By Mike Thayer

On Monday, I decided to issue a small challenge to myself and anyone else wishing to join in. 

Can you eat nothing but fast food value meals for a week on just $50?

That’s a budget of just $7.14 a day.

Are there enough restaurants out there offering value meals that will fit in the budget? Will there be enough variety? Will I stay full enough, no snacking required?

I say I can stay under budget and eat well to boot.

Here’s the Day 1 dinner, a chicken sandwich and fries:

I did Burger King for supper, ordering a Spicy Chicken Jr. Sandwich from their value menu with a side of small fries.

The sandwich was just a buck, the fries were $1.79.  That makes sense right?  Potatoes more expensive than the sandwich?  Huh?

The Spicy Chicken Jr Sandwich wasn’t bad.  I’m thinking it’s just a regular breaded chicken patty with a spicy mayo on the bun, but hey, what can one expect for just $1 right?  The fries, I’m not sure what I was thinking with the fries, it’s been so long since I’ve had Burger King fries, they still suck.  Despite this being a not-so-stellar meal, I did get full.  My total cost after tax for this meal was $2.99, I busted my daily budget!  Send me back to school and teach me math……  I’m over budget by a whopping 15 cents.  Gosh, I’ll have to cut back on day 2.    Question is, will I order this meal ever again?

No. 

Burger King’s value meal lunch/dinner menu has some variety to it, so I think I’ll try something else.

Meal total for the day:  

Breakfast:  $2.15

Lunch:  $2.15

Dinner:  $2.99

Cumulative total for the Challenge:

Day 1:  $7.29

Grand Total:  $7.29 on day one, 15 cents over budget.  Oooops!  Which meal am I forced to cut back on tomorrow?….  Stay tuned….

I will say this, on day 1, I’m full, no snacking required.

And the nice thing about this challenge – No dish washing required! 

  While the meal filled the plate and my stomach, it was, “eh.”  Even as cheap as it was, still, “eh.”