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Sun
Mon
Tues
Wed.
Thurs.
Fri.
Sat
B: Pancakes with
sausage
Oatmeal with
banana Slices
Whole Wheat
Bagel with butter
Oatmeal with
banana Slices
Acai Bowl
Whole Wheat
Bagel with butter
Portuguese
Sausage, eggs,
and Rice
McDonald’s
Hotcakes with
sausage
L: Spam Musubi
McDonald’s
Oatmeal
Starbucks Plain
Bagel with butter
McDonald’s
Oatmeal
Jamba Juice Acai
Bowl
Starbucks Plain
Bagel with butter
(Leftover)
hamburger and
French fries
Spam Musubi
Homemade
Caesar Salad
Turkey Sandwich
Chicken Burrito
McDonald’s
breakfast meal
Spam Musubi
7/11 Spam
Musubi
Burger King
Whopper Meal
7/11 Spam
Musubi
McDonald’s
Caesar Salad
Subway’s Turkey
Sandwich
Taco Bell Chicken
Burrito
7/11 Spam
Musubi
D: Hamburgers
and Baked French
Fries
Spaghetti with
meat sauce
(Leftover)
Spaghetti with
meat sauce
Chicken Burrito
Chicken Burrito
(Leftover)
Spaghetti with
meat sauce
Chicken Burrito
Burger King
Whopper Meal
S: Yogurt
Sbarro Spaghetti
with meat sauce
Potato chips
Sbarro Spaghetti
with meat sauce
Taco Bell Chicken
Burrito
Taco Bell Chicken
Burrito
Sbarro Spaghetti
with meat sauce
Taco Bell Chicken
Burrito
Apple slices
McDonald’s
Yogurt
3 Recipes:
Lays Potato Chips
McDonald’s Apple
with caramel
Hamburger with fries (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ultimate-Baked-FrenchFries/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=baked%20fries&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe&soid=sr_results_p1i2)
(http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/The-Juiciest-HamburgersEver/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=hamburger%20patty&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe&soid=sr_results_p1i7)
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/spaghetti-sauce-with-ground-beef/)
Chicken burrito (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/salsa-chicken-burrito-filling/)
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Your Name
Miss Komeiji
Expository Writing I
November 6, 2014
Groceries or Fast Food
(Introduction)
Imagine you’re in a family of four, you’re going from activity to activity, you don’t really
have time to make meals from scratch every day. But there’s this wonderful place that makes the
food for you, it’s fast, it’s convenient, and it’s pretty cheap. This is why people flock to fast food
over buying groceries. People buy fast food because it’s convenient and seemingly cheaper, but
that says nothing about how nutritious that is for the family. Not only is fast food not healthy for
the family, but it’s not cheaper than buying fast food.
(Body 1: Introduce the Conflict)
People buy fast food because it is so fast and convenient. Fast food has this image that
it’s cheaper and on the surface that’s true. You can get a burger and drink for under $5. But when
you go to the grocery store and you see that 3 hearts of romaine is $4 and that won’t feed your
entire family. People are so focused on getting from point A to point B, they forget what’s
important and that’s the health of your family. Inactivity and poor eating habits will lead to
health problems later in life. Those health problems will cost money to remedy, so is it really
worth saving the money now? In addition,
(Body 2: Explain Your Process)
To determine whether fast food really costs less than groceries, we will be working with a
Safeway Ad, and recipes from AllRecipes.com. I’ve compared making a burger at home to
buying a Big Mac meal from McDonalds. One factor of this experiment that needs to be taken
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into account is the food needs to be comparable to one another. If I compare a veal parmesean
meal to a chicken nuggets meal from McDonald’s. There are no similar ingredients so the
conclusion would actually be inconclusive. Another factor that I need to take into account is
region. We are in Hawaii so all the food needs to be flown in, which means things cost more. To
help to make sure that this is addressed I will only reference local grocery stores for prices. The
process to determine whether the cost is the same is to add up the list of groceries that I need to
make the week’s worth of meals and compare it to having a fast food diet all week. Secondly, I
will take three meals; one breakfast, lunch, and dinner and compare the nutrition and the price to
a fast food version similar to that meal. If there are multiple components to a meal like a salad, I
will add up the individual parts and determine how many calories, sodium, and sugar are in one
serving. I will also add up the price of all of the components and divide them to determine how
much one serving cost.
(Body 3: Findings)
My findings show that fast food is not cheaper than buying groceries. The ground beef
was on sale for $4.69 a pound, the hamburger buns were on sale for $5.14; so 2 lbs of ground
beef and the buns came out to$14.52. Portioned out so that each person gets a quarter pound
patty, this would actually make two meals. I added in $4 for 3 hearts of romaine, $2 for ketchup,
$3 for salad dressing, $5 for potatoes, and $2.72 for 48 oz of canola oil. The entire meal came
out to $41.87 (plus tax). This accounts for two meals. The price of four Big Mac Meals for a
family of four is $47.66 plus tax. There are even leftover ingredients that the family can use for
the rest of the week. Then I added up the 304 calories for the beef, 120 calories for the bun, and
118 calories for baked French fries. This equated to 424 calories for the entire meal, not
including a soda. This compares to the Big Mac Meal at a whopping 933 calories, not including a
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soda. Through this I have determined, not only do groceries cost less, but families will have a
healthier lifestyle resulting from this. According to AllRecipes.com, it only takes about 30
minutes to prepare the burger and 30 minutes for the French fries, so if you do it at the same
time, dinner may only take 30 minutes to prepare. When a family needs to drive to the restaurant,
order, and they prepare it, then they drive home; it may also take 30 minutes. Overall, families
can make healthier choices and spend less money if they buy groceries instead of fast food.
(Conclusion: Suggestions)
Groceries cost less, but because of our on-the-go society. Not everyone has the luxury of
preparing a home-cooked meal for the week. One thing that families can do is all pitch in. On the
weekend, families can prepare and potion out meals for the week. This will help to cut down on
how many times a family will need to eat out during the week. Some families may not even have
time for that. They can invest in a crockpot, where you throw all the ingredients into the crockpot
and it cooks all day, when you get home you have an already made home-cooked meal. There
are many ways families can create a healthier lifestyle, and it will take some time and effort, but
in the long run it’s worth it.