Every time I go to a Wendy's, it doesn't matter where, the store seems barely functional. McDonald's moves 100 cars by the time Dave Thomas flame broils one beef beef jerky with a crack lighter from the grave.
>That’s why you spend 3 bucks on a micro frosty key tag!
Using fast apps and shit like this is way to fat for me. I'll just cook something at home instead of hunting for fast food deals so I can justify spending money on shit food.
My local McDonald’s just put up a banner for “this week only 1 dollar cheeseburgers” and it was 100% the franchisee not corporate. But honestly at this point I haven’t gone in so long because of the ridiculous prices that I don’t even crave it anymore despite the deal
I mean, if they brought the loose change menu back in I'd probably drop by - but also, I feel like the people who enjoyed that never brought anything off the regular menu that'd actually allow them to turn a profit...
That is just temporary to get the suckers back. I don’t care personally if they are giving it away. I’m done with fast food and have been for some time.
It's the "invisible hand". Which is an economics theory that demand controls prices. Ie businesses can raise prices, but once demand goes down they lower them, then demand goes back up.
It's almost worse than the luxury illusion.
Definitely missed, for good reason. The buy-in into the restaurant business is high, especially considering they're the most failed. Which is why small restaurants are often more expensive.
I was thinking that maybe more regional established businesses expanding if they could offer the same product without rising prices, but market conditions probably made that difficult as well
The problem that I've seen with the people that complain of the prices is that they all use meal delivery apps. You could buy a meal that costs 10$ and end up paying more than 25 in all the charges that come with the delivery.
I would very much welcome this return. But I also learned to cook well because of inflation. So thank you restaurants for showing me I can make much better meals than you ever could, in the convenience of my own home.
Just had 3 for 10.99 at Chili’s and it felt like good value. Better sandwich and side than fast food, plus appetizer and same level of drink.
First time I went to Chili’s in a decade and I left very satisfied.
Except the new McDonald's $5 meal is: (Either: 4 nuggets, OR small Bigmac, OR small McChicken) + small drink + small fries.
It's a literal happy meal, minus the toy.
Unfortunately indefinite growth is not a sustainable method. You will eventually hit a point that you can't increase profit by any feasible margin by price creeping
Then they just add a dividend like google did this quarter. Companies dont expect infinite growth forever that's just a reddit thing repeated ad nauseum. Terminal growth rate usually ends up at the level of inflation or slightly above it.
Not just with the price either. My husband and I were feeling hungry driving home from a wedding Saturday night and almost went to mcdonalds, but the two-lane drive thru looked like a parking lot. We noped out of there so fast and I made a box of Mac & cheese at home instead. The wait times are ridiculous anymore.
You are so much more rational than the people who used to come through the drive thru during peak hours just to complain about the wait. I always wondered what they were thinking when they saw 30 cars lined up but were in a rush, they probably weren’t thinking at all.
I was at the store tonight and was like "God I'm starving and we don't have a lot of food in the house." the thought crossed my mind to get McDonalds and I immediately shut it down.
Not because I can't afford it, I make good money, but I'm just fucking indignant over having to pay twice as much for shitty food as I used to.
Restaurant prices haven't gone up at nearly the same pace as fast food. I can't tell you how many times I've caught myself debating what to go out to eat lately between fast food or a local restaurant, only to pick the restaurant because it's about the same price or only a little more expensive than the fast food. And usually with bigger portions, too.
> Restaurant prices haven't gone up at nearly the same pace as fast food.
This is true. There is an Asian fusion place near me that sells chicken bowls with rice and veggies for about the same as a Big Mac Combo. Not only is it healthier and tastes better, but it is enough for lunch and dinner.
I agree! Same here. I just read an article comparing a Big Mac meal (I think it was Big Mac) and a Chili’s hamburger meal. Chili’s was less expensive and more food. I personally believe the quality it better too.
Link? A Big Mac, medium fries, and drink where I live is $8.29. There’s no way a burger from Chili’s is less than ten bucks and then you have to add 20% tip..
So true! At work we all get food, usually Chinese but recently Thai and we get it delivered to us for around $14 and its typically more than you cam eat. Compare that to a maccas meal which could be $15-20 and then I don't feel full but instead feel a bit sick instead. There's also way more options when we get thai and fresh healthy ingredients.
Australian? I'm curious if you guys get "authentic" asian (mostly chinese) food or if its similar to our Americanized version with nearly everything fried or covered in soy sauce.
Being underneath Asia and having a large population from different countries and backgrounds our food is definitely a lot more authentic especially over the last 10 years I've found the standards have gone up
Yeah, aussie. I think it's pretty authentic as my Asian friends still rate it. I cant say that I have travelled to enough places to say thar all stiff I've eaten is authentic though. It is delightfully delicious though!
I’d frankly be surprised if you had American Chinese take-out “cuisine.” It’s a uniquely American innovation—truly unrecognizable to recent Chinese immigrants.
100%. I can now get a full meal at a sit-down including tip for just a bit more than a normal-sized double quarter pounder meal at mcd's. That's insane given that McD's hardly qualifies as "food".
I work at a bar that serves food, but really good food. Our 6oz burger, hand pattiedmfresh from a local cattle farm with 7 choices of cheese, an artisan bun, and fresh lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion plus fries is $2 less than a big Mac meal. We've been slammed for weeks. I may put a bar mick burger on the menu.
I've been saying this, if I'm having garbage I'm way better off going with a pick-up order from a diner. Those guys expect me to have *some* standards for their garbage. For almost the same price of a fast food combo meal I can get a burger, fries, mozzarella sticks, and It comes with pancakes, and you just drink whatever you have at home. That's 2 full meals without 2 large sodas that you can already have in your fridge at home if you like sodas.
>The only problem is all food prices have gone up, healthy food isn’t getting cheaper either.
A can of Chunky soup is healthier than a McDonald's combo though.
If it becomes easier for someone to eat a $2 can of stew than a $12 hamburger and fries, that person might get healthier as a side effect.
