Making your own healthy fast food at home is the best way to save time AND avoid all the junk ingredients found in most restaurant foods and especially the “food” you'd find at a drive-thru.
Hopefully the last post, Fast Food Dangers, grossed you out enough so that buying fast food is no longer a temptation, or at the least, I hope it is now a very rare occurrence in your life. But what to do for those times when you're too busy, too tired, or too whatever to spend much time cooking and you need some health fast food at home options? (It happens to all of us.) This post will give you ideas for simple and quick meals to help you painlessly go right on by those nasty drive-thru windows. This list is nice because I almost always have most of these ingredients on hand. (When I pull the last of something out of the cabinet or freezer, I add it to my shopping list right away, because my brain doesn't remember much these days without my trusty iPhone to help.)
First…
- Go here for more time-savers, tips for eating out, healthy fast food at home options… in a prettier format. 🙂
- Click here for easy printables on the following:
- Real Food Time Savers
- How to Afford Real Food
- Homemade FAST Meal Ideas
- Real Food Snack Ideas
- How to Get Rid of Head Lice Naturally
- How to Nontoxically Eliminate Bed Bugs — including DIY instructions for how to make an inexpensive bug trap
- Top 25 Simple Ways to Boost Your Health with Apple Cider Vinegar!
Healthy Fast Food at Home: Lunch suggestions
Before we talk about some easy and fast dinner suggestions, first we should touch on the issue of lunch. If lunchtime is the biggest area of temptation for you, then the main thing that needs to happen, if you are ready to completely avoid fast food, is to PLAN AHEAD a little.
(Click here for healthy school lunch ideas.)
- When you're at the grocery store, grab a variety of foods that will make you look forward to lunch and not even think about fast food. (Remember there's lots of junk at the grocery store, too, though…avoid the middle aisles in the store whenever you can and READ LABELS — my book can help you with that: Real Food for Rookies.)
- Even better, take leftovers in a thermos from last night's healthy dinner.
- Try some new salad ideas and mix it up with different ingredients. (I load my salads up and never feel deprived – if you make them right, you feel like you're eating a big treat!) Remember to make homemade dressings since ALL of them from the store are made with heart-killer vegetable oils that cause inflammation in our bodies. (Corn oil, soy, canola, safflower… Avocado oil, sesame oil, or peanut oil in moderation (due to their higher omega-6 fatty acid content) or of course olive oil is good in salad dressings (my favorite), but even then, unless you make it yourself, you can't know for sure that it's REAL olive oil. There are many homemade salad dressing recipes at this link.)
- Another idea is something Kent started doing a while back: he began taking healthy snack foods to munch on throughout the day while he's at his desk, instead of having one big mid-day meal. He takes things like whole-milk organic yogurts, all natural or raw milk cheese, crispy nuts, beef jerky from the farm (with no MSG), granola,or see other snack ideas here.
- Pizza on bun – my favorite cafeteria lunch growing up! (Good for lunch or dinner.)
- Try this — it's one of my favorites and packs well: Mom's Old-Fashioned Bologna Mix Recipe. (Remember don't get lunch meat from the store, that stuff is scary! Try to find it at a local farm, or get healthy meats here.)
- I'm sure all of you have more healthy lunch ideas: please post them below in the comments!
Healthy Fast Food at Home: Dinner Suggestions
We all need a good list of quick dinner ideas to get us through those moments when you might be tempted to say to yourself, “I've had a busy day…” or “I deserve a night off from cooking…” or whatever the excuse might be to head off for some fast food. The best thing when it comes to dinner is also to plan ahead (and maybe do a crock-pot meal for busy evenings), but realistically, that doesn't always happen. With only a glance below, I can quickly figure out what to make fast, and which meals we have the ingredients for. So now on our crazy evenings, full of soccer practices or games, dance lessons, school or church meetings, etc., what do we eat?
