Good Value

I like to plan out my meals. Since I'm keeping a sharp eye on calories, I can tweak how much I plan to eat at different times of day.

Last night, I figured the calories on my mom's pancake recipe, and it wasn't too bad, so I told Lauren we'd have pancakes & strawberries for breakfast.

When I woke up, the power was out. When Lauren woke up, the power was out. When we left to go to her cookie booth, the power was still out. Neither of us had eaten. Could we have made peanut butter sandwiches or figured out something else? Sure. But I really wanted to leave the refrigerator closed to keep all the cold air in in hopes that power would come back on soon.

Our options were limited; we stopped at McDonald's. In general, fast food isn't an appealing choice for me, at least intellectually. Sometimes I WANT A BURGER AND FRIES. But in general, I'd rather avoid it if I can.

We each had a sausage biscuit and I also got her a hash browns. I had no idea how many calories it had in it, but I figured it would be reasonable by fast food standards. When I got home (the power was back on, whew) and checked, I found that one measly sausage biscuit is 430 calories.

Are you kidding me? For that?

My whole pancakes with strawberries breakfast was only going to clock in at 425, and that included butter and a glass of milk! Yeah, it was tasty, but it took me just a few minutes to inhale it. I would much rather have had something more substantial for that same number of calories.

I'm really careful when I shop for food, to make sure I get the most for my money. I need to be just as careful to make sure I get as much ka-pow for my calories as bang for my buck.