My God! How do people eat that shit?

[OffWithTheirHeads]

This is going to be kind of long because of the back story so if you are easily bored, read no further. Also, the point isn't really a big deal but, for the first time on DU, I just need to rant.

The back story;

We were having most of the local family over for Christmas Eve dinner. I had been planning this since Turkey day and had spent pretty much the five days before X-mas eve in the kitchen baking Stollen and Cinnamon Raisin bread for gifts for everybody, Baking Baguettes and Rosemary Potato bread for the hors deovers and rolls, prepping the Goose, making reductions, the whole nine yards.

In my house, a production like this is like a 4th of July fireworks display. It starts out slow but the last two hours before dinner is served is like the grand finale. Don't come into my kitchen! Don't even talk to me! I've got all the burners going, all the oven space allocated and I even have the Microwave conscripted. So, What happens? Two hours before the dinner is to be put on the table, the kitchen sink stops up. O.K. I say to myself. Take a deep breath. Not the end of the world. Just go to the truck and get a pipe wrench, remove the P-trap, clean it out and proceed. Ha, Ha, Ha! The little baby Jesus was not smiling on me. I put the pipe wrench on the first compression nut to remove the P-trap, gave it a little tug, and the whole thing disintegrated in my hands. Turns out that, due to some seriously bad water here, virtually the entire under the sink, waste line was completely rotted out.

Well, there was no way I was going to be able to fix this AND finish the dinner so I pretty much ended up using every utensil in the house to finish the dinner. I couldn't even rinse anything out so I had to use pretty much everything I had.

The dinner turned out great and there was enough two buck Chuck available to make everyone happy but, after everyone finally left, I had dirty dishes stacked all over the kitchen and the dining room table. Of course, the next day was X-mas so the hardware stores were closed so I couldn't fix the sink and the kitchen looked like someone had thrown a hand grenade in it. Essentially unusable.

X-mas day I figured that surely I could at least find a Chinese take-out place open to get some dinner but after driving around for about 1/2 hour looking for anything, I finally gave up. I found the last remaining, unused mixing bowl in the house and made some canned soup in the Microwave. That was the meal for the day.

Today, I headed out to OSH for sink parts at about 10:00A.M. I know this will be one of many trips to OSH today because plumbing is one of the most confusing of the construction arts. In fact, we placed bets on how many trips it would take to get this right last night. My wife bet four. They have 30 million parts that all look the same but they're not. Whatever you bring home will be a little longer, a little shorter or a slightly different diameter than what you need. Hell, I brought all the old stuff with me and still got it wrong three times, and I have been in construction for over 40 years!

Anyway, at this point I'm starving. The wife says she would take me out to breakfast BUT, she's having lunch with the girls and why don't I just go to Mc Donald's because you can get a lot of calories fast and cheap.

I don't do fast food. I've been out of work since July and both of us love to cook. We have been watching our pennies and cooking at home for quite some time now. Even when I'm working and making good money, I make my own lunches and I can't remember the last time I ate at Mc Donald's. Today, however, after finishing the under sink repairs (four hours later and only taking three trips to Orchard)and after putting the first of five loads in the dishwasher, I'm really hungry so I drive down to the local Mickey D and order a 1/4 pounder with cheese, a fillet of fish sandwich and medium fry's.

I figure this will be inexpensive. Like $5.00 or so. Au contrere! $8.70 something! Almost ten bucks for the most tasteless combination of fat and crap I can remember having! This shit was so bad that, as hungry as I was (remember, all I've had to eat in two days is a bowl of canned Mushroom soup) I ended up throwing about half of it away!

How do people eat this shit?

Don't tell me that this is all poor people can afford! At $10.00 for lunch, I want a table cloth! Hell, I could walk into Safeway, in the same shopping center and, on the day after X-mas, get a 12 pound Turkey for less than that garbage at Micky D cost. Yeah, it's not organic, free-range but I could easily get a weeks worth of meals from it.

Sorry, I just had to go off.

And for what it's worth, the third load of dishes is in the dishwasher and by about noon tomorrow my kitchen will be back to normal. Thank God this was something I could fix myself cause there is no way we could afford a plumber right now.

Oh, and the best lesson from all of this it's that I had come to take my cooking for granted. I came to assume that everybody cooked the way I do. All I can say is that if people consider this fast food crud to be tasty, there must be some tire company out there willing to put a star in my kitchen.

[LeftyMom]

1. I don't get it either. If all you want is filling and cheap, almost any hole in the wall

ethnic take-out in a sketchy strip mall will be ten times better. Even if you have to take a chance on someplace unfamiliar, how doesn't that beat a place that you know serves horrid crap?

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. Shit, the girl selling Tamales in the parking lot makes better food!

[GoCubsGo]

74. Should have gone Burger King. They serve a veggie burger.

It's the same as a Whopper, only they use a Morninstar Farms patty. Ask them to either leave off or go easy on the mayo, and you have reasonably healthy sandwich. Their salads are okay, too.

[MrMickeysMom]

2. Great story... it'll be funnier later... As for fast food...

I am convinced that people who eat that shit succumb to some mind numbing, caloric ridden, sugar-laden, brain altering chemistry.

It must make you stupid, or lazy or both.

I appreciate scratch cooking for all of its benefits, not the least of what is good taste and a clean GI track (also, bloating, fluid shifting and electrolyte imbalance is surely a byproduct of fast food.)

Now, you can wow us with a recipe for one of those reduction sauces for whatever bird you fancy!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. I can do that. Just let me pour myself another Adult Libation.

[MrMickeysMom]

7. (:^-O...

...drooling in anticipation....

[OffWithTheirHeads]

6. O.K. We were having Goose for dinner. What the recipe called for

Was a Wine sauce reduction using Madeira. I didn't have any Madeira and couldn't find any so I asked the DU lounge for a substitute. Someone suggested Port. I had Port. Ruby Port.

Here is the beginning of the recipe;
For the goose:

* 1 12 1/2-pound goose, neck reserved


* 1 tablespoon butter
* 3 shallots, sliced
* 1 1/2 cups Madeira
* 4 small oranges, quartered
* 4 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
* 1 cup fresh orange juice


* 4 large shallots, halved


* 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons Madeira
* 1 tablespoon cornstarch
* 2 tablespoons (about) honey

The rest of the recipe;
Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add goose neck; cook until brown, turning once, about 5 minutes. Add slice shallots; sauté until tender, about 4 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups Madeira and 1 orange. Boil until reduced by 1/3, scraping up browned bits, about 3 minutes. Add broth and juice. Boil until reduced to 2 cups liquid, about 45 minutes. Strain sauce into saucepan. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Chill.)

You will notice that they never tell you what to do with the last three ingredients. Their mistake but I figured out that this was to thicken the sauce. It did.

As I said, I couldn't find Madeira so, the first time I made this, I used Ruby Port. The sauce came out soooo good that my wife pronounced it to be 5 star restaurant quality. Unfortunately, I got sidetracked and forgot the sauce on the stove and screwed it up. The next day, my wife found Madeira at Trader Joe's and I made the sauce again, using Madeira. If we hadn't tasted the sauce with the Port, we would have thought this to be wonderful and never known the difference, but, we HAD tasted this with the Port and my wife immediately told me to make it again with the Port. It was to die for.

I expect that this would work equally well for Duck as both birds have a high fat content and tend to be on the gamy side.

Bottom line, All of the family said please do this again.

The entire Goose recipe is here if your interested.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roast-Goose-with-Oranges-and-Madeira-966

[MrMickeysMom]

8. Oh, I'll check this out...

... caveat is, I've never cooked a gamey poultry like goose. I'm wondering if you could substitute anything else, but I could always go for it.

I guess you'd leave the oranges with peels on when quartered.

Much thanks!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

10. No, don't leave the peels on. If you want them for flavor,

Zest them but if you just cook them your sauce will be bitter. Another flaw in the recipe. Peel the oranges!

First of all, gamy birds are great but I would suggest you take on Turkey first. Learn about brining and starting the bird upside down to get the juices to flow before you take on game birds. Just my opinion but cooking big birds is a little more tricky than roasting a chicken. Not much more, and you shouldn't be afraid to try it but it requires a little more attention and prep time to do it properly.

Pretty much anything I have cooked with Duck, Goose or Chicken can be tried first with Chicken or game hen.

The fatty birds like Goose and Duck take longer to cook. You should use a thermometer to check them and not rely on times given in recipes.

The fatty birds are also extraordinary culinary experiences that will get you to think out of the standard "White folks food" box.