Here are some quick dinner ideas:
- BLTs — super fast and nutritious too if you get your meat from a farmer you trust and you use homemade mayo (or this mayo is the only kind I'll buy at the store. Also, you can get healthy meat here if you don't have a good local source.)
- Stove-top Mac & Cheese
- 15 Minute Dinner {Video Blog}
- A 5-Minute Oven-Baked Chicken!
- Grilled cheese (Healthy grilled cheese sandwiches: use organic bread — we get it from our local baker — and even better is sourdough loaf. And use real cheese slices, NEVER Velveeta or American cheese – both are highly processed junk food! Even better: sliced raw milk cheese from a local farm.) I also often serve it with “Ketchup Soup” – which is actually a tomato soup that you can add herbs to to make it really dreamy (and a little fancier, like a “Tomato Bisque”) if you're kids don't mind.
- Other deli meat sandwiches are great on grilled buns with some homemade mayo, lettuce, and tomatoes! See this post for more on healthy homemade sub sandwiches.
- Sometimes when we are REALLY pressed for time and have to get out the door, I'll grab an apple and a cheese stick out of the frig for the kids to eat in the van to hold them over as we're driving, then we'll eat more when we get home. (Other snack ideas.)
- Another idea: if you know you're going to be on the road at mealtime, try “Road Picnics”. I can quickly pack PBJ or other types of sandwiches, carrots sticks, apples & water, or whatever, and there's just something fun about that for the kids, even if what we're having isn't anything new.
- Chicken sandwiches are pretty quick if you have some chicken breasts on hand: just fry them in some butter and seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic powder, etc.) — not too long or they'll be dry, fry just 'til they're no longer pink inside. I use my favorite pan for this. When they're almost done throw on some cheese to melt, then serve on a bun with mayo (I make this mayo or buy this kind), and some lettuce and tomato if desired. Everyone loves this.
- Here are a couple more quick dinners: salmon patties or tuna melt sandwiches.
- Make meals ahead of time to have in your freezer for busy nights. (Or make enough one night for leftovers the next – talk about fast and convenient!) Recently I'd had a busy morning: I helped in my kids' classes at school, ran some errands, came home to work on my posts, and forgot all about dinner. So I was out of time to make the supper I had originally planned. (I can't stand it when I let the afternoon get away from me like that.) Thankfully, I had an extra pan of Shepherd's Pie that I could pull out of the freezer at 3:30, defrost for an hour in the toaster oven, then convection bake it right in there for another hour, and it was ready by 5:30 to eat when Kent got home. Veggies were inside so we just had a little fruit for a side and I was done!
- Scrambled eggs (preferably pasture-fed) or whole grain toast/egg sandwiches.
- These healthy hot dogs – you can boil them if they're still in the freezer when you remember to plan dinner! If you were able to plan ahead, you could also make homemade buns. (Also at that post read in the comment section about a new twist on the topic of nitrates.)
- Brats from the farm can be pulled out of the freezer and boiled in beer for great flavor and a fast dinner! Just be sure to find buns without a scary ingredient label if you buy them at the store. (No preservatives, buy organic to be sure.)
- A couple more easy meals that kids LOVE – make ahead pizza & calzones.
- Hamburgers (best: organic, grass-fed beef from a local farm).
- Organic Sloppy Joes (Again, this is really fast if you already have the meat cooked ahead.)
- Goulash is another quick and easy one (the key to making this good, in my opinion, is getting the amounts of salt & pepper right, and serving it with buttered toast… a little carb heavy, eh?)
- Any pasta with a jar of organic pasta sauce, or pasta with a quick alfredo sauce, and here's an easy ravioli recipe.
- “Italian Pasta” – with butter, garlic and grated Parmesan cheese (my kids and day care kids love this) — even better with some homemade pesto.
- Fried Rice is fast and everyone loves it.
- Tacos – regular or shredded chicken tacos (or nachos) – both especially fast if you have the meat made ahead. I always have either homemade tortillas on hand or organic spelt tortillas that we all like.
