McDonalds 'cheapest, most nutritious and bountiful food' ?

acogg

McDonald's Big Breakfast has awesome numbers. Even their Big Mac isn't bad. I am not snooty about my food, I will generally eat anywhere if it can fit in my daily plan.

Hexahedra

It is very true though. When you have a family of five to feed, enough produce for a salad for everyone could cost a lot of money. I bag of baby spinach-$2.50 2 tomatoes-$2 A cucumber $1 Even if its just that and thats a boring salad, that's $5.50 for sometihng that wont keep your kids belly full all night. Add in chicken breast, thats around another $4-5. Now, let's assume eating is the priority.

You live where I live (new hampshire). You benefit bc there is no food tax.

You work for minimum wage at a place where they dont keep anyone fulltime, because thats the most common wage situation here. So lets assume you make $7.25x25hrs a week. Thats $181 per week. Now, you choose the cheapest, smallest apartment in the projects to live in that you can. Its a 2 bdrm, because your kids need their own room. Its $740 per month. Well, that costs $185 per week. You are already not making enough money to be not homeless, let alone eat any food.

So you start dating some *kitten* because you want someone to help support your kids. This double your family income when he moves in. Now your family income is $362. You can take out about $20 of that for social security, medicaid whatever they deduct. So you have $342. You need gas to get to work, because poor people housing is several miles away from anywhere to work. Assuming you only both drive to work,childcare/school and the grocery and have no friends,we budget $20 for gas. $322. Now we deduct our weekly rent need. We have $141. Now, these apartmnets generally don't include utilities. Everything runs on electricity, incl the water heater and the heater heater. It's an oven in the summer because there are so many apartments, so you have to choice to run something to cool it down (either the built in AC or fans). Your electric bill is around $120 a month, average in the area. Broken down, its $30. You have $111. Now, you aren't married to this guy and he isn't just handing his check over to you to spend so you can deduct $50. You have 61 dollars to: get toiletries, feed your kids, keep your kids in school supplies, medical care, credit card bills? Do your kids have beds? Shoes? Do you have clothes to wear to work? Hope you don't have christmas coming up. etc.

The point of this, please don't be smug and assume everyone has money enough that they can "prioritize" their money and have enough for like organic produce and ****. Even foood stamps can be hard enough to get on and its often not enough to feed yourself, especially if you are working and cant stay home learning how to cook from scratch and use a 10lb bag of dried kidney beans.

And then let us add in the fact that advertisers spend a lot of money brain washing the poorest,least educated people to buy products like nutrigrain bars and fruit gummy snacks because they;re "made with real juice".

Thanks for this honest description of what poverty in USA looks like. There was a time when I was barely getting by, and I distinctly remember veggies being expensive for the amount of calories it provide. I watched what I ate out of necessity, because I only had so much $ to spend for food. No, I was not overweight at the time, that wasn't remotely possible with the fund I had available.

Eating McDonald's day in and day out is probably not the healthiest diet, but it's not as terrible as many people make it out to be. In a pinch I really think you can live just fine with McD items, provided that you keep it within your caloric goal and you supplement it with multivitamin pills.

arcticfox04

For the price its pretty good. Though I normally get it without cheese. I never liked American cheese that much.

kaseysospacey

I can understand why people would willing to spend $2 on a couple mcdoubles w my mentioned kind of budget, but mostly I was upset at the implication by my quoted posted that people who are poor don't eat well bc they just don't prioritize.

CycleGuy9000

Of course it's cheaper! The rich people want the poor people to get fat sick and die!

pluckabee

I live in Norway.. you can live off of 300 kr / week.. or you can live off of 3000 kr / week depending on where you shop and what you buy. Yes some things will be more expensive than others.. but buying rice and frozen things in bulk is usually fairly cheap.. and worth the busride if you have to take that.


I might be lucky, both my grandmothers tought me how to do things the way they did it - with hardly any income and waaaaaay too many kids. My family lived in a village where there was NO SUPERMARKET just overpriced "store on the corner" style so mom would drive for 7-8!!! hours to a supermarket every few months to buy bread and such in bulk (as well as do the clothes shopping for school, take us to the dentist, see family, and all the other stuff you cant do living in a small village :P ), and made sure she bought meat in bulk when it was in season (dad was a sailor so fish wasnt an issue). So yeah I learned how to manage food with bulkbuying and large families in mind, even though I dont really need to know it now. Even now people at home will make monthly 3 hour drives to the nearest supermarket (in the summer, in the winter its not really safe :P ). Milk and vegetables and stuff you cant keep for long gets bought in the local store.. often you need to special order it!

