Healthiest And Unhealthiest Fast Food Kids' Menus

When you think about what constitutes a healthy meal, chances are you're not thinking of a burger and fries from your favorite fast food spot. However, a number of major fast food chains have recently taken the initiative to offer healthier menu options to kids -- including Burger King, McDonald's, and Subway. But it might make sense to look at the facts before you start feeding the kids Happy Meals four times a week.

Hours spent seeking nested calorie counts on fast food websites and tallying nutritional information on Excel resulted in a ranked list of healthiest and unhealhiest kids' meals based on caloric value. To find out how the menus stack up, we calculated the calorie counts of every possible meal combination on each kids' menu and then averaged them. Subway tops the list as the healthiest with an average of 372 calories per meal and Dairy Queen rounds out the bunch as the unhealthiest with a whopping 737 calories on average.

In Pictures: Healthiest and Unhealthiest Fast Food Kids' Menus

Aside from the emphasis on cutting calories, it's interesting to look at the healthy "trends" popping up on menus. Most notably, sliced apples or apple "fries" with low-fat caramel dipping sauce is the side of choice on four out of the ten menus featured in this list. With the exception of Subway, the rest of the chains have either replaced a small order of French fries with fruit, or added it in as a featured option.

While a serving of apples is certainly better for you and less caloric than French fries, there are other areas that are less black and white. When it comes to drinks for example, many chains are now offering low-fat milk with their kids' meals as an alternative to juice or soft drinks. From a strictly caloric standpoint, milk is heavier than most small soft drinks across the board, however the added nutritional value that it offers for children outweighs the empty calories that soda provides.

So, before you buy into any hype about "healthy" fast food kids' menus you may want to check out the dirty truth about their calorie counts.

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#1 Subway

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Average Kids' Meal Calorie Count: 372 calories

Healthiest Meal: 345 calories Veggie Delite sandwich, apples, low-fat milk

Unhealthiest Meal: 395 calories Roast beef sandwich, apples, low-fat milk

Considering their health-conscious reputation, it's no surprise Subway has the healthiest kids' menu on this list. Their meals include a three-inch sandwich, apples, and milk. However, a corporate representative explained that some franchises will allow you to sub in chips or a soft drink.

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Average Kids' Meal Calorie Count: 372 calories



Healthiest Meal: 345 calories
Veggie Delite sandwich, apples, low-fat milk



Unhealthiest Meal: 395 calories
Roast beef sandwich, apples, low-fat milk



Considering their health-conscious reputation, it's no surprise Subway has the healthiest kids' menu on this list. Their meals include a three-inch sandwich, apples, and milk. However, a corporate representative explained that some franchises will allow you to sub in chips or a soft drink.



Related: 10 Non-Traditional Subway Restaurants

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Comments

[Mr Anonymous]

05:00 PM on 08/13/2011

I realize that fast food is unhealthy, but this article is rediculous in its own sense due to it being ranked by calorie count. I realize that too much food, thus calories is bad for you. But in their minds that would mean that 200 calories of greasy fatty foods is better than 250 calories of vegetables and fruits.

[Gadgetman]

04:07 AM on 08/13/2011

There is no "healthiest" on fast food crap menus. If you care about yourself and love your kids then just stay away from these places period. End of discussion. These places sell poison.

[PeeWeesHerman]

01:46 PM on 08/11/2011

lets be honest here...Mrs Obama does not look to be in the kind of shape of someone who should be preaching anything to others about healthy eating...

[Gadgetman]

04:08 AM on 08/13/2011

Are you kidding? She's in better shape than anyone on the Fox channel that you apparently watch.

[nojokes]

12:30 PM on 08/11/2011

This is america, where we are to fat and lazy to get up off our butts and go to the store to get a healthy meal and cook. These fast food chains has made it easy to skip our homemade healthy meals. They have also made our children fat and growing to hate themselfs because they dont look like the people in magazines or on tv. These chains think they are giving you a deal on the dollar menu and its so convient that its fast and easy, BUT who eats a cheeseburger and then feels full for a dollar? u dont so u buy lots of food that adds up to lots of unhealthy in return u get fat. Has anyone here seen supersize me? wow if that dont make you want to quit eating fast food chains i dont know what will........ AND it is cheaper to go to the store and buy food to cook!! I wouldn't want 50 dead ants in my breakfast burrito any ways so McDonalds is a no go for me as far as all the rest of them there probley just as dirty!!

