FAST FOOD FRIDAY...

"I'm too busy to cook."  "I worked all day."  "I'm Tired."  "It's way too hot out."  "I don't really want to go to the store."   Who hasn't heard or even said these words before?  Should you call for pizza?  Should you pick something up from the nearest drive through?  Nope, neither.  All you need is a little Food Fore-thought.  Fast Food Friday, a planned weekly post, isn't about running out to a local restaurant for take out or calling for delivery.  Fast Food Friday is about having something on hand for those days when cooking just seems impossible or even unappealing. 

With a little planning and preparation, fast food can come straight from our cabinets, pantries, and freezers.  What we are really talking about here is food preservation.  Food preservation can change our future days - take the guess work out of meal prep, allow for an evening of rest not stress, change your grocery bill's bottom line, and of course, nix the expense of drive-thru eatings.  Now those points do sound appealing.

So for many many Friday's to come, check back to see how I plan to never be too busy to cook, not too tired to eat well, not considering if it's too hot out, and best of all, skipping trips to the store.  For today, let's talk about...

Being Intentional

There are many ways to "be intentional" in the kitchen in order to help simplify things for the week ahead.  The following four are ways that I find work very well.

Menu Plans ~ There are times when I sit down and make up a months worth of menus.  I dream of making one giant monthly shop and never stepping through those doors for at least thirty days after.  Ahhhh, but seriously, menu plans help alot.  For one, if you know you're going to have a busy day, you can pull things out the night before, or even set something to cook in the crockpot.  For two, if you create a list from your menu plan, it does minimize time spent shopping and helps keep you from making extra stops.  It also helps me minimize money spent as in "oops, sorry, it's not on the list".   I like to keep lists of menu plans around so that I can refer back when I'm in a rut or short on time.

Keeping essential ingredients on hand

Doubling up ~ whenever possible, if I am making something that freezes well, I double it.  We eat half that night and half go into the freezer for a future meal.  For example, I caught the Barefoot Contessa show today and though I knew I wouldn't be able to whip up all that she was making, the mashed potatoes sure looked good.  I am not one to buy those overpriced premade packages in the store.  I'm a peeler, a cuber, a boiler - you get the idea.  Though I do like something to show for my time.  So I purposely double or sometimes triple the batch and portion freeze the extra.  This works well with soup, re-fried beans, casseroles, pretzel bread, and the list goes on...

BBQ Chicken with Bacon - one of our favorites

Buy it, cook it, freeze it - If I can pull something precooked from the freezer the night before, it really does cut down on time spent in the kitchen that evening.  Last week, I shared how this works with ground beef.  I also like to keep cooked shredded chicken for BBQ sandwiches, pancakes for quick breakfasts, burritos for lunches, crusts for quick pizzas, and shredded beef roast for soup.  There are times when I will have a "precook" morning just to stock the freezer with future meals.

Eat what you have on hand ~  leftovers.   Yeah, I know leftovers may not always sound good, but they are fast and economical.  If you don't want to have the exact same meal again plan ahead.  If I know I'll be making a couple of roast chickens one night, I may pick up tortillas and cheese to make quesadillas out of the leftovers or some Caesar dressing to fix up a salad. 

Just remember, always be thinking about how you can make your future meals easier and you'll have fast food on hand.

This post is shared with Food Renegade.