Feb 27th, 2008
Is There Anything More Wasteful?
I will admit that I do indulge in fast food at least weekly (Jack in the Box’s Chicken Club Salad with Grilled Chicken tends to be my primary choice), but is there really anything more wasteful–remember, waste is the archenemy of frugality–than a trip through the drive through at a busy fast food restaurant?
The first significant waste is time. My sister recently insisted on my taking her through a drive through; it took ten minutes for us to get her food, which is about triple the time I think it would have taken if she had instead gotten out of the truck, went into the restaurant, and purchased the food there. Long drive through lines have taken the fast out of fast food.
The second waste is gas. Ten minutes spent mostly idling is about the equivalent of ten miles of driving. Gas is not cheap right now, about $3.50 a gallon (less credit card rebates) here on island; considering I get about 24 miles to a gallon, that ten miles is equal to about $1.46.
The third is money. It’s not like the $7 spent on food for my sister couldn’t have been stretched double if not triple at home (which was only about two miles from the drive through).
The fourth is health. This wasn’t the most nutritious diet by any means, deep fried and processed. Granted, there are some healthier choices at some fast food restaurants, including my Chicken Club Salad. This was not among them.
The fifth waste can be the environment. Besides the excessive, non-reusable packaging, ten more minutes of gas fumes from a running gasoline engine can’t make things better anywhere, and the disposable packaging–much of which wasn’t recyclable–doesn’t help either.
Waste is the archenemy of frugality, and ten minutes in the drive through line at the fast food chain seemed to be a huge waste in more ways than one. I’m done with that exercise; for me, it’s park and go in from now on; not the best, but way less wasteful in terms of time and gas–and if I make better food choices, maybe it’ll even be healthy.
Maybe the campus security on my husband’s campus who idle their cars in one spot for hours on end? But drive-throughs and fast-food are certainly both wasteful things. I wouldn’t feel too bad if I did it, simply because I haven’t had fast food in months and so it’s not a habit. But I’d probably still go inside, I hate sitting in the car.
Hey Mrs. M,
Yeah, long running idling vehicles might be more wasteful, but I think my example is horrible because so much of it was was so preventable. “Just get out of the car, sister!”.
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