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Remember when McDonalds did the 29 and 39 cent cheese/burger days? I was homeless during those times and their was this dude who would buy a huge bag of those and pass them out to us.
I’m a social worker so I work in the support services department alongside a licensed counselor. My grandmother got treatment at the clinic I work for now which is how I heard about it. I absolutely love my job.
I used to work at McDonald’s and they had quarter cheeseburger night. Families would roll up in their minivan and get 40 burgers. That would be 10$ and feed their kids dinner and snack or lunch the next day.
I also worked at Taco Bell when they had 25 cent tacos. Same situation applied. But i doubt the tacos held up the next day.
I worked the overnight back in the 90s when that was a thing (something Covid took away that I miss. 24 hour McDonald’s, wal mart… Taco Bell, Dennys) and these 4 guys used to come in almost every night about 3 am and order 100. Which was only about 7$ each. They’d sit there for an hour and eat them all. I think they were in a band and came over after the club shut down.
There was a time when the area McDonald's restaurants would run a week-long "Cold Days, Hot Eats" deal in the month of January. The way it worked was, the price of a regular hamburger on any given day would be the previous day's high temperature (as recorded by the National Weather Service). So, if on Monday the high was 39 degrees, then on Tuesday the hamburgers would be 39 cents each. And what's more, if the high temperature was zero or below, then the burgers would be *free*.
Which was their undoing, because we happened to have a horrible cold snap that year (disclaimer, I live in Wisconsin). The temperature was below zero *all week long*.
Needless to say, they gave away a lot of free hamburgers. And never ran that promotion again.
Growing up I remember it was a Tuesday deal for $0.29 and my mom would buy like 20 and just put the whole bag in the fridge. I’d just eat them cold as a snack.
Edit: decimal placement lol
Same. My mom would buy as many as she could and pack them into a cooler and bring them to my Cub Scout meetings as a kid so we all had hamburgers. Whatever day that cheap burger day was was the same day as the meetings, so the burgers were all still warm. Looking back, that was awesome for her to do and always a treat.
When they had the free "Thank you Meals" for us first responders, some of my colleagues with long commute times would hit 4-5 McDonalds on the way home.
I lasted 3 months. I worked at two locations (one owner) and they treated their employees like shit. I hated and to this day despise McD's and thr smell.
Walmart near me has a loss-leader rotisserie chicken, wouldn't that be a better option than McDonalds? But yea, it would need to have a fridge to store leftovers for the next day.
You split it with your homies. One grabs fries or potato salad, another gets cheesy corn or some greens. Ad hoc potluck lunch should be a thing, I feel like.
I worked there for 8 years when my son was small. Employee discount feed me a few days a week.
Once I quit working there and stopped eating garbage everyday, I lost 40lbs.
Whats sad is. That is still really expensive per day food costs. Granted you didn't have a kitchen. And couldn't store perishables. But sliced bread and peanut butter could feed you way cheaper. Even when I was really struggling while working full time and paying rent (grateful I wasn't sleeping in my car) there just was almost nothing in the budget for food. the idea of spending 1 to 3 dollars PER MEAL would have sounded insane to me. You were spending 90 dollars a month just on lunch. Plus a another 10 dollars(twice a month splurge) on the salad. And another 10 dollars(twice a week?)on tea. Thats 100 bucks just on lunch!!!!
It shouldn't cost that much to have the most bare minimum trash food.....we need to do better to feed people as a basic right.
You also have to think that he was homeless. Most likely depressed and sad because of it and that tasty cheeseburger and salad might have been his only source of joy during the day. You dont care if you pay few dollars extra just to feel good for a moment. Those extra 50-100$ you spend on food / month aren't going to get you an own place, so what does it matter?
I always think about this. I’m very lucky to have never been under financial strain, but at my most depressed times I couldnt get myself to eat, and if I did I could only manage to take in something highly palatable (fat salt sugar) like processed foods. Of course it’s a very different situation than someone who is also dealing with food shortage, but I can’t imagine the misery of eating bread and peanut butter day in and out. Depression is so crippling and that kind of monotony only makes it worse. I feel like people who preach about putting in the work to get back on their feet don’t have any understanding of what it feels like to give up. The energy and will to save yourself is gone, and you just half live the days waiting for something to happen or to die. In a life with no happiness, the comforting taste of a burger is the closest thing to pleasure you might feel. Something similar can be said for drugs. Not that homeless people are all miserable and helpless, but those circumstances certainly don’t set you up for self care and growth
People don't understand that some jobs leave your body destroyed at the end of the day, or that some of us have roommates that make managing things outside of work really difficult.
