value menu

Today I was at work and Reed was in charge. That meant attempting to accomplish meaningful tasks while entertaining kids and keeping them from injuring themselves and others. After calling no joy on yard work, he packed the kids up to take them to Home Depot to do a project. He had not eaten breakfast because we were out of milk and bread and most other essential food items, so he decided to go through the McDonalds drive through and get himself a $1 breakfast burrito. Molly started to fuss that she was hungry (she had just been retrieved from a sleep over) and after listing off several menu items she decided she wanted a fruit and yogurt parfait. Then everyone wanted one. Reed got to the window to pick up the food and decided that the parfaits would be wasted and make a mess, so he offered to get the kids donuts instead. He then had McDonalds refund the money for the parfaits ($1 each), went across the parking lot of the shopping center to Circle K and got the kids donuts, because they were a value ($.79).

Let me state now for the record that usually when I take the kids to McDonalds I get them hamburgers and parfaits because it is a healthier option than fries and way less messy that apple dippers. Reed always gives me a hard time because he is convinced that they are not healthy, and are surely loaded with extra sugar.

So I listened to this story, and we had the same discussion about the questionable nutrition of the parfaits, and of course the burrito ("it is small,there's not much sausage, it can't be that bad for you"). My response "Next time, please spend the extra $.20 on the parfait."
Knowing that the last word had not been had, I went downstairs and started cutting up fruit for the High Priest Luau this evening(which was awesome for a HP get together) and had to stop and look up the nutritional values of the items in question, for ammunition really. So here it is:
-Reed's breakfast burrito-280 calories, 20 grams of fat
-Parfait-130 calories, 4 grams of fat
-glazed donut- 200 calories, 12 grams of fat (that is for glazed, which is usually the least offensive.)

The take home: life is a zero sum game. The value that will save you pennies now, will cost you later. (There are greater implications to this theory, but I am not an economist and don't want won't bore you with my views on things of this nature)