The main problem isn't even so much the junk food itself, but the lack of time for food preparation that sees stressed parents picking up or ordering in, instead of cooking. But as Jamie Oliver says, there is really no faster "fast food" than home-prepared food, because it takes longer to go and get or wait for purchased meals than it does to throw something exciting together in your own kitchen.

As well as home-cooked meals being faster than "fast food", they can pack a flavour punch that the junk is seriously short on. And with families under the pump with rising food costs, learning to knock up superb meals in just minutes can shred the family food bill and give the children in the family a true health advantage.

So home-prepared food wins on taste, cost, and nutrition. It's superior to junk food every possible way you could look at it. But you do need to know how to plan and prepare it.

A brand new Australian web site hopes to have a global impact by helping parents to be more confident about ripping into some truly fast meals. They've started a "Fast Food Bank", seeded it with a few great recipes, and hope that families will get with the spirit and post up their own fast favourites for everyone to share.

A good example of great fast food is the first recipe uploaded to the site, tabouleh wrap with Eastern turkey. This dish packs a flavour punch that the whole family will love, is 100% healthy, takes only 15 minutes to prepare from start to finish, and yet is less than half the cost of the purchased product.

As one of the projects of the globally-run Kind Communities Initiative, FastFoodBank.com is entirely free of charge. The aim is to fight back against disease and depression, by giving families the resources they need to live healthier, happier, and more satisfying lives.