[MrMickeysMom]

19. Ooh, good advice...

... I've also got a leg up, in that I've been brining turkey over the last 6 or so years before using a smoker (latest one was a 20 lb turkey and I used a maple brine.

White women can dance!

[Kali]

4. shoulda got the double cheeseburger - they are only a buck

I hear you though. After you cook and eat real food for a while, junk food can be kind of sickening. I did find something new the other day - fried cheese curds at A & W.}(

[OffWithTheirHeads]

11. Fried cheese kurds? You must live in the South.

I lived in North Carolina for about a year and they even had fried Ice Cream. How the hell do you fry ice cream?

Can't tell you how overjoyed I was to make it to Nashville on my way back to California and actually have Fillet of Soul in a White Wine Sauce.

[mzteris]

42. uh - no.

They don't even HAVE plain old cheese curds in the south, honey.

That privilege goes to Wisconsin.

(Born and raised in the South - lived in NC for 23 years +/- and I've been in Wisconsin for two.

Though you're right that (most) Southerners fry just about anything they can get their hands on! :) I stopped frying food of any kind almost 20 years ago. Though I have been known on occassion to buy and eat french fries, and yeah - fried cheese curds.

[marigold20]

54. mmmm....cheese curds!

white or yellow, fried or plain, they are so good!

[Shell Beau]

52. Cheese curds are not southern no matter how they are served.

[XemaSab]

9. OSH is my home-away-from-home

:D

[Withywindle]

12. I just ate but my mouth is still watering reading about your cooking.

Fuck Micky D's. If you've got two buck Chuck, you've got a Trader Joe's - if you need something ready to eat right now (and I can totally relate to that), you can get a big tub of hummus (many flavors) and a bag of pita bread for a lot cheaper than that.

And as totally unhealthy fast food goes, Arby's has a Reuben sandwich that's better than you'd expect, and Popeye's chicken is wayyyyy tastier than McFeedbag.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

13. I agree. My wife took me to Popeye's a few months ago.

A little pricey but definatly edible.

[GoCubsGo]

14. I would have washed my dishes in the bath tub.

Fill up a dish pan with soapy water. Wash. Rinse under the faucet. That being said, I haven't eaten in a McDonald's in years. I understand that their salads are decent, however. Yes, it's over-priced crap. I usually resort to Subway or Quizno's when in a situation where I'm stuck eating out. I have limited funds, yet I can still put together a tasty, healthy meal for lots less than I would spend at a fast food restaurant. I consider myself a decent cook, but I know what you mean about the star. That goes for all those crappy chain restaurants, too. I'll take my cheap pot of black bean soup over a meal at Applebee's any day.

Your comments about the alleged affordability of fast food makes me want to go off on my own rant about judicious grocery shopping. But, that's for another thread.

[mzteris]

43. That's what I was thinking . . .

Bathroom sink at least if no tub.

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. Come on - people watch American Idol, care about Jessica Simpson, and think reading is communist.

Of course they love McDonald's!

It fits their world paradigm of turning off the brain and celebrating the mediocre.

[peekaloo]

16. Their food does to your internal waste trap what your water did to your sink.

:hurts:

[unpossibles]

17. I agree with you on this subject

in fact, it kind of pisses me off a bit when people say "fast food is the only food I can afford" or "it's too expensive to eat healthy." Why? Because poverty is what forced me to STOP eating crappy fast food - I could not afford to eat out very often, even at cheap fast food places - which are NOT cheap really - so I became a better cook and have not looked back since. In fact, the small handful or times when I've found myself having fast food - usually on a road trip or other situation where it's the only game in town - I remember why I stopped eating it because at best it's barely edible, and at worst it's downright disgusting.

As for the rest of your story; sorry to hear about the troubles, but you will now have an amusing anecdote for future story-telling, AND you have a new standard of "worst holiday ever" to contemplate if you find yourself frustrated at other events.

[hippywife]

18. I do agree with most of your post.

And I am a home cook who doesn't eat out often. The problem with the stuff is it DOES TASTE good. It appeals to those receptors for salt, fat and sweet. Like Michael Pollan says, after you eat a hamburger at McDonalds, is there really any sense that you've tasted beef? No there isn't. The sammiches there are merely the carriers of the condiments that ring the taste buds.

