Fast Food Vs Home Cooking

[milan kyuubi]

Today the society is very tired as well as overworked. Everyone is extremely busy and is constantly running a fast pace of life everyday. Regardless of the fact, whether their running to meet the hectic lifestyle and pace of life is precious or not, they run to meet the need effectively. To bring to a normal routine, you need to follow some cheap meal ideas so that you catch up some time to stretch and also save your hard earned money. You can provide a nutritious as well as wholesome dinner even with limited ideas and money, provided you plan and get the ingredients well on time.

The fast food makers have caught the running spree and have coaxed people into eating fast food. As people lack time, they just rush to the fast food and make themselves comfortable. The very idea of returning home after a tiring day or work and then later on cooking for the entire family is not done with a happy note and you are inclined to look on for some fast food. Though, you know it is not good for health, you ignore as they are readymade and you need not spend your good time in the hot kitchen. Moreover, you have to prepare for the coming day as well as help your children with homework, do the laundry work and clean the mess.

It is normally the parents who run in the aim of avoiding the hassles of running to grocery shopping, cleaning before and after dinner and cooking. They prefer to go home as well as relax so that they wake up and do them all over again. The main difficulty is that eating fast food inevitably causes obesity and is no way a healthy choice to be considered as the complete meal or food. There are cheap meal ideas that take very little time in preparation and coming home to eat a good meal without much expense itself makes the meal more delicious.

The cheap meal idea consists of meat, pasta, vegetable and rice in one dish. A quick stir with slices of meat or beef is good and chicken can also go good, add soy sauce and cook completely. Add and stir few vegetables to the same mix with a cup of water. The meat and vegetables get cooked with the rice. This makes a cheap meal idea and can be eaten contentedly as it has everything to make it an opulent and nutritious meal. You can also use macaroni as well as cheese and add some flavor with tomato sauce and make the food tastier. This will save your money and keep you in good health. The fast food is convenient food for one or two days, but is not recommended as daily food as it will cause your health.

Eating frequent fast food meals causes teens and young adults to gain more weight and face an increased risk of developing insulin resistance according to the results of a study funded by the National Heart,Lung, and Blood Institute(NHLBI) and published in the January 1, 2005 issue of The Lancet.

After 15 years, those who ate at fast-food restaurants more than twice each week compared to less than once a week had gained an extra ten pounds and had a two-fold greater increase in insulin resistance, a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is a major risk factor for heart disease.

[synaesthetic]

Fast food tastes like poo.

If you learn how to cook like a restaurant cook, you can make wonderful-tasting meals very quickly. In a restaurant--even a very nice sit-down place with excellent food--the kitchen has to move very quickly. Most entrees can't exceed fifteen minutes of total cook time, or customers will start getting pissed and leaving, or hitting the booze hard and making a scene.

Ever since I started working in restaurants, I've been good with making really delicious, healthy meals from whole ingredients that get from the kitchen to the table very fast. You don't need to spend hours and hours cooking. The choice isn't just between an elaborate eight-course feast-of-kings and a burger from McDonald's.

There's a middle ground.

[Vexx]

This isn't really a discussion so much as a statement of fact by the OP. I'd add to that "fast food" category all the highly processed assembled "food product" that the grocery stores and food manufacturers keep pushing on the public. Those are stuffed with crapola like HFCS, preservatives, binders, and things not meant for eating. It is actually getting rather difficult to use "Big Box Grocery" to buy actual food components sometimes -- they make more money selling the "Crap in a Box".

And ditto on what Syn says... it simply doesn't take that much time to produce a great meal. We have a two-income family with both working more than 40hrs/wk and gee golly we manage to home cook. We do various asian, italian, mexican... and once in a while we have "southern white honky night" (being originally from Texas we are). Going out is considered a special moment and when we do, we visit the mom'n'pop local restaurants in the area - not the mega-chains. We eat out probably 4-6 times a month.

What are these "overworked people" doing with their time? I'd speculate they're sitting in front of the god-damned tv watching Reality Shit. Make hunting for foodstuffs a hobby, its more intellectually stimulating anyway and better exercise.

[Kusa-San]

Actually fast food is not so fast. I gain more time by cooking myself than by eating in a fast food. I never understood why people said that's complucated to eat well ? it's not the case at all. There are many vegetable and fruit which are easy to eat. Making a vinaigrette is also very easy. The same for a fruit salad. It's easy and tasty.

[synaesthetic]

Agree, last time I went to McDonald's (which I do, occasionally, because even though it's crap and bad for you, it's a little slice of Americana) and ordered two cheeseburgers and nothing else. Took them like ten minutes to get my order, and they fucked it up (put mustard on them when I specifically told them not to as I'm allergic).

I would have been angry, except it was only two bucks, and the manager gave me a free small Coke (which was nice).