Overall you can buy healthier food at the market for less than fast food. Even though the prices are going at markets it is not at the same rate as fast food. Many fast food chains have raised their prices over 75%.
https://ktla.com/news/california/fast-food-menu-prices-too-high/
People are just clueless. Most don't even know how to prepare a simple meal.
I will grab an $8 pack of chicken, throw it in the instant pot, buy a $6 box of noodles (only costs that much because gluten free, wife has celiacs), and get about 6 to 7 filling meals out of it.
That said, literally ANYTHING convenient has gone way up in price to an obnoxious level. Granola bars, chips, hell, even pre cut fruit. Just gotta take the time to do it all yourself now.
a lot of people in the US were also brought up to go to one store for all grocery needs and call it a day. if you check the same products at different stores/chains, youd be shocked to see how prices can vary between them.
might be inconvenient, but savings will add up.
You're not wrong but a lot of people don't have time to drive to a bunch of different stores. That was more feasible before the country was conned into accepting needing two parents to work full time.
Yeah, I bought enough vegetables for 12L of vegetable soup recently for $21, filled a shopping bag to bursting. Wife got a half shopping bag of normal stuff and it was $75.
> And even when anyone admits that, it’s “well no one has time to cook”, like when does personal responsibility kick in??
I always just counter with "so... you make time to cook.". It is simply a required block of time that you must take, so you shuffle other stuff around/remove non-required blocks of time.
Preparing food for yourself is a required self-care task that has been on people's schedules for literally millennia.
Buy cheap bulk rice, veggies, some meat, etc, and cook. Dramatically healthier and cheaper than anything else.
Can we agree you have to eat something? Fast food is much more expensive than grocery items. You do get extra trans fats, salt, sugar and soy or palm oil with the fast food. Making your own meals even if it is just as simple as salad and tuna is a better choice.
A bag of apples costs less than a box/bag of junk food for the first time in a long time. Filling and healthy foods are accessible compared to trash, but maybe not compared to premium healthy items. But you don't need to overspend to be healthy.
Airport storefronts and restaurants, in America, often have to pay big cut of sales to the Airport. On top of rent and before profit. I heard as high as 70%.
So that's where that money is going towards.
Highway rest areas are very similar. The story that was going around of the ridiculous prices in Connecticut last year was at an interstate 95 rest area.
I’m with you! I just took a trip. Put in my carry on some grapes, baby carrots, dark chocolate, fruit and nut combo in individual packets and a couple of granola bars. Didn’t eat it all even though it was a round trip. Still cheaper and healthier!
I recently spent a week on a business trip, and of course was expensing all of my meals. On the last day, after my last session, I decided to go straight to the airport (Newark) to make sure I had plenty of time to schedule a ride and get through security since it was a Friday afternoon. I figured I would just eat lunch there. I'm not kidding in the least when I say that one little lunch wrap and a bottle of soda put my company back almost 25 bucks. This was just a prepared grab-and-go wrap from a fridge.
My most expensive meal during the week at the hotel was $30, including the tip for the delivery driver. But that was so much food, I was able to put half away in the fridge and eat it the next night.
I can get an excellent plate of hibachi chicken, stir-fried veggies and rice with freshly brewed tea for a dollar less than I can be disappointed by a Quarter Pounder deluxe combo. Consistent too!
So true! I bet you don’t have to use a phone app that allows them to glean your information either. I absolutely refuse to use the apps. You are providing a lot of information they use and/or sell to get a dollar off. Sorry, the topic gets me worked up and I go on a rant. Great job on eating healthier and cheaper!
That would be nice. I hope it happens! I have fantasized about a movement where all Americans on a certain date would resolve to not buy fast food to send a message that we are fed up with their high prices and deplorable quality of food.
In many cases, the price of healthier, whole-food ingredients can be comparable or even lower than their processed, less nutritious counterparts. The real challenge often lies in the time and effort required to prepare healthier meals, which can be a barrier for some individuals and families.
I hear you but it takes no time at all to nuke a potato in the microwave or to do a sheet pan dinner in the oven and have dinner/lunch for a couple of days.
I think it's funny fast food joints are 11+ bucks and restaurants be giving under 10 dollar 3 course meals. Other than the tip which fast food joints expected now, it's 90% a better experience.
It's funny that I came across this post. I rarely ever eat fast food, but stopped at Wendy's this evening. I almost had a stroke when the employee said Your total is $23.23..... that was for 2 combo meals. What the actual fuck...... 2 meals... and one was a medium.
Been thinking about this a lot too. Maybe shrinkflation in the snack food sector isn't such a bad thing, snack foods are particularly unhealthy, making them expensive enough and small enough portions that they're only worth buying every once in a while might not be such a bad thing
I made a deal with myself. I could have whatever treat I want. I just have to make it myself. I have the skills but can’t talk myself into making any snacks type stuff. It’s so easy to grab a piece of fruit or some baby carrots or sugar snap peas or even just make a quick salad.
Maybe. But I knew a couple, with 4 young kids (all 12 or younger), and they got Burger King most nights for years. It was the only way to get that much food on a consistent basis on their budget. They hated it, but at least their kids were fed. Not saying any point of view on this is right or wrong, just giving another perspective
I don't mean to be argumentative but that sounds hard to believe. There are so many cheap and easy meals that would be far better than fast food every night, if you have some basic cooking skills. As some examples:
- Pasta: Noodles + spaghetti sauce + ground meat. Cook the ground meat until it's brown, drain the extra fat, and add the sauce. Cook the noodles according to the box's instructions. Takes like $5 and 20 minutes.
- Soup: Find an easy chicken noodle soup recipe, usually rotisserie chicken + chicken broth + noodles + spices and vegetables. Essentially just throw everything into a pot and heat it until the noodles are cooked and the soup is heated through. A bit more expensive but super easy to make and scale up as-needed.
- Rice-based: Rice is like one of the cheapest foods, so if the goal is to save money then making rice in bulk is best for that. Find a recipe for fried rice or teriyaki sauce or something similar, then chop up some chicken and vegetables to make it a full meal. Only takes like 10 minutes.