I used to not do this at all, and I try to keep this to a minimum, but now sometimes I find myself out and in need of something in a hurry while I'm on the go. I will eat the fish at McDonalds, or a sandwich at Arby's on occasion. My fav chicken sandwich used to be Popeye's every time without argument, but they have cheaped out so badly. The last time I went there, it had been probably a year since my last visit, and I was amazed how it had changed. Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich is about the best out there, quality-wise. It ain't cheap, but if you have to have something quick, might as well get something that actually is worth it.

Sorry you had such a plumbing muddle to deal with during your holiday meal. But,like a pro, you managed a fabulous dinner around the problem. Would have overwhelmed a lesser cook. :hi:

[Phentex]

20. No one eats it. That's why they are going out of business.

:sarcasm:

[hunter]

21. Situations like this make me appreciate plastic pipe.

It's easy to cut, the joints don't freeze up, and it's less expensive than metal.

I've lived my entire life in places where the water eats metal pipe. Plastic pipe is miracle stuff.

But yeah, I think fast food washed down with high fructose corn syrup makes people dim. Eat enough of that stuff and you'd look under the sink, get confused, call a plumber, and plop yourself down in front of the television to watch Fox News. Good for the plumber and Fox News, not so much for you.

[Sanity Claws]

22. I agree with your rant

I've been eating most of my meals at home too because I'm out of work. I now eat fresh vegetables at just about every meal. I often shop at the Farmers Market and get locally grown produce, as well as grass fed beef and eggs from cage free chickens. While I never ate at fast food places, these home made meals are much more satisfying than the sandwiches I used to eat when I was working or prepared foods (like canned soups) I used to have when I worked. Ordinary supermarket chicken and beef just don't taste right anymore.
It sounds like one upside to being out of work is learning again how to cook nutritiously for oneself and one's family.

[GoCubsGo]

24. Anthony Bourdain said the same thing

There is a thread in the "Cooking & Baking" group that has the MP3 of some lectures he did in February. During the lectures, he said that the economic downturn seems to have encouraged more people to get back to cooking on their own.

Here is the audio:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x72657

His comments about the economy come toward the end.

[yawnmaster]

23. scrape the solids into the garbage; wash the dishes in the bath or shower...

Thats what I did when my sink went bad.
Didn't go hungry at all, just the small hassle of carrying the dishes.

[Heidi]

25. Your subject line describes perfectly how I feel about: Star Trek, Monty Python, BSG, Star Wars,

et al.

But I try. I really do.

Anyone want a Vulcan love touch? :weep:

[mnhtnbb]

26. OMG what a story. Be sure and keep a copy of your rant with Christmas

memory book--or whatever.

Doesn't your Safeway have a salad bar? I NEVER go to a fast food place anymore--other than Subway--
unless there is just no other option. Can't remember when I was in Hardee's or Burger King or McDonald's.

[Taitertots]

27. It must be nice to have unlimited time

Not having to work, I'll assume not having university courses, and having a wife who will help.

Why do people eat there? We don't have unlimited time. I can't spend 5 days cooking. Too many responsibilities.

[hippywife]

28. Not all home cooked meals take a lot of time.

Many of them are very quick and easy. People who want to have nutritious food but don't have the time during the week, cook a couple of different meals on the weekends that will last through the week with leftovers.

Where there is the will, there is the way. :hi:

[Taitertots]

30. I work on the weekends

I'm at work right now.

Oh there is a way. I'd have to forgo work, school, or sleep. I'm not willing to lose my job, lower my GPA, or drop to below 4 hours sleep a night.

I do cook for myself quite frequently. However, the OP doesn't understand that most people don't have the excessive free time like they do. Spending 5 days cooking isn't reasonable for most people. We are as rushed everyday as they were when they decided to get fast food.

[GoCubsGo]

32. That was holiday cooking

I don't think the OP and his wife do that normally.

[hippywife]

33. It doesn't take much time to throw together

a salad or something into the oven with just a wee bit of prep time. Not everything requires long cooking hours or standing over it every minute. Things can be cooking away while you study, or even in a crockpot, as someone else suggested.

I think if you take it slow and try to work simple things in a couple of times a week that will allow leftovers, it will become easier and more desirable to do so. I do a lot of major cooking now but it didn't start out that way. Once I made the decision to make this change, I did it a little at a time where I could work it in, and once something became routine, I worked in more as I could. No one would expect someone with as busy a schedule as you seem to have to make a complete sea change all at once.

