Monday, May 18, 2009

Calories Per Dollar

During his talk on Saturday night, Michael Pollan addressed the frustrating reality that folks in lower income areas are often lured into Fast Food chains not only by those toys in the kids meals, but for their incredibly low cost "meal" deals. Specifically: The Dollar Menu.

Ever wonder how many calories you're getting for that dollar? Or avoiding the painful truth about how many calories you're getting for that dollar? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you may want to check out what finance writer Mark Gimein and the TBM staff have put together:


"The overall winner in our survey in the Pizza Hut Meat Lover's Personal Pan Pizza, at a price of $4.09 for 890 calories. Prices do vary somewhat: We sighted the same pizza at $4.59 at a second Pizza Hut, which would put it only in the middle of the pack. A number of choices cluster below that in the 200-calories-per-dollar range. Burger King's (BKC) Double Whopper stands out. It's basically tied for the No. 2 spot with Taco Bell's Fiesta Taco Salad but clobbers it in the protein count with 53 grams.

The good old Big Mac is a mediocre deal. It's got what by contemporary standards is a very modest 540 calories, putting it closer to Subway's Footlong Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich from the chain's low-cal menu than to many other options. In fact, you can have a sit-down meal with IHOP's 1,535-calorie chicken fried steak and eggs and do about as well as with the Big Mac."


Full article and larger image can be found here.

4 comments:

Niko said...

It is unfortunate that lower income families have to resort to purchasing less than stellar food to feed their families. I am thankful that i am not in that position, and therefore do not eat that stuff; however what is the alternative for a family of 5 that need to put food on the table with a limited income?

Deborah said...

That is, IMO, the question that drives this food movement in a lot of ways. I think this is where policies need to change and the power needs to get out of the hands of lobbyists and into the hands of, well, all of us. Corporations, like McDonalds etc, are unfortunately a major force in this country - in the world really. Ugh. Maybe MP will check out my blog soon and have a better answer fot this?? MP?

becky said...

Niko raises a good point...healthy costs too much.

Niko said...

Becky you are a smart woman :) and I too hope MP can explain the issue at hand with the lobbyists controlling what people eat. Although i must say Deborah, your answer was probably what he would have written :)