Monday, March 30, 2009

Your Wallet or Your Waist

So, after dropping the Liams (mine and his friend, also named Liam) at Joy School, heading to the YMCA for a nice long workout, then picking the boys up again and dropping Friend Liam off at his house, the boys and I were starving and Liam was clamouring for chicken nuggets (we had driven past a McDonald's on the way to Friend Liam's house).  By this point, Caleb was done being in the car and crying and whining and we were right next to Burger King so I decided to stop.  Okay, so I'm a drive-thru junkie, whatever.  Contemplating the fact that I had just finished working out, I rationalized that I could order a grilled chicken sandwich with little or no sauce and not feel guilty or gross after eating it, and then I looked at the menu board.  Their most basic chicken sandwich was 3 times the cost of a regular cheeseburger....3 times!  It appeared as though my choice was my wallet or my waist.  

While I appreciate that fast food
 places are making efforts to offer some healthier options for those of us whose children don't want frozen chicken nuggets from home but "the real kind", it's very frustrating that that "healthier food" costs so much.  Not that it is surprising...I have long fought the battle of "the budget versus the bulge", recognizing that o
ften, the healthiest foods are often not the cheapest (does anyone want to talk about the price of Ramen versus the price of...well, anything else).  I know, I know, it would have been cheaper and healthier all-around to just go home and make some lunch.  But I didn't...whatever.  

Anyway, it frustrated me as I sat in the drive-thru deciding what to eat.  I won't bother telling you what I ended up ordering, but suffice it to say that next time, I will just have to pack a tuna-fish sandwich before I leave home.

No comments: