Comments on: Does Cooking At Home Really Beat The McDonalds $1 Double Cheeseburger?

By: Priswell

Priswell — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 22:38:26 +0000

In the long run, it’s cheaper, healthier and generally “better” to cook and eat at home. In my experience, though, there are a lot of people out there that really don’t know how to cook. Once, at a potluck, the ladies in the kitchen didn’t know how to make gravy without a packet. Last night, we had friends over for dinner, and at least one person in the group didn’t know how to cook a pot of beans. I also have friends that are amazed that I make home-made spaghetti sauce.

So, I think that part of the “eating out is better” crowd are at least somewhat influenced by the lack of kitchen skills. If you don’t know how, driving through to pick something up is way easier than experimenting in the kitchen after a long day’s work.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:50:42 +0000

Is the cost based on 16 ‘cheeseburgers’ or 16 ‘double cheeseburgers’? There are references to them both, and the cost would be significantly different. That being said, when you look at the cost of production at McDonald’s vs. the cost of production at home, you can find exactly what you are looking for. For instance, if you really do not want to cook at home, you can find all the reasons you want to explain why McDonald’s is cheaper in the long run. If you are truly looking to save money, you will inevitably gravitate toward justifying the cost of ‘homemade’ meals. The key to reducing costs for homemade meals is compounding your tasks, or making your meals work for you.

If you are making double cheeseburgers, form all 16 patties. Cooking them all at once is a matter of preference. If you don’t want precooked meat, fine. Freeze the formed patties, and store between wax paper sheets for later- saving a step.
If you have extra beef, brown if up for tomorrow’s chili or spaghetti. If you are slicing tomatoes, slice or dice some up for tomorrow’s omelet or chef salad lunch. Step savers such as these are what you can use to cost justify what your time is worth. $4 doesn’t seem like alot, but let’s say that you save an average of $4 per meal for the month. $4 times 3 meals per day, times 30 days in the month= $360. That is an annual savings of $4320. Is your time worth it now?

By: tony gott

tony gott — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 14:57:45 +0000

Absolutely it does. My wife fills a bagel everyday for my lunch and yet if I went o McDonalds or any other fast food place it would cost me at least twice what it cost to fill that bagel with ham and cheese or whatever. No comparison at all, home is best by far.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 02:01:46 +0000

Excellent points there Steve! Very enjoyable article this btw, I will be certainly popping back in the very near future. Have a great week.

By: steve

steve — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:16:45 +0000

I mean, $50 or $40 a week, not a month.

By: steve

steve — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:15:47 +0000

BTW, that grocery bill (just above) is usually actually my entire food budget as I don’t eat out at all these days except maybe once a month and I pack all my lunches and don’t go to cafes for coffee but pack my own. So the $50 or $40 a month is probably pretty rock bottom for food costs and if you eat out at all the cost will go up.

By: steve

steve — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:12:42 +0000

@ Quinn,

I agree that it takes some skill (but no planning), but as an example my grocery bill is under $50 a week, actually sfrequently sometimes under $40.

However I am a vegan. But even when I was eating meat, it wasn’t much more than that, maybe $60 a week.

If you want to and you stick to cooking from scratch, you can get down to the $50 and under range while eating well, even while eating meat and dairy. but not a lot of meat and dairy of course. I tended to stick to .99 cent a # roasters, and use all of them and make stock with the bones, and store brand cheese, and always buy my butter on sale, when I was eating those things.

By: kirstie

kirstie — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:14:38 +0000

There is a very real financial cost to poor health caused by poor nutrition. Children who have poor diets don’t do so well at school which effects their future earnings, adults who have poor diets are more susceptible to illness and are more likely to miss work.

Its just about possible that going to McDonald’s saves time. However, given that it is possible to prepare a healthy meal at home in 10-15 minutes, you would have to live/work pretty close to a Mcdonald’s for this to be really true.

However, eating at McDonald’s certainly won’t increase productivity.

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:52:18 +0000

Why does everyone obsess so much over the ‘lost’ value of time? If you are the kind of person who things experiments like this are fun, or if you can happily do it during a time when you would otherwise be completely unproductive (like watching TV, then your time is not lost – in fact, it will be gained in future convenience. While a lot of us think we don’t have the time to spend several hours on a project to save just a few dollars, we all manage to find the time to watch TV or be similarly lazy – why not make it relaxing and productive??

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:06:00 +0000

For all you people talking about the cost of electricity and other hidden cost involved in the home cooking process make sure you also take into consideration all the factors involved in driving your vehicle to the restaurant such as:
1. possibility of increased vehicle insurance premiums due to accident; 2. maintenance cost for wear/tear on vehicle (breaks, oil, tires, etc);
3. the environmental impact.

One final thought inspired by this article and all the comments is that I would enjoy seeing a future article giving a Risk Analysis Assesment comparing the risk of cooking at home versus the risk of eating out when taking such factors as homicide rates, fires, injuries etc into consideration. Maybe I can get some of that Government Cheese to fund a research grant to look into this matter.

By: mark harrison

mark harrison — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:12:09 +0000

Why would anyway try and compare eating from McDonalds to eating your own food prepared at home from ingredients you know?

It doesn’t matter about the price, what matters is the health aspect and eating at home will always be preferable to any fast food joint.

By: Tessa

Tessa — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:25:56 +0000

I season my meat,form the patties and then place them in between little sheets of wax paper and then in a freezer bag. I can throw them in the pan or on the grill frozen, and use as little or as many as I need. I buy buns when they are on sale (50 cents), and put them in freezer bags to prevent them from becoming stale. I also stock up on my condiments when they are on sale (75 cents or so) and always have extras. All summer holidays – Fourth of July, Labor Day, Memorial Day, etc. these item are always drastically reduced.

By: McDonalds

McDonalds — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:09:05 +0000

Double cheeseburgers have two slices of cheese each whereas you only counted one. They also have pickles and onions. That definitely ups the cost.

By: mrshamel3808

mrshamel3808 — Sat, 23 May 2009 21:39:23 +0000

I work at a church and run a snack shack for our youth group every Wednesday night. I have everything priced out from Sam’s Club and buying pre-made burger patties, hamburger buns, sliced cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, 1 each of the mayo, mustard & ketchup packets, a bag of chips/or apple, a soda/water/or juice, an ice cream/or candy (we have a large selection) PLUS the napkin & paper plate I only have to charge $2.25 to make a profit. And that’s basing the price off of the most expensive choices they can make, which would be a gatorade to drink and a Snicker’s bar for their candy. If they choose a water and 3 Airhead candies it lowers the actual cost by about $0.30. And people say my burgers are way better than fast food, and all I do is throw them on the George Forman grill (I had one donated first which broke, but still a new one cost me only $40) for 4 minutes and slap it all together (seriously, it takes me max 10 min. to fill an order, what’s the average drive thru wait during meal times?). Most kids don’t order them with everything but even if they do I make a profit (all proceeds are donations to our youth group). You can’t get that much food at any fast food restaurant for that price! And if I bought ground beef in bulk and made my own patties it’d be even cheaper! Also, I can’t buy the lettuce or tomato in bulk because we only use it once/week and it will go bad. So this cost is with alot of the ingredients NOT being bought at the cheapest they come.

By: dani

dani — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:30:40 +0000

when this article was written the double cheeseburger was only $1, but now it has gone up. So with the price having gone up, it’s even a better idea to eat at home. Besides, the meat at McDonald’s comes frozen, and then they fry it in such a way that is fast, but does not allow the exess fat to drain off that we normally get when we fry them at home.
When you buy in bulk the meat, it tastes way better to divide the meat up BEFORE cooking, placing them in individual ziplock baggies, and than in a bigger baggie, and then into the freezer. Doing it that way actually preserves them meat longer (they can hang out in the freezer without it being a big deal) and they will actually taste better. You just defrost in the microwave however many you want and then you can fry them in the frying pan, adding whatever seasonings that you like.

By: jade

jade — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 13:54:18 +0000

Your kidding me right?
This is crazy.
You can easily buy the cheeseburgers, its your dinner and its up to you.
But medically you know its not the best option for you.
Not to mention who wants to eat a cheeseburger everyday and for every meal?

Like you guys are getting way too excited. Who cares what the price of the meat is and how much per pound it is.
Its cheaper to buy any food in bulk and make it yourself then to buy a $1.07 double cheese burger 3 times a day.

Settle children, settle…

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:09:02 +0000

This is what I got:

$1.05 Ketchup
$1.05 Mustard
$2.05 Pickles
$4.78 Buns (2 Pkg at 2.39 each)
$18.27 Meat (3 Pkg at 6.09 each [lb])
$3.19 Dehydrated Onions
$9.50 Cheese (2 pkg at 4.75 each)
—————————————–
$39.89 TOTAL

By: john

john — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:50:25 +0000

Why do people think grocery store meat is so much healthier than McDonalds meat? Lean and extra lean beef might be healthier but not ground chuck and the other cheap stuff. If you factored in the high costs of lean and extra lean then it would be more expensive than the $1 double cheeseburger (its something a little less than like $5 a lb at Walmart, probably more like $6 at Safeway/Kingsoopers since they are usually much more expensive). Extra Lean costs the same as Buffalo (which is also extra lean but much tastier).

