Popular fast food items mostly come from famous fast food chains around the country. Favoring fast food choices for a typical meal or snack is primarily due to the very fast-paced lifestyle where filling the stomach becomes more convenient with quick food service. Generally, these food items’ main ingredients, if not the exact items themselves, are cooked in bulk and in advance. They are almost ready to serve soon after ordering.

According to The Daily Beast and Want to Know It websites, French fries are a favorite fast food item, commonly partnered with a number of meal and snack offerings. Whether driving or working, it’s quite a convenient food item to eat. Countless numbers of fast food joints have French fries on their menus.

From a classic American hamburger with beef patty to a vegetable burger option for a cholesterol-free vegetarian diet, the burger is acknowledged as "America's quintessential comfort food," according to the Food and Wine website. The many ways to prepare a burger provides a wide variety of options to enjoy a hand-carried meal.

Pizza is another on-the-go type of fast food item, which is very popular in the general American diet. The Homemade Pizza Made Easy website reports that pizza is a $30 billion industry and there are more than 60,000 pizza parlors across the United States to date.

According to QSR Magazine, fried chicken is a popular protein source in many fast food joints. The fried chicken items in a number of fast-food restaurants' menus usually consist of a large chicken piece or smaller chicken pieces or strips that are floured or battered and breaded with a crispy coating or crust.

The Body Building and WebMD websites say that this is one of the healthier fast food options as they rate and compare many grilled chicken offerings of popular restaurants with other popular fast food items. Whether eaten over a sandwich, salad, bread, fries or rice, the grilled chicken option is ordered in many prominent fast food chains all over America.

Hard and soft tacos in fast food restaurants provide varieties of meat and vegetable combinations wrapped around soft tacos or placed inside hard taco shells. According to websites like Kid Blog and What's Cooking America, these restaurants' popularity led to many Americans preferring tacos in their meals. This traditional Mexican dish is traditionally made out of corn or wheat tortilla and a variety of meat and vegetable fillings.

The burrito is another fast food item of Mexican origin. It is quite similar to a taco as it also consists of a tortilla wrapped or folded around fillings. Its primary difference with the taco is its rice and bean content. The What's Cooking America and Listverse websites say that the burrito is quite big in various fast food chains around the United States.

The Life in the U.S.A. and VOA News websites describe a hotdog as a food option that has already become an integral part of American food culture for many decades. Hotdog choices in fast food spots range from hotdogs on sticks to corn dogs to charcoal broiled hotdogs in sandwiches.

The tuna sandwich is a favored option for those wanting a protein-rich fast-food meal or snack outside the more popular fried chicken and hamburger items. The Healthy Tuna website states that the United States is one of the largest consumers of canned tuna and it is the second most popular seafood product after shrimp.

These frozen dessert items made generally from dairy products can actually vary from those meant for any regular consumer without health issues, those meant for consumers preferring options with less fat content and even those ideal as diabetes-friendly options.