Saturday, April 21, 2018

'Yes To Fresh' $20 McDonald's Gift Card #Giveaway

Have you had a McDonald's Quarter Pounder recently? They are so good! Disclosure: I do eat meat occasionally, especially during the colder months. I was able to have exactly 3 Quarter Pounders in the past several months. The opportunities came up, usually as a result of being on the run and not having prepared well enough to bring something good to eat from home. There are more McDonald's than any other food stop on the planet, it seems, so it's great to know that I can go to McDonald's in a food crisis and there are things that are quite healthy on their menu. 

 Being the choosy carnivore that I am, I have a few things that are musts: 1) I don't like frozen meat, it's gotta be fresh 2) I prefer the meat to be grilled on steel, not teflon 3) I like my meat to be free-range and grass-fed 4) I want my non-frozen meat to be fresh off the grill, not waiting on a warmer. 

I did some research on the sustainability of the McDonald's beef, because beef is such a huge product within the company. I didn't know this, but McDonald's, in 2009, facilitated a huge conversation within the meat industry about coming up with an actual definition of what sustainable meat means. Before that, there was no real definition! McDonald's was very in tune with their customers' desire to know how the animals were treated, where they came from, and what they ate. From that conversation McDonalds came away with several goals concerning their meat. They committed to buying 100 percent of its beef from verifiable and sustainable sources. 

Here we are, in 2018, and they are well on their way to achieving that goal. One can trace McDonald's meat to one of approximately 400,000 cattle farms, many of them small operations with 50 head or less! To me this means that the cattle are being treated more humanely than the poor cows within ill-reputed bovine factories, where they keep the cows in cramped conditions, injecting them with all kinds of hormones and antibiotics and feeding them who knows what, to get them to beef up. Incidentally, something else that came from that on-going conversation that McDonald's initiated with the big beef companies was that it created an awareness of what the general public wants and expects. Hopefully, the rest of the industry will take McDonald's lead and do what is right!


I recently had a chance to tour a McDonald's restaurant in the Wood's Cross area, just north of SLC. It is a family owned and operated restaurant and it is run very well indeed. This particular business is used to train other newer franchises on how to make their burgers. When they make a quarter pounder for someone, they do it on a pure steel grill. They put the fresh, non-frozen patti on the grill and sear it, heating it through to 170 degrees. The standard is 155 degrees, so this is heated much hotter to ensure it kills any unwanted bacteria. They do this upon order. There are no burgers waiting in a warmer! So that was great news for me!

When I tasted the finished product, I was pretty happy. It was a good, bordering on excellent, burger (I'm a burger snob!!) I prefer the Quarter Pounder to the Big Mac because it has less of the sauce and more of the meat! You could make it even more healthy by taking the patti out of the bun and eating it just plain. But I was splurging, so I ate it with the bun. 

My other favorite menu item at McDonald's is their orange juice! It is so, so good!  If you need a quick boost of healthy energy early in the morning, try that instead of coffee. I love it!

Now, to celebrate the great taste of fresh beef at McDonald's and all the other delicious items on their menu, one A GAL NEEDS....reader will receive a $20 Double Arches Card! Must have a U.S. address!

Source a Rafflecopter giveaway
 Disclaimer: This is a Utah Giveaway!  A GAL NEEDS...received product from this sponsor to facilitate the review of this product. Affiliate links may be present. No Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, nor any other social platforms are involved in any way! This giveaway is open to Utah residents only and must have a valid Utah address, no P.O. Box.
Must be 21 or older to participate, 1 entrant per household, Winner will be contacted by e-mail
after 05/08/18.  Must respond within 48 hours.
After notification, winner will be asked to acknowledge their win by contacting sponsor on Social Media and letting them know of their win.
Entrants with invalid entries will be disqualified.
Sponsor, A GAL NEEDS..., is responsible for delivery of prize. Winner will receive thru USPS ground shipping. 

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