My husband and I both work and are pretty worn out by the time we get home and have other things to tend to as well, it's just important to us to have good fresh food. You might also find that the nutrition you aren't getting now improves your concentration for your studies.

But it's up to you to want to give it a shot.

[Taitertots]

35. I do eat stuff I throw together very often

It is just unreasonable to assume that everyone who eats fast food could substitute that for home cooked. You can have home cooked most of the time; But some days I have 8 hours between 16 hour shifts, I'm going to eat fast food. It just isn't an option to give up fast food/take out.

You also have a spouse which makes cooking half as hard, assuming you both eat when one of you cooks. So I already have twice as much cooking to do as you two.

I'm going to assume that you two are also out of/didn't go to university. So when you get home worn out, I've still got a whole day of classes and studies.

[hippywife]

36. I'm the only one who cooks

because I prefer it that way. And there are some nights, he has something out of the freezer he heats for himself. We are older and don't have the schedule that you do, but we have pets and keep chickens which he tends to, and in the summer we have a garden to take care of. We live in a rural area outside of town so we have a 20 mile commute each way. Again, not as full a day as you have but how old are you? We are in our 50's, we wear out faster. LOL

[Taitertots]

37. You cook, what a lucky guy

Even with just you cooking, he does things you would have otherwise had to do. You have specialization and division of labor. While you cook he does stuff you would have otherwise had to spend time doing. I've got to cook and then take care to the yard work. I'm sure you can appreciate how much help working together can be. I'm sure you can also appreciate how much harder it would have to be if you returned to being a full-time student.

The nights he has to heat something up are like the nights I have to eat fast food.

[hippywife]

46. You know

the "Oh woe is me thing" is getting a little more than tiresome. You create every rationalize why you should continue to eat food that is both unhealthy for you and the environment, that supports poor labor practices and promotes turnaround in their employment so they don't have to do anything about that. They buy their meat from processing plants that would make a day as a slave in the sunshine of a plantation look like a vacation.

So be it.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

61. well stated

[Rabrrrrrr]

70. Well said!

:thumbsup:

[OffWithTheirHeads]

45. Even when I was working full time I would make my own lunches.

My only real point was that I found my Mc D experience to be profoundly unsatisfying.

[GoCubsGo]

31. Crock pots are a wonderful thing. So is the freezer.

Cut up the food. Toss it in the pot and let it cook. A few hours later and you have a delicious, healthy meal. Beats the hell out of fast food any day. And, all the pre-washed and pre-prepared produce out there makes things even easier. Lots of really good, fairly inexpensive spaghetti sauces out there, too (Newman's Own, Muir Glen...) It doesn't take five days to boil some water, and cook up some pasta. You can also get decent frozen raviolis and tortellinis if you don't want plain pasta.

I live alone, and after a few days, I'm usually sick of whatever I have been eating, so I freeze it in individual servings. I can pull something out and heat it up in the microwave without having to cook anything for that meal. Soups, stews and many sauces freeze well. So do chickpeas and beans. Lots of decent frozen meals out there, too (Amy's Organics, Kashi, Ethnic Gourmet...)

[OffWithTheirHeads]

44. Maybe, but the flip side is that you seem to have a job.

I've been out of work since July so Yeah, I have the time to cook. In fact, it's about the only entertainment I can afford right now.

[grace0418]

49. My husband and I both work full time. We definitely don't have unlimited time. But we've mastered

a few simple recipes that take little time on busy nights, and yield leftovers for lunches. When we have more time, we make more elaborate meals with lots of leftovers. It's not impossible, and it saves a ton of money (not to mention is way healthier for you). Sure, there are nights when some take-out is about all I have the time or energy to muster up for dinner. But by and large it just takes a bit of practice and you can make a nice meal in the time it takes to drive to McDonald's and back.

[wickerwoman]

69. Ditto. It's not even hard.

I'm single, a full time student, work about 20 hours a week and don't have a dishwasher.

It takes like 10 minutes to make a huge batch of chili. Chop everything, bang it in a pot, let it cook for an hour while your study. Divide it into six things of tupperware and you have food for three days. That's less overall time than you would spend in line at McDonalds and is cheaper and healthier.

Dhal with rice takes even less time (like two minutes to pour things into water and then forty minutes to cook), freezes well and you can eat for the whole week on one batch for like .90 a meal.

Even if you don't batch cook you can do pasta in less time than it takes to get fast food once you add travel time and waiting in line.

