Comments on: In Defense of McDonalds’ Double Cheeseburger

By: Weekly Round Up: September 29

Weekly Round Up: September 29 — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:35:08 +0000

[...] McDonald’s double cheeseburger and homemade cheeseburgers. The Simple Dollar’s examination and Lazy Man’s reviews are [...]

By: Lazy Man and Health » Unemployed. How will my health be effected?

Lazy Man and Health » Unemployed. How will my health be effected? — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:06:43 +0000

[...] a McDonalds’ salad is a luxury that I’m cutting out. I’m more likely to grab a double cheeseburger. Today, I even bought generic “Ramen” noodles from Wal-Mart. It’s some of the [...]

By: Roundup for week of 23 September 2007: Plumbing fixtures edition at Mighty Bargain Hunter

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 04:48:06 +0000

[...] Lazy Man and Money defends the double cheeseburger. [...]

By: Roundup for week of 23 September 2007: Plumbing fixtures edition at Mighty Bargain Hunter

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 04:48:06 +0000

[...] Lazy Man and Money defends the double cheeseburger. [...]

By: Weekly Round Up: September 29 « Green Panda Treehouse

Weekly Round Up: September 29 « Green Panda Treehouse — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 12:57:12 +0000

[...] double cheeseburger and homemade cheeseburgers. The Simple Dollar’s examination and Lazy Man’s reviews are [...]

By: formul8

formul8 — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 05:16:48 +0000

The dollar menu. How can anything be more perfect? For the tidy sum of $3.89+ tax, I can stuff my face with half the daily calories I need plus a mounds of delicious fat. What more can an unemployed slacker like me wish for?

McD’s Budget Feast
Double cheeseburger – one buck
42 oz. coke classic – $.89
small. fries -one buck
hot fudge sundae -one buck

For your $3.89, you get nourished with a whopping 1,472 calories & 49.5 grams of fat!! Man, being poor (or cheap) has never been more fortifying!

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:05:59 +0000

Thanks for doing MY legwork; I may have to petition to have your “Lazy” title revoked. :)

I did look up the caloric value of a hamburger bun, but as expected, it varied. Heck, the size of hamburger buns vary, so no big surprise. I came up with an average of 135 calories, which is consistent with your calculation of 140 for the bun. I admire your great use of logic in this situation, but the numbers seem a little screwy to me. The double has 34g of carbs vs. 33g for the single, which seems consistent since most of the carbs are in the bun and the bun is common between them. But the double has 25g of protein and the single has 15g! Am I to believe that a hamburger BUN — with all of its refined white flour goodness — has 5g of protein but a hamburger patty — which should be mostly protein in comparison — has only 10g of protein?!?

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:59:30 +0000

Chris according to McDonalds' nutritional information, a double cheeseburger has 440 calories, while a single cheeseburger has 300. Simple logic and subtraction says it should be 140 calories per burger patty and cheese (since I think you get double cheese). Double that up for two patties and it should be 280 calories.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:35:50 +0000

I’ve had 3 or 4 double cheeseburgers for lunch every day for the last week. Sans bun. I’m back on a low-carb diet and this was my typical lunch the last time I did it. Hey, I easily dropped 25 pounds the last time with a DECREASE in cholesterol and my BP even dropped a little. Go figure. There’s something to be said about insulin resistance and the evils of cheap, simple-carbs.

Yes, I gasp when I look at the wrapper…440 calories each (!)…but I wonder how many of those calories are in the bun. I guess I should get off my lazy ass ad Google how many an average hamburger bun has.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:34:16 +0000

Jon, in the last paragraph you get my point. If you start to count that I can use leftover cheese again or that I already had cheese from my prior dish, it throws off the money calculation.

In the same way, if you count that you were going to the store anyway, it throws off the time calculation. What if the closest store is a few miles away, but you happen to drive right past a McDonalds every day? The best way is for each person to evaluate his/her own circumstances.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:58:34 +0000

Hehe. I love this debate about double cheeseburgers. It’s really making me want to break my vow of not eating out this month, though. I can almost taste that lovely indefinable flavor that no home-made burger has. Is it the bun? Is it the meat? I don’t know, it’s just part of the magic of McDonald’s. :(

But about the cheese, I think it’s fair to say the situation is different. Whether you buy new cheese or use existing cheese, you’re going to use the same $X worth of cheese.

We could complicate the debate further and note that we would be using the cheese on another dish anyway so is using it for the cheeseburgers really a cost, or does it just have opportunity cost? But then we would have to take into account the average time spent going to the store and gathering ingredients for other cheese dishes, so you might end up with a negative time cost for cheeseburgers. Hmm.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:49:55 +0000

I think writing to yourself is a loophole.

By: plonkee

plonkee — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:32:41 +0000

Isn’t talking to yourself a sign of madness?

I prefer semi-homemade burgers to McDonalds on taste alone. Which one is more convenient depends on where I am. If I’m at home its quicker to go to the grocery store and make them since there isn’t a McDonalds within easy walking distance and I don’t have a car. For curry on the other hand, the reverse is most definitely true.