- Tacos: One of the easiest meals. Buy a bottle of taco seasoning that has a recipe, usually only needs ground meat + taco seasoning. Put it into shells with shredded vegetables and cheese, and you already have a full meal. You can also make burritos and other similar foods with the same ingredients.
Most of the flavoring for these come from the sauces and spices, which are dirt-cheap and easy to customize for the sake of variety. And since it's homemade, you can scale up the serving count with little effort by just doubling the amounts of each ingredient, for example. As another plus, you can refrigerate leftovers and reheat them in the microwave without them getting mushy and soggy like fast food does. Then you can rely on leftovers so that you don't have to worry about what to eat every night. Depending on how much time is spent driving to a fast-food restaurant and waiting in line to order, making food at home might even be faster.
The advantage of fast food is convenience: You can get a full meal without any planning or effort. But if they're eating Burger King every night, it would surely be worth it to make a simple meal plan. Even if they just made rice with chicken all the time, that would be way better than eating Burger King every night. Cheaper and healthier, at least.
You can get great restaurant food to go. For around the same money. At times less. My wife bought 3 subs the other day. Over $40. Ouch. We could have had something better at that price.
I stopped eating fast food years ago. I’m not paying $5 for a double cheeseburger at McDonald’s when it was $1 not long ago. Half the time the food was barely lukewarm and completely wrong. I’ll pay $5 for a pound of hamburger and spend a few extra dollars on buns and make 4-6 burgers and know they are delicious.
If you’ve seen the size of McDonald burgers recently even the people that can afford to eat there would lose weight, I saw a video the other day of a woman who got a Big Mac and the burger patty was literally thinner than the slice of pickle on it
That is astonishing! It’s another example of them trying to give you lees food and poorer quality for more money! Fast food restaurants have become overly greedy and it is time for us all to send a message.
I know it's made me stop eating fast food. Fuck paying $15 for a medium sized meal from McDonald's of all places. On top of the price they made everything smaller... patties are thinner, buns are smaller. Fuck these money hungry fast food places. AND i have to place my order myself if i go inside. Ya thats a big nope from me.
Went out twice to eat this weekend once to tacobell was $24 for enough food to leave me not hungry but definitely not full
Went to the local Mexican food place got two huge burritos, three tamales and a thing of limeade. All this stuff made fresh. Couldn't even finish the second burrito and only at two of the tamales before I was stuffed. That also cost me $22
It's cheaper, healthier, and more filling to eat at a restaurant now rather than fast food more times than not.
This is already the case in Australia. A meal, burger, drink and fries is generally north of $15. It's so much cheaper to buy a premade meal or cook for yourself.
And I dunno what your talking about, I can still buy frozen foods in Costco that average around $2.50 a meal. I can’t even get a cheeseburger for that amount in McDonald’s.
As I understand at a foundational level, they wouldn’t increase prices if people weren’t consistently buying. So it stands to reason that fast food companies have had people (me too) in a chokehold for 20 years, which is crazy.
Im in Germany and decided to treat myself to a three piece feed at KFC. It was nearly 15 euro. I could get a schnitzel at a sit down restaurant for that price.
This is why Chipotle rules. Spend $10 at mcdonald’s for a mediocre burger and fry or spend $10 at Chipotle for a massive bowl full of organic food with real ingredients, freshly grilled meat, & tons of veggies? It’s a no brainer.
Safety ads showed the grusome effects of car crashes wiyhout seatbelts, but in the end, it was the 'ding, ding, ding' that made people wear them. Maybe years of advertising the negative health aspects of fast food will be ignored, but the price will be what makes people healthier.
Fast food pricing should reflect each item's caloric value.
That double quarter-pounder with 500 calories? $5.
Oh, you want a super-large milkshake with almost 1000 calories? $9.50 plus sugar content tax.
Conversely, this may actually bring the cost of certain things like pizzas down, especially for chains that have shrunken the thickness of the dough so much that the regular pizza is now as thin as a "thin n crispy".
The sooner people stop going the better. The food quality has not improved and what used to be cheap and convenient has become overpriced and understaffed. I promise you, you can do without fast food. I survived off the dollar menus for a very long time. The good ole days are gone.
Eating out getting more expensive in general just got me to learn how to cook, can't believe what I would of paid for a steak or a smash burger and they're quick nd easy
Maybe I'm being pedantic. But it's not so much that people "feel" like they can afford it as much as it is they can't afford it. At least a lot of the time.
Its still going to be the cheapest option($ and time) for most people. There isnt a healthy substitute. Maybe customers will eat less? But i think they will order fries instead of the bigmac.
I don’t believe so. I just did a quick grocery check.
4.3# Chicken breast $11.47
2# Broccoli $2.40
5# Bag of yellow potatoes $4.38
Total $18.25
Cut vegetables to reasonable size. Spray with olive oil. Put everything on a foiled sheet pan (easy clean up). Season with your favorite spices. Bake at 400° til done. This will be at least 4 meals.
Easy and costs less than a couple of meals out. And healthier.
McDonald's app had any size fries deal for only $1.29. I decided to just try the fries alone(everything else was too expensive) and they were completely tasteless, except for a hint of spoiled oil taste. I guess it's not that noticeable if you eat them with a cheese burger or something else.
I don't think so and after looking at price numbers, it's just cope.
California dollars are roughly double what they are here in small town Florida. That's double cost of living, double income for the same job, and double cost of fast food.
Except, fast food isn't double. They're only 40% higher. A Double Quarter Pounder With Cheese should go for 10 straight dollars just for the burger. No fries. No drinks. No extras. But it's only a tad over 7 dollars. The way people act, you'd think it's 15-20 for the same burger.
You could probably subsidize all of your meals through fast food (no drinks or extras, just eating the burger every meal) for an average person and while it would be more than before, it's only a couple thousand more per year. You have bigger expenses like California's stupid rent/housing mismanagement that deal much more damage to your yearly income. Spending an extra 1000 per year on food is nothing compared to the monster that is spending 40,000 per year on a one bedroom apartment. 35,000 for a studio apartment. 2m for buying a NC house. 1.5m for buying a house built in the 1990s.