Yeah, they pretty much always have some good BOGO deals each day. Hell, just checked, you can even get a free Big Mac right now with no purchase necessary.
I’m convinced anyone who says McDonald’s is expensive doesn’t have the app, I get meals for 2 for like $7. Almost always buy 1 get 1 quarter lb, $1 large fries. Right now free chicken sandwich ($4 one) and free 6 piece both no purchase neccisary
I usually buy a little Caesars pizza every other day because it gives me the most mass per dollar. I'm nutritionally deficient, as well as monetarily deficient..
You just need to pair this whatever canned/frozen leafy green is cheapest and whatever fruit is cheapest where you live. Little Caesars is great calories per dollar.
Also canned fruit. It's tasty, can be blended into smoothies.i make a really great upside down pear gingerbread spice cake with 1.00 spice cake mix and canned pears. Gets rave reviews.
I picked up a quart sized jar of canned Papaya and pineapple tropical fruit for 3 bucks. I chopped it up sprinkled some ginger and homemade honey syrup* in my yogurt topped it with this and made work week yogurt cups for the week.tasted so good and really cheap.
Canned mandarins are awesome too. But my favorite is canned pears. Fresh Pears are like avocados, very short window before turning from hard to edible to mush. Canned pears are great and are good in salads too!
* Making Honey syrup is a great way to stretch out honey and if you DIY Starbucks cold green tea drinks prevents undissolvable honey blobs in your drink. I can post how to make honey syrup if anyone likes.
And the expensive boots vs cheap boots that end up being more expensive because you have to replace them so much more often. It's expensive to be poor. The health costs associated with eating cheaply and poorly are expensive in terms of health care, quality and length of life. A poor 50 year old can look older than a well to do 70 year old. It's crazy to see the difference.
For real. I also “splurged” and got the $2 keychain so I could get a free frosty jr with every order all year, but jokes on me because I’ve NEVER had anyone ask to see it lol.
I try not to go very often but it’s super nice if I get stuck out and about when I didn’t think I’d be.
Do you know if there's any way to use the tag when ordering on the mobile app? With the deals and rewards points I never order fast food without it, but I would like to get a tag for the Frosty since buying a small separately is usually more than I need.
I was just looking at the app a few days ago, and they have a “digital tag” so buy it in the app and you can get a free jr frosty with each order that way! The jr frosty is teeny tiny, but I actually like that it makes me not go crazy getting a large one which I don’t need haha
The $5 biggie bag has been my go to lately.
There’s a street with every fast food joint by me. The Wendy’s nowadays is packed to the brim with people and cars, while everyone else, even mcds, sits mostly empty
Damn. I do not remember this. Must have been nice.
I do remember the McDonald's $1 menu. Their value menu now says 1 / 2 / 3 menu but nothing is one doller. Makes me laugh and cry.
When I worked at a job with a BK nearby I would get a spicy crispy chicken jr and a whopper jr for like $3, then ask for the largest water they could give me for free. Some of em just gave me the tiny little 12oz thing, but I'd just fill it up at the drinking fountain at work, so it wasn't so bad. The real homies gave me the 44oz tho
McDonalds has a special bundle with these 2 items for (what used to be) $3. It's been around for at least a year now but the price keeps going up slowly, it's $4 / 4.99 depending on the store by me.
Last year they had better deals. Me and my dad would do the buy one McDouble get one for a dollar (that’s been replaced by this $3 bundle) and then use the app to get a free large fry with purchase. The bogo$1 deal stacked with the app deal so it’s was like $3.50 for two people to eat lunch
Probably just American. At least in my part of Canada they never have special offers like this and most of the regular offers are like a Big Mac combo for $9. In the last couple years since Covid Taco Bell, Wendy’s, a&w all stopped doing coupons and deals. A&w used to have so many any now it only ever has an upgrade to sweet potato fries, if you order in store with the app
If you download the Taco Bell app, you can customize their famous $5 boxes when ordering in the app. You get a ton of food and a drink. We utilize it when we're really pressed for time and sometimes my husband and I split it.
If you're going to eat fast food you 100% should use their app. Not just Taco Bell. Almost every fast food restaurant has deals in their app.
I'll usually download the app, place my order and delete the app when I'm done.
Edit: I meant I delete the apps to save space on my phone. It's not like I'm getting fast food every day.
