KFC and the $10 Challenge

KFC would like us to believe that you can’t make their fried chicken meal for less than $10.

I wanted to post about this awhile ago, after I first saw the ridiculous commercial, but I couldn’t find it on YouTube at the time. Grist writer Kurt Michael Friese sums it up well when he writes, “When it comes to food, America has been sold a bill of goods.” And how.

Friese takes KFC’s $10 challenge. He went to a local independent grocery store and bought hormone-free chicken. Though he typically buys chicken that is also organic, free-range, and local, the chicken he bought was a far better alternative to the chickens KFC serves up. The KFC meal was $10.58, which included Iowa state taxes. He made the same meal (chicken, four biscuits, mashed potatoes, and gravy) for $7.94. Using more organic ingredients ran $10.62. He includes the recipes he used in his article.

Friese does note that it takes more time than a fast food drive-through. But instead of watching Survivor: Season 57, wouldn’t our time be better spent making a tastier, healthier (and less-expensive meal) for our family? I can’t think of anything more satisfying than having a kitchen full of people, preparing a homemade family dinner.

Even KFC can’t put a price tag on that one.