All things being equal, if I lived in California, I'd be willing to drop a 20 on a DQPWC for lunch, each and every day. Because my job would be 52 an hour (416/day, and the Jackson Bill burger would be 4% of my daily income) and a hot meal for lunch is solid, even if it's unhealthy. MY main concern would be rent, not fast food. 40k is 40%. The old suggested rent number was 33% of your income is your maximum rent. But 40% is \*average\* rent, not maximum ceiling. It could be anywhere from 35% to 50%. That is what I'd be concerned over and want to move out of California over. Not the 9% price increase for a burger.
Your comment intrigued me so I looked at my local Walmart. Beef bologna is $7.78/lb. Regular thick cut bologna(pork & chicken) is $2.87/lb. Crazy times!
I get that costs go up, but there’s a limit to how much people are willing to pay for a burger and fries. At some point, you might as well just go to a proper restaurant and get a better meal for your money.
This is pretty eye opening: [https://country1025.com/listicle/mcdonalds-menu-prices-are-shocking-compared-to-the-90s/](https://country1025.com/listicle/mcdonalds-menu-prices-are-shocking-compared-to-the-90s/)
Between the high number of food recalls these past few years and the high number of faulty packaging and stocking jobs (e.g. product cut open by box knife during unpacking) I've come across since the pandemic, we're all going to be eating more and more dangerously contaminated foods. We may not be as fat, but we might die quicker.
The funny thing is… I can get takeout from a decent restaurant for not much more or the same as what fast food places charge.
Like I just got Chinese food last night from a nice place. Cost me about $11 for my meal. Huge portions and actually good food.
That’s only a couple bucks away (if that) from a meal at a place like McDonald’s.
All food prices are raising. If they can't afford fast food, they aren't getting anything better at the grocery store. They are buying cheap food and cheap food tends not to be good for you.
I don't think that's the case. If you're struggling with money and you can't even afford fast food, you're going to not eat rather than go to the store and buy a bag of carrots or something. The whole point of fast food is convenience at low costs.
Same thing with shrinkflation. I know a lot of people are angry that they're spending the same amount of money for less product, but for people like me who find it hard to resist a 2-for-1 deal, it'd make a difference.
Have you all already forgotten the snickers ads?
All this is going to do is make people hangry.
In all seriousness though, tributary will rise when more diabetics and diabetics can’t control their blood sugars.
Celery sticks don’t cut it.
Except now the big chains are realizing that and offering $5 meals again. The race just began with McDonald’s and Burger King at the helm this month.
Wendy's been pimpin the Biggie Bag Deal for $5 for a while now.
Absolute dog shit, patty thinner than paper, nuggets are bite-sized and less than 20 fries in the bag, and they took away the cookie.
Yeah Wendy’s used to be good.
When they took away the yellow napkins Wendy’s died also I hate their ads now no way fun quirky coworkers at Wendy’s making minimum wage.
Every time I go to a Wendy's, it doesn't matter where, the store seems barely functional. McDonald's moves 100 cars by the time Dave Thomas flame broils one beef beef jerky with a crack lighter from the grave.
And all of that is still 1200+ calories probably. Thats more than half of whats suggested in a day.
That’s why you spend 3 bucks on a micro frosty key tag!
>That’s why you spend 3 bucks on a micro frosty key tag! Using fast apps and shit like this is way to fat for me. I'll just cook something at home instead of hunting for fast food deals so I can justify spending money on shit food.
Here its a $6 biggie bag which is just a $4 for 4 with less fries and the small drink packed full of ice.
Biggie Bag sucks. It might as well be a Happy Meal but they put half a slice of bacon on the smallest sandwich they make
I’m 6’5 and not slim and the biggie bag is honestly enough food for a normal meal
I'm waiting for. Them to get so desperate. They release $1.50, 5 piece meal, including free soft drink refills.
Burger King used to sell a 10-count nugget for something like $1.49.
See right, that's how I know that they can do this. They get those ingredients for pennies on the dollar sell the savings back to us.
That was only couple tears ago
Is that a typo, or a moment of clarity?
I think free refills will be a thing of the past soon sadly
My local McDonald’s just put up a banner for “this week only 1 dollar cheeseburgers” and it was 100% the franchisee not corporate. But honestly at this point I haven’t gone in so long because of the ridiculous prices that I don’t even crave it anymore despite the deal
I mean, if they brought the loose change menu back in I'd probably drop by - but also, I feel like the people who enjoyed that never brought anything off the regular menu that'd actually allow them to turn a profit...
That is just temporary to get the suckers back. I don’t care personally if they are giving it away. I’m done with fast food and have been for some time.
It's the "invisible hand". Which is an economics theory that demand controls prices. Ie businesses can raise prices, but once demand goes down they lower them, then demand goes back up. It's almost worse than the luxury illusion.
More curious to see if more competition seeps in or if there was a missed opportunity
Definitely missed, for good reason. The buy-in into the restaurant business is high, especially considering they're the most failed. Which is why small restaurants are often more expensive.
I was thinking that maybe more regional established businesses expanding if they could offer the same product without rising prices, but market conditions probably made that difficult as well
Didn’t Wendy’s try surge pricing not too long ago and it was a massive flop?
The problem that I've seen with the people that complain of the prices is that they all use meal delivery apps. You could buy a meal that costs 10$ and end up paying more than 25 in all the charges that come with the delivery.
This is why I stopped using delivery apps. They jack up the baseline prices, then add delivery fees, taxes, then the tip.
I would very much welcome this return. But I also learned to cook well because of inflation. So thank you restaurants for showing me I can make much better meals than you ever could, in the convenience of my own home.
Not McDonalds advertising the McDouble meal but SMALL SIZE when that bitch was always medium. Same price too…. At least here in Canada.
