It used to be a sign of poverty and not having enough to eat was being thin. Now it's being obese because all anyone can buy for a couple of bucks is high sugar, starch and low food value foods.

Even food boxes are loaded with low nutritional foods - with the bulk being high sugar and high starch items because that's cheapest and what people donate most.

You can not eat well, meaning lean meats and veggies, on under $5/day. But you can eat on under $5 a day at McDonald's. I'm sure other fast food restaurants are also experiencing an increase in sales of their value menu items ($1).

It's about time SOMEONE recognized poverty was fueling the obesity rate.

There are a whole slew of inexpensive meals one can make in a crockpot/slowcooker while at work all day -- for vegetarians, vegans, and omnivores. A number of them are literally "add ingredients, cover, and flip 'on' switch". Plus they'll all taste better than anything you could buy at the restaurant because you're the one adding the flavor.

I won't mention that crockpots make your home smell like pure awesome because that'd be unfair.

1 whole chicken at $8, to be roasted.
Head of garlic for roast chicken, .50
Bag of onions for roast chicken, $3.50
Loaf of Italian bread, $2
Head of Romaine lettuce for salad, $2

That's $16, all for proper Sunday dinner food. Add a $3 bag of apples for dessert (baked or perhaps made into a crumble) and assume you will use about $3 of assorted herbs, butter, oil, flour, bouillon in meal preparation. That's $22 at Boston prices for dinner of chicken & veg, gravy, bread, salad, and dessert, so there's $3 for milk or cheap wine. Plus you will get about a quart of broth from the leftover chicken carcass.

BUT you have to shop for it and cook it. There will be about an hour of prep time in this meal and the chicken takes three hours to roast. As you can see there are no pre-prepared foods except the bread.

If you were going to do rice and beans and veg, or spaghetti with tomato and salad, or lentil pilaf, or ground hamburger, you could make a significantly cheaper meal. But you probably can't buy a nutritious meal of pre-prepared foods for six people for less than $25, and having really good food at home, on a budget, takes time, effort, and skill.

I cook and bake almost everything at home (except bread) and two of us eat extremely well on about $300 a month (for real butter, good cheese, etc. at urban prices). But I have the time, will and energy to do it, and I don't have children that will cling to my leg when I'm trying to cook, or who need to eat only between 6 and 6.30 because of practices.

"A nutritious meal for six can be cheaper than six combo meals at McDonalds"

No way. You can feed 6 at McDonalds for $10. Try that at home. I don't think you could make a nutritious meal for 6 for under $25 at home and would be pressed to do that.

@downwithmonstercable: Only question is have you tried the DLBCHS with Big Mac sauce subbed for the ketchup and mustard? I could live on those for 40 days and 40 nights and then promptly die.

Maybe charging for water and condiments IS paying off. I cancel my order and leave when they try to charge me for those--which has happened more often lately.

@MercuryPDX: I boycott McDonalds when that stupid Monopoly game is on. I can't believe they still offer it. A few years ago, the contractor McDonalds hired to distribute the little game pieces was caught stealing the good ones and giving them to family and friends. All they got was a slap on the wrist, while the customers legitimately buying the food hoping to win, got zilch because it was just a "game of chance".

And I still think it's laziness in many cases (not all). It's really NOT that hard to prepare a dinner, if you know how to make some simple things that you can make in 10 minutes. In fact, it can be faster than driving to a McDonald's. And you can prepare lunch things on the weekend and eat them during the week (or eat things like salads that take like 2 minutes to make). I will grant that some people can't do this, but 99% of people can, and in most cases it's just people taking the path of least resistance rather than making a tiny effort to learn.

Even that artificial store brand Velveeta-type processed stuff is more than chicken or ground beef.

I think a lot of people simply are choosing McDonald's over more expensive places when they eat out now. They're not replacing home cooking. They're replacing restaurant visits.

Is it our place to constantly judge others and approve or disapprove of the choices they make when presented with data such as that offered in this post?

@Triborough: Yum Yum, heavily processed glop packed with phyoestrogens! My thyroid is just itching in anticipation.

Pass.

I think that people go to fast food restaurants mainly because it's the path of least resistance, not for actual rational economic reasons.

a) I highly doubt you can feed a family with 3 or 4 kids at a fast food restaurant for $5. Or do you mean $5 per person? If that's $5/person, then you're still looking at about $30 for a meal at a fast food restaurant.

b) Again, $30 per person, or total? No way should a home cooked meal made from raw ingredients cost even close to $30 for most things, unless it's particularly expensive ingredients like steak or something.

@johnva: Yes, Americans do have a right to their own cows just as they do their own oil.

@G-Dog: The only people who claim that fast food is cheaper than groceries are people who either don't know how to cook anything that doesn't or don't know how to take advantage of grocery sales. I can cook several nutritious meals for less than $5 that will feed both my husband and I. There is no excuse why anyone can't manage the same if they tried.

