Dinner on the table: Fast food that’s super healthy

I just spent about $80 on fast food. Ok, it’s not exactly fast food, but more of a “community-supported kitchen” that makes a heap of healthy food that will be hecka fast for me to prepare once I have it at home tomorrow evening. I ordered three meals worth plus baby food.

I discovered 3 Stone Hearth somewhat randomly after my book club scared me off fast food forever. Somewhere in between Fast Food Nation and the The Ominvore’s Dilemma, I went from “no kids and fast-food-free” to “witching hour and in dire need of help.”

Here’s how it works:

1. Each week, a new menu is released on the website — menus are often created around a regional or ethnic theme.
2. You place your order and pay via credit card.
3. You pick up your order during one of the designated time slots and locations. In the Berkeley kitchen, pick-ups happen on Wednesday evening or most of the day Thursday. Other arrangements can be made.
4. When mealtime rolls around, heat and serve.

Ingredients are sourced from local organic farms (of course, right? this is Berkeley after all) and meals are prepared by jamming as much fresh, good, wholesome stuff into each dish as possible. As an example, hamburgers are enriched with beef liver for a nutrient-dense patty. If that sounds yucky to you you (and c’mon, you’re supposed to be the parent!), check out the wide array of soups and stews with extra bonus herbs, greens, and other good-for-you ingredients. They are not messing around when they say “nutrient-dense”. Instead of mac and cheese, check out rice-a-cheesy.

Since I wrote about 3SH in 2010, the proprietors have had babies and now offer mega-healthy baby food options too. Wahoo!

Glass jars are used and returned for credit. And you’ll be tracking those credits carefully if you’re anything like me. Ordering from Three Stone Hearth is not cheap. It’s somewhere in between restaurant and grocery store prices.

So, I urge you to think about all the ways that eating good, healthy, locally sourced foods is better for you and your community than pulling through the drive-thru.