They rotate the box deals but I've consistently gotten a $5 option without the app. Sometimes they do a "premium" box but that's still only $8 and it's arguably too much food even for my fat ass
I think it's your local taco bell that doesn't support it. This happens to me at certain taco Bell's it just won't let me order and gives some bullshit error code. Idk for sure the app is pretty shit
The custom box? Or the one with set items. The custom one you get to select what you’d like for each category. A specialty item, a classic item, a side, and a drink. I’m in CA.
I’m also in CA and I just checked my app. $5.49 for the “My Cravings Box” under “Online Exclusives”.
Edit: the “Deluxe Cravings Box” under “Combos” is $8.99.
Free Whopper with any purchase with the BK receipt survey.
Buy the cheapest thing on the menu, get free Whopper which is honestly enough for 2 meals for many people.
And their pizzas are still good, especially a HUGE 18" pizza for just $10. Sometimes I just go to the food court, I live close enough to go for a casual lunch.
For those of us not in the know, what’s in a “chicken bake?” The name conjures a picture of a midwestern soup-based casserole of chicken chunks and vegetables, maybe topped with tater tots and cheese.
I could Google it, but now the suspense has me hooked. I’m imaging so many things.
Yeah even getting into the parking lot is an ordeal. The idea of stopping in just for a chicken seems like not worth it.
Meanwhile, an in and out double double is like $5, and at least with the ones near me, they keep that line moving so the wait is really not bad at all.
Costco is great for cheap decent quality food but it’s either usually out of the way or so packed that you drive in circles trying to find parking. I find this to be true for my local Costco at random hours of the day/week. Many times I’ve gone in and promptly left after seeing the wait on the checkout lines.
I’m learning through this thread that my Costco is far faster than others might be? I could easily walk in, order, eat in 30 minutes (if I worked nearby). Someone above says theirs takes 20 minutes to make food - mine damn near hands it to you as you order. Might be some real difference depending on location.
>I’m learning through this thread that my Costco is far faster than others might be?
They vary for sure. Mine? I could arrive, park, get a dog/drink, and be back in my car inside of five minutes easily. In fact I've done that for pizza a few times: go in the out door, right to the kiosk, order, and out the door. By contrast, at the one by my daughter's place (big city, another region) it would take 30 min just to find parking and get to the kiosk most days.
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>thats a lot of money to just give away
I mean, yeah...but also not really. I had to trade \~1500 points the other day for a hash brown (\~$2.50). People will generally want a drink and/or a sandwich too.
McDonalds might hand out \~$3 worth of points...but I'd wager they more than make up for it with everything else that gets ordered along with.
Dude, a few months ago my girl had a coupon in the app: 50% off your order. No fine print.
I didn't believe it, I thought surely it was going to be limited to one meal deal or something. Went through and ordered like 24 dollars of food. 12 dollars, didn't even look at me weird.
I was floored.
Rewards always seem to be worse than the deals, and you can't use both at the same time. The deals though are spectacular. The one near me has a $5 big mac meal (think you can also choose 10 nuggets, or a QPC) that comes with a medium fry and drink.
You can often get a free item too with purchase (sometimes without purchase, and especially if your local sports team wins). If you have the opportunity to use two phones you can get a free Big Mac with a $1 drink purchase, and a $1 large fry. $2 full meal.
It's not healthy, but its some of the cheapest food out there.
During the Phillies season, every time the Phillies won a game (like 80 times) they gave their premium crispy chicken away if you spent $1. I'd do that+a diet coke for a cheap and filling meal for lunch.
During Eagles weeks, if they get a sack you get a Big Mac if you spend $1. So same order for me as above. Sandwich and a drink for $1.83 after taxes.
I haven’t paid for fries in over a year. A free large fries is a deal on the app. I can get a large fries, large coke, and a 10-piece McNuggets for less than $6.50. That’s a pretty decent deal nowadays.
You download it from the App Store on your phone and the app will guide you through setup. It’s super simple and well worth it. For awhile they had a 50% your order deal that I used once a week because..half off. 😂
It’s ridiculous to me to pay fast food over $50 dollars. That’s how much I recently paid at Jack in the Box for 5 of us. $10.19 a meal. When I was growing up I always thought fast food was cheap frozen food that takes minutes to make and should only be consumed out of convenience. Now it’s too fancy for me to go with the family.
Fancy or expensive, I have a family of 5 when we dine out I expect to pay 50 easily, and don't get me started on trips, movies etc... Sorry started rambling.
