Dairy Queen Blizzard Vs. McDonald's McFlurry

With summer right around the corner, neighborhood ice cream joints often begin beckoning customers to their counters. Two year-round fast food restaurants, Dairy Queen and McDonald's, which are present in nearly every city in the U.S. are no different; when the weather heats up, so does advertising for smooth, creamy ice cream treats.

Dairy Queen and McDonald's offer many cool dessert selections, especially two very similar products: the Dairy Queen Blizzard and the McDonald's McFlurry. Let's put it this way, actually: on the surface, the products are similar. But take that first spoonful, and you'll soon find out the Blizzard far exceeds the taste and quality of the McFlurry.

Both treats are based upon the same premise: combine creamy soft-serve ice cream with bits of cookie or candy, mash them together, then enjoy a fusion of flavors. Dairy Queen was first on the block to offer the combination, with McDonald's following suit a several years ago.

McDonald's drastically limits the choices available to consumers as far as the McFlurry goes. There are two varieties, Oreo Cookie and M&M, both of which come in only a 12.3 oz. size.

On the other hand, Dairy Queen has about as many different varieties of Blizzard as there are days of summer. Get ready, the list is a long one: Banana Cream Pie, Banana Split, Blueberry, Butterfinger, Butterscotch, Cappuccino Heath, Caramel, Cherry, Cherry Cheesecake, Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Chocolate Covered Cherries, Xtreme Chocolate, French Silk Pie, Georgia Mud Fudge, Hawaiian, Heath, Hot Fudge, M&Ms, Mint Oreo, Mocha Chip, Mud Pie, Oreo, Peanut Buster, Pecan Cluster, Pineapple, Raspberry, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers, Strawberry, Strawberry Cheesequake, Chocolate-dipped Strawberry and Kit Kat.

There are even more flavors that come and go on a seasonal basis, including my personal favorite, the Brownie Batter Blizzard, which features brownie batter and chunks of baked brownie mixed in with vanilla soft serve. Dairy Queen offers its customers three different sizes: small, medium and large.

Both Dairy Queen and McDonald's will customize their customers' orders, using either vanilla or chocolate ice cream as a base for the mixture.

As far as nutritional facts go, neither product is a smart choice for the weight-conscious among us. Since Dairy Queen offers so many options, we won't compare apples to oranges. The following is a comparison of an M&M Blizzard to an M&M McFlurry:

McFlurry (348 grams): 620 calories, 20g total fat, 12g saturated fat, 1g trans fat, 55mg cholesterol, 190mg sodium, 96g carbohydrates, 1g dietary fiber and 14g protein.

Dairy Queen Blizzard (small, at 326 grams): 670 calories, 23g total fat, 15g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 50mg cholesterol, 250mg sodium, 103g total carbs, 1g dietary fiber and 12g protein.

More in-depth nutritional information on these products, as well as on all other products, are available on each company's Web site. You can check out Dairy Queen's nutritional information at www.dairyqueen.com, and McDonald's at www.mcdonalds.com. Each site also features a restaurant locator, so you can see where local chains are in your area.

As you can see, there's less fat and calories in the McFlurry, even though it is a larger size. But that just goes to show what we've known for a long time, that the better things taste, the worse they are for you. Because in this case, the Blizzard far outdoes the McFlurry.

The Blizzard comes crammed with lots of each topping, while McFlurries lack ingredients. Eating a McFlurry is like eating a cup of soft serve with a few crunchy bits of cookie or candy along the way. A Blizzard, on the other hand, provides the satusfying crunch of candy/cookie/fruit.brownie in each and every bite. And if you ask nicely, the employees are happy to put in an extra amount of ingredients, for topping junkies who may need more than the usual amount. From my experiences, asking McDonald's to do the same results in a 25 cent extra fee.

This summer, reach for the original blended, soft serve treat: grab a DQ Blizzard and forget about McDonald's McFlurries!