[patilieu]

12:18 PM on 08/11/2011

I have seen some places with hamburger with large specs of black pepper resembling fabric in my hamburger in a Hiillside Avenue McDonalds. This is why these chains need to be county owned to ensure the food is what we expect it to be. I do not beleive there is any person who could manage the type of income this particular franchise, as a whole, generates. It could be a whole new game of profits, unenvisioned by the country. As it skews the control of food supplies to unknown groups of people who have no know share of live stock in America. Since we invented the hamburger, let's not give it to people who have no interest in beef, our health, our wealth, or our stomachs.

Since no other country is feeding America, let's not let hasty types of risk taking dismantle our health in the future, by putting foreign borne particles into our food, which someone else has deemed us worthy to receive.

[PalletJack]

11:28 AM on 08/11/2011

I sense a pattern here. It seems that fast food is unhealthy.
Truly an earth-shattering revelation.

[Angela Alvord]

10:26 AM on 08/11/2011

Ok for all you "healthy" eaters at fast food places. Yeah not so healthy. Can you even imagine what goes into those "veggies" to make them look good after hours or days in coolers? Ew! People eating out is not healthy. Cook at home, from scratch not convenience food if you truly want healthy. Otherwise we're all just fooling ourselves.

[Ruby Kapture]

10:09 AM on 08/11/2011

I live in Michigan with my eight year old daughter. I feel utterly surrounded by kids who are unhealthily round. I've watched them eat; frankly, I don't see parents feeding their kids night after night of hamburger helper or macaroni - and yet, still, all those round kids. Growing up, there was ONE heavy kid in our entire elementary school, and he really did have a glandular issue. We were healthy weights despite the fact that all of of us were growing up on sixties cooking - that is to say, hamburger helper, whole milk, hot dogs, and cap'n crunch. HOWEVER - we didn't SIT all day. I was a voracious reader, but I still spent a big chunk of every day outside, swinging and jumping rope and biking and doing all that great stuff that seems to be falling by the wayside as we become seriously ensconced in video game culture. Even with TV, we were mostly outside, even in winter. Nowadays, when I look around at my daughter's friends, I see kids who don't know how to throw a yo-yo, or how to skip a rope, or how to pop a wheelie on a bike. They all have dance classes or swimming or cheer leading or some structured activity once per week, but they need more. Moms need to remember what their own moms told them when they whined "I got nuthin' ta do!" They need to remember the standard response: "Why don't you go OUTSIDE and play!"

[Mike Liem]

03:23 AM on 08/11/2011

In Japan where I live, the children don't eat kids' meals per se. They eat what the adults eat, just in smaller portions. That means lots of fresh veggies and fish, and hardly anything that's processed.

[UmaUma]

11:55 AM on 08/11/2011

Yeah, in Japan you just have layer upon layer of ridiculous packaging and little plastic doodads thrown in to everything marketed to kids.

The reason for a kids meal is to lure parents into your business by offering cheaper meals for kids. Sounds like if Japan hasn't started in with that, they will soon. It makes business sense.

I rarely do fast food since my kids think it's gross (and it is) - but I do appreciate a cheap kids meal!

[thereisonlyoneparty]

12:22 AM on 08/11/2011

A calorie count alone is useless.

I could open up Thereisonlyparty's Super Food Shack and Frozen Banana Stand and serve three tablespoons of lard and four pickles (essentially calorie free) and have the best kids meal in the country according to this logic.

Yeah, there would be way too many calories from fat and too much sodium for the meal, but at a mere 330 kcal for the whole meal the kids would be eating really healthy.

[MJinCanada]

02:34 PM on 08/11/2011

I was thinking the same thing, more or less.