So while I can easily go towards the 3000 nok /week if I dont watch myself and do what some people do (who also complain about lack of time and cost) I can get down to 300 nok/week when I need or want to and usually save time while doing so.

Its a life skill.. and you need to stop making excuses and do what is needed to reach your goals. If your goal is to eat healthy and at a low cost you *will* find the time and means to do so.

Living in Norway you probably experience a very different life compared to poor people in america.

You cant just extrapolate your own experiences and apply them to everyone in the world, this is really short sighted.

It is a life skill, but like all life skills they take learning and cultivating, something that requires time, which some people just do not have. It also gets easier with the help of someone else with expertise (like you say you got from your grandmother), which some people do not have.

Maybe instead of sitting on your high horse thinking that you are so awesome and worked so hard to be there you should thank your lucky stars that you had so many shoulders to stand on to get you up there in the first place.

I'm not poor, and I can afford to eat well all the time. I do work hard to reach my goals but i recognise that I am DAMNED LUCKY to be where I am now and have the choices I have.

Some people are NOT so lucky and I'm not going to judge them for choosing a quick and easy option to fill their families bellies

SJVZEE

If I'm in a situation where it's McD's or nothing, I'll go with the Atkins version of the McDouble.

I'm on a low-carb diet, and in a pinch I will order two McDouble's without buns, or ketchup. It comes out to 460 calories with a fair amount of protein and fat which works with the Atkins diet... I'm still surprised that getting rid of the carbs cuts the calories in half, but, c'est la vie!

I make up for eating garbage with a nutritionally strong meal later on.

If I'm in a situation where it's McDs or nothing, I just practice intermittent fasting

It is quite expensive when you take the whole family so we don't go there anymore. Now when we go out we chose a local pizza place (they have the best vegetarian subs ), or Fazolis, where we can have a more 'sit down' type of meal with pastas and free, unlimited bread sticks. Price wise it's about equal to a McD's trip and much more filling. It's also a nicer environment to eat in (real dishes, manager walks around and checks that everything is satisfactory, and did I mention the free bread sticks lol). They also have a low calorie menu-I can get a $3.99 three cheese pasta dish for 350 calories. Pair that with a 150 calorie bread stick and a glass of water, and I'm a happy girl

crystalnichle

At 390 calories, 23 grams of protein, 7-percent of the daily value of fiber, 20-percent of daily calcium and 19 grams of fat.

Those are good numbers, you add a salad to that and you have a great meal that will fill you up and keep you moving.

My mouth just started watering. I've been proudly McD free since last Halloween though.

haha! my mouth was watering too.. my train of thought went straight to "must have burger.. work out later.. burgers are good" lol

iceqieen

Living in Norway you probably experience a very different life compared to poor people in america.

You cant just extrapolate your own experiences and apply them to everyone in the world, this is really short sighted.

It is a life skill, but like all life skills they take learning and cultivating, something that requires time, which some people just do not have. It also gets easier with the help of someone else with expertise (like you say you got from your grandmother), which some people do not have.

Maybe instead of sitting on your high horse thinking that you are so awesome and worked so hard to be there you should thank your lucky stars that you had so many shoulders to stand on to get you up there in the first place.

I'm not poor, and I can afford to eat well all the time. I do work hard to reach my goals but i recognise that I am DAMNED LUCKY to be where I am now and have the choices I have.

Some people are NOT so lucky and I'm not going to judge them for choosing a quick and easy option to fill their families bellies

And in the same way you cant extrapolate to EVERY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.

My point has been from the start that its possible to eat cheap meals that are healthy.. I was never saying you have to buy fresh vegetables straight from the farmers market. Excuses like "supermarket is too far away" or "I dont have time" is what I am against, not "I cant even afford to pay medical care for my kids". There is a difference there and I am not attacking the poorest people.. rather the people who make excuses but could.

Also I live in Norway now.. hasnt always been that way and certainly not for my grandmothers who were the people I was referring to of finding a way if there is will.

