Cooking is a chore, and nobody likes chores. But I still think it's the most desirable chore, and that's why we rarely eat out, and I do 95% of the cooking in my house. You're going to have to eat, so why not eat what you want? When you do the cooking, you set the menu, and that's incredibly satisfying, because you never have to be bummed out about what's being served that night. It's like if you were back in school and every day could just switch between chicken nuggets and square pizza.
And cooking doesn't have to be hard. What are the three staples of the fast food industry? Tacos, burgers, and pizza. You know why? It's not just that they taste great; it's that they are incredibly easy to make. Tacos are the easiest. You literally just buy tortillas, cheese, beans, salsa, and whatever else you want to throw on there, and they're good to go. Then you just cook the meat (I use ground turkey for a slightly healthier alternative and cannot taste the difference from beef), drain it, and add a taco seasoning packet. Voila, tacos.
Burgers are just forming patties, seasoning, throwing onto the grill, flipping, and bam. Good to go. I do use ground beef for my burgers as it does make a significant difference over ground turkey.
And pizza isn't difficult either. You don't have to make the dough and sauce. Just buy it from the store. My grocery store (Publix) actually has fresh pizza dough that they sell which is primo, but other options work fine too. Then you just throw toppings that you like on there, splurge for the fresh mozzarella, and bam, you got yourself a delicious pizza pie.
What's that you say? These aren't "healthy" meals. Well, they're also not unhealthy, and making them at home is likely to be a whole lot healthier than going to a restaurant. You control the amount of fats and salts being thrown in to flavor the meal which makes them exponentially healthier, and if you really want to make them healthier, just use this magic solution.
Instead of traditional tacos, what about taco salad?
Instead of traditional burgers, what about burger salad? A1 makes a great dressing.
Instead of traditional pizza, what about...no, just do traditional pizza. But throw a salad on the side.
If time is the issue for not making food, there are thousands of crock pot recipes that take five minutes to throw in ingredients, let it cook all day, and bam, it's ready to go at dinner time.
What also makes making your own meals the healthier option is it is imperative for portion control. Eating healthy is all well and good, but where a lot of people struggle is eating too much food. I know that if I am out to eat, I'm finishing that meal. If it's a buffet, I will punish my body with excessive food stuffing. I fantasize about stuffing myself at a buffet, but I can't bring myself to do it as I know the after-effects will be detrimental and demoralizing to my overall health.
But when you make your own food, it's easy to control the amount of food that you are consuming. You don't have to test your mettle on how much you can consume, you just put a reasonable amount on the plate and that's it. With that, there can be no second helpings. I'll admit to snacking on some of the dishes when cleaning up after the meal, but I'm not going to reload my plate since I know that I already put a sufficient amount of food on my first plate. I feed myself to feel full, but I never push myself to stuffed.
That's my whole key to a healthy diet. Just make your own food and don't stuff yourself. If you need easy meal ideas, hit me up, I don't make fancy meals, but I do easy meals really well.