And when you get off the fast food/junk food treadmill it's shocking how much more energy you have. It's like doubling the number of hours in the day.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

62. i work fulltime, go to grad school and am a community organizer

i still cook. its good for me, its better for the environment and its good for my family

[MilesColtrane]

29. There are better fast food choices out there.

Next time poll your friends in the Lounge before you have to talk into a clown's mouth. We'll let you know what to avoid.

[Xipe Totec]

34. Breakfast in Beijing, for $0.30 US

For 2 Yuan you get a fried bread with some meat and spices:



The taste is unbeleivably good.

If you want to splurge, for $0.45 US (3 Yuan) you can get a half dozen meat filled bow buns.

[Taitertots]

38. All that food and it only cost them...

Their human rights, workers rights, religious freedom, political freedom, and their country's environment.

Yeah, China is exactly the place we should emulate.

[Xipe Totec]

39. So you've been there?

Good for you!

Wouldn't want to think you were talking out of your ass.

[Taitertots]

40. China Yes, that food stand No

I think it is fairly safe to say the China is notorious for systemic human rights abuses, religious prosecution, environmental destruction, and political repression. But they got bread for a quarter from a cart that couldn't pass US food quality standards, so that makes up for it.

[crispini]

41. I've been there, and I agree with him. nt

[wickerwoman]

67. Mmmm... love the crepes too.

The Chinese know how to do fast food right.

Street vendors aren't responsible for the macroeconomic or political problems of China. And I'm sure they'd much rather have your quarter than your sympathy or solidarity.

The other thing that's much better in China is that most employers provide a cooked lunch for their employees as one of the perks. The don't have break rooms with refrigerators or microwaves, but they order in box meals which are reasonably healthy so you don't have to pack your lunch or go out. If more US employers did this, I bet we would see obesity rates and health problems plummeting.

[Xipe Totec]

88. The crepes were awesome too!

PS: Apologies to the OP, it was not my intent to devolve into a political debate about which worker's paradise is more free, the US or China.

All I wanted to talk about was the food.

[tigereye]

47. yeah, fast food is basically crap - and it isn't the only thing folks on limited

income can afford. It's a giant rip-off most of the time.


So rant on... :D

[grace0418]

48. Love the line about the tire company. LOL! I'm a foodie myself, and though I'm not

much of a baker (I cook too improvisationally, that makes any sense), I'm quite a good cook. With just a few basic recipes that virtually anyone capable of driving through a fast food drive-up window can master, you can make delicious, nourishing, and affordable meals for yourself. Not that I don't enjoy a good burger and fries from time to time...

Glad your kitchen is getting back in order. Sounds like one of those things that will be quite funny later after all the dishes are clean.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

50. Oh, I even found the whole disaster funny as it was happening

I really had no choice. If I had gotten pissed or discouraged it would have just messed up days worth of work and ruined the whole evening.

I must say though, it's a whole lot funnier now that my kitchen is back together and dinner is on the stove.

[grace0418]

79. Even when there hasn't been a disaster, that moment after a dinner party when all the

dishes are finally clean and put away is a big sigh of relief. I love cooking, I love having delicious homemade food, but dishes, ugh.

[es350_ibm]

51. I've always wondered about that myself.

[Shell Beau]

53. I happen to like McDonalds. I don't eat it often, but when I do, I enjoy every bite.

:)

[noamnety]

55. I haven't been to mcdonalds in years

About the only fast food we get is on road trips, and we stick to subway. Not gourmet, but we recognize the foods that we're eating and I can get vinegar and pepper as the only dressing.

I have my moments of holiday cooking, but even on the cheap and lazy days I'm a lot happier with a ten cent potato microwaved than the dollar fries from a fast food joint. The humble potato tastes wholesome, it's a fraction of the cost, it's more filling, I don't get that queasy feeling from it, and it's ready in the same amount of time as it would take me to park, go in, order fries, and pay for them.

For protein, I'd rather eat plain boiled eggs than a fast food burger - again, no prep time, way cheaper.

I normally cook actual meals, but the point is even with a heavy work schedule, making something filling and healthy is as quick as a mcdonalds run and way cheaper. Tonight we had a homemade bread and homemade lemon rice soup from a leftover turkey I made earlier in the week. The entire turkey was 5 dollars (29 cents a pound at thanksgiving sale prices, so I stocked my freezer with them). The turkey was more work than I expected because it was my first attempt at trying to spatchcock a bird. When nobody else was looking, I admit I put it on the floor in the roasting pan, covered it with plastic, and jumped up and down on it to try to break the breastbone. (I might not be doing it right.)

