costs approx. $5 for just the wrap, but I generally cave and order the combo, adding fries and a diet coke to my meal… making it a bit pricier.   It tastes good in the moment, but eventually I regret the choice (for any number of reasons.) 

Furthermore, I will (woefully) admit there are days that I. Do. Not. Feel. Like. Cooking.  As in, I’m absolutely convinced my kids can live off of stale croutons and shrivelled apples they find in the back of the crisper.  

Despite my best meal planning efforts, fast food, pizza, or any other form of takeout sounds like a great idea if it means I can put my feet up sooner.  We try to limit our external dining experiences over preparing a meal at home, but there are months that if I look through our bank statements, we’ve spent way too much on restaurant food on top of our grocery budget.  Yuck. 


In my efforts to curb that excess spending, and less-than-nutritious food choices, I’ve taken to purchasing some prepared convenience foods.   Is it as healthy as food from scratch?  Nope.  Do I give myself the grace to enjoy a meal with my family and know that they are fed and cared for?  Absolutely.  In my (not educated) opinion, lack of stress and peace of mind are also important to overall health so if a slightly less healthy option provides some calm around the dinner table , then I’ll go for it.  You do you.  I’ll do me. 

I knew tonight would be one of those nights.  My week has been busy and emotionally overwhelming.  My to-do list for just today was a mile long.  I really wanted my McDonalds… but I didn’t want to spend that kind of money for all of us (we easily drop $40 when we all go out.)  Nor did I want to hear “I’m hungry” thirty minutes after forking out that much dough.  Plus, the boys and I ate out last night as part of a family visit and I didn’t think we needed to add another restaurant meal to our week.

Using some romaine remains, cucumber in the crisper, wraps that had been sitting in the fridge, and a box of PC Southern Style Turkey Strips from the freezer, I recreated the Sweet Chili Crispy Chicken Wrap (but… with turkey.)  We had mayo and sweet chili Thai sauce conveniently on hand as well.  I was able to stuff the wraps fuller than anything you would buy at the Golden Arches.  They cost about half of the fast food price.  They tasted better.  And. No. Complaints. Around. The. Table!  (That’s a win in my books.)  Even without the fries, I felt satisfied and experienced no tummy-regrets.   Healthiest meal I’ve ever made?  Not even close.  Delicious and filling?  Yes.  100% yes!  It sated the craving and saved me some unwanted stress with a small amount of effort.  Plus… better for the wallet (so Kevin’s happy too!)  It’d be an easy one to make even healthier and less expensively with some small changes (whole grain wraps, boneless, skinless chicken cooked at home, etc.)


Here’s the not-quite-a-recipe…

* Cook chicken or turkey strips according to box directions – approx. 2 strips per wrap;
    chop into smaller pieces when ready* Wash and chop your lettuce – we had approx. a cup each
      *  Wash and chop your cucumber; add to the prepared lettuce
* Spread some mayo on your wrap (I used less than a tbsp. of the PC garlic mayo on each tortilla)
* Top with your greens (just split evenly between your wraps)
* Top with your poultry
* Drizzle with your sweet chili sauce
   (The amount I used varied on who was eating it.  K. had a smidgen; I had a tbsp. and I went crazy       for Kev & J.)
* Tuck in the ends, wrap up tight, and enjoy!

3 thoughts on “What’s For Dinner: Sweet Chili Poultry Wrap”

  1. Do people actually leave judg-y comments here?? I love this post — it's such a refreshing change from the “here's a healthy dinner you can make in just 2 hours, with trips to only three separate specialty food stores!” This is real life! I try to cook from scratch as much as possible (and it was easier when I was on mat leave and could prep veggies or sauces for an hour in the afternoon, or take a trip to the grocery store for a single missing ingredient), but I don't think there should be any shame in the odd takeout meal or one using so-called “convenience” foods. Now that I'm back at work, we will definitely be having a weekly dinner of grilled cheese and canned soup! 🙂

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  2. I haven't had any negative comments on here… but social media is another story! So many people who think they're being helpful… bit really aren't! I love soup and grilled cheese night. 😉

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