By: Jared Stranberg
As of July, the fast food industry is projected to make $273 billion in the United States alone. As of 2017, the New York Post reported the average American spent $1,175 annually on food delivery and 61% of people between 18 and 24 years old believe they do not have the time to make a home cooked meal.
Preparing your meals weekly, known as “meal-prep” can reduce how often you consume fast food, which could lead to better health, finances and time management.
First, regarding health, it’s no secret that fast food isn’t the best dietary choice. Ordering a large coke from McDonald’s, which has 86 grams of sugar, would be over double your recommended daily allowance of sugar. Considering that studies link high sugar diets to heart disease and heart disease is the leading cause of death in America, consuming fast food is like inviting a serial killer into your home, albeit very slowly.
In terms of money, the average cost per meal of the cheapest fast food options is roughly $5. Since the absolute cheapest options are generally also the unhealthiest, if you were to try and go for something slightly more upscale that number jumps to $12.17 per meal.
Additionally, the aforementioned $1,175 of annual expenditures applies to delivery food alone. That number nearly triples to $3,008 for fast food as a whole, nearly $250 per month. As 18- to 24-year-old people are generally college students, this money is needed in other places. Especially considering the average monthly student loan payment is between $200 and $300.
As for time, there are 168 hours in a week. If you work full time (40 hours per week) and you sleep eight hours per night, that leaves you with 72 hours of the week for everything else. The U.S. Census Bureau found that Americans spend 26 minutes on average getting to work. Meaning a 52-minute round-trip, resulting in 4:20 spent on work commutes. If you were to go out to eat during lunch or dinner rush, this would add even more time spent on the road, especially in large cities such as Omaha.
Now, compare all these costs to your health, money and free time to what I accomplish by preparing my meals once a week ahead of time.
Every Sunday I go I preheat the oven, leave for the grocery store, and pick up 5 lb. of chicken along with rice and vegetables for less than $15. This is enough to feed me, a 22-year-old and 6 foot 4 inches. male, for five meals. Since I also like variety and I eat more than five times a week, adding other meal items (like pasta or sandwich fixings) to my overall grocery bill leaves it at roughly $40 per week or $160 per month.
After returning from the grocery store roughly one hour later, I can successfully prepare all my food and store it in the refrigerator within 90 minutes of my arrival. Meaning that I can grocery shop for, return and prepare every single meal I eat in a week in the time it takes to watch a long movie. The only time spent on preparing food throughout the week is the brief time it takes to reheat it.
So, my time and money are clearly saved by my preparation. For my health, as a type 1 diabetic, I have already reduced the amount of sugar in my diet. With meal-prep, my sugar intake is significantly easier to monitor and manage, since I am aware of what I purchase and how it affects my diet. This affords me absolute control and awareness over what I eat, as opposed to being restricted to whatever a restaurant’s menu offers. This freedom and awareness helps me manage my A1C (average long-term blood glucose) and reduces my risk for heart disease.
Finally, preparing meals on a dedicated day once a week develops habit and discipline. With these functions, people practicing meal-prep are less likely to deviate from their diet with impulsive and potentially unhealthy choices. Once habits are formed, they are hard to break, so developing good habits can lead to a better future.
Obviously, my aim is not to put the entire fast food industry out of business, nor is it to tell you to never eat fast food. Even if everybody that reads this article stopped eating fast food and started preparing their own meals, the industry would probably not even recognize that you left.
My goal is to simply encourage readers to save their health, money and time. So, if you crave a pizza and you tell yourself you don’t have time to make a homemade meal tonight, consider setting aside a weekly time to prepare your meals instead.