[Buleria]

Its funny, because when someone's in a hurry or something and they "need" fastfood, drive-thrus really aren't that fast. Sometimes it takes just as long to walk into a supermarket and buy a premade sandwich. I don't know if supermarkets outside California have premade food near the front of the store, but I'm sure many do. Sandwiches or salads or whatever you pick out at the store is bound to be more nutritious than a hamburger.

[Irkalla]

How about fast home cooked healthy food? That is on my menu pretty much every day, except that it's mostly not even cooked. I dislike fast food like mcdonalds and co, but sometimes after a party at 4am, there is not much else to get than something unhealthy at a stand that works 24/7. Burek or horseburger, yum, my guilty pleasures.

[ChainLegacy]

I can make delicious tortilla wraps that are healthier for you as well as tastier than fast food in around the same amount of time. Also, last time I ate fast food (probably around a year ago) I felt really sick, possibly a result of not eating it much at all in the past 5-6 years.

[Sheba]

I am not as picky on food, I can eat a mcdonals or a kebab, then my own self-made putanesca pasta or larb just fine. Also I have eaten crocodile and toasted grasshopper back in sout-east asia.

[sergho]

If you eat at McDonalds, you can eat one of those $1 hamburger a day.

I eat Nissan Ramen, the square type and add some frozen mixed veges I buy for a $1 a pound.

Eggs are like $1.14 a dozen where I live. Milk is $1.40 a half gallon. Fried egg sandwiches, cereal, the cheap generic cereal or oats.

I eat a lot of lentils and rice. I buy the cheap breakfast ham steaks for $2 chop them up and put them in the lentils along with more frozen veges.

Yogurt cups are good too. I buy a pack of hot dogs to microwave when I'm hungry. Generic albacore tuna is like a dollar a can now.

I can eat for about $4 a day. $5 if I have to buy the stuff you only buy once in a while like ketchup.

Moderation in all things.

[Ricky Controversy]

Others have already said that there is a wide range of tasty, healthy things you can cook quickly if you're willing to put in the effort: which you should be. But on top of that, you know what else works really well? Bulk cooking. Set aside one day every week when you can have a couple hours to yourself and make huge portions of good stuff that will last you several servings.

20 minutes of work and a few hours in a crock-pot, during which I was free to do what I wanted, yielded a delicious and hearty five-vegetable soup that is well balanced, delicious and amounts to about 6 servings. So for every 3 minutes, 20 seconds of work, that's one tasty and nutritious meal. As I sit typing this, I am also eating a bowl of Caccio e Pepe--an old Roman pasta dish with a nice edge--which just took me 15 minutes to cook and constitutes 8 servings. It's not as robust as the vegetable soup, but it's tasty, filling and good for you, and amounts to one meal for every 1 minute and 53 seconds.

Expanding on what Syn said, cooking quickly isn't about sacrificing quality or amount, it's about learning how to prioritize and also learning how to cross-apply ingredients. That vegetable soup I made? The broth I used was cooked off from a beef roast I'd used in a red chili this last week. After making the Caccio e Pepe, I have a dish full of finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese leftover that I'll use in an appetizer in two days. These are things one learns very quickly if they take time to cook a real meal even just twice a week. If you cook nearly every day, you learn that much faster.

[NorthernFallout]

I avoid McDonalds like the plague due to the research/reports done within their corporation, so I refuse to support them. Burger King is similar in terms of quality of the food, but is much better in general. In times of need, BK is my choice when there is nothing else.

However, I much rather prefer pizza or kebab if available as fast food. Greater taste, more amount.

Regarding home cooking, I've been trying to improve my skills ever since I moved to my apartment. While I can manage about 6 dishes (very simple and easy ones, which I prefer tbh) I'm trying hard to develop. Just, supplies are a general concern due to bad transport capabilities and a small store.

When I cannot make a healthy, normal meal at home due to lack of imagination or supplies, I compensate with a huge amount of vegetables of which I try to keep a big supply of.

So far, working quite nicely and has become a standard part of my diet.

tl;dr: Home cook ftw.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Vexx

What are these "overworked people" doing with their time? I'd speculate they're sitting in front of the god-damned tv watching Reality Shit. Make hunting for foodstuffs a hobby, its more intellectually stimulating anyway and better exercise.

Well my parents and sister are working, leaving me the only one still studying. Still, I make my own breakfast and lunch. I only go out on fast food on the days I have school projects or vacation months.

I find the easiest meal with sufficient health benefits is still instant noodles with eggs and leafy vegetables. If I wanted meat, I would have just threw a fishcake or sausage in. For the instant bowl types, I just cut up a raw cucumber and tomato for my vegetables - the most important component of any meal.

My sister's friend* asked me how I could go through the same meal every weekday without getting sick of it. I simply quoted my army days, where fresh food catered for less than 5 people is a luxury.

