I hope i'm not the only person that succumbs to the evils of fast food here.

I'm hoping that i can cut it out of my life style for good. Only those occasional emergencies.
I know some people would say its not good to totally eliminate any foods, but for me this seems to be the best approach. I have learned that i have to severely and drastically limit those foods which i find addictive. And i mean those really worst of the worst fast food places, like mcD's, wendys, burger king, taco bell. those kinds of places. Panera is ok cuz they have pretty good natural salads.

However, in order to succeed at this , i was looking for ideas for easy prep meals, for those exhausting days after work. right now i keep salad on hand most of the time, and pre-cooked chicken breast. avocados for the salads too.
and i also pre-cook a cup or so of brown rice for easy reheating to make a stir fry meal.

anyone else have any home made fast healthy meals they'd like to share?
i'd also be interested in pre-cooking ideas and what works for you.


I'd love to be one of those people who eats whole fresh foods all the time, but when i start eating out alot, i get into the trap of doing it over and over until i'm eating crap food equal to or more often than i'm eating real food.

Pasta will keep too, like rice - and we always keep frozen veggies on hand (fresh often gets spoiled) for quick stir-ups. Soups are great too. You can add leftovers to them or any veggies about to "go". We always keep that refrigerated boullion (comes in a jar in the natural foods section) so it's easy to start one. I honestly reach for the cereal when I need a meal and don't feel like cooking. And I buy apples and organic carrots for snacking (no peeling needed - just scrub well and cut off the ends). Not the best ideas around this forum I'm sure, these are just our tricks.

Kae, fast food is one of my biggest pitfalls. What I have been doing lately is cooking up a bunch of chicken breasts in the crockpot, in broth, cooling them, then cubing them and putting in a freezer bag to use for quick meals. Tonight, for instance, DH made some penne, added some of the cubed chicken breast and some frozen veggie mix that came with a balsamicy type sauce and sauteed it in the pan for a few minutes. Sprinkle iwth some parmesan and dinner's done...and relatively healthy!

Another thing we do with the chicken is chop it smaller and make quesadillas. Low fat cheddar, chicken, onions, peppers, taco seasoning in a wrap. We just put it in a pan for a couple minutes to make the wrap a little crispy. Sometimes DH will make them into "burritos" by adding rice.

I have to agree with you 100% on cutting out fastfood. I did it one year ago this month. I found myself going thru once a day it seemed. It was one of my weak spots that needed fixing so I said goodbye to it. Please believe me when I tell you I don't miss it now!

I know you asked for homemade but when I first gave up the fast food I went to Lean Cuisines. I am now on whole foods because they are more filling--not to mention better for you. The bagged salads in produce are pretty good. Just use your own dressing. You can also take a bag of the shredded cole slaw or the shredded brocolli and put in fat-free dressing and some chopped apples and onions. Top it with 10-15 raw almonds. It is very filling and less than 150 calories.

I also love soup. Campbells makes one--Southwestern Vegetable. You can eat the gigantic can for 100 calories. Making my own I just heat up a can of organic chicken broth and throw in veggies (fresh or frozen) and either lump crabmeat or precooked chicken breast strips. Just bring it all to a boil and then let it simmer a few minutes. Voila! Soups on.

thanks for the suggestions!
it seems like pre-cooked chicken breasts are a popular option, so i will pick up some more of those at TJ's today, and maybe check out the frozen veggies. I know they have good frozen green beans.
I also remember that i like organic canned chilli's from TJ's or the amy's line.
yeah they're like 2-3$ a can, but that's still less than i've spent on a fast food meal/binge. way less.

i'm not a big huge cole slaw eater, but maybe i'll try that TBG. the almonds and apples make it sound like it would be satisfying, and i have some dressing to use up.

i'm so excited! thanks for the ideas!

bobblefrog i don't normally buy cereals these days cuz of the carboholism that i have i know i would be back for seconds or thirds, but i've been wanting to try adding oatmeal back to my diet. i've never thought of it as an after work snack though. that might be a good option.

I make a big batch of the zero point Tortilla Soup and keep it on hand. It's good for adding to a sandwich or salad for a filling dinner.

