Indigo jones

Mc Donalds recently added oatmeal to their fast food breakfast line-up. So why does this “bowl of wholesome” as their marketing refers to it, contain 22 ingredients?

I just checked my box of the Quakers Old Fashioned Oats, and it contains just one;

“100% natural whole grain Quaker quality rolled oats.”

To prepare it, you need to add water, and cook it for about 5 minutes.  Easy, right?

So how did McDonalds take one of the simplest and healthiest foods and make it so complicated, and nutritionally deficient?

In making it more compatible with the average American taste palette, they have added cream, sweetened dried fruit and brown sugar, and a variety of unpronounceable ingredients that preserve, color and flavor the cereal.

There are also 32 grams of sugar, 6 grams of fat, 160 grams of sodium and almost 300 calories per serving.

Conversely, a Snicker’s bar has only 19 ingredients, 30 grams of sugar, and 280 calories. While hardly a sound breakfast choice, by comparison it’s not an unreasonable one.

The entire 42 oz. tub of Quaker oats contains about 30 servings and cost $5.89, at an overpriced New York City grocery store. Do the math, and it equates to less than 20 cents per bowl.

The McDonalds version costs $2.38 per serving, and I would gather that it takes at least 5 minutes to wait in line, order, and pay for it.

Unless you have a major craving for sodium stearoyl actylate, or carrageenan, the homemade version wins hands down.

Which one are you going to have this week?

photo: Glasshouse Images