Hi all,
I was on the road the other day and went through the BK drivethru. I got some double whoppers without bun or ketchup.

I ended up with the burger, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion (just enough for the sandwich) and mayo.

After I went home, I checked online and found a reference that what I got was 8 carbs. This didn't sound right. I figured it would be close to half of that.

Anybody have a guess on how many carbs this is?

Thanks,
Rob

Hi Rob. Yum, I haven't had BK forever.

That carb count might be about right. Aren't the cheese slices pretty big? Our processed cheese slices where I work (Tim Hortons) is smaller, and it's kind of a carb bomb. Sad, because I love it and it's one of my bad habits.

I wouldn't sweat it, even if you go over your carb goal for the day. You had a big pile of meat with no carb bombs and that's always a decent choice on the road.

Thanks for the prompt reply.

Wondering... what would be the count without the cheese?

Rob

You can peel off the accouterments to reduce carbs, but the vegetable / seed oil is not going away.

The burger might be laced with soy as well.

IMHO life is too short to eat mediocre food - of course YMMV.

I haven't eaten in a fast food joint since the late 1970s.

100% grass-fed, organic burgers at home with a zero carb bagel for a bun, lots of butter on the bun, imported cheddar cheese, and just .5 tsp of organic ketchup cooked on my grill using lump charcoal - now that's a burger.

Bob

I'm reminded of the Taco Bell Scandal. Where their "taco meat" was analyzed and found to be 88% meat. The reason McD's can get away with "100% beef" despite probably having seasonings in it is that the meat is, however loosely defined, actual beef.

I find that even shucked of bun and ketchup, the result is less than satisfying. It's just not enough food, though it "should" be.

But I expect a lot of vegetarian fillers moving forward, and many probably already have, in many cases. I now read the label on ANY processed or prepared food, every time, because these things shift like the wind.

Though I'm not on the road now, I've experienced better luck at convenience stores for "road food." In my area they have Slim Jims, real cheese sticks, hardboiled or deviled eggs, or even pork rinds. Also, the more I low carb, the more I just get a real, unsweetened, bottle of tea or a cup of coffee and just eat more at my next meal. Whenever it is

Two years ago I spent 5 weeks in Australia in a camper van. We didn't take time to cook much so road food for us was mostly cheese and nuts. BTW, they have some outstanding tasting cheese in Australia and Macadamia nuts come from there originally.

Bob

I remember a few years ago looking up the nutrition and ingredients for various fast food burgers. Burger King was just flame-broiled beef with no other ingredients. Regular McD burgers were just plain beef but cooked on a griddle with who knows what oil. At the time McD was pushing their Angus burgers (maybe they still do, haven’t had a McD burger in years) and the Angus burgers had a gazillion ingredients including wheat. Hardee’s burgers also had a gazillion ingredients too. I forget what the others were but Burger King seemed about the best of the bunch. I was disappointed in Hardee’s as at the time they were seriously pushing their low carb burger wrapped in lettuce and I thought it might be a good choice for “road food” on my long car trips. But after reading what they added to their burgers I just couldn’t do it.

But I sure do miss Elevation Burger from where I used to live - 100% fresh grassfed beef, decent aged cheddar on their cheeseburgers. Man, they were the best.

When we're on the road, we usually stop at Five Guys. I can get a burger-in-a-bowl, with as many of their toppings as I want. Several of the toppings are LC friendly. Their website has ingredient lists for everything on their menu, including all the toppings.

I like Five Guys too and there is one just 10 minutes from my house. But they aren’t plentiful enough that I could count on them as road food. OTOH I’m not traveling or doing any sort of road trips for the foreseeable future anyway 😂

McDonald's used to use beef tallow to make their fries (I'd buy some if they still did). Now they use the stuff that sticks to the fryer vent surfaces that need major chemical action to remove, let alone what the coating does to the cooker's lungs.


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I don‘T believe i have ever had a fast food burger so really can’t relate. I went to McD’s once, when I lived in Germany as a very young woman; they opened a new restaurant in the city where I lived, and I so very much longed for a real American milkshake that I went in. It was awful, and I have never been again. I like my burgers thick, and rare. The thin little Overcooked patties that I see advertised are so far from what I find appealing that I have no desire to ever go to see if the ads are correct or not.
Tonight I mixed ground chuck, some minced onion, powdered spices, and a last tablespoon of a Balkan red pepper “salsa”, homemade, made a thick burger, and fried it till it was well browned on the outside, and still very rare in the middle. DH was finishing up his takeout from last night, so I didn;t even bother with a veg. With my burger, and a dollop of horseradish I was more than happy.

You didn't get an American milkshake at McD's. You got a corporate glue-shake.

American milkshakes use real, whole milk and real ice cream with no carageenan, guar gum, or any other thickeners.

Bob

Hey Bob, cut me some slack. It was 1974, I was 22. The only milkshakes I knew were whirled up in the blender at home: real whole milk & real ice cream, as you say. I led a sheltered childhood; my mother knew how to cook, and did. And my elder brother was somewhat of a connoisseur of milkshakes. At that time in Germany a blender was definitely a new, and rather foreign article. I bought one, but it was incredibly weak. So, anyway, all that in my defense. McD’s milkshake was, it appeared, the answer to a young ex pat American’s dream of home. She was wrong. I’ve never felt the need to go to McD’s again since then, and, by extension, other fast food places. My DH is German, and also didn’t grow up in that sort of environment. We might have stopped at such a place on our travels to use the rest room, but never to eat. Not to denigrate those who do, it just isn;t something that appeals to either of us.

I think Bob's point is entirely accurate: fast food isn't about the FOOD. And some of it is not food at all!