Best Fast Food

One woman's experiment in recreating fast food.

From The Washington Post...

Although cheap and fast have become synonymous, I didn't believe that food bought in a fast-food restaurant could be cheaper than the same food cooked at home -- and, as it turns out, neither should you. Not only is homemade food almost always more nutritious (lower in calories, fat and sodium), fresher and better for you most every way, but it's also significantly less expensive and, in most cases, once you have your ingredients on hand, no more time-consuming.

If you make a McMuffin according to McDonald's specifications, you consume about 28% fewer calories, 37% less fat and 34% less sodium. You also spend only $1.27, on average less than half the cost of buying it at McDonald's,

If you want coffee with that McMuffin, buy Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks beans and brew your own, and you'll save over $1 per cup.

Making my equivalent of a Double Whopper at home, even when using the most expensive beef I could find, was less expensive than buying one at Burger King.

Restaurant fast food is rarely as convenient as you expect. There are hidden costs everywhere. True, when you cook at home you use electricity, soap, water and so on, but when you buy fast food, really all you get is imagined speed: You still have to get there, wait in line and wait for your food. And what you get is second-rate.

If you eat fast food, be sure you understand both the nutritional and financial costs, and don't kid yourself that you are saving money or time. The lesson here is that food can be fast -- and cheap -- no matter where it's cooked.