MaryLee's Healthy Food and Easy Cooking - My Fastfood Whinge

Hello again,

I have never been a lover of fast food or ready made meals. You may wonder why as I know so many people who really enjoy these but most times I am just disappointed with what I get.

For example fish and chips, personally I want a good piece of fish in my batter not just batter and a thin dry piece of fish. Also I want a batter that is crispy not soggy with oil. Same with battered dishes in Chinese foods, more often than not it is more batter and very little filling.

A burger joint, a lot of time the meat patty is part meat and part filler or your burger comes and it is more bun than meat or the bun is dry and falls apart when you pick it up.

Chicken can be the luck of the draw. It either comes greasy or undercooked or if you are really lucky all dried out.

Now this is not just at fast food outlets this happens in restaurants as well.

Buying a ready made salad, then I want what the package claims, for example, a lettuce and tomato and cucumber salad and get 1 or maybe 2 cherry tomatoes and a couple of slices of cucumber and the rest is greens. I could have stopped and bought a head of lettuce and ate that as it’s basically the same.

Maybe it's just me, but I am tired of not getting good quality for what I buy. I have tried various places well known and not so well known and most times I am not very impressed. So I now make my own, for example, a salad, I use the ingredients I want and the amount of each and take it with me. This way I know what I am getting and am happy with my choice. It can be anything from a greens and vegetable, to potato or pasta salad.

If there is a microwave at work, then make your own burger at home and take it with you, or baked potato or pasta and warm it up for lunch. It is so much easier and better for you than going out to buy one because you know what you are getting and how it was prepared.

Doing it this way does not mean you have to do extra kitchen duties, especially those who just do not have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen cooking. In the evening when you make your meal, make extra so you can have it the next day. I do that and it just makes it easier and I am not disappointed by buying something expecting it to be good and when I get it am disappointed.