I do know I am lucky for being born in Scandinavia.. but that doesnt mean I havent worked for what I have. Not everyone here is born with a silver spoon in their *kitten*.

busy91

I suppose it is less expensive to eat at McDonalds, although when I did eat there, dinner for me and my kids would be over $20, and I can prepare a meal at home for less than that.

My opinion is it is cheaper in the short term, but when you are buying diabetic medicine, high blood pressure medicine, high cholesterol medicine, etc....it is not cheaper in the long run.

And bringing up the food codes is irrelevent. Even something that is not organic is healthier than most of the stuff in McDonalds. Getting locally grown produce is not expensive. Wash it off well, get the pesticides off, it will be OK.

I used to work in McDonalds, I know what goes on there. Trust me...eat an apple.

pluckabee

Living in Norway you probably experience a very different life compared to poor people in america.

You cant just extrapolate your own experiences and apply them to everyone in the world, this is really short sighted.

It is a life skill, but like all life skills they take learning and cultivating, something that requires time, which some people just do not have. It also gets easier with the help of someone else with expertise (like you say you got from your grandmother), which some people do not have.

Maybe instead of sitting on your high horse thinking that you are so awesome and worked so hard to be there you should thank your lucky stars that you had so many shoulders to stand on to get you up there in the first place.

I'm not poor, and I can afford to eat well all the time. I do work hard to reach my goals but i recognise that I am DAMNED LUCKY to be where I am now and have the choices I have.

Some people are NOT so lucky and I'm not going to judge them for choosing a quick and easy option to fill their families bellies

And in the same way you cant extrapolate to EVERY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.

My point has been from the start that its possible to eat cheap meals that are healthy.. I was never saying you have to buy fresh vegetables straight from the farmers market.

Also I live in Norway now.. hasnt always been that way and certainly not for my grandmothers who were the people I was referring to of finding a way if there is will.

I do know I am lucky for being born in Scandinavia.. but that doesnt mean I havent worked for what I have. Not everyone here is born with a silver spoon in their *kitten*.

When did I say anything about a farmers market?

Certainly you can eat cheap meals that are healthy. My point is is that it takes much more organisation and time to do so than getting fast food. Time that some people don't realistically have. There are people in here that have made some very good points and given some very good examples of how it just doesn't work for everybody yet you still insist that everyone can do it and if they aren't doing it, well they are just lazy or don't want it enough.

I'm not taking away the work that you have done but the likelihood is you have been more lucky and have had more opportunities than many of the people we are talking about. And saying that they can do what you do, even though they may not have had these same opportunities is insulting.

Have you ever had to work two jobs? Live in non permanent housing and have to move your family all the time? Not have access to a fridge or a cooker?

Maybe you have, I don't know and if you have lived this life, kudos to you. But everyone's situation and every person is different and we cant just assume every person has the capacity to not have to make use of fast food to have a hot meal.

kaseysospacey

Living in Norway you probably experience a very different life compared to poor people in america.

You cant just extrapolate your own experiences and apply them to everyone in the world, this is really short sighted.

It is a life skill, but like all life skills they take learning and cultivating, something that requires time, which some people just do not have. It also gets easier with the help of someone else with expertise (like you say you got from your grandmother), which some people do not have.

Maybe instead of sitting on your high horse thinking that you are so awesome and worked so hard to be there you should thank your lucky stars that you had so many shoulders to stand on to get you up there in the first place.

I'm not poor, and I can afford to eat well all the time. I do work hard to reach my goals but i recognise that I am DAMNED LUCKY to be where I am now and have the choices I have.

Some people are NOT so lucky and I'm not going to judge them for choosing a quick and easy option to fill their families bellies

And in the same way you cant extrapolate to EVERY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.

My point has been from the start that its possible to eat cheap meals that are healthy.. I was never saying you have to buy fresh vegetables straight from the farmers market. Excuses like "supermarket is too far away" or "I dont have time" is what I am against, not "I cant even afford to pay medical care for my kids". There is a difference there and I am not attacking the poorest people.. rather the people who make excuses but could.

Also I live in Norway now.. hasnt always been that way and certainly not for my grandmothers who were the people I was referring to of finding a way if there is will.

