I try to not have much 'junk food' in the house. I might cook up a turkey and cheese quesadilla for a snack if my tummy is rumbling. About once a month I'll buy some form of Clancy chips from Aldi and have a small amount of those watching the tube in the evening. I also keep a bag of Aldi mini peanut butter cups in the fridge and have a couple if I'm having a chocolate craving. I always eat a cannabutter cookie before bed to help me sleep.

If it's a meal, I prefer Burger King but McDonald's is closer to my house.

Like FOAS, I have trouble with liking junk food too much and have been doing better at keeping it out of the house. Pimento cheese is great stuff as is Philadelphia cream cheese so either or both of those with Trader Joe's multigrain crackers is a great snack. I have only had coke two times since the middle of November. Coca-cola is very addictive to me so it's a struggle.

Favourite junk food meal? Mary Brown's fried chicken with potato wedges. In fact, I like it so much, I only allow myself to get it once or twice a year.

Favourite grocery store junk snack food: Hawkins Cheezies (Canadian, don't know if Americans can get them, but they're way better than Cheetos Crunchy). These are harder to stay away from, because they lurk in the stores I regularly go to.

Kraft Dinner Macaroni and Cheese. I add a dollop of barbecue sauce. When DH is out of town, that’s my dinner and lunch.

Going out junk food? Like fast food? Tough choice, depends on where I am, but Culver’s (onion rings!) and Chick Fil A and Burger King are my faves. But McDonald’s are more numerous around me. Does Panera count? I like Panera.

Fast food burger and fries -- Burger King or Wendy's.

ETA: If I'm dining with someone, then it's a bar/pub burger from a good local place. I have deep-seated love for really good bar burgers.

A Thumann's hot dog, --very-well-done on the grill--and if I am feeling exceptionally "junky", some Texas Weiner sauce on it (like a chili, for those of you not from NJ). Here it's also called a hot dog "all the way".

A bag of Cheetos

hi. my name is nina and i am addicted to cheetos. i can go days without real food but heaven forbid i would run out of cheetos!

Pizza is Nature's most perfect food.....

" Pizza is Nature's most perfect food..... "

It is, depending on what you put on it ;) As a matter of fact, I'm going out to buy a large pizza to get me through the weekend before going grocery shopping on Monday (I've been away for a month, and my house is bereft of most nutritious food.)

“Texas Wiener Sauce” - My NJ wife didnt know that one but was familiar with a restaurant of that name. Looked it up - invented in northern NJ by a Greek. Love it! I’ve saved an ATK recipe, will try!

I never have a junk meal and haven't been in any fast food place in 40 years, although we are surrounded by them. But I do love Cheetos and they are incorporated in my panini lunch of cheese, egg and avocado and a huge bowl of blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. Does that count?

food and Ninapearl, gotta agree with Cheetos!👍🏻

bpath, DH still likes a ”casserole” made with Kraft mac ’n cheese, ground beef and Campbell’s Golden Mushroom Soup. I have to admit it’s not half bad.

Also for me, burger from In-N-Out…fries from McD’s.

Foodonastump, I think all of the hot dog/truckstop joints in Nj are owned by Greek families--probably all the same family. My joint of choice is the Hot Grill, in Clifton. Some people are into Rutt's Hut, but I was not impressed.

Most of that sort of ”junk food” holds little appeal for me. I’d rather save up for high end unhealthful food — pâté, baguette, cornichons, hard sausage, lobster, steamers, cheeses.

IIRC, I recently read an article claiming that BK burgers were better than McD.

