Is a home made burger any better for you than a fast food burger?

[Quixote1818]

I spent several days last week with some relatives. We had two conversations on how bad fast foods were which I agree they are bad! But what came to me this morning was that when I was there, we ate home made hamburgers one night, beef taco's the next night and stake the next night. Yes, they also had a small salad with the meal but most of them were drinking soda's.

It seemed to me that the food they were eating was not much better than eating at McDonald's.


So, this begs the question: Are home made hamburgers any better for you than fast food hamburgers? Is there some difference in how thy are cooked?

[Reverend_Smitty]

1. well you are probably eating better quality beef...

and if they are grilled as opposed to fried, they are probably better for you. But as a general rule, it is not good to eat red meat every night

[Kali]

7. Not necessarily - a lot of those preformed patties are the same crap

and that junk in the "chubs" :scared:

Buy on-sale roasts and have them grind it fresh - or better yet do it your self. Even better, buy from a better source: http://www.eatwild.com/
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csa.shtml

[liontamer]

2. also burgers at home are probably smaller and have less "special sauce" n/t

[Nikia]

3. It depends

At home, you know how you are making it. If you grill it or don't cook with any added oil and drain it, you might be getting a healthier burger especially if you are buying lean beef.
At my inlaws, the burgers are probably less healthy. She cooks burgers with a significant amount of butter and doesn't even dry to pat them off. Despite cooking everything with a lot of butter or bacon, she asks us if we are eating fast food too often.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. At least with the home-made burger........

You know what went into it!

OTOH........the fast food one? You never know what went into that!

[Left Is Write]

5. Sure it's better. I like mine on a whole grain bun with mustard (no mystery "sauce")

and fresh lettuce and tomato.

[applegrove]

6. I made homemade burgers out of regular ground beef (not lean) and boy were they

good. I also gained about a dozen pounds. I think if you stick with lean burgers you are much better off - though still engaging in risky behaviour.

[billyskank]

8. Almost certainly

I am sure if we knew what shit went into fast food burgers hardly anybody would eat one.

[Bucky]

9. Grilled is better, but mostly I notice that homemade burgers are brown, not grayish

I've never quite trusted the coloring of fast food beef.

[u4ic]

10. It could be,

but not necessarily.

I haven't had burgers in a long time, but I used to get bison burgers instead of ground beef - leaner meat, and it was organic. Grill them, and then top it off with lots of fresh veggies, so that was definitely healthier.

Fry them in oil, put lots of mayo and other condiments and have fries with it - it's basically fast food.

It's all about the ingredients and preparation, whether it be at home or in a restaurant.

[achtung_circus]

11. For 5 summers

I worked in the plant that made all McDonalds patties for Canada. The meat is OK, the cooking screws it up.

We would slip patties out the door, take them home and Barbecue them and they were eminently acceptable. Micky D fries them on a griddle.