- You could also use those tortillas to make quick quesadillas if you're like me and usually have cheese on-hand.
- This taco soup can be pulled together fairly quickly too.
- One more breakfast that's great for a fast dinner, too: French Toast Frittata or classic French toast.
Mini Pizzas (Quick Compromise Version & Homemade Version) or Pizza on bun – a great way to use up extra buns.- Burritos or these grass-fed burritos that go over better with the kids because they're less spicy.
- 5 minute meal: Egg Drop Soup.
- More simple, fast meal ideas using homemade tortillas.
- Blueberry pancakes are a great last minute meal!
- Mom's Eggs Benedict – a breakfast meal that's also great for a fast supper!
- Shrimp & Garlic pasta (with a GF version!)
Comment below and add more to this list of healthy fast food at home options – I know I'm forgetting some good ideas!
- ***Read how a pressure cooker can make fast dinners even easier!!
- Go here for more healthy “fast food” options
- Scroll down through some healthy breakfast ideas
- More main dish meal ideas
- Looking for some meatless/Lenten/vegetarian meal ideas?
- Is There Healthy Food at McDonald’s?
Another reason to can!
One of my more recent favorite snacks is coconut chips (unsweetened), which can be purchased from places like Tropical Traditions. It’s not a “common” snack I see on most websites, so I thought I’d share the idea.
quick supper: grasssfed minute steaks with mashed potatoes and brocoli or green beans. Even frozen, minute steaks take about 1 minute each side in a pan to cook. Substitute baked sweet potatoe – throw in oven and 1 hour later, it’s baked. I buy minute steaks – #10 at a time from a farmer to get a better price and there is always good beef. Try enzyme rich anchovie sauce on the minute steak and brocoli for a change. I came home from WAPF conference and made anchovie sauce – a real hit!
I’ve never heard of “minute” steaks???
Minute steaks are a very thin cut of beef that cooks up very quickly.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-minute-steak.htm
Love the website – am learning so much. 🙂
Hi Kelly, Thank you for all your fantastic information…I am trying to soak it all in! You mentioned that you used a convection oven and I was curious to know what your thoughts are regarding microwaves and if they break down nutrients seeing as there is so much controversy about it. Thanks again for taking your time to share such great ideas!
I use the microwave RARELY and would be happy to get it right out of here. Someday.
All cooking breaks down some of the nutrients, but microwaves denature food even more than conventional heat does, and I’m not convinced that it’s safe at all.
Love your ideas, Shannon, thank you! 🙂
Kelly one this I do to make sure I don’t end up in the fast food or bad food lane is that I have a cooking night, once a week, typically Sunday nights. I cook and shred a whole chicken (and freeze the carcass for stock), cut up veggies like peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, etc. to be used in a quick salad or pita pocket or just to be snacked on. I always make a batch of hummus which is great for lunch, snack or dinner even. At the same time I make things for the kids lunches for the week like my healthier version of ‘nutri grain’ bars (soaked oats and whole wheat flour, unsweetened fruit preserves to name a few ingredients). I try to use leftovers of dinners as lunches as much as I can too, and always cook for 2 nights at a time, so I’m not thinking EVERY day, what am I going to make for dinner tonight?? It would drive me nuts! This means I only cook three nights a week, and the 7th night we have a fend for yourself night, or eat out. On the occasion that I do forget to plan head, eggs are pretty much what I run to for a quick meal. Fritatas and omlettes are so easy and quick and filling.
Thanks for all the great advice, everyone! I’m shortening the road trip and I’ve got a REALLY BIG cooler (and a rechargeable hand vacuum!). Can’t wait to try some of these ideas! 🙂
I have celiac disease too, and I really like bringing rice salads, bean salads, and tabouleh made with quinoa on road trips. They can be at room temperature for long periods of time without spoiling. Our favorite though is chicken salad scooped up with corn chips or Nut Thins, and carrot sticks and celery. Messy but good!