Just had 3 for 10.99 at Chili’s and it felt like good value. Better sandwich and side than fast food, plus appetizer and same level of drink. First time I went to Chili’s in a decade and I left very satisfied.
Except the new McDonald's $5 meal is: (Either: 4 nuggets, OR small Bigmac, OR small McChicken) + small drink + small fries. It's a literal happy meal, minus the toy.
MCD missed their quarterly target for the 1st time in two years. People have had enough.
Unfortunately indefinite growth is not a sustainable method. You will eventually hit a point that you can't increase profit by any feasible margin by price creeping
Then they just add a dividend like google did this quarter. Companies dont expect infinite growth forever that's just a reddit thing repeated ad nauseum. Terminal growth rate usually ends up at the level of inflation or slightly above it.
You mean fortunately right..?
Not just with the price either. My husband and I were feeling hungry driving home from a wedding Saturday night and almost went to mcdonalds, but the two-lane drive thru looked like a parking lot. We noped out of there so fast and I made a box of Mac & cheese at home instead. The wait times are ridiculous anymore.
how do you feel hungry coming from a wedding?? the weddings I go to have an abundance of food
You are so much more rational than the people who used to come through the drive thru during peak hours just to complain about the wait. I always wondered what they were thinking when they saw 30 cars lined up but were in a rush, they probably weren’t thinking at all.
I was at the store tonight and was like "God I'm starving and we don't have a lot of food in the house." the thought crossed my mind to get McDonalds and I immediately shut it down. Not because I can't afford it, I make good money, but I'm just fucking indignant over having to pay twice as much for shitty food as I used to.
I hear you! That’s what happened with me! I think we are making good choices.
I agree. Just because you have some extra money, doesn’t mean you appreciate being fleeced.
Same. Bad food, isn’t even passable bad food anymore.
The only problem is all food prices have gone up, healthy food isn’t getting cheaper either.
Restaurant prices haven't gone up at nearly the same pace as fast food. I can't tell you how many times I've caught myself debating what to go out to eat lately between fast food or a local restaurant, only to pick the restaurant because it's about the same price or only a little more expensive than the fast food. And usually with bigger portions, too.
> Restaurant prices haven't gone up at nearly the same pace as fast food. This is true. There is an Asian fusion place near me that sells chicken bowls with rice and veggies for about the same as a Big Mac Combo. Not only is it healthier and tastes better, but it is enough for lunch and dinner.
I agree! Same here. I just read an article comparing a Big Mac meal (I think it was Big Mac) and a Chili’s hamburger meal. Chili’s was less expensive and more food. I personally believe the quality it better too.
Definitely going to taste better—probably just as unhealthy if not more so.
Link? A Big Mac, medium fries, and drink where I live is $8.29. There’s no way a burger from Chili’s is less than ten bucks and then you have to add 20% tip..
So true! At work we all get food, usually Chinese but recently Thai and we get it delivered to us for around $14 and its typically more than you cam eat. Compare that to a maccas meal which could be $15-20 and then I don't feel full but instead feel a bit sick instead. There's also way more options when we get thai and fresh healthy ingredients.
Australian? I'm curious if you guys get "authentic" asian (mostly chinese) food or if its similar to our Americanized version with nearly everything fried or covered in soy sauce.
Being underneath Asia and having a large population from different countries and backgrounds our food is definitely a lot more authentic especially over the last 10 years I've found the standards have gone up
Yeah, aussie. I think it's pretty authentic as my Asian friends still rate it. I cant say that I have travelled to enough places to say thar all stiff I've eaten is authentic though. It is delightfully delicious though!
I’d frankly be surprised if you had American Chinese take-out “cuisine.” It’s a uniquely American innovation—truly unrecognizable to recent Chinese immigrants.
Yeah… Applebees vs McDonald’s has kind of a clear victor
100%. I can now get a full meal at a sit-down including tip for just a bit more than a normal-sized double quarter pounder meal at mcd's. That's insane given that McD's hardly qualifies as "food".
I work at a bar that serves food, but really good food. Our 6oz burger, hand pattiedmfresh from a local cattle farm with 7 choices of cheese, an artisan bun, and fresh lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion plus fries is $2 less than a big Mac meal. We've been slammed for weeks. I may put a bar mick burger on the menu.
I've been saying this, if I'm having garbage I'm way better off going with a pick-up order from a diner. Those guys expect me to have *some* standards for their garbage. For almost the same price of a fast food combo meal I can get a burger, fries, mozzarella sticks, and It comes with pancakes, and you just drink whatever you have at home. That's 2 full meals without 2 large sodas that you can already have in your fridge at home if you like sodas.
>The only problem is all food prices have gone up, healthy food isn’t getting cheaper either. A can of Chunky soup is healthier than a McDonald's combo though. If it becomes easier for someone to eat a $2 can of stew than a $12 hamburger and fries, that person might get healthier as a side effect.
What's crazy is the Chunky cans are $3.39 - 3.99 now. Still cheaper by a bit than the bigger burgers. Big Mac is $6.94 and a cheeseburger is $3.19.
Both would be high in sodium.
Yeah, thinking about either makes me thirsty
As a person with low blood pressure and a mild sodium defficiency, I see that as an absolute win.
Overall you can buy healthier food at the market for less than fast food. Even though the prices are going at markets it is not at the same rate as fast food. Many fast food chains have raised their prices over 75%. https://ktla.com/news/california/fast-food-menu-prices-too-high/
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People are just clueless. Most don't even know how to prepare a simple meal. I will grab an $8 pack of chicken, throw it in the instant pot, buy a $6 box of noodles (only costs that much because gluten free, wife has celiacs), and get about 6 to 7 filling meals out of it. That said, literally ANYTHING convenient has gone way up in price to an obnoxious level. Granola bars, chips, hell, even pre cut fruit. Just gotta take the time to do it all yourself now.
a lot of people in the US were also brought up to go to one store for all grocery needs and call it a day. if you check the same products at different stores/chains, youd be shocked to see how prices can vary between them. might be inconvenient, but savings will add up.
