海角大神

Over the past week, the fast food restaurant chain for claiming that the taco mixture used in their products was actually beef. According to USDA standards, a beef mixture served by businesses must contain at least 40% beef in ordered to be labeled as such, and the lawsuit alleges (with some evidence) that their taco mixture only contains 36% beef., not the 88% beef that they claim.

Taco Bell themselves list ingredients in their 鈥渕eat filling products鈥� that include 鈥渨ater, isolated oat product, wheat oats, maltodrextrin, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent, autolyzed yeast extract, modified corn starch, sodium phosphate and silicon dioxide.鈥�

Silicon dioxide?

Here鈥檚 the thing: the lawsuit itself isn鈥檛 really all that important. It鈥檚 the broader issue that scares me. Consider that the USDA only requires that something contain 40% meat to be called 鈥渕eat,鈥� whether at Taco Bell or anywhere else you might buy a 鈥渕eat product.鈥�

If you start digging into the standards for what can be labeled as particular foods, the issues get quite disturbing. Check out this article in which it鈥檚 revealed that .

The point of all of this is that whenever we buy a product, we鈥檙e relying on both the company being honest with us about its contents as well as government regulations that do not always have the best interest of the consumer in mind. This goes for not just food, but for all manner of things from toothpaste to makeup to even in television and film.

The most common arguments in favor of such products revolve around convenience and cost. All right, let鈥檚 look at those.

For comparison鈥檚 sake, I took a look at . An $0.89 value menu five layer burrito there 鈥� which you鈥檒l also have to pay tax on 鈥� weighs 248 grams.

In , you can see my homemade bean burritos. I weighed one of these out of the freezer (because I have several frozen). The weight? 340 grams. It costs $0.20, while you鈥檙e dropping $0.95 at Taco Bell.

What about something 鈥渂etter鈥�? I compared Taco Bell鈥檚 Chicken Ranch Taco Salad with our own burrito bowls, pictured below. The Taco Bell salad weighs 420 grams, while my homemade one weighs about 470 grams (excluding the bowl). The homemade one costs $2.25, while the Taco Bell version costs $5.69 plus tax, carrying the price up to $6.

And think of the 鈥渕eat鈥� you鈥檙e getting in that 鈥渂argain鈥�!

(Yes, I鈥檝e made with McDonalds in my sights.)

The best solution for this problem is to stick with the most basic ingredients possible and exert the most control you can over those ingredients. Be picky about the ingredients you buy for your food 鈥� don鈥檛 just settle for whatever prepackaged meal has a tasty picture on the box. Be picky about what you watch on television 鈥� don鈥檛 just settle for channel surfing (or, better yet, read a book from the library).

I think it鈥檚 fairly clear at this point that there are huge cost savings that can be found from being more involved in the things you consume.

The biggest challenge facing everyone is the issue of time and convenience. People eat at fast food restaurants because it鈥檚 convenient and it takes time to prepare your own food. People channel surf because it鈥檚 convenient and it takes time to prepare other entertainments.

The phenomenon of convenience, from my experience, comes down to time and energy bottlenecks. I see this in my own life. Weekdays are often very tight, with both Sarah and I needing to get professional work done, three young children to attend to, and regular household upkeep as well. The convenience of simply eating a premade meal or watching whatever television program happens to be on is very tempting simply because it allows us to conserve energy and time for other purposes.

At other times, though, we have large windows of time 鈥� and it鈥檚 in those time windows that there鈥檚 a lot of value in improving the options during those time bottlenecks.

I鈥檒l find good programming to watch and add it to the Netflix queue so I don鈥檛 have to think when I鈥檓 bottlenecked 鈥� just click and go.

I鈥檒l prepare healthy food with good ingredients in advance so I don鈥檛 have to exert a ton of energy or thought when we need a meal 鈥� just toss it in the oven and go.

Such actions enable me to enjoy convenience without losing quality. I can have food quickly without having to eat 鈥渕eat.鈥� I can watch something worthwhile without having to surf.

This spreads throughout life. The same philosophy explains why it鈥檚 worthwhile to install a programmable thermostat (it saves you money whether you鈥檙e pinched for time and energy or not) or air seal your home.

In the end, if everything else evens out, the long term factors win out. If you consistently consume healthier food, you increase your chances for good health throughout life. If you consistently entertain yourself with things that challenge your mind (at least gently), you increase your ability to think through situations as well as having a warehouse of knowledge that can help in many situations.

You鈥檙e rewarded with lower health care costs and greater long term earning opportunities.

Convenience can be a very good thing. It can help us survive some of the time and energy bottlenecks that modern life foists upon us. The problem with convenience, though, is that it can often lead us into overcosted and questionable choices like Taco Bell鈥檚 鈥渕eat product鈥� featuring silicon dioxide. Yum.

We can combat this by simply planning ahead a little bit. Turn on some music this Saturday and make a batch of burritos for the freezer so you鈥檙e not left with a fast food stop this week. Install a programmable thermostat so you don鈥檛 have to remember to adjust the thermostat every time you go to bed, get up, or leave for work (and you鈥檙e not paying for it if you forget in a bottlenecked period). Seek out some documentaries or other programming on topics that really excite you and record them so that the next time you flop on the couch, you can just hit a buttion and watch something fulfilling instead of channel surfing through a wasteland.

You save money. You eat healthier. You don鈥檛 lose convenience. And you鈥檙e not left eating 鈥渕eat product.鈥� It鈥檚 a win all around.

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