* - She's a nice, sweet girl who's one year older than me. But she can't cook for nuts - had a first-hand experience along with my sis. Damn why do I always meet girls who can't cook?

[cheyannew]

If time is a factor, what many of us busy moms do, is cook large batches of something, then freeze the remainder. That way, you can Simply microwave (or whatever) the remainder another day.
A couple of people I know cook a lot during the weekend so they can put it in containers for the week.
It also helps when people buy stuff in bulk (like the large packages of meat); cook the dish you want to use it in ahead of time, rather than have to wait for it to defrost, etc. That way, you don't run into the issue of "Oh crap, the meat's not defrosted, oh well we'll just grab something".

[chikorita157]

Honestly, I haven't been fast food restaurant for a long time. Even college food takes longer than fast food because they use frozen patties and fresh food. Also, the french fries aren't drenched in oil.

Majority of the time, I eat at home or go to a restaurant that serves better food (although not as frequent). The advantage of home cooking is that you know whats in the food. When you go to a restaurant, especially a fast food restaurant, you don't know what they put in the food that could potentially harm someones health down the road.

Of course, TV dinners are not healthy... and you shouldn't eat them on a daily basis.

[Reckoner]

I am a sort of an anomaly for someone my age, as now that I live in my apartment I never get take out or that jazz, but simply cook everyday. When I feel lazy I might make an easy frozen dinner, but only the high quality ones.

However, I disagree with the notion that good cooking can be made in simply 15 minutes. Many of the dishes I prepare take hours to prepare, though they are quite delicious (Try making chile rellenos in 15 minutes, I dare you). For people who work 9 to 5 jobs everyday, it's a challenge sometimes to get yourself to cook healthy meals all the time.

Also, while it may not take thr longest time to cook, it still takes anyone awhile to keep up with the cleaning of dishes, pots, pans, etc. ESPECIALLY if you are like me and have no dish washer.

However, I do make huge batches of many things so that I only really have to spend my time cooking every 3-4 days, and the others require a simple heating up process of about 5-10 minutes.

Originally Posted by cheyannew

If time is a factor, what many of us busy moms do, is cook large batches of something, then freeze the remainder. That way, you can Simply microwave (or whatever) the remainder another day.
A couple of people I know cook a lot during the weekend so they can put it in containers for the week.
It also helps when people buy stuff in bulk (like the large packages of meat); cook the dish you want to use it in ahead of time, rather than have to wait for it to defrost, etc. That way, you don't run into the issue of "Oh crap, the meat's not defrosted, oh well we'll just grab something".

Heh, moms and me apparently .

[mindovermatter]

I won't eat fast food, but most of the food I do eat is made pretty fast.
I generally stray away from anything that has more than 5 ingredients or that can't be made in a microwave. I know that's probably not any healthier, but I don't have time or inclination for anything fancy.
...I eat a lot of tuna and fish-sticks

[Lost Cause]

We generally don't do fast food places either, unless we're in the mood which ain't often. That said I work a part time job that allows me to be home early so I can prepare a decent home cooked meal. Also like many have said already, on the weekends I will cook a big dinner on Sunday so we have left overs for a couple of days.
If you have the room and the patience a garden can provide you with plenty of fresh vegitables. Or on the weekend you could stop by the local "Farmer's Market" and purchase said veggies.
I go to the grocery store once a week. If for some reason I couldn't( bad weather, work past closing time, etc.), then I'd hit the nearest gas station/ mini mart and buy the necessities.
What really bugs me though are all these young ladies who say they don't know how to cook!@_@!! Any idiot can boil water, if you can do this you can make soup! Also canned soups and stews are good and fast.
And guys, you too can learn to cook as well.

[Vexx]

Aye, if it is going to be a busy week, Sunday afternoon we make 3 or 4 meals at once and either refridge it or freeze it. Then the week's dinners are mostly set. Lunch is usually the previous day's leftovers.

And yeah, cooking is a matter of collecting recipes, stocking the pantry, and following the instructions. Caveat: we focus more on "one pot/wok" meals - major reduction in clean up requirements. We try to find a new recipe once a week or so and then vote on whether its a keeper or not.

[cheyannew]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Aye, if it is going to be a busy week, Sunday afternoon we make 3 or 4 meals at once and either refridge it or freeze it. Then the week's dinners are mostly set. Lunch is usually the previous day's leftovers.

And yeah, cooking is a matter of collecting recipes, stocking the pantry, and following the instructions. Caveat: we focus more on "one pot/wok" meals - major reduction in clean up requirements. We try to find a new recipe once a week or so and then vote on whether its a keeper or not.

I swear by my crokpot LOL I stuff everything into it in the morning, turn it on, go to work, come home, shift it to low for an hour or two, and there you go, meal done...

Cleanup? 1 pot plus whatever dishes/utensils we used.