Tomorrow is a beef tenderloin which sounds extravagant, but at $4 a pound it's still cheaper than McDonalds and a thousand times better, and still no real prep time - just rub with oil and herbs and stick in the oven. That and a salad, we feel like we're eating like royalty for less than 2 dollars per person. Leftovers get sliced for sandwiches for the week.

[GoCubsGo]

58. Ah, baked potatoes...

So many ways one can embellish them: add chili, salsa, cheese, veggies with some kind of sauce... "Steamfresh Lighly Sauced" broccoli and cheddar is decent. And, if you hit the sales right and use coupons, you can make two or three of those broccoli and cheese potatoes for the price of one at Wendy's.

P.S. Try mixing some curry powder with salt to sprinkle on those boiled eggs. Yummy! Eggs are one of my lazy day meals, too. Fried egg and pepper sandwiches, omelets, scrambles, crustless quiche...

[valerief]

83. I do eggs and Subway-only, too. Can't stomach the other FF (that's fast food written fast).

I'd rather spend the time washing kale and peeling carrots and boiling pasta and sticking a piece of chicken in the oven than risk Mickey D's.

[phasma ex machina]

56. .

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[valerief]

84. Disgusting!!!

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[JCMach1]

57. When I was in Athens in Nov., after 6-7 days of Greek food for EVERY meal,

McDonald's was looking pretty good...

I have never seen such a big city lacking in variety.



For some reason it was packed... hmmmmm

[GoCubsGo]

59. I'm sorry, but...

I can't imagine McDonald's looking better than Greek food--ever. :-)

I grew up on Italian food. I could eat it, Greek, and any Mediterranean cuisine 24/7/365. I think it's all the garlic.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

73. Escargot is proof that with enough Garlic and Butter

you can make almost anything taste good.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

60. because people believe its cheaper and faster. it is somewhat faster

but not that much, and not really cheaper

or they are young & young people have bad taste :P

[la_chupa]

63. it tastes so good when it hits your lips

1. I'm impressed that you fixed this plumbing thing yourself. I would have called my dad. He would have made the 3 hour drive down to fix it, then my sisters would have given me crap about being the baby of the family and making dad hop for me. My husband is book smart but its best if we keep him away from the tools and such.

2. I can't eat fast food anymore. It smells good but when I eat it I feel like I've swallowed rocks, grease covered rocks no less.

3. Both me and darling hubby work full time. It's faster to cook than forage in the city for food. I may not have believed that until we had the kitchen down for 6 weeks for remodeling a couple of years ago. Plus if you cook then you know what you put into the food. You can really misbehave with ingredients and still end up with something more healthy if you cook yourself than standard restaurant food.

4. I don't understand people who say they don't/can't cook. If you can extract copper from a sample of soil in chemistry you can cook. All you need is a couple of lab books. I recommend "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman.

5. I've lived in the south all my life and I've never heard of cheese curds. I think that's something from a nursery rhyme but whatever it is, I'm sure it's delicious fried - everything is.

6. Fried ice cream is Mexican, not southern...although technically Mexico is south of here so I suppose you could call it southern. It is in fact divine though.

[deucemagnet]

64. I've had to settle for fast food in the days leading up to the holiday.

I find that 1) your meal never looks as good as the picture on the menu, and 2) even when I'm hungry and really looking forward to lunch, I find fast food disappointing.

Currently, my worst experience is with Chinese food from a highway buffet. This shit made the crappy Chinese restaurant in my town look like a five-star establishment. Crappy, barely-warmed frozen vegetables with beef and some sort of vaguely asian sauce. I consider myself lucky to have endured the experience without getting food poisoning.

[bbernardini]

65. I think I know why it tastes so bad. Check out this link:

http://cheezburger.com/View.aspx?aid=3002406400

Trust me, this is real. I took the picture myself this morning.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

66. Oh My! Thanks for starting my day with laughter!

[Throd]

68. I bet Carl's Jr. makes a better cheeseburger than you do.

Every so often cheap fast food is exactly what I'm looking for. You sound similar to beer snobs that can't fathom someone enjoying something so gauche as beer that comes in a can.