Also since Mcdonalds imports a lot of beef from Australia and New Zealand it is potentially safer than the factory farm american stuff at the grocery stores since those countries have high standards for their cattle raising compared to America (I say potentially because McDonalds is not 100% foreign beef). A lot of countries have switched from american beef imports to Australian and Argentina beef not only because of mad cow fears but because of the ridiculous amount of hormones used in american beef.

If you want a healthy and safer burger compared to McDonalds then you better buy the expensive restaurant quality stuff that comes in boxes in the freezer aisle. Otherwise you definitely arent eating any healthier by buying store brand ground chuck.

By: Quinn

Quinn — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 01:31:36 +0000

You know, as a single person living paycheck to paycheck at the moment, I think some of you miss the point here.

Not being able to buy in bulk adds a pretty substantial cost to cooking.

In addition to that, spoilage becomes a huge concern. For instance, I can’t finish a loaf of fresh bread by myself before it spoils. True I could freeze it, but then of course it tastes like ass which kind of defeats the whole purpose.

If I buy groceries for an entire 7 day period, I’m very hard pressed to come in under $100, and the truth is that a single person can eat somewhat decently on $15 dollars a day (however, healthy is right out).

Here’s an example of the kind of thing you run into: somebody above said just make pasta. All right, well if I’m eating spaghetti, a fairly basic pasta I’m going to spend the following

$1 on noodles
$3 on sauce
$2 on mushrooms
$1.50 on onion
$1.50 on peppers (pepper prices suck right now)
$3.00 on cheese (I won’t use anything approaching all of this but I will want it, and it will likely go bad, but I can’t buy less so I’ll buy it anyway)
$.50 on fat

So, I could have just had the noodles and sauce, however if I’m going to the trouble of cooking, I don’t want it to taste like crap, so I’m going to shell out for what amount to necessities. That’s 2 meals for me, and we’re looking at roughly the price of any kind of quick meal at a lower end restaurant (not necessarily fast food mind you). It’s also got no meat in it, which as a non-veggie is gonna be a rarity in my meals.

Could I cook at home for less than the price of eating out and make tasty healthy meals? I don’t doubt that I could. However, if you don’t allow that A. The cost is going to be pretty darn close to eating out, and B. it takes a tremendous amount of planning and skill to do this, I don’t think you’re realistically assessing what grocery store prices are like these days.

If I just said tomorrow, “I’m going to eat good quality meals that I cook myself” I would spend substantially more at the grocery store than I do now. It would take an awful lot of research, price comparison, and creativity to accomplish this goal.

If I haven’t made this clear yet, I like to cook, and I’m pretty good at it. I’d prefer to eat all of my meals at home. However, at the moment I lack the discipline and planning to pull this off. To dismiss both of these as trivial or easy is, I think a disservice.

It’s a disservice because economic reality pushes a whole lot of people into eating a whole lot of shitty food, and that’s a result of the way agro-business works.

I just don’t think it’s fair to act like a bunch of the single people who end up eating a fair amount of fast food do so because they’re crazy or dumb.

By: TheEpicure

TheEpicure — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:58:15 +0000

Someone doesn’t know how to do math.

The post talks about 16 DOUBLE cheeseburgers. For DOUBLE, you have to DOUBLE the amount of cheese (TWO slices) and DOUBLE the number of hamburgers. It seems more appropriate for SINGLE hamburgers.

It is also a bit off in terms of costs. Except for sale items, I have never seen $1.99 a pound burger meat. $2.99 is much more typical for 83% lean meat (which is what McDonald’s uses for the hamburger; they use 87% lean beef for the Quarter Pounder)

On the other hand, 3 ounces is too high an estimate (weight before cooking) for a hamburger. The reality is that 2 patties weigh 3.5 ounces, meaning 32 patties (16 double cheeseburgers) require 3.5 pounds.

And we’re forgetting the mustard, the pickles and the onions.

Let’s recalculate, this time without the errors of ommision and commision:

1.75 ounces per patty x 32 patties = 56 ounces at $2.99 a pound = $10.47

2 slices of cheese x 16 burgers= 32 slices at $1.99 per 16 = $3.98

16 buns at $1.99 per 8 = $3.98
1 small ketchup $1.50
1 large onion $1.29
1 small mustard $0.99
1 small jar pickles $1.50
(I’ll ignore the cost of the salt and pepper)
TOTAL $23.71

Not counting your cost of grilling/frying the burgers, washing utensils and plates, and the time and energy consumed in buying. Plus you place zero value on your own time, and you come to the realization that these double cheeseburgers are incredible value.

Now, more expensive sandwiches and higher-end restaurant food can clearly be made more cheaply at home, but this particular comparison is rather inane, inappropriate and incorrect.