Paying by the calorie....what do you think of this idea folks?

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/1...enny-a-calorie

I think it's awesome to bring attention to calories. I have a hard time believing that 2 pieces of chicken plus mashed potatoes and a vegetable equal 395calories, but maybe theyr'e tiny chickens and portion sizes.

Aside from that I think this is a good direction to go in. I would love for all food to be priced by calorie. Think of how much money we'd save buying celery and proteins! And we would definitely think twice about buying potato chips and cookies, for sure!

Huh... kinda clever on their part.

Brilliant.

I was very struck by one of the commenters who linked the availability of cheap fast food to taxpayers being burdened with increased cost of health care...although not all people are on public health care, certainly group insurance costs are inflated because of obesity-related illnesses. Although not all obesity is fast-food (or any-food-at-all) related, I think it's fair to say a significant amount of it is, and the commenter has a very valid point.

I don't consider a penny a calorie much of a bargain. It's quite expensive, actually, even for lean meats and fabulous veggies. Hubby and I eat at least 4,000 calories per day (he about 2200, me about 1800), and we don't spend $1200 dollars a month on groceries and eating out - not even close.

We're eating pretty well (in terms of health and variety) for about 1/3 to 1/4 a penny per calorie (quite often much less).

I've had the grilled chicken, and the pieces were quite small in comparison to their fried chicken pieces. Some of which, I chalked up to the space taken up by the breading, but I think the pieces were still noticeably smaller.

I would also guess that they migh be assuming you're going to remove the skin (if so, I'm sure it's in the fine print somewhere).

I've been wondering about that meal too. The pieces probably are tiny. And the green beans are probably just cooked with water, and the mashed potatoes are probably tiny too. I would be willing to try it, if I happen to be near a KFC sometime in the near future.

I thought it was pretty neat.. but it's probably true that the portions are tiny. It looked good but commercials always make the food better than it really is, much more appealing. So, I would try it one of these days. Make my decision. lol

Haha I have been thinking lately about how great it would be if fast food was a penny per calorie.
Take the guessing work out of it plus the healthier food would be cheaper. That would make life so much easier.

I think applying it to fast food is a good idea- but maybe not for grocery stores- veggies and fruits and things would definitely be cheap- but other stuff not so much- how much would butter skyrocket lol.

I had to put this comment from the site here cuz it cracked me up:


"We do not have an obesity crisis here but a rude meddlesome intrusive bad manners crisis. People should mind their own business and eat or don't eat whatever they like and keep quiet about it."

Someone is in denial IMO.

Well I think veggies would be cheap, imagine if you could buy leafy greens by the calorie versus the pound? Fruits wouldn't be cheaper. I can get a lb of apples for $1 versus 1 apple which is about 90 calories. Even my beloved dried beans would skyrocket.

1 lb of dried beans costs $1-$2 and yields nearly 2 lbs of cooked beans. Beans vary but there is about 1200 calories in 1 lb of dried beans so that means it'd be $12 for a lb of beans? yikes.

Anyway, for fast food, it seems like a decent idea, for grocery shopping, no way.

great idea.

What a coincidence. I actually went to KFC yesterday and had this except I had a biscuit and soda with it. It was about 4.95 total. I definately ate more calories than that though because of the buiscuit, soda plus margarine and honey. I don't think the portions are that small. They are pretty reasonable. I think as overweight people we are used to eating large portions that initially smaller servings might seem tiny but in reality are what we should we should be eating. I do think though that they are not counting the skin and who goes to kfc and doesn't eat the skin. They need to accentuate that skin doesn't count in the calorie count.

oh, I think the skin is yucky. I even peel it off of fried chicken.

Yeah, I think it's clear that for food in general, it doesn't work. 1800 calories is 1800 calories regardless how healthy it is or how much fat or sugar is in it, and that would be $540 a month for food for one person.

Clever