Sherry wrote: Great Wall New China, which is out of business, and no one in town cooks the same "Triple Hunan". It had waay too much salt, but was fantastic.

~~~

Do you mean this sort of entree? Looks so good!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/uyenneth/5766425823/

I like a good hard-shell taco. Actually I like about 4 of them if I’m really hungry.

Wendy’s is my favorite burger, but the nearest Wendy’s is about 45 minutes away. I don’t get there very often.

“IIRC, I recently read an article claiming that BK burgers were better than McD.”

Not hard to do IMO. Aside from their fries and soft ice cream, I simply don’t get the appeal of McD’s. Most of the BK’s near us have closed. We’ve had a Carl’s Jr. as a tenant in Northern CA for years. It’s been very lucrative and I’m not sure why. My experience with their food is “meh,” but the rent check we get every month is sure nice.

I'm happy to eat most (but not all) of the junk food items that have been mentioned but I don't do so often. We rarely have anything like that in the house. Unless water crackers for cheese or baba ghanoush count.

Ditto for franchise fast food places. I will eat it in a pinch - on the road, need to eat something quickly, no good choices around. Mostly not otherwise. I find few of the offerings from the usual cast of characters to my liking.

My conduct is more a matter of my taste preferences than compulsive healthy eating habits. I do try to eat healthy things when possible, within reason.

One exception - there are a few places in Los Angeles that probably fit the description of "hot dog stands". Two different companies, one with just a few locations and one with a few more, that are renown for their chili dogs. One first opened before WW2, the other just after. Famous for chili dogs. I looked into Texas Wiener Sauce described above and I'll say that the chili these places put on dogs seems quite different. For a start, it's not hot in a spicy sense. I'll stop at one maybe once every 5 years and enjoy it. But that's often enough.

I won't continue to eat "bad" tasting anything. If the first bite is a turn off, that's it for me. Every day presents the opportunity to have 3 meals if one chooses to - if there's something one dislikes, or nothing to eat that one likes, another opportunity and the chance to have something different comes along in a just a few hours.

Last week, I spotted sauerkraut and hot dog rolls in the fridge. We got some hot dogs and had them on the rolls w sauerkraut and mustard. I rarely partake, but I was in heaven for a short while.

A few weeks before that, we had home made pizza:

Whenever I see posts about junk food I always ponder how to answer in context. My brain asks, what are they about? By a standard of nutritional density, people eating egg whites as opposed to whole eggs could be said to be choosing junk food. So I've saved this link to this Bon Appetite article which pretty much covers my lifelong thoughts on the matter.

What Is Junk Food

Pizza is not junk food. I love pizza but seldom eat it. No mushrooms on my pizza but if there is pineapple on it I'm okay with that.

Some one up thread mentioned eating junk food when DH is away. When mine is away I eat quinoa and chickpeas with vegies in a salad. My DH refuses to eat either of those things and I love them both.

Now that I rarely drink pop anymore, the occasional Diet Dr Pepper is my junk beverage. Around here, only Chick Fil A has it. And only Culver’s has root beer.

I definitely prefer Bk hamburgers to McD. Culver’s has a fish sandwich that I really like, too, very different from a Whaler etc. Not really a fries gal, but I do go for onion rings. My son and I used to hit up the snack bar at the park district golf course for their delicious onion rings. No golf.

Easy. A big bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. DD and I love the stuff. It always makes us sick. We still do an annual KFC self-sacrifice.

I recall one year we took my “French daughter” on a long roadtrip. An hour in, we saw a KFC and decided A____ needed to experience this American delicacy. So we were gobbling down the greasy salty stuff on the superslab, and A____ was gushing, ”eet is so goood”. Half an hour later, we all started feeling sick right on schedule. A____ was huddled in her seat, moaning. ”I feel seeck.” ”Right? I know!” ”Wait is eet always like theese?” ”Yes! Isn’t it great?!” We had seven hours more to drive.

French people have such delicate tummies, in my experience. They are used to such good food of such high quality, didn’t grow up on heavily salted and spiced trash food covered in hot sauce, the poor dears.

When I said I don't eat junk food, pizza was never in the equation. Who calls pizza junk food? I like thin crusted multi cheese pizza with dollops of sauce and sometimes a cauliflower crust. Mouth watering as I type.

@John Liu... I also get sick after KFC. It's a given. I might as well just eat it in the bathroom. I won't go near it anymore. Shudder!

I like popcorn that is slightly salty and slightly sweet, not too heavily coated. There's a brand called Lesser Evil which makes it with coconut oil. A big bag of it doesn't last me very long.

Jupidupi, do you like Kettle corn popcorn? Sounds like the perfect one for you. It's sweet and salty.

Jupidupi..Try Traders Honey Roasted popcorn. So good.

Would Spam be considered junk? I actually like it once in a great while. I get the reduced sodium kind. It makes a pretty good sandwich when fried to crispy around the edges, with mayo and lettuce. It also can be good in fried rice and with scrambled eggs.

Spam, gack!

Popcorn is so lovely but totally indigestible. It is real food though.

I could make a meal of potato chips. Crunchy and salt. I cant eat much salt as it affects balance but sometimes you must sacrifice.

We had fried pork ribs this week. I have introduced numerous people to this delicacy but again it will doubtless disagree with most adults. Sad but...

But for choice, when I was going through serious chemo years ago I existed on yogurt with a side of Cheetos. Something about the tangy yogurt was tolerable and the strange orange taste of the Cheetos worked for me. Most food was metallic. I still love both in spite of those queasy months.

It's not even junk food, but a sandwich (blt, tuna, ham, etc) with potato chips and a pickle... maybe it's just nostalgia food in my case... I grew up thinking of burger king as a treat but it doesn't really sound good anymore.

