Beat the High Cost of Food: Make Your Own Fast Food

Fast food is not popular just because of so called convenience. (Who wants to get up from a perfectly comfortable chair, comb your hair, get in the car, drive to a fast food place, stand in line, place your order, stand around for 10 or 15 minutes until you pick up your order, get back in the car, drive home and, finally, eat. After spending anywhere from two to seven dollars or more for each person.)

What makes us do it? Certainly not laziness or lack of time. Depending on where you live, a trip to a fast food restaurant can take quite awhile. Even if you live quite near one, it takes some time and effort to go and get your food.

It's not the cost, either, if we're honest. Yes, fast food is usually cheaper than a sit down restaurant. It's not cheaper than food cooked at home, though.

How fast food entices us

So what does fast food hold over us? Let me ask you this: When was the last time you ate something bland from one of these places? When was the last time a restaurant hamburger tasted like sawdust or a chocolate malted tasted like 2% chocolate milk?

That's probably the last time you visited that particular establishment, right?

So now we can answer the question: Why do we love fast food? It's the taste. The flavor. The richness of it, the part that makes your mouth water even when you're not hungry. AND it's the smell.

Ever walk into one of those places with a cold soda on your mind and wind up buying a cheeseburger and fries? Not many people can withstand a situation where their own bodies and a mass marketing campaign work against them. We smell hamburgers. Or at least cooked onions. We hear the sizzle. We see someone else's, all wrapped in a thin paper, leaking hamburger smell all over the place. Can't you smell it now?

Do it the sensible way and have it your way by making it your way.

Hamburgers

Hamburgers are easy to cook, of course, but there are a few tricks to making them taste more like your favorite fast food.

Set the mood by cooking a couple of onion slices slowly in a little oil. The smell will enhance a meal like nothing else. Don't believe me? Ask McDonald's or Burger King.

Toast or otherwise warm the hamburger buns. The easiest way to warm them is to put a heavy pan with a close fitting lid in the oven with the buns in it, and turn the temperature on low. As soon as the pan warms up, turn off the oven and leave the buns in. As you fry or grill each hamburger, open a bun and slide the meat inside, then return it to the pan. If you want cheeseburgers, put the cheese on top of the hot meat and put the 'lid' on the bun. The cheese will melt just a little - just like the fast food restaurant's does.

If you're using lettuce, shred it. Cut the tomatoes and onions thin. Make a "sauce" if you like, with mayonnaise or salad dressing blended with thousand island dressing. Don't forget the mustard and ketchup and a lonely pickle chip (or maybe two).

Soft Drinks

For drinks, used crushed or chipped ice. No clunky ice cube ever chilled a soft drink as thoroughly. If you don't have an ice crusher, wrap cubes in a clean kitchen towel and smack them a few times with the broad side of a hammer.

You'll almost have to use a straw when you use crushed ice, to keep from accidentally swallowing the small pieces every time you take a drink... that just adds to the fast food feeling. (When you do go out to eat, save your straws to use at home!)

Chicken Nuggets

So hamburgers aren't your favorite fast food thing? How about chicken nuggets? You can buy them precut and ready to cook at the grocery, but even then they're a little pricey. How about just making your own?

They are, after all, only pieces of chicken. The next time you catch chicken on sale, get it and cut it up into boneless chunks, then coat them with your own homemade seasoning and pop them into the freezer on a cookie sheet. Once they've frozen, put them in a freezer container. They can be baked or deep fried without thawing.

Fish

It's easy to create a fast food fish meal, since you can buy breaded filets or fish sticks almost anywhere. Add the fast food side dishes and condiments - cole slaw, corn on the cob, hush puppies, tartar sauce or whatever you most enjoy. Or make a fish sandwich on a bun with tartar sauce mixed with mayonnaise or salad dressing and shredded lettuce. It's the same thing offered from a fast food restaurant.

French Fries

If you have a few moments, peel and slice potatoes into french fry shape and deep fry. It really doesn't take much time to make your own completely from scratch. While french fries are cheapest to make your own from scratch, if you run short on time, use frozen ones. It's still cheaper than a side order at any fast food restaurant. You can mimic the special flavors by using seasoned salt instead of plain.

Put the french fries briefly in sugar water just before putting them into hot oil and they'll brown nicely. (It also helps that fast food flavor!)

It's not just money you save by making fast food at home. Think of this, you vegetarians. French fries and chips can be cooked in animal fat. If you have food allergies, think of this: Beef sausage can contain pork, hot dogs often have milk and there is egg in almost anything that has a coating.

Stay in for fast food. Stay healthy and keep your pocketbook healthy, too.