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Eating the best meal for your buck

Homemade meals can be cheap and fast, too.

By Shea Stewart (Contact)

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

We don’t eat fast food because it’s delicious. We eat it because we think it’s cheap, convenient and quick. But eating at home can be delicious, convenient and quick, not to mention cheaper.

Here is a quick comparison of eating fast food and eating at home, based on price.

Fast food

Eating three meals of fast food for a day will make you fat and poor. Well, maybe you can’t actually watch the scales go up with each french fry or hashbrown consumed, but the thought is there.

Of course, I’m as guilty as the next person of eating fast food in moderation, but I certainly never make it a habit — maybe one fast food breakfast and dinner a week. Why not? First, it’s not good for the body as humans were not meant to eat highly processed foods. Plus, I’ve read Fast Food Nation more than once; I know what’s really in the meat. Secondly, it’s expensive. In just one day of eating fast food I spent $15.83 which would have been $47.49 over three days.

Breakfast Sonic 8:57 a.m.

Sausage, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Bistro Sandwich

Medium Coffee

Price: $3.59

When it comes to fast-food breakfasts, Sonic is the best in my book.

Lunch Back Yard Burgers 12:26 p.m.

Bacon Cheddar Burger

Medium Waffle Fries

Medium Root Beer

Price: $6.12

After reading Fast Food Nation for the first time I pretty much gave up on fast-food hamburgers. It was something about Eric Schlosser’s description of a slaughterhouse “somewhere in the High Plains” and his visit to a chemical laboratory off the New Jersey Turnpike that opened my eyes. Still, I do eat fast-food burgers every once in awhile, but only from Back Yard Burgers or Krystal (unfortunately the nearest one is in West Memphis).

Dinner Wendy’s 6:23 p.m.

Spicy Chicken Sandwich

Medium French Fries

Medium Root Beer

Price: $6.12

If there is a greater fast-food creation other than Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich (with cheese, no tomato) I have yet to be introduced to it.

At Home Menu

My menu for eating at home was simple — a collection of staples such as chicken, pork chops and fish — along with items such as rice and vegetables for sautéing, and healthy desserts such as apples and oranges. All total I spent $46.68 for three days worth of food.

Breakfast (all three days)

Coffee with milk

Clif Bar

For three days of breakfast I spent a total of $11 (excluding tax), including buying a canister of instant coffee that should last me about a month. Clif Bars might not be the most filling breakfast, but they do give a quick energy burst to get the day rolling.

Lunch Sunday

Skip it. Too much going on to stop for lunch.

Dinner Sunday

Mushroom chicken with rice

Side of sautéed yellow pepper

Italian bread

Orange

For dinner Sunday night — a quick skillet meal of sautéed chicken, boiled rice and cream of mushroom soup — I spent a total of around $8. I also had Italian bread and chicken left over for lunch on Monday.

Lunch Monday

Leftover sautéed chicken with sautéed red pepper in pita bread

Apple slices

Lunch cost me about $6 with leftover pita bread and apple slices.

Dinner Monday

Baked pork chops covered in mushrooms and sliced green peppers

Cheesy mashed potatoes

Orange

Monday’s dinner was the highest priced of the whole three-day adventure, costing $12 without taxes. But I did have leftover pork chops and mashed potatoes for lunch on Tuesday.

Lunch Tuesday

Leftover pork chop sandwich

Leftover cheesy mashed potatoes

Apple slices

Using leftovers, Monday’s lunch was totally free.

Dinner Tuesday

Pan-fried catfish fillets

Rice

Sautéed squash

Orange

Tuesday’s dinner was the cheapest — and best tasting — of the whole week. While the two large catfish fillets cost almost $4, the rice was less than a dollar, the squash were less than $2 and the orange was 79 cents.

In the end it cost me a dollar less to eat at home for three days than it would have cost me to eat fast food. And the food I ate at home tasted better, was easy to prepare and healthier for me than eating fast food for three days straight. Also, the meals eaten at home were quick, with none of the meals taking more than 30 minutes from beginning to prep to being ready to eat, so the convenience factor was minimal.

After eating at home for three days I definitely felt better both physically and mentally. The same couldn’t be said about me after splurging on fast food for just one day.