Rachel
Great tips, thanks Sally! 🙂
For the person who’s dealing with a road trip with a celiac: I also have this disease, so I understand the stress. People have suggest PB&J, but the problem is that the available gluten free bread is super crumbly (not car friendly) unless it’s toasted. So I would suggest either corn tortillas, brown rice wraps (Food for Life and Trader Joes brands are available) or just plain old rice cakes to use instead of bread. The other thing with the gluten issues is that she’ll need her own container of pb and jelly; those bread crumbs that get in there from using the same knife, etc, have actually sent me to the hospital! Best to talk to her about it.
Hi Jill,
That’s a great idea! I especially love the tip about making a veggie dip with kefir. 🙂
Kelly
Hey Kelly!
One of our favorite things to do is have “snacky dinner” we call it. I just start pulling stuff out of the fridge and cupboards. There is always cheese around here, ususally a variety, always organic, often raw. I also get out some organic apples or oranges, and I always keep a supply of carrot sticks cutup and ready to go (we hate “baby carrots” around here). Dip made with good mayo, kefir and sour cream is good. Crackers or toast for the carb eaters. Olives, canned sardines, dried fruit, nuts for sure – like crispy almonds or pecans. When you look at the whole pile on the counter, it’s a balanced, healthy and fun meal. The kids can pick as they please, within reason.
This is our usual Sunday night dinner!
Thanks for more great ideas, Sue!!
Jamie:
What about good quality beef jerky/meat sticks from a good butcher without junk, lots of fruits, veggies, salad stuff that wouldn’t have to be refridgerated. PBJ, large chunks of cheese, crispy nuts. However, I can’t imagine how you can transport all that food for a cross-country trip. I would think you might have to have one cooler that is just for your cold stuff. Anything else that you would want to take that won’t spoil would seem to me to be overly processed. How long are you going for, and how many people are you feeding??
Just some thoughts after I saw your comment…
Sue E.
Don’t forget the refried beans spread inside of your quesedilla, too! I even add tomatoes and fresh spinach. Also, I make extra chicken, shred it, freeze it, and add it to quick dishes like chicken enchilladas (with frozen sauce that I have doubled from the time before), chicken-a-la-king, pot pie (not low carb with a biscuit top!), fajitas. I sometimes make tuna pasta salad (not low carb) which can be done quickly, and also pita pizzas under the broiler (Meijer has whole wheat ones!) In addition, I make black bean “burritoes”:
Saute black beans, green onion, tomato
Add cooked rice, cumin, chilli powder, salt, pepper
Roll up in tortilla shells with cheese, sour cream, avocado
All these things take 30 minutes or less!
Sue E.
Hi Jamie,
I’m assuming you’ll have a camper to make your food in, right? I’m not good with creative, but I’d say that if you have a camper, you could just look through your favorite recipes (or the ones on my site) and maybe tweak them all to make them more simple. It will just take some time to plan ahead, but could save you a lot of money. I wouldn’t try to be real creative, stick to the easy stuff like hamburgers & hotdogs (read this topic to the right: “Meat, healthy options”, and I’m sure they have gluten-free buns), spaghetti, and other things you know everyone likes.
Sorry I’m not more help!
Kelly
We’re heading out on a cross-country road trip this summer, with four kids and my Aunt (who has celiacs). We’ll have limited space for coolers and such, but I would like to completely avoid eating “out” while we’re on the road. Any ideas for creative meals that are easy to prepare, won’t spoil, and don’t take much room? (Snacks and breakfast are the easy parts!) 🙂
-Jamie
Hi Barbara Lee,
I love new readers and I especially love comments, keep ’em coming, and thanks for checking out my site!
Kelly
Wow! You are really informed. I try and look for stuff about this & come to a dead end.
I just had an EDS test done and am suppose to go on the Candida diet. Having a hard time. But I ain't giving up. I am watching how much sugar & carbs I am eating. I just can't find any recipes for this diet.
So I am doing what I can.
I am going to enjoy visiting your site.