Thighs, the broccoli slaw salad sounds awesome! Will have to try that next time i can find it!

found a good article on this exact problem!!!!

http://www.chetday.com/howtostopfastfood.htm

My husband and I recently decided to get off fast food. We looked at our checkbook and added up how much $$ we spend on fast food and eating out in a month, and it was $500! So, our deal is if we go without it for one whole month, we each get $250 to do whatever we want with, no accountability to the other spouse! If we slip and have some fast food, then that money goes to pay down debt, so nothing fun with it Pretty good motivation so far!

Last night at my weekly meeting the dietican gave a hands on meeting on cooking. She prepared several things (we helped) and then we got to taste.

This one she threw in the crock pot the night before, very, very yummy...

Pulled BBQ pork
2 lb pork tenderloin

1 lg onion chopped, 4 gloves garlic minced, 2-3 T red wine, 2 T brown sugar, 2 T olive oil divided, 1/2 c ketchup, 1/4 c red wine vinegar, 1 T dijon mustard, 1 T lite soy sauce, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes.

Sautee onions, garlic in 1 &1/2 T olive oil, after softens, add in red wine and 1 T brown sugar, remove fr. stove when transparent. Combine rest of ingredients for BBQ sauce, Add pork tenderloin and BBQ sauce to crockpot, cook low 6-7 hrs, or high 3 hrs or until meal can be pulled aprt easily with a fork.


She said this could be frozen in individual servings. Also can make the BBQ and use it on other types of meat and it freezes well too. She freezes in ice cube trays then thaws out what she needs.

sauce per 2 T- 35 calories, 1 g fat, 0 chol., 8 g protein, 8 g carbs, 1.5 g fiber, 190 mg sodium


I also have recipes for hawaiian pineapple slices and florentice ravioli, both very quick and easy to make. If you are interested in those let me know and I will post them.

She also gave us recipes for Crispy fried chicken and mac and cheese and it's actually good for you!

For me I have to PLAN my meals ahead and then I shop for 5 days at a time. If I don't do it that way, then I end up eating whatever or not having the right foods here. A bit of planning ahead and you will have great meals in a flash.

My staple is the grill. I can throw something on the grill and cook a side or have a salad and have supper ready in a flash. I find that if I vary the spices I use I don't get tired of grilling, plus there is no mess in the kitchen

Your freezer is your friend! If you go on to any recipe site, you'll find lots of OAMC (Once a month cooking) recipes. I don't do all my cooking for one month, but I try to make a few of these recipes to have on hand for busy days. Some need to be thawed, but some don't.

Right now I have turkey meat loaf (can go in oven frozen), pre-formed turkey burgers (can go on the grill frozen and you don't always need a bun), and marinated chicken (needs to be thawed before cooking) in the freezer. Stuff like that really helps. There are casserole recipes you can do that with too.

DH is going out of town for 6 weeks this summer and I've been thinking of fast things I can make for one person. Aside from pasta and quesadillas (whole wheat, of course) I've been thinking of indulging in the healthy foods DH doesn't like so much. I have a thing for canned seafood and I love canned smoked oysters with nothing more than tabasco. I figure if I throw a salad in with that, that'll make a decadent fast yummy low cal meal. Cheap too.

Personally, I only eat fast food on road trips. It makes me feel yucky. I don't view it as a really food group, so I see no reason for you to exclude it from your diet. Avoiding it sounds like a good idea to me.

What great ideas! Thanks for the tips - I too have banned fast food (well at least for me!) at our house.

Hello Nurse, what a fabulous idea!

I'm also trying to cut out fast food. Major-chain fast food, at least. I don't really consider places like Panera, Chipotle, etc. to be fast food. Plus you can get some DELICIOUS and really health stuff there, so I'd hate to cut that out of my options.

My one exception is the Grilled Chicken Southwest Salad from McDonald's. I love that salad. It's got good stats, and sometimes it's a real life saver.

If someone calls me and my plans have to change and I'm driving across town to go do something that I hadn't planned on doing, swinging through a McD's drive through and NOT blowing my day is very appealing.

Although now that they have Sweet Tea up here in Wisconsin at McD's I'm finding it harder and harder to not get some. MAN I miss Chick Fil-A and southern sweet tea!!!!