Cheaper Than Food

"Jack in the Box Sells 315,360,000 Tacos Per Year"


"America's passion for Mexican fast-food is leading to a boom in taco sales. Even traditional burgers and fries chains are adding taco fare to their menu boards. Here, workers at a food manufacturing plant in Hutchinson, Kan., inspect and pack tacos destined for Jack in the Box® restaurants, the only major fast-food hamburger chain offering tacos at all its restaurants. Jack in the Box officials say their customers consume 600 tacos every minute, or 315,360,000 tacos a year. "

http://www.junkfoodnews.net/

(This post was actually written on Thursday, January 8, 2009. The photos were saved on Tuesday, thereby confusing the Google hamsters behind the curtain.)

PEBO just took the podium to give his "major economic speech." I'm going to listen to it because he'll be back on teleprompter. That means I won't have to endure the uhs, ums, aaaannnnds, and blank looks he's been pushing the past 60 days. He's been doing nothing to encourage anybody over the past week, since that wouldn't do anything to prepare people for the eye-popping $1 trillion "stimulus package" he's working toward.

As anyone who pays attention to stuff like this knows, people at "the top" need to demonstrate some willingness to show positive spirit once in a while, or a difficult situation becomes a full-blown crisis in short order.

While he continues to tell us how bad it is, I'm thinking of all the ways I've been contributing to the shrinking economy in the past couple of months. Unquestionably, I've been doing my part to prepare for the miserable economic days he says are upon me today and potentially to the end of my time.

I haven't been doing it alone, of course. The reentry of the Jack in the Box fast-food chain to the state of Colorado has been nothing short of miraculous timing. They started up in Arvada, which feels like more than the 30 miles it stretches, door-to-door from our home in Highlands Ranch. The location is also quite peculiar in terms of easy-on, easy-off access from the major highways around it.

To anyone on a mission like 2 for $.99 tacos at JITB, these inconveniences are a mere trifle.

We lived here for five years without them. Almost an eternity. The craving for JITB tacos is completely irrationally. The rumors about what they contain and how they are made are the stuff of legend. Especially, since Ralston Purina owned the company. And, we all know what they make. That's right. Detractors of the humble JITB taco spread the smear that the meat concoction was a dog food base.

Actually, that didn't deter anyone. Not even me. A self-professed foodie married to a meat-and-potatoes boy can't have it her way all the time. There's also that thing about how it started, on Foothill Boulevard in Pasadena, California. After school. High school. He was already in college, but sometimes picked me up from Arcadia HS. We drove to either that JITB or the now-defunct Pup 'n Taco on the same street, but down almost to Huntington Blvd.

If we went to JITB, I had two tacos and an order of onion rings. If we went to Pup 'n Taco, I had two tacos. If I had consumed tacos at both places on the same day, the cost still wouldn't have exceeded $2.50.

So, it's an amazing thing to watch the ongoing, everyday-low-priced 2 for $.99 tacos at JITB.

When the new JITB opened at that far-away Arvada location, we found a reason to go up there. The place was jammed, the drive-through was jammed, the parking lot was a parking lot, and cars lined both sides of the street across from the store. We went in anyway.

Turns out that everybody got their cooked-to-order food really fast, even in that environment. Everybody except for anybody who ordered tacos. Looking at my family, I calculated that we need at least eight. $3.96.

We waited what felt like an eternity. Tacos were flying. A guy next to us at the only remaining chairs -- the high stools against the drive-through window -- finally got his order. Twelve tacos. Just for him. The woman across the aisle at the booth on the end got the order for her family. She had about three trays, and two of them were laden with tacos. Twenty minutes later, we finally got our order. The onion rings were cold, but the tacos were just out of the fryer, of course. That was all that mattered.

Out of the fryer, you say??!! What's good about that??!!

Well, everything.

By the way, the major economic speech just ended. I know I'm a detractor, but I didn't hear anything "major" about it. It was very short, very short on new information, very short on optimism; and, now my friend, Major Garrett, is going to try to put some meat on the bones for listeners. Because, there wasn't much there there.

But, I digress. The JITB taco is partially constructed before it hits the store. The photo of the dudes in the white food manufacturing costumes demonstrates that the item does, indeed, source from a plant in suburban Wichita, Kansas. Hutchinson, Kansas has been the source of much beef-based foodservice items over the years. Other notables include the pepperoni and sausage that goes on top of Pizza Hut pizzas, another food chain that started in Wichita.

So, the dog food rumor mongers can give it a rest. The ingredient list for tacos on the JITB website also lists "beef" at the top. So, that's all very encouraging.

The fryer? Well, the beef concoction is packed into the shell, per the picture. The taco is quick-frozen. It is delivered frozen to the stores. When a taco is ordered, it is pulled from the freezer and placed into a slotted food fryer basket. It's dropped into the oil for about a minute. When it emerges, it is barely drained before someone drops shredded lettuce, a diagonal slice of American cheese, and a ribbon of hot sauce high on the vinegar into it. The whole thing goes into a taco sleeve (bag open on one end) before being bagged or trayed.

What's good about that??

Everything. The meat concoction doesn't really cook or "fry" while the taco is in the fryer. It just gets hot. The section of the taco that doesn't have meat gets really crunchy, and the section with the meat stays softer.

Is it "real" Mexican food??!!

Well, I guess that depends on where y'all are from. In the Los Angeles area, there are hundreds of places at all points on the price spectrum that sell tacos. If we're honest, some of the prep techniques aren't that much different from JITB. Sometimes the outcomes aren't as good. I don't know why.

Do I actually know what good Mexican food tastes like??!!

Yes, I do believe I do. After all, I know when green corn tamales are in season at El Cholo. When I went there with other soccer parents during Shannon's official visit to USC in the fall of 2004, I didn't even have to look at the menu to know that I wanted the #1 Combination, which also happens to be their best seller of all time. I could have driven the vehicle to their location on S. Western Avenue with my eyes closed.

The beans are refried the old way there. You can get the newer, trendier black beans instead. But, why would you want to??!! If lard isn't the first ingredient on every item, then it's near the top. I guess it's a good thing I haven't lived close enough to El Cholo for 27 years to do much more damage.

Maybe a few tacos cooked in canola oil once in a while might actually be saving my arteries from destruction.

Jack in the Box to the rescue. They opened another location in Parker a few weeks ago. It is much closer to our house, but requires a real jaunt south from E-470 on the ever-overloaded Parker Road to reach it. As soon as Shannon got home from Lincoln for Christmas break, the girls and I made the trek over there. We ate mass quantities for little coin and reveled in the idea that some things should never change and sometimes don't.

I'm not sure how much nutritional value we got for the money. The JITB website claims that a single taco carries a mere 160 calories. That's not great, but it could be worse.

I do think that the folks who are ordering them by the dozen might want to rethink that, however. Spending $5.94 on lunch sounds pretty good. But, ingesting 1920 calories in the process looks like a major crisis of another sort.

Like everything else, moderation is the key. PEBO says we're going to have to tighten our belts. Taco consumption must suffer to achieve belt-tightening. But, at 2 for $.99, don't expect it anytime soon.