Perhaps we need to re-examine the reasons that so many people look to fast food as a solution? I am so blessed to live in a remote region in the Northwest of Canada where the total population of the whole territory is less than 40,000 people. We still have relatively unspoiled wilderness, fresh air and plenty of fresh water. Twenty years ago, you didn't even have to consider boiling most of it except in the spring when run-off water carried the threat of giardia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardia
The pace of life in the Yukon is generally more laid back than in more populated parts of the nation/continent/globe and those who life here have plenty of outdoor activities available, year round, and not all of them require deep pockets. As comparison, one of my brothers moved to Edmonton for several years and immediately began to suffer the effects of long working hours, a fast-food diet and no easy access to the outdoor recreations he was accustomed to. To have to drive for one or more hours to reach a location where one could 'play' rather defeats the purpose, he found, as well as the expense, time and energy expended just getting there and back.
Our reliance on 'fast food' has arisen because of the demands on our time in a competitive environment. There still are plenty of solutions but we need to educate people in the means to attaining them. Perhaps the first step is to remind people that nature designed plenty of 'fast food' which is readily available to us but we have been seduced by the marketplace into following in the footsteps of others.
Why buy take out coffee when you can brew it fresh in minutes? Make a pot, enjoy a travel mug full and take the rest in a thermos. Plenty of special blends to try and you can make it fancy at home if that's your pleasure. Fruit is the ultimate easy fast food: berries, cherries, apples, plums, pears, kiwis, buy a fresh pineapple and slice it. You can freeze so many of these fruits when they are in season, in snack size bags. Just grab one and go. Same with veggies. There are so many that are inexpensive and tasty. Yogurt is another easy grab. Don't buy a parfait at a convenience store. Get the kind of yogurt your prefer and make your own. Smoothies? The sky is the limit. So many things you can combine in a blender and make a liquid meal in minutes. Cook in larger batches so that you have left-overs to work with. Hubby just cooked up a dozen 'chicken torenados' or some such thing, pieces of chicken wrapped in a strip of bacon. When I come home from work tomorrow, I can make us a fast meal by adding a couple of veggies to this, possibly making a filling for a dinner pie topped with sweet potatoes which I have cooked ahead and frozen. Defrost some of those and make a mashed topping instead of a double crust pie. It's winter in these parts (-20C this morning) and a few extra calories doesn't hurt when one is active.
I have to grab a few hours sleep now prior to hitting graveyard shift.
Thank you very much, Seagypsy, for the vote of confidence. It is encouraging when I hear from yourself and others that my posts resonate on various levels. The knowledge of humanity has ever been passed through oral teachings and living history and the beauty of the internet is that we can now interact with people around the globe in the blink of an eye. This is a wonderful technology to enable such exchange and my thanks, also, to the providers of forums such as these, to be the platform for learning and sharing.