I do know I am lucky for being born in Scandinavia.. but that doesnt mean I havent worked for what I have. Not everyone here is born with a silver spoon in their *kitten*.

there are people here that work 60 hours a week and are still very poor. Our waitresses dont even have to make minimum wage, and often what wage their check should be gets taken away to go towards taxes. Waitresses can get a 0 dollar paycheck. So, having no time is a valid reason. Also storage. I've lived in a place with a small camp fridge and a less than half size camp over and five people to feed. No freezer, no pantry or area for food storage beyond a cabinet under the sink.No car. Its not possible to stock up on frozen items then.

And before I hear the "well, go to school and get yourself an education and live a better life" oi have a few things to say:
1. Not everyone is smart enough. Its a fact. There are beautiful, amazing, kind people who can barely comprehend what they read in the newspaper. there are a ton of people who are great but need menial, repetitive work.
2. I have an AA and a BS in psychology and I'm still well, well, well below the poverty line in a state with one of the highest costs of living. I didnt choose to live here, I was raised here. And I can't just leave. My SOs job is here and we dont have a car or the massive funds it takes to move out of state, let alone abandon the meagre family we have who help occasionally w life things.
3. The way society is set up, for every president there are 5 executives, for every executive there are ten managers, for every manager there are 50 min wage working men. (obv just examples) The point is its a pyramid, and for every good job out there there are 100 minimum wage ones. Society is not constructed to give everyone a liveable wage.

Akimajuktuq

You have to remember that when considering cost, time cost is also a thing.

Yeah, cuz preparing homecooked, healthy food for one's family is such a waste of time. OMG.

Speaking from experience, when I switched to healthy, nutrient dense food my Binge Eating Disorder vanished. So while my food items all cost more, I eat much less. I'm saving 15-20% by eating more expensive, healthy food. Go figure.

pluckabee

You have to remember that when considering cost, time cost is also a thing.

Yeah, cuz preparing homecooked, healthy food for one's family is such a waste of time. OMG.

Speaking from experience, when I switched to healthy, nutrient dense food my Binge Eating Disorder vanished. So while my food items all cost more, I eat much less. I'm saving 15-20% by eating more expensive, healthy food. Go figure.

I was implying that it was an extra expense to consider, not a waste.

Like money, time is a limited resource.

Sorry if you didn't understand that.

WendyTerry420

Of course it's cheaper! The rich people want the poor people to get fat sick and die!

Well I guess the "rich people" love my community. For our family, it's much cheaper to eat at home.

musikmom93

I believe everything should be eaten in moderations. There is nothing wrong with going to McDonalds for a meal as long as one don't eat there every day. I am new to MFP, these message boards have been so helpful. Thanks to everyone who posted.

WendyTerry420

You have to remember that when considering cost, time cost is also a thing.

Yeah, cuz preparing homecooked, healthy food for one's family is such a waste of time. OMG.

Speaking from experience, when I switched to healthy, nutrient dense food my Binge Eating Disorder vanished. So while my food items all cost more, I eat much less. I'm saving 15-20% by eating more expensive, healthy food. Go figure.

When we make burgers at home, it takes about 20 minutes. I'd rather spend the 20 minutes than the $30 or so for a single meal. Homemade burgers and fries for four of us runs no more then $5. Easy choice to make, imo.

I also agree that it's easier to eat less when you have to get up and make it than if you just have to open a package and grab.

jwdieter

Problem with McD is the meals.

Something like a double quarter-pounder with cheese by itself is ok - 47g protein, 46g carb, 40g fat.

But the medium fries + drink add 4g protein, 105g carb, and 20g fat. And a lot of people really like their fries+drink (and upselling prices encourage this), getting larges on those... for an extra 6g protein, 156g carb, 30g fat.

Protein is really low. Starch+sugar injection.

mommy3457

It IS more expensive in some parts of the country (US) to eat healthier things. I've noticed when I lived in NH, it was much more expensive than here in NC. I can see how someone in the south can have no issues eating healthier for less, but in New England, it's costly, especially in the winter.

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I live in NH right now. It is not too bad as long as I shop at Market Basket. The rest of the grocery stores..forget about it lol! I miss Food Lion from when we lived in VA.

corgicake

Just because someone went to college doesn't mean they know what they're doing.
Just because someone got hired doesn't mean they know what they're doing.
All it means is that they went to college and got hired, and says nothing of whether their employer is getting their money's worth.