Meal Planning, Take Two

I did a big fat wad of grocery shopping yesterday.  First I headed out to QFC to give it a try for the first time and use the $10 off coupon I got in the mail from them.  Sadly, I only made it about a third of the way through my list before that $10 off was entirely eaten up by their horrible prices.  I cut my losses immediately and decided to pick up everything else on my list at Winco.  The funny thing is that QFC advertises that they have "higher quality foods" but literally every. single. thing. I usually buy at Winco or Wal-Mart was at least a dollar more per item, for the EXACT SAME BRANDS.  Quality foods my butt.

Anyway, I spent $60 at QFC and around $100 at Winco to stock us up for what I hope will be a good ten days.  We'll see. 

I also realized that one of the reasons we hit the drive-thru so often is that both Dave and I love junk food.  There's just no way to get around it.  When I cook at home, I usually go out of my way to make healthier fare, so I think we mainly eat fast food to fill those cravings for carb-laden, fat-filled crap.  This week, I'm going to try to incorporate at least a few of our usual fast-food cravings into our at-home menu in the hope that it will help us stick to no-eating-out plan a little better.  If nothing else, the junk I make at home will be a lot better for us (and better tasting) than anything McDonald's has to offer.

Here's what I'm planning to cook this week:

• Chili
• Tacos
• Homemade Pizza
• Marlboro man chicken
• Parmesan crusted pork tenderloin
• Cheeseburgers
• Broiled salmon
• Fettucine alfredo (mostly for the kids)
• Whole baked chicken (I made this last night)
• Chicken terriyaki in the crock pot

I also always include a vegetable or a salad with every meal, so hopefully it won't be terribly unhealthy.

Comments

[heather]

I'm a fast food junkie too.
My mother-in-law got this cookbook (she's a Biggest Loser fan and the author was a nutritionist or something on the show) and we've tried quite a few of the recipes and I've been quite impressed.

It's called Fast Food Fix: Amazing Makeovers of your Fast Food Restaurant Favorites. She's made up these recipes to imitate specific fast food favorites, cutting fat and calories and other not-so-good-for-you stuff with her main objective being not losing the taste we're all used to. Not healthy, but healthier.
I haven't tried some of my absolute favorites like a Big Mac or Cinnabon, but what we have tried, I have to admit is pretty good.

Maybe worth a try at home?

[Tana]

QFC has very YUMMY meat! Try there flank steak...we will have you over and then you can try it:)
I love cooking!! I have been having fun with homemade soups this week. Wouldn't it be fun to have a recipe club??

[Melting Mama]

My kids would love you. I make nothing "good" anymore. :x

[Toni]

We also fell into a bad fast food habit in the last couple of years and moving to a different neighborhood where there aren't that many fast food places has helped a lot. In two months I've more or less lost the taste for fast food, it just doesn't taste that good anymore. Good luck in breaking the habit I know it's really hard to do.

[shannon]

I would love the recipe for Parmesan crusted pork tenderloin. Please.

If you want to find some really good recipie swaps for fast food items, checkout this site:
www.hungrygirl.com
they even have a recipie for onion rings that is supposed to be a swap for TGIFridays rings! And they list all the nutritional content too!

[Angela Langowski]

If it's not too much trouble, could you provide links to the other recipes too including the Marlboro Man chicken? I remember you mentioning that meal in another post but don't remember when or the site you mentioned to look up the recipe.

Am with you on the junk food, sister! Great blog.

[allie]

We are in the same boat. When I shop at costco or sams I buy a few "fast food" type meals like a frozen pizza or lasagna, that I just need to pop in the oven or warm up. Because we all know there are time when we just cannot becuase of time or lack of desire to make -one-more-dinner! If you know you can get something on the table FAST it helps to reduce that desire to go get something.

[andrea]

We do a lot of our shopping at QFC, but up here in Seattle it seems like regardless of where you go, it is expensive. They have the brands I like, a good selection of organics and is just so much easier to navigate than my other options, which are Safeway or Fred Meyer. Of course I can always compare the prices with Whole Food or PCC and then I feel like I am bargain shopping.

[Lin]

I 2nd the book recommendation from Heather. It's fabulous! The first recipe I made was Starbucks Pumpkin Loaf. We all LOVED it. I don't own it (yet) but I check it out from the library quite often.