Takeout pizza & Chinese are the closest I get to a junk food meal after all these years.

I love me some hot dogs and cole slaw - does it count if they're organic and the slaw is homemade?

😁

ooooh, lat62, I used to eat and would still if I ever thought about it, like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with pickles and potato chips!! Delicious.

carolb, it most definitely does not count!!! LOL

John Liu, I love Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was a treat when, if the day didn’t offer enough tome to make dinner, Mom would pick up a bucket then pick me up from piano lessons, and we would drive home with the bucket all warm and aroma-y. So good.

Then, when the movie The Perfect Storm came out DH had a ”date night” and had KFC brfore going to the movie. Afterwards we both commented on how well made the movie was, we even felt a little seasick on the boat.Then we realized it wasn’t the cinematographer, it was the Colonel. Haven’t had it since. (But about 10 years later, we met our son’s acting coach and found out she was in the movie, and we watch it again with renewed interest to see Rusty. ) Hearing about the Gloucester crew lost this past week brings the movie to mind.

Not often, once every six months... fried breaded chicken livers with gravy (I deglaze with some sort of wine) and Kraft Velveeta shells and cheese. There's lots of stuff I shouldn't eat, but that one's the worst. Very tasty though. My mom used to like to make scrambled eggs with chicken liver braised with mushrooms and a bit of brown gravy, and that one was like once a year.

Now I'm longing for breakfast for dinner. Hmmm. That's blueberry pancakes.

Meal outside of home, Big Bob Gibson’s bbq chicken with loads of white sauce to dip it in. Alternate would a burger from Jack Brown’s Burgers (they are just the right size) with sweet potato fries.

Junk food in the house would probably be a handful of cashews or my real fave Helluva Good French onion dip with Trader Joe’s Salt & Pepper ridge cut chips for dipping.

Oh cashews! We once scored a huge bag at some weird store. Well, I cant eat them after all. We gave them as gifts at Christmas. So sad but it is what it is.

Last year I found out I can't eat cashews after a lifetime of enjoying them, hmmm - the roof of my mouth swelled up and just for good measure I ate some more the next week, same thing. I agree, sad but is what it is.

I'm currently making some pork burritos that I tried to duplicate from a local Mexican restaurant. I think I came pretty close. Pork shoulder meat, taco seasoning and crushed pineapples. It's so delicious.

I love cashews. Like so many things, we've found Trader Joes a good place to get them. They're sold in a large bag (maybe 1 pound) and also in bag containing little serving size packages. A search discloses that there's no cashew production in the US, all is imported.

I didn't know that people can be allergic to cashews.

The latest on peanut allergy is — give kids intro to peanuts while young.

Reversing peanut advice prevented tens of thousands of allergy cases, researchers say

OCTOBER 21, 20253:40 PM ETHEARD ON ALL THINGS CONSIDERED

By

Bill Chappell

🥜 https://www.npr.org/2025/10/21/nx-s1-5580211/peanut-allergy-study

I don't really do junk food "meals". Unless you consider a meal of melted mozz. cheese on rye with a dill pickle on the side "junk". I suppose I'd eat mac 'n' cheese which would be junk food, but because it is, I never eat it. My waistline doesn't like it! My scale doesn't like pizza, though I do. We limit ourselves to about 3 pizzas a year. Rather it's what comes after the meal is where the junk comes in for me...any kind of desserts, esp if they include chocolate are where I delight....cookies/brownies especially and of course ice cream, esp premium from the creamery....add some dark choc chunks and it's just a bit of heaven on earth!

@petalique, yes, i haven’t read your link but this study has been going on for a number of years with great results. It makes me wonder why we never heard much about peanut allergies when I was growing up. Maybe mothers gave their kids a little peanut butter at early ages, which is now recommended, and unknowingly de-sensitized them.

To me 'junk' food is specifically pre packaged highly processed food with poor nutritional value. So I wouldn't class desserts, mac and cheese or pizza as junk if they were made from scratch with recognizable basic ingredients, however calorific they might be. For me a home made cake isn't junk. A commercially produced cake containing preservatives, colours etc. is.

In answer to the original question I'd say 'none.' is

OutsidePlaying, I too often wondered and thought, ”something is missing” in the thinking here. Aren’t there countries where lots of people eats lots of peanuts, if not rely on them for inexpensive protein? Ground Nut Stew? Nigeria? Any bazillion or two kids developing peanut allergies there? (or wherever).

Did peanut allergy come about largely in US? Nervous suburban parents?

But it did become a real medical issue, yes? What about other ”nut” allergies? I had a college classmate tell me that he was allergic to nuts. I believe he indicated tree nuts, like walnuts.

Okay. That would be an entirely different plant species. And yet, some people seem(ed) to conflate the two. ???

Is musubi junk food?

I had to ask Siri what it is. It doesn't sound like something I would care for. I'm guessing it isn't too junky just because of it's ingredients.

" It makes me wonder why we never heard much about peanut allergies when I was growing up. "

" Did peanut allergy come about largely in US? "

Not really, and the rate of peanut allergies in the US and Europe is pretty much the same. It's hard to compare it to developing countries because of so many other environmental and systemic differences.

It was the medical recommendation until the late 90s to introduce infants to a wider variety of foods, including common allergy triggers, early, and then the recommendation changed to delay babies' exposure until later. I'm sure that made a difference.

Allergies are weird - they can come or go anytime, without warning. They can be to any type of food, though it's usually to a protein (including the protein part of a food, like the protein in milk). However, I met a woman with an herb allergy, and saw her anaphylactic reaction to mint oil in a small space - a really weird (and troublesome) allergy.