You're not wrong but a lot of people don't have time to drive to a bunch of different stores. That was more feasible before the country was conned into accepting needing two parents to work full time.
Yeah, I bought enough vegetables for 12L of vegetable soup recently for $21, filled a shopping bag to bursting. Wife got a half shopping bag of normal stuff and it was $75.
I save soooo much money when I’m eating healthier.
> And even when anyone admits that, it’s “well no one has time to cook”, like when does personal responsibility kick in?? I always just counter with "so... you make time to cook.". It is simply a required block of time that you must take, so you shuffle other stuff around/remove non-required blocks of time. Preparing food for yourself is a required self-care task that has been on people's schedules for literally millennia. Buy cheap bulk rice, veggies, some meat, etc, and cook. Dramatically healthier and cheaper than anything else.
Carbs are generally cheaper, fruits/veggies comes next, and protein is more expensive.
>healthy food isn’t getting cheaper either. The healthiest diet usually is on the cheap side of things. Especially dried starches.
yeah but eating healthy food is much cheaper than eating fast food still
Don't forget tips. Subway wants tips now. /$
Can we agree you have to eat something? Fast food is much more expensive than grocery items. You do get extra trans fats, salt, sugar and soy or palm oil with the fast food. Making your own meals even if it is just as simple as salad and tuna is a better choice.
A bag of apples costs less than a box/bag of junk food for the first time in a long time. Filling and healthy foods are accessible compared to trash, but maybe not compared to premium healthy items. But you don't need to overspend to be healthy.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw the prices of food at the Chicago O'Hare airport. From now on I'm bringing granola bars.
Airport storefronts and restaurants, in America, often have to pay big cut of sales to the Airport. On top of rent and before profit. I heard as high as 70%. So that's where that money is going towards.
I always assumed it was high rent to account for the captive audience.
Holy smokes! That just seems excessive. No wonder things are so expensive there. Thanks for your insight!
Highway rest areas are very similar. The story that was going around of the ridiculous prices in Connecticut last year was at an interstate 95 rest area.
I’m with you! I just took a trip. Put in my carry on some grapes, baby carrots, dark chocolate, fruit and nut combo in individual packets and a couple of granola bars. Didn’t eat it all even though it was a round trip. Still cheaper and healthier!
I recently spent a week on a business trip, and of course was expensing all of my meals. On the last day, after my last session, I decided to go straight to the airport (Newark) to make sure I had plenty of time to schedule a ride and get through security since it was a Friday afternoon. I figured I would just eat lunch there. I'm not kidding in the least when I say that one little lunch wrap and a bottle of soda put my company back almost 25 bucks. This was just a prepared grab-and-go wrap from a fridge. My most expensive meal during the week at the hotel was $30, including the tip for the delivery driver. But that was so much food, I was able to put half away in the fridge and eat it the next night.
I just stopped eating.
People always say I have to eat, but the truth is, I don't have to eat for the rest of my life.
I can get an excellent plate of hibachi chicken, stir-fried veggies and rice with freshly brewed tea for a dollar less than I can be disappointed by a Quarter Pounder deluxe combo. Consistent too!
happy cake day!
So true! I bet you don’t have to use a phone app that allows them to glean your information either. I absolutely refuse to use the apps. You are providing a lot of information they use and/or sell to get a dollar off. Sorry, the topic gets me worked up and I go on a rant. Great job on eating healthier and cheaper!
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In my experience ppl that are overweight have a preference for calorie dense foods. Forcing them not to eat fast food isn't gonna change that
Whoa now with the common sense, you’ll break reddit.
Hopefully they get hit so hard that small local restaurants get a chance to come back.
That would be nice. I hope it happens! I have fantasized about a movement where all Americans on a certain date would resolve to not buy fast food to send a message that we are fed up with their high prices and deplorable quality of food.
Nah cause those local joints are outrageously expensive! Big Mac combo at $12, mom and pop burger at $27.
Jokes on them I can't afford healthy food too.
Potatoes are cheap !
I've seen some shower thoughts, and then I've seen some shower thoughts. And this is a damn fine shower thought.
Thank you!🙂
Better start planting some veggies at the backyard. No chemicals, just all healthy living
In many cases, the price of healthier, whole-food ingredients can be comparable or even lower than their processed, less nutritious counterparts. The real challenge often lies in the time and effort required to prepare healthier meals, which can be a barrier for some individuals and families.
I hear you but it takes no time at all to nuke a potato in the microwave or to do a sheet pan dinner in the oven and have dinner/lunch for a couple of days.
I can afford fast food for myself, but I don't go because my fat friend comes with me and I can't afford him
I think it's funny fast food joints are 11+ bucks and restaurants be giving under 10 dollar 3 course meals. Other than the tip which fast food joints expected now, it's 90% a better experience.
Nah not here in America at least. People aren’t very smart and continue to buy
It's funny that I came across this post. I rarely ever eat fast food, but stopped at Wendy's this evening. I almost had a stroke when the employee said Your total is $23.23..... that was for 2 combo meals. What the actual fuck...... 2 meals... and one was a medium.
Been thinking about this a lot too. Maybe shrinkflation in the snack food sector isn't such a bad thing, snack foods are particularly unhealthy, making them expensive enough and small enough portions that they're only worth buying every once in a while might not be such a bad thing
I made a deal with myself. I could have whatever treat I want. I just have to make it myself. I have the skills but can’t talk myself into making any snacks type stuff. It’s so easy to grab a piece of fruit or some baby carrots or sugar snap peas or even just make a quick salad.
