Fastest Food

            Fast food was not always an occupant in my life, but it slowly played a bigger role in my day-to-day routine. Occasionally, as children, my mother would get my brothers and I a Happy Meal from McDonald’s. She discovered, though, that it was cheaper for her to stock up on groceries than it was to visit a drive-thru window almost every day of the week. So, ideally, she would cook dinner for us. However, cooking every night soon put a toll in her, so fast food became more and more frequent.

            Up until high school, I was spoiled by cooked meals when I came home. Then, at one point, my mother boycotted the kitchen area, which inevitably led to the fast food frenzy. Domino’s pizza, Taco Bell burritos, and Carl’s Jr. famous star burgers were being consumed weekly. Good thing I was active, otherwise I might have gained some serious unnecessary weight. Soon after high school, fast food would become my main source of daily consumption, since I lived on my own and was not a very good cook. In fact, I was only decent at scrambling some eggs.

            When I flew the coop, I was left to fend for my own meals. As I mentioned, not being savvy at cooking, the availability of a drive-thru just seemed more appealing to me. Every so often I would whip up some of my famous eggs, but more times than none I was eating take-out. This horrible habit continued as I entered the work force. Taking a lunch to work was not an option, since I had very little items to prepare with in my fridge. I suppose I could have made myself a sandwich of some sort, but that doesn’t seem appetizing when there’s a slue of fast food restaurants to choose from.

            My income was steady and I made a decent amount on my check, but by the end of my workday the last thing I wanted to do was stop at a store and scan the isles. It was less stressful for me to hit a fast food joint than to meander around a super market searching for the limited items I could actually cook; then, I had to prep and execute, forget it. Ashamed as I was, I was a self-proclaimed fast food fraternizer. It was until I began living with my girlfriend that I started to have hot cooked meal from home. Sadly enough, this was not the end of take-out all together.

            To this day, I enjoy an In-N-Out burger or a slice of Topper’s pizza, but more in moderation. For instance, if I had fast food for lunch, then I definitely stayed away from it at dinnertime. It is certainly hard to let go of fast food completely, because of its convenience. This factor alone will certainly tug at my hunger strings. Eliminating take-out from my diet is one task I plan to succeed in, but I will make sure that fast food plays a much smaller role this time around.