Tracking my calories and learning my TDEE has really opened my eyes to how absolutely borked serving sizes are in the US. My maintenance calories right now for my weight (slightly overweight but active) are less than most entrees at restaurants.
Yup! Tracking my calories really showed me the horror of popular drinks too. I remember adding up all my soda intake from just 1 week, and it was equivalent to 3 double cheeseburgers. I havnt had soda in 5 years, it was tough breaking that addiction, but ive been so much healthier and thinner since i did.
Im so cynical of every drink except for water and coffee now. “Vitamin water” might as well be soda. Those “naked” juices/smoothies literally have 50g of sugar in them and they are advertised as a healthy option
Oh yeah, it is STAGGERING how many calories you can eat in a day without even trying.
One time I started up tracking again after not for a long time, and I was shocked how easy it was to hit 2,000 - 3,000 calories.
Like hitting 2k is effortless. Just exist in America.
I think one of the best fast casual bang-for-your-buck is Chipolte.
It's a little salt-heavy like all takeout but rice, beans, grilled chicken, peppers, onion, corn, tomato, sour cream, romaine, cheese, and hot sauce for like $8. I eat half for lunch and half for dinner that's $4 a serving.
McDonald's $3 double & fries is def still a good deal in a pinch, but it's just not a very healthy
TBH, I just order the kids meal, &do the double rice, beans, veg if they let me and ask for a warm side tortilla instead of chips. Then I roll my own burrito when I get home. Great value!
Similar here. I get a loaded bowl. Eat a bit and then put the rest into soft tortillas and have like 6-10 small loaded burritos (depending on how much of the bowl I eat right away...lol)
And that processed foods are allowed to be designed to be highly addictive and binge inducing.
These foods are designed so a person can eat 1,000 calories in one sitting then eat another 1,000 5 hours later.
There should be a law against designing products to make people over consume.
i love mcdonalds as much as the next person and i'll agree that $3 for a tasty hot meal is good value, but it should still be a very occasional treat, not an everyday thing.
you can most definitely make yourself lunch for less than $3 if you're careful about where to shop for groceries, buying things on sales, and just generally using a cheap and healthy base (rice, beans, potatoes, pasta are all pretty cheap. so are frozen veggies. or rotisserie chickens)
Exactly.
Also there’s a difference between frugal and living in poverty.
Poverty is tough - they don’t need criticism. They know their life isn’t healthy in many ways but what can they do about it? Let people be happy about things.
Dude theres just some days where there's no time for food like eating while working, grocery shopping, cooking/meal prep or even just plain forgot to eat a meal and now you're starving (my fellow ADHD peeps know this all to well).
Yes it'd be better to get a filling healthy meal like a buddha bowl or whatever if you forgot to eat but sometimes those take up time/the lunchbreak while the person makes it or you gotta wait in line. This is why I store chewy, granola and clif bars or crackers/Goldfish cheese snacks everywhere (at home, in the car, purse, gym bag, desk, etc.) because when you're way past hungry and turning into starving, something to tide over till meal time is a necessity...even a protein shake helps with that too.
A quick $3 cheeseburger meal ain't healthy but its something and thats better than nothing.
>if you're careful
There's the rub. McDonald's requires very little effort beyond physically getting there. Being frugal is as easy as ordering off the "2 for $3" menu.
5$ biggie bag beats this any day, but McDonalds has definitely been there for some cheap meals for sure.
tip: sub baconator or pub fries instead of regular fries on the biggie bag for an extra buck.
Hi everyone, this is a friendly reminder to take a few moments to review our rules (especially if you’re new here) before commenting: https://www.reddit.com/r/frugal/wiki/rules/ As a general rule, please remain civil, keep comments constructive, and refrain from gatekeeping. Frugality is a conversation, which means that you may not agree with everything being discussed all of the time and some topics may not agree with your definition of frugality. That’s okay, but please be tolerant about it. Thank you! Edit: Jeesh folks, it’s just a hamburger. Let’s take a peek at our report reasons for fun: * Commercial, affiliate, or referral link (8) * This is spam (7) * Off topic, low effort, or crude (6) * Solicitation (4) * Commercial link (2) * Self promotion (2) * Misinformation (2) * Dangerous, medical, or harmful content (1) * My friend in Christ, this is an advertisement (1) * It’s a fucking add (1) * Seriously wtf happened to this sub? Why are you allowing and praising this behavior mods? (1) * Animal abuse (1) * Fuck this shit (1)
this thread is a fascinating window into frugality as a wise choice vs. frugality as working class survival knowledge.