@johnva: So, in short, order that Good Morning Burger while you can.

also probably up until 40-60 years ago meat was a part of everyone's diet in western culture at least once a day. you can look at all the traditional dishes of europe/north america (and even asia to some extent) and they involve a serving of meat. between breakfast meats, sandwiches, and meat being a the main course of most dinners, even if it's left overs, meat being part of the daily diet was expected. if you look things like diabetes trends, the number one killer being heart attacks, obesity, making the main cheap staple foods into starches like pasta didn't do much for the western world's health.

and i'm not offended i'm just bored. :D

But of course, most of the "good" prizes I had 2 out of 3 or 1 out of 2 pieces needed. So it goes.

But seriously, that Bear Grylls guy would eat his own foot if he thought it would do him some good.

When I was younger I didn't eat McDonalds because my friends told me the burgers were made of ostrich meat (even though that would be the improvement over the rat meat they really use). Now I am older and I don't eat McDonalds because it wreaks havoc on my stomach and I feel completely drained and like garbage after I eat it. Even the iced coffee makes me feel drained. Wtf?

i didn't say a normal american diet either. i used the word "people" and as a part of a regular diet based on the fact we're omnivores. the fact that i mentioned foodstamps is the only thing that aims it towards america but i really do mean humans in general. other than religious reasons or personal ethics it is not unreasonable to expect meat, in some form, to be a part of your regular diet. it has nothing to do with being an american. this goes for the world, as a human being there are a few things you are entitled to biologically just for existing and a balanced diet fit for the digestive tract nature gave you is one of them.

Also, that's just not true unless you're not planning meals very well and/or buying a lot of prepackaged processed food.

Is there a correlation, say Olive Garden/Pizza Hut's profits down because people would rather go to McDonald's. I wonder.

I feel so dirty.

@johnva: Screw that. America has cows. So eat 'em.

A country with no cows, they can have their beans.

We definitely do "overdo" meat as a nation. I'm only saying that if you're poor enough to require food stamps, it's not really reasonable to expect that you can eat a "normal" American diet. And that's not necessarily a bad thing; it's just different.

there was NO meat in this guy's diet. if i went hunting i'd have a pretty decent chance of having meat every day btw if i took down one deer every couple of weeks by myself. out of one cow you can have meat every day for one meal for weeks. if you went fishing for a couple hours a day, chances are you'd have more fish for dinner than not. really, up until the tail end of winter, fresh game isn't that rare and therefore still part of a natural diet especially when dried.

it's not that unreasonable to expect your natural diet to be, well, natural. as a nation i'm sure we overdo it, but that's not what i was being a proponent for and that's not what i said.

@johnva:

Your right to a certain extent.

Although I am sure the 99 cent double was cheaper than the ones I tested from my kitchen last week, I know mine kicked them right in the rear, and had that extra TLC one contributes when making things themselves.

Thinly formed patties, cheese, and a cast iron skillet make one heck of a tastey burger in no time at all. Went over very well with me and the wife. Give my grill a run for the money. Never thought I would say that.

I can say I didn't have any McDonald's in the month of October, but I think my wife and stepdaughter did.

I did have a Bacon and Egg biccuit this morning though.

Good food costs is more expensive

Expecting a big slab of meat at every meal, yes, that's unreasonable, and expensive. But a whole chicken is what, $4 or $6 (where I live anyway), you can get several meals worth of meat out of that, and if you're really industrious you can boil the carcass and make broth to cook your beans and rice with.

We cut back on our eating out, but we've compensated for that by cooking better (and still cheap). I made a whole week's worth of corn chowder for about $6.

Really, McD's ain't style, but eating there doesn't yet sign the end of the economy... :-)

This saves me $$$$$.

Thank you, Ronald!

My BF's biggest vice seems to be participating in McDonald's Monopoly every year. I figure it's better for us and our wallets to eat at McD's more in October every year than it is to go to Vegas or drink a lot or get hookers or whatever, so October was southern-style chicken sandwich and Big Mac month in our house.

@SSDDR:

Major ouch, baby.

"Good food costs is more expensive"

I Kan Haz Cats!?!

--Rehire your editor C.

I'm guilty of contributing to their October sales. Won't do that again.

Then the novelty wore off and I figured the stomach pains were not worth it.

Ditto White Castle. Deal with it.

@MercuryPDX: I won a free breakfast sandwich in mine, I was mildly excited.

Might wanna check your grammar in that first sentance.

Say what you will about McDonald's...doublecheeseburgers are like manna from the skies.

@Applekid: Unfortunately, the other 10% is melamine. Yay kidney failure!

Oooh! Snackies in a Sack! Now over 90% real food...

They'll be back down next month.