eating is the hard part

Blame the food manic in me, but while wandering the aisles of Wal-Mart recently, I was spontaneously inspired by Kim’s post in Vancouver (here). See, I was secretly judging a mullet contest at Wal-Mart, when I realized I had a rare opportunity to compare two giants in the breakfast world at the same time. How was this possible you ask, well let me tell you. The Wal-Mart Supercentre in South Edmonton Common has both a Tim Hortons and McDonald’s. This means I could literally run the 200 hundred feet and have both sandwiches within seconds of each other! What a better test.

Besides having the same basic ingredients, both sandwiches fall between $2 – $2.50 and 400 -450 calories. They are clearly direct competitors. Tim’s already has the coffee crowd in the morning, so it’s really no surprise to seem them offer this. McDonald’s on the other hand, already has a legendary breakfast menu and has jumped hoops in the last few years developing its coffee segment. Who will come out on top? Starting at the Tim’s outlet, I picked the  English muffin breakfast sandwich (no biscuit for the comparison), before making my way down to McDonald’s and grabbing a Sausage McMuffin. I’ll let next few pictures tell their tale.

First View

Egg & Toasting Comparison

Flipped For Another Angle

Sausage Comparison

First Bite

Verdict – McDonald’s. Besides looking better, it was just a tastier sandwich. The mix of ingredients worked well and all the parts could be easily distinguished. I did find it interesting that cheese in the McMuffin putting up the worst fight, as this was polar opposite to the Tim’s version. Besides a noticeably smaller sausage patty, the muffin at Tim’s was only toasted on the edges and the overall taste was butter and cheese. Where the sausage went, I just don’t know. Maybe it slipped out to judge the mullet contest, which brings me back to Wal-Mart. Oh what a place. Maybe I should have called this post Mullets and McMuffins!