Wellness Wednesday

A pet peeve of mine is the idea that fast food is cheaper and quicker than home cooking.  Well, this article on Huffington Post dispels this rumor.  The author did some math and realized when you add up the cost of feeding a family of four at a fast food restaurant or with frozen dinners, it's not really a bargain.  Here's what the author said after visiting a McDonald's outlet:

After going to McDonald's recently and putting together a typical meal for four (mom, dad and two kids), I came up with a total of about $14.00 (I didn't actually buy anything, though). For that money, you get almost nothing of nutritive value, but bland white bread, greasy burgers and fries with a sugary soda.

That same $14.00 will purchase two pounds of lean ground beef, a pack of eight whole wheat buns, lettuce, tomato and enough potatoes to make oven-baked french fries and salad ingredients with money left over for some fresh fruit. The best part is that this is twice as much food as at McDonald's, so there's plenty for leftovers later. Better food at half the price: that's pretty simple. I'll allow that there's no soda included in the home cooked meal, but no one should drink soda anyway and a full pitcher of iced tea costs pennies to make.

Not only are you not getting more food for your money at fast food restaurants, you are getting a lot of empty calories.  Taking the same money to the grocery store results in healthy, wholesome food.  In addition, prep time for making healthy meals is no more than the time one would spend in line at the fast food restaurant.

(Photo source:  http://www.sxc.hu)