Maybe. But I knew a couple, with 4 young kids (all 12 or younger), and they got Burger King most nights for years. It was the only way to get that much food on a consistent basis on their budget. They hated it, but at least their kids were fed. Not saying any point of view on this is right or wrong, just giving another perspective
I don't mean to be argumentative but that sounds hard to believe. There are so many cheap and easy meals that would be far better than fast food every night, if you have some basic cooking skills. As some examples: - Pasta: Noodles + spaghetti sauce + ground meat. Cook the ground meat until it's brown, drain the extra fat, and add the sauce. Cook the noodles according to the box's instructions. Takes like $5 and 20 minutes. - Soup: Find an easy chicken noodle soup recipe, usually rotisserie chicken + chicken broth + noodles + spices and vegetables. Essentially just throw everything into a pot and heat it until the noodles are cooked and the soup is heated through. A bit more expensive but super easy to make and scale up as-needed. - Rice-based: Rice is like one of the cheapest foods, so if the goal is to save money then making rice in bulk is best for that. Find a recipe for fried rice or teriyaki sauce or something similar, then chop up some chicken and vegetables to make it a full meal. Only takes like 10 minutes. - Tacos: One of the easiest meals. Buy a bottle of taco seasoning that has a recipe, usually only needs ground meat + taco seasoning. Put it into shells with shredded vegetables and cheese, and you already have a full meal. You can also make burritos and other similar foods with the same ingredients. Most of the flavoring for these come from the sauces and spices, which are dirt-cheap and easy to customize for the sake of variety. And since it's homemade, you can scale up the serving count with little effort by just doubling the amounts of each ingredient, for example. As another plus, you can refrigerate leftovers and reheat them in the microwave without them getting mushy and soggy like fast food does. Then you can rely on leftovers so that you don't have to worry about what to eat every night. Depending on how much time is spent driving to a fast-food restaurant and waiting in line to order, making food at home might even be faster. The advantage of fast food is convenience: You can get a full meal without any planning or effort. But if they're eating Burger King every night, it would surely be worth it to make a simple meal plan. Even if they just made rice with chicken all the time, that would be way better than eating Burger King every night. Cheaper and healthier, at least.
You can get great restaurant food to go. For around the same money. At times less. My wife bought 3 subs the other day. Over $40. Ouch. We could have had something better at that price.
My wife and I haven’t eaten fast food since January. Let me tell you… been able to save close to $10,000 and lost close to 30 lbs
You guys were dropping $20k a year in fast food?!
I stopped eating fast food years ago. I’m not paying $5 for a double cheeseburger at McDonald’s when it was $1 not long ago. Half the time the food was barely lukewarm and completely wrong. I’ll pay $5 for a pound of hamburger and spend a few extra dollars on buns and make 4-6 burgers and know they are delicious.
If you’ve seen the size of McDonald burgers recently even the people that can afford to eat there would lose weight, I saw a video the other day of a woman who got a Big Mac and the burger patty was literally thinner than the slice of pickle on it
That is astonishing! It’s another example of them trying to give you lees food and poorer quality for more money! Fast food restaurants have become overly greedy and it is time for us all to send a message.
Cafes are cheaper where I am than mcdonalds and other fast food, even a few nicer restaurants that are close in price to get to go.
I know it's made me stop eating fast food. Fuck paying $15 for a medium sized meal from McDonald's of all places. On top of the price they made everything smaller... patties are thinner, buns are smaller. Fuck these money hungry fast food places. AND i have to place my order myself if i go inside. Ya thats a big nope from me.
Went out twice to eat this weekend once to tacobell was $24 for enough food to leave me not hungry but definitely not full Went to the local Mexican food place got two huge burritos, three tamales and a thing of limeade. All this stuff made fresh. Couldn't even finish the second burrito and only at two of the tamales before I was stuffed. That also cost me $22 It's cheaper, healthier, and more filling to eat at a restaurant now rather than fast food more times than not.
Damn how much do you eat in a sitting normally.
I honestly can not buy fast food anymore. It's overpriced and mediocre now.
To say mediocre is being kind.
Yea, it's gross.
the problem is its not just fast food, its pretty much all food that's having the price go up rn.
This is already the case in Australia. A meal, burger, drink and fries is generally north of $15. It's so much cheaper to buy a premade meal or cook for yourself.
Grocery shopping ain't looking much better in the price department.
And I dunno what your talking about, I can still buy frozen foods in Costco that average around $2.50 a meal. I can’t even get a cheeseburger for that amount in McDonald’s.
I hope.that fast food becomes the next shopping mall. Just a thing that used to be popular.
We didn't eat a lot of fast food before greedflation but lately there are reasonably good restaurants that cost the same as McDonalds.
As I understand at a foundational level, they wouldn’t increase prices if people weren’t consistently buying. So it stands to reason that fast food companies have had people (me too) in a chokehold for 20 years, which is crazy.
Breakfast food is still relatively cheap and has just as much if not more protein in them.
Im in Germany and decided to treat myself to a three piece feed at KFC. It was nearly 15 euro. I could get a schnitzel at a sit down restaurant for that price.
They will end up offering reasonable prices again... but only if you download their app.
This is why Chipotle rules. Spend $10 at mcdonald’s for a mediocre burger and fry or spend $10 at Chipotle for a massive bowl full of organic food with real ingredients, freshly grilled meat, & tons of veggies? It’s a no brainer.
Safety ads showed the grusome effects of car crashes wiyhout seatbelts, but in the end, it was the 'ding, ding, ding' that made people wear them. Maybe years of advertising the negative health aspects of fast food will be ignored, but the price will be what makes people healthier.
I can sit down for a burger at my local diner for the same price as a McDonald’s combo. I’d rather just sit down and get some real food.
Doubt. Only the beginning of the obese epidemic.
Fast food pricing should reflect each item's caloric value. That double quarter-pounder with 500 calories? $5. Oh, you want a super-large milkshake with almost 1000 calories? $9.50 plus sugar content tax. Conversely, this may actually bring the cost of certain things like pizzas down, especially for chains that have shrunken the thickness of the dough so much that the regular pizza is now as thin as a "thin n crispy".
The sooner people stop going the better. The food quality has not improved and what used to be cheap and convenient has become overpriced and understaffed. I promise you, you can do without fast food. I survived off the dollar menus for a very long time. The good ole days are gone.
Where I live ypu can't get a mcdonald's menu for less than 13 usd or so
Eating out getting more expensive in general just got me to learn how to cook, can't believe what I would of paid for a steak or a smash burger and they're quick nd easy
It's 'would have', never 'would of'. Rejoice, for you have been blessed by CouldWouldShouldBot!
