Driving to work every single morning I come to a real crossroads. I am literally at the very point where I could either turn into the parking lot of my building, or I could just veer a bit to the right and head into McDonald's to pick up a beloved favorite, the Egg McMuffin sandwich. It's a daily, and I do mean daily, decision for me. Do I do it? Do I not do it. There are arguments to be made for both going and not going. Here are the pros and cons. You tell me what you would do.
So, McDonald's is so close to my office, I could and do walk from time to time. I can pop in, or go through the drive-through if there are no more than two cars in the drive-through. I am so very spoiled, and I don't wait in line for much of anything or for anyone, so if there are two cars in the drive-through, I simply will not pull into it. Mind you, this McDonald's has two lanes for the drive-through. If I see more than two cars in both combined, I pull into a parking slot and go into the store. I have, on occasion, just said no to the whole matter, and then by the time I drive back to the office I regret my decision and I usually turn around and go back.
The Egg McMuffin is $4.12, so if there are 20 days in a month, I'm paying around $82.40 and if there are 21 working days it's $86.52 a month. That's a big chunk of change! Do I really need an Egg McMuffin every single day? Well, I say no, then I get to work and feel like I'm about to die and can't make it all the way to lunch without eating something. Our office has snacks and I love that. I bring granola bars, and I bring chips and things too, but I try not to eat them because they're not good for me, somehow convincing myself that an Egg McMuffin would be, or should be good for me. I mean, it's not really all that carbish, right? It does have an egg, and it does have a slice of Canadian bacon, and there's cheese. Cheese in moderation is good.
Well, what I did was think about buying myself one of those handy-dandy egg sandwich makers, and it's only $30.00, so in the long run, I'm going to win. BUT...then I got to thinking, and that's usually when things go south. I said to myself, OK, I have a toaster. I can split it open and toast the muffin part. I have a microwave, I can break an egg, stir it up with a fork, plop a piece of ham or Canadian bacon on top, plop a piece of cheese on that, microwave it for 1.00 minute, and bam! I have an Egg McMuffin pseudo sandwich! I don't need the machine, and the machine would take time to clean and all that. I don't want to do that every day. I'm not only sp0iled when it comes to waiting in line, I'm also spoiled rotten when it comes to inconveniencing myself and forcing myself to clean things on a daily basis.
I decided on trying the homemade sandwiches. This is where it gets good because I don't compromise quality for the price. I went to Target and I bought Thomas brand English muffins, they are great. I bought a package of white cheddar cheese, with thick slices, I think it's Tillamook brand or something like that. I then picked up a package of great Canadian bacon slices, and they are also a bit thicker in their cut as well. The materials cost $15.70 and I was ready to dive into the experiment. I made a fairly good egg sandwich the next morning, but I did make a mess that had to be cleaned before I went to work. It wasn't a HUGE mess, but a towel would need to be washed, and I had to at least rinse the egg cooker thing and wipe it well. It took about 3 minutes altogether, and I had to find a ziplock bag to put it into.
The sandwich stayed warm all the way to work, and again, it was a bit messy; not as dry as the McDonald's brand sandwich. I didn't have paper to wrap it in, and had to use a paper towel to clean up a bit. So, again, I ask, is it worth it? The thing is, the materials I bought will be about 6 sandwiches before I need more muffins. I can get 10 sandwiches with cheese and bacon, and 12 with eggs, so all in all I can basically say it's $15.70 x 3.6 (as I have to buy more materials in the middle) for a balance of $59.66 that's only a savings of $26.86 and that's about 1.27 a day if I have 21 days in a month. I have to think about this.
I may or may not pull into the drive-through. I may or may not have to stand in line. I may or may not even go, and then I'm destined to be hungry. If I do make myself the sandwiches I have to clean up the little mess every day, but the sandwich is slightly better really; it has better cheese and bacon, and I do like the fact that it's wetter, not as dry. I do like the fact that I made it, and I do like the fact that I'm not giving my money away to a giant corporation that I don't really agree with when it comes to their political views; should that matter? I think it should.
I can basically state that I'm going to continue to do the egg sandwich thing at home until I get really tired of doing it, but I can't tell you when that could be. I may just like it and continue for the rest of my freaking life. You just don't know. I mean, I can get into a rut like anyone else I suppose. I could decide to switch it up and make myself a little waffle sandwich with sausage or Canadian bacon in the middle of it. I could! You just shouldn't put anything past this woman. It could happen. Now, I'm thinking about it happening. I know I can pick up a little tiny mini pancake waffle maker thing for $12.00 and I can heat the sausage in the microwave for 44 seconds. This is going to happen, folks. Thanks so much for your input, I really appreciate it. Life is good.
Photo Credit: HamiltonBeach.com
No comments:
Post a Comment