John Suder

I’m not a “fast food” guy. People who know me well know that I love food and I love to cook, and that I know the importance of good, fresh ingredients and more importantly how good nutrition positively impacts your health

That being said, I’m not immune to the siren’s call to the occasional drive-thru cuisine. It’s something I rarely do, and when I do it I try to make good choices. Oh sure, there’s the occasional Whopper from Burger King (leaving me thinking later “What Have I Done?”), and I’m not to afraid to admit there’s some edible choices at Taco Bell. 

One night before the holidays I was out and about, trying to cross more items off my holiday to-do list. Hunger finally set in and the thought of going home to cook just wasn’t happening. And there she was, Taco Bell, right on the way home. I headed to the drive thru and placed my order. I ordered a chicken soft taco and a drink one of the least nasty items on the menu), and proceeded to the payment window. The guy at the drive thru gave me my total and asked if I’d like any hot sauce. I said yes, got my change, and was handed a packet which held said hot sauce, napkins, and my receipt. I proceed to the next window, got my food and headed home, resisting the temptation to be one of those people who drive and eat and get food all over themselves and their car…

Once I got home, I pulled out my food, and went for the hot sauce. The first thing I noticed was the weight of this “Sauce Delivery System”. It weighed more than my food. I dumped the whole thing out on the counter. There were 25 (TWENTY-FIVE) packets of hot sauce. That’s a helluva lot of sauce. And those damned packets everywhere. Just for giggles, I weighed them: 8oz. That’s a half pound of sauce for a little chicken taco. I’m sure the  guy at the window was just lazy and grabbed a (giant) handful. I’m sure not every customer is blessed with a half pound of sauce for their food. But if so, maybe we’ll hit Taco Bell every day, repackage the sauce in jars and sell ‘em. 

You gotta do what you can to make ends meet in these ‘uncertain times’…