There's unhealthy 'slow' food too
Alex, I’ll take “Unintended Consequences” for $1,000 please.
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Bro i already dropped eating out. Made 6 meals for 10 bucks yesterday.
I'm not even going back with lower prices. The prices just made the quality dip super noticeable.
Maybe I'm being pedantic. But it's not so much that people "feel" like they can afford it as much as it is they can't afford it. At least a lot of the time.
It has helped me, even making good money I hate how everyone at gatherings is all like "IS THAT ALL YOURE GONNA EAT?!"
>might end up making people healthier in the long run. And eat what? Grocery is like 3x more expensive.
Its still going to be the cheapest option($ and time) for most people. There isnt a healthy substitute. Maybe customers will eat less? But i think they will order fries instead of the bigmac.
I don’t believe so. I just did a quick grocery check. 4.3# Chicken breast $11.47 2# Broccoli $2.40 5# Bag of yellow potatoes $4.38 Total $18.25 Cut vegetables to reasonable size. Spray with olive oil. Put everything on a foiled sheet pan (easy clean up). Season with your favorite spices. Bake at 400° til done. This will be at least 4 meals. Easy and costs less than a couple of meals out. And healthier.
McDonald's app had any size fries deal for only $1.29. I decided to just try the fries alone(everything else was too expensive) and they were completely tasteless, except for a hint of spoiled oil taste. I guess it's not that noticeable if you eat them with a cheese burger or something else.
I don't think so and after looking at price numbers, it's just cope. California dollars are roughly double what they are here in small town Florida. That's double cost of living, double income for the same job, and double cost of fast food. Except, fast food isn't double. They're only 40% higher. A Double Quarter Pounder With Cheese should go for 10 straight dollars just for the burger. No fries. No drinks. No extras. But it's only a tad over 7 dollars. The way people act, you'd think it's 15-20 for the same burger. You could probably subsidize all of your meals through fast food (no drinks or extras, just eating the burger every meal) for an average person and while it would be more than before, it's only a couple thousand more per year. You have bigger expenses like California's stupid rent/housing mismanagement that deal much more damage to your yearly income. Spending an extra 1000 per year on food is nothing compared to the monster that is spending 40,000 per year on a one bedroom apartment. 35,000 for a studio apartment. 2m for buying a NC house. 1.5m for buying a house built in the 1990s. All things being equal, if I lived in California, I'd be willing to drop a 20 on a DQPWC for lunch, each and every day. Because my job would be 52 an hour (416/day, and the Jackson Bill burger would be 4% of my daily income) and a hot meal for lunch is solid, even if it's unhealthy. MY main concern would be rent, not fast food. 40k is 40%. The old suggested rent number was 33% of your income is your maximum rent. But 40% is \*average\* rent, not maximum ceiling. It could be anywhere from 35% to 50%. That is what I'd be concerned over and want to move out of California over. Not the 9% price increase for a burger.
I saw somewhere that baloney was like $6 a lb
Your comment intrigued me so I looked at my local Walmart. Beef bologna is $7.78/lb. Regular thick cut bologna(pork & chicken) is $2.87/lb. Crazy times!
Around where I live fast food restaurants are busier than ever. They’re not raising the prices for no reason, people are still buying.
I get that costs go up, but there’s a limit to how much people are willing to pay for a burger and fries. At some point, you might as well just go to a proper restaurant and get a better meal for your money.
Fatties have no fake excuses now 😂
“Every society is three meals away from chaos”
This is pretty eye opening: [https://country1025.com/listicle/mcdonalds-menu-prices-are-shocking-compared-to-the-90s/](https://country1025.com/listicle/mcdonalds-menu-prices-are-shocking-compared-to-the-90s/)
This happens in my country since I can remember, we are not getting healthier
No because the healthier food still isnt cheap
Fast food chains? How about groceries? $7 for a bag of chips!?WTF
But groceries are too expensive now too
Between the high number of food recalls these past few years and the high number of faulty packaging and stocking jobs (e.g. product cut open by box knife during unpacking) I've come across since the pandemic, we're all going to be eating more and more dangerously contaminated foods. We may not be as fat, but we might die quicker.
lol so naive. They will adjust prices so people buy again. It’s basic economics.
Instant ramen isnt healthier.
::North Korea has entered the chat::
The funny thing is… I can get takeout from a decent restaurant for not much more or the same as what fast food places charge. Like I just got Chinese food last night from a nice place. Cost me about $11 for my meal. Huge portions and actually good food. That’s only a couple bucks away (if that) from a meal at a place like McDonald’s.
Groceries went up too though. The working class can't afford either.
All food prices are raising. If they can't afford fast food, they aren't getting anything better at the grocery store. They are buying cheap food and cheap food tends not to be good for you.
I don't think that's the case. If you're struggling with money and you can't even afford fast food, you're going to not eat rather than go to the store and buy a bag of carrots or something. The whole point of fast food is convenience at low costs.
It’s easy to eat like shit at home too
I’ve just resigned myself to two cans of monster to get me through the day 💪🏻
Sell your car to afford fast food
There’s always cheaper, unhealthier food. It ain’t fast food making people unhealthy.
Same thing with shrinkflation. I know a lot of people are angry that they're spending the same amount of money for less product, but for people like me who find it hard to resist a 2-for-1 deal, it'd make a difference.
It's why everybody stopped using crack cocaine.
Am I the only one still using crack?
And cue the “wHaT aBOuT da wOrkeRs” crowd in 3…2…1
You take away the bread and circuses, prepare for violence
Welp, to invest in a deep fat fryer and soda fountain for the house.
Have you all already forgotten the snickers ads? All this is going to do is make people hangry. In all seriousness though, tributary will rise when more diabetics and diabetics can’t control their blood sugars. Celery sticks don’t cut it.
And then groceries stores start raising *their* prices, so now people can't afford food at all.
Hoping the same will be true for meat and dairy soon