‘Healthy’ Fast Food Kids’ Meals: Are They Really Worth It?

by Liberty on July 1st, 2008

Image details: Fast food meal. served by picapp.com

Slow to hop on the bandwagon of apples vs. french fries, Burger King will soon be unleashing a massive ad campaign directed at parents. Their goal? To entice you into their eating establishment by way of offering “healthier” fast food choices for your rugrats.

In theory, this sounds nice. In actuality, it’s a joke. Why? Because their “healthy” kids meal consists of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, apple fries, and milk. For $3.49.

$3.49?!? Are you kidding me? I could buy 6 boxes of mac-n-cheese for that! I could buy a whole bag of apples for that! I could buy a gallon of milk for that!

While I guess sometimes you can’t put a price on convenience, my thoughts are, if you’re heading to a fast food joint, indulge in a little fast food. Otherwise, stay home. Make your mac-n-cheese with whole wheat noodles. Serve your apple slices with yogurt, rather than processed caramel. Give your child skim milk, rather than whole or 2 percent. Stuff like that.

Now, I guess I appreciate that the fast food conglomerates are making the effort. But is it really necessary? Or should they keep doing what they do best? Making burgers, fries, shakes and other indulgences, while we as informed consumers make better choices about what we put in our bodies (and those of our kids’)?

What do you think? Should fast food stay true to its roots, or should it hop on the Healthy Lifestyle movement? Whose responsibility should better nutrition be? Weigh in. I’d love to hear your thoughts…