The real difference between this and Subway’s “under 600 calorie” menu is that McDonald’s is providing a few small menu items that would not suffice as a meal vs. a sandwich, a side and a drink. Yes, a fried apple pie is less than 400 calories. But unless McDonald’s is also serving up a side of steamed broccoli and carrots on the side, I don’t know anybody who will be satisfied with eating just that for a meal.

And always skip the fries (or at least share them). The fries are almost always more fat, more calories and more salt than even big, greasy burgers.

Good blog post. Good read. I’ve read it before, you know, the whole “plan ahead for the week” kind of thing, but it’s always good to reiterate to people their options.

But I think one thing went overlooked: Fast food exists not only for convenience, but for the poor folk.

You brought up an example in your post about “if your family is hungry and are low on cash, just hop on a computer and use the Internet to find cheap, easy and healthy recipes.” But if a family is low on cash, chances are they are without a family computer or Internet access. Furthermore, they might not have a car (or gas money) to run to a local library in order to use a computer.

My point is: Fast food companies cater to the poor people of America. Where else can you feed a family of five on $10 (dollar menu goodness, that is)?

Also, let’s not forget something like an egg McMuffin provides more nutrition than a piece of fruit or vegetable. There’s protein, starch/carbs, dairy. It has the calories, but it also provides more energy than most foods you mentioned.

But back to being poor.

When you’re buying food based entirely on 1) how long it keeps and 2) how cheap it is, you wind up with crappy food. When I was growing up, we knew that the first of each month was grocery day. That’s the day that our food stamps came in. Nowadays (in the U.S., anyway) it’s all done on an ATM-type of plastic called a link card that gets reloaded with “food only” money on the first of every month. But the idea is still the same: new month, new food. So when our food money arrived, to avoid multiple trips to the grocery store and burning loads of gas that we couldn’t afford, we bought our entire month’s worth of groceries all at once and stored it like squirrels. When you do that, you need shit that won’t spoil.

Forget about fresh produce or fresh baked goods or fresh anything. Canned vegetables are as cheap as a gang tattoo, and every poor person I knew (including myself) had them as a staple of their diet. Fruit was the same way. Canned peaches could be split between three kids for half the cost of fresh ones, and at the end you had the extra surprise of pure, liquefied sugar to push you into full-blown hyperglycemia.

If it wasn’t canned, it was frozen. TV dinners, pot pies, chicken nuggets … meals that can be frozen forever, and preparation isn’t more complicated than “Remove from box. Nuke. Eat.” Because of that, by week two, half of everything we bought would be freezer burned. Just like with the canned food, you grow up thinking that this is the way it’s supposed to taste. It’s not that you grow to like it, necessarily, but you do grow to expect it.

To this day, my kids won’t eat fresh green beans. There’s such a huge difference in texture and taste compared to the canned version that they’re honestly like two different foods. None of us will eat homemade macaroni and cheese. If it doesn’t come out of a box, it tastes weird. And the list is a mile long. We’ve eaten these things for so long, we’ve grown to prefer them to the fresh version.

People who have never been poor love to point out overweight people in the ghetto and sarcastically exclaim, “Yeah, it really looks like she’s starving!” And they have no idea that the reason many of them have weight problems is because everything they’re putting into their bodies is dirt-cheap, processed crap. Grab a TV dinner and look at the nutritional information.

Fresh food is expensive and takes forever to prepare. It goes bad quickly, so it requires multiple trips to the grocery store per week, which is something most impoverished people can’t do. And since all of those time-saving frozen meals are high in salt and fat, they take up residence in the expanding butts of the people who can’t afford anything else.

When you finally get to the point where you can afford those grocery trips and fresh ingredients and have the time to prepare them, your taste buds freak the heck out. They’re not used to it. Vegetables are supposed to be squishy, aren’t they? Is chicken supposed to have this texture?

No, it’s not like you’re eating food for the first time, staring at asparagus in wide-eyed bewilderment, not knowing whether to put it in your mouth or rub it on your skin until it absorbs right into your body. But a lot of this new stuff sucks by comparison because it’s not what you’ve been trained to eat — the flavors and textures are all wrong, and there’s a real temptation to keep eating the same crap until it stops your heart at age 43.

End rant.

Hi Paul,
I appreciate your comment. I agree with you — I should have also included thoughts on how fast food restaurants cater to people who are poor. I appreciate you calling it out and including your perspective. Thanks for keeping me honest

I grew up on a farm, and I took for granted the fact that my family had a garden. We bought a cow, had it slaughtered and ate beef for as long as it would last. Little did I know that eating grass-fed beef would become something hip to do. Our neighbors had chickens, so I also grew up on “free range eggs.” Were we wealthy? Definitely not. But it was more expensive for us country folks to go to town every night for dinner. So, we went to Walmart every two weeks, loaded up on groceries and ate at home. So I bring much more of a rural perspective. I don’t have a family of my own just yet, so I am not as well versed about feeding kids on the cheap in the city. So, again, I appreciate your perspective.

Here’s an interesting piece about this issue from the NYTimes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/is-junk-food-really-cheaper.html?pagewanted=all

And to Greg — I worked at Subway for five years. Although Subway does have some good options that do provide a well-rounded meal, often times people think “Well, I’m at Subway, so everything is healthy!” And that’s not true either.

It has taken me a long time to understand more about the food I eat, and I’m still learning. When I was a teenager, I had this mindset that, if it’s chicken, it’s healthy. I’m not sure how many people have that idea, but I learned the hard way that a chicken quesadilla from Taco Bell was not my diet friend.

Portions and walking can help everyone regardless of income level. Providing the calorie content is not all bad as it does create awareness even for those who do not have the ways and means or were not raised in such an environment. Most eating establishments; fast-food and restaurants serve large portions too. When eating out by choice or because you drive to work and packing a lunch and supper is a difficult option either because of lack of refrigeration facilities at work or outside industries it is difficult to find the right combination to eat healthy. Sometimes if you are lucky; you may have a friend, co-worker or family member who will half the order with you; then you are eating within the nutritional portions. Yes, it is expensive too. If I have to eat let’s say at McDonalds; I order a Jr. burger and the fruit n nut salad. Order milk; it is good for you regardless of your age. Drink water always. Bottled water is expensive and the bottles also add to trash everywhere. So, carry your own water everywhere with you. I was lucky I had a father who grew up as a preacher’s kid. They were very poor. My father always said eat only what you need. He drank water and water only. He did everything in life with moderation and lived a healthy life to be in his late eighties. He was born with a defective heart and didn’t know it until his late 70′s. So staying active is a key too. You don’t have to join a gym. Just move; walking is one of the best forms of movement when you cannot afford fitness centers or family centers. There are many safe walking paths in many cities and communities now. Buddy up with several people. Safety in numbers. It also provides a good support system. One more thing Subway’s kids meals do offer some good healthy choices; the portions are good for most people and the price fairly reasonable.

Jaclyn, Could you do an article on food prices state wide? Another factor in the rural areas could be the cost of food at the grocer’s or having to spend gas money to drive at least 20 to 40 miles to a Wal-mart (which doesn’t always have the best prices). Just curious.

Hi,
I just saw your comment. That’s interesting. I will look into it. Thanks for your comment!
- Jaclyn