[GoCubsGo]

72. They're "Hardee's" on this side of the country

I was going to eat a fast food burger, their "original" would be it. They are broiled and come with lettuce, onion and tomato. In fact, I would prefer the "low carb" version sans bread. They use lettuce instead of a bun.

[noamnety]

76. They don't even appear to use cheese on their cheeseburgers.

From the menus I saw online, it looks like processed cheese food ("american cheese").

[Throd]

77. Whatever it is, it works for me!

[hippywife]

89. I would eat McDonald's over Carl's Jr.

They are so aweful. Yuck!

[LanternWaste]

71. I imagine many people enjoy it

I imagine many people enjoy it-- the taste that is. Opinions being what they are and all, I guess one man's opinion about good food is just as valid as another man's opinion about food.

For what it's worth, when I do go to McDonald's for lunch, I get two cheeseburgers, an order of fries and a coke for just under five bucks. Inexpensive and filling. And, being the culinary apostate that I am, I like it.

[hippywife]

75. Not when you understand corporate food and mega-farm policy

in this country and where your food comes from, how it's handled, and how the people who work in this system are treated in meat processing plants. How the animals are raised is enough to make you want to barf. It becomes more than a matter of opinion.

[LanternWaste]

81. I was answering to the final agenda rather than the process itself.

Well, I was answering to the final agenda rather than the process itself.

Granted, it would be nice (or at least nicer) if the practices you allude to were confined merely to the fast food industry, but as we all know that not to be the case...

[hippywife]

86. That is true.

It's great having small family farms and farmers markets in so many areas of the country these days so one is not subjected to corporate food model.

www.localharvest.org

[OffWithTheirHeads]

78. Well, yes, This is just my opinion.

Based on my recent experience at Mc D's, I don't understand how people can eat that stuff. A few posts up I am likened to a beer snob. I guess that I could be called a food snob. So be it. I also can't fathom how working people or gay folks can be Republicans. I guess that makes me a Brie and cheese, latte liberal snob. I'll own it, no problem but that's why DU is a discussion board, not an everyone thinks the way I do board. If everyone agreed with me this place would get real boring real fast.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I'd put my burger up against CJ anyday.

[LanternWaste]

82. Hating that you...

Hating that you inferred and concluded all of the above self-denigration from my post.

I doubt liking or not liking a thing makes anyone a snob. But then again, as I'm not very clever, it may well be the case.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

87. Oh no, I'm sorry. I took no offense at all

Just making conversation because my other choices are house cleaning or watching T.V. By the way, how can anybody watch that shit?:shrug: :rofl:

[noamnety]

80. I disagree with this statement.

"I guess one man's opinion about good food is just as valid as another man's opinion about food."

Some food is fresher and has better nutrition than other food. "Good" food is not entirely subjective.

Two cheeseburgers, a medium order of fries and a medium coke is 1170 calories, 41 grams of fat, and 1780 mg of sodium. And it's way overpriced.

It's basically a half pound of ground beef (if that?), which should run about a dollar, a potato which is about 10-20 cents, and 4 dollars of processing, fat, sugars and salt added to it.

For that same 5 dollars, I can get a half pound of beef tenderloin (2.00 at the local butcher), free water from the tap, a carrot (10 cents), a pound of bananas (50 cents), a thick slab of real (whole grain) bread that doesn't include HFCS or other sweetners (25 cents), well, heck, a super expensive lunch for me doesn't go above 3 dollars, I would be stuffed if I ate all that.

[LanternWaste]

85. I was ultimately referring to a man's opinion about taste.

Well, I was ultimately referring merely to a man's opinion about taste-- as to how a particular food may or may not taste to any one person, how they may or may not enjoy eating it themselves rather than an objective measure of caloric intake, health benefit ratios, dollar measures, etc.

"Good" in context. E.g., I ate a slice of pie; I enjoyed it; it was "good" despite the fats, the cholesterol, the labor practices used in its manufacture, distribution and sale.

[RebelOne]

90. It would have been quite simple to have just

washed some of the dirty dishes in the bathtub, so that at least you could have had some clean dishes to eat out of. My kitchen sink was broken for months until I could afford a plumber. I used to wash everything in the bathroom sink. Fortunately, I only have to feed me, so I didn't have many dishes. Plus, I usually zap everything in the microwave.

[Mudoria]

91. Had a quarter pounder and fries the other day at McD's..

tasted pretty good to me.