Besides which, kids around 9 to 14 years old can pack away more food than an adult because they're growing. Teens even more so.

[Angela Mathieu Garrison]

11:06 PM on 08/10/2011

This article talks a lot about calories, but fails to mention the real point. The calories are empty. The "food" being served in fast food restaurants is not "food" at all. It's loaded with cheap chemicals stuff you can't even pronounce...these healthy apple slices don't even turn brown! It's just not natural.
I'm not ok eating or feeding my kid's sodium acid pyrophosphate, dimethylpolysiloxane, & hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ (just 3 of the 14 ingredients in McDonald's fries.

Education is key here, it goes far beyond just counting calories.

[thereisonlyoneparty]

12:23 AM on 08/11/2011

Yes, chemicals are bad.

That is why the foods I eat are made out of magic and love.

No atoms there.  And no chemical names either.  Dihydrogen monoxide?  Not on my watch.

[HapticZ]

04:59 AM on 08/11/2011

LOL, all too true. obfuscation is the name of the game, here and in the political arena. leaving the ignorant (ooops , that's too un-PC), errr i mean 'uneducated' to wallow through the reams of safety, chemical, dietetic and other knowledge bases before choosing what to eat, would leave them frail, hungry and malnourished by the time they finished. Darwin makes better choices!

[MJinCanada]

02:44 PM on 08/11/2011

Dimethylpo­lysiloxane­ is a silicon-based organic polymer, variations of which are used as anti-foaming agents, mold inhibitors and lubricants in cosmetics, hair conditioners, caulking and water proofing materials. And in McDonald's Chicken Nuggets and Wendy's fries.

Enjoy your meal.

[Chockolate]

07:50 PM on 08/10/2011

Since when is 'healthy' measured purely in terms of calories?

[thereisonlyoneparty]

12:25 AM on 08/11/2011

Since that is all people care about.

Well, that and the words "no" and "low."   "No trans fat" Oreos?  Now I can eat the whole box as long as I wash it all down with a healthy low calorie diet Coke.

[Ryan Rowland]

06:52 PM on 08/10/2011

Very misleading stuff, here. Sorry, there is much, much more to healthy and unhealthy foods than just calorie content.

[Dr. John Salerno]

06:31 PM on 08/10/2011

cannot get around it. Even the best of the fast food kids meals are awful. Best to stay out of these places. tomorrow I'm posting an amazing interview with a 10 year old who has made it her mission to improve children's menu options in restaurants. Stay tuned to see what one little kid in Tucson Arizona has accomplished. Linda Eckhardt, Editor http://www.everybodyeatsnews.com

[thereisonlyoneparty]

12:26 AM on 08/11/2011

Pretty much everything that tastes good and has a pleasing texture is going to be awful.  Even fruits need a bit of sweetening to be palatable to the childrens.

[MJinCanada]

02:50 PM on 08/11/2011

Some kids are picky. But if kids grow up with well-prepared healthy food, most will enjoy it. My kids weren't interested in Kraft Dinner, McD's burgers, or KFC, because I can make better-tasting healthier versions.

[HapticZ]

05:13 AM on 08/11/2011

standing in line at a Subway #13319 behind a family 08/11/2011, ahead was one child (an 8'ish year old girl) who made a snappy answer when asked what she wanted, (Veggie Delite!). she did look a tad thin, with little muscle mass though.

i stuck with my Cold Cut Combo and harangued the server to load up with extra green stuff on mine. (my usual). With no 'sauce', just some salt/pepper.

[MJinCanada]

02:55 PM on 08/11/2011

A number of kids these days are choosing to be vegetarian. My 14-year-old son hasn't eaten meat since he was three and can't stand the smell of it cooking. His brothers are omnivores -- but like you, they ask for loads of extra veggies. Once to the point that the server asked my son if he'd like an extra bun to hold them.

[elfwii]

05:43 PM on 08/10/2011

why does dairy queen serve food and not just ice cream

[John Mark Sappenfield]

12:46 AM on 08/11/2011

Because they changed with the times. If you don't change, you lose business. Remember the expression,"Change or Die?"