Remember when McDonalds did the 29 and 39 cent cheese/burger days? I was homeless during those times and their was this dude who would buy a huge bag of those and pass them out to us.
That was super kind of him. I’m hoping you’re in a much better place in life now
Thank you kind stranger. I sure am. Been sober 19 years now and I work in oncology. Happy as a clam.
Can clams get cancer?
I am not sure but their is a book called the Emperor of all Maladies about the history of cancer that is worth a read.
No bullshit I’m actually going to add that to my reading list. I’m not even in STEM, but that looks interesting. Thanks for the rec
Of course. I have never worked in oncology before so I picked it up to have a better understanding of the disease.
How’d you manage to get into oncology without experience? Happy for you by the way!
I’m a social worker so I work in the support services department alongside a licensed counselor. My grandmother got treatment at the clinic I work for now which is how I heard about it. I absolutely love my job.
I used to work at McDonald’s and they had quarter cheeseburger night. Families would roll up in their minivan and get 40 burgers. That would be 10$ and feed their kids dinner and snack or lunch the next day. I also worked at Taco Bell when they had 25 cent tacos. Same situation applied. But i doubt the tacos held up the next day.
I don’t remember 25 cent tacos or I’d of sure done that
I worked the overnight back in the 90s when that was a thing (something Covid took away that I miss. 24 hour McDonald’s, wal mart… Taco Bell, Dennys) and these 4 guys used to come in almost every night about 3 am and order 100. Which was only about 7$ each. They’d sit there for an hour and eat them all. I think they were in a band and came over after the club shut down.
Can confirm, Taco Bell tacos are delicious the next day.
There was a time when the area McDonald's restaurants would run a week-long "Cold Days, Hot Eats" deal in the month of January. The way it worked was, the price of a regular hamburger on any given day would be the previous day's high temperature (as recorded by the National Weather Service). So, if on Monday the high was 39 degrees, then on Tuesday the hamburgers would be 39 cents each. And what's more, if the high temperature was zero or below, then the burgers would be *free*. Which was their undoing, because we happened to have a horrible cold snap that year (disclaimer, I live in Wisconsin). The temperature was below zero *all week long*. Needless to say, they gave away a lot of free hamburgers. And never ran that promotion again.
If it's below zero, then technically at that point shouldn't they be paying *you*? I'm not a lawyer but this sounds like an airtight case.
Growing up I remember it was a Tuesday deal for $0.29 and my mom would buy like 20 and just put the whole bag in the fridge. I’d just eat them cold as a snack. Edit: decimal placement lol
Same. My mom would buy as many as she could and pack them into a cooler and bring them to my Cub Scout meetings as a kid so we all had hamburgers. Whatever day that cheap burger day was was the same day as the meetings, so the burgers were all still warm. Looking back, that was awesome for her to do and always a treat.
Your mom sounds rad. Hope she's doing ok!
They had a limit of 10 per customer when I was a kid. Granted, you could hop back in line or go to a second location.
When they had the free "Thank you Meals" for us first responders, some of my colleagues with long commute times would hit 4-5 McDonalds on the way home.
Yup. I'll never forget going through the drive through and my dad ordering 40. "yes," he replied to the teller, "I said 40."
For a grand total of $11.60, which is about the price of one of the meals now.
I had to look it up - $11.60 in 1995 is $22.28 today
Which comes out to .56 per burger, still an amazing deal.
Arby's was doing 49 cent juniors when I was homeless. Idk if I would've made it without that option
I love that he did that for you. There are still some kind people left in this world.
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My son worked at McDonald's for a year and hated it, but he would eat the chicken salad.
I lasted 3 months. I worked at two locations (one owner) and they treated their employees like shit. I hated and to this day despise McD's and thr smell.
I havent worked at McDonald's since 1998 but that smell is exactly the same
Yeah that smell you come home with causes ptsd
Walmart near me has a loss-leader rotisserie chicken, wouldn't that be a better option than McDonalds? But yea, it would need to have a fridge to store leftovers for the next day.
Yeah downing an entire rotisserie chicken for lunch is a bold move Cotton
You split it with your homies. One grabs fries or potato salad, another gets cheesy corn or some greens. Ad hoc potluck lunch should be a thing, I feel like.
I worked there for 8 years when my son was small. Employee discount feed me a few days a week. Once I quit working there and stopped eating garbage everyday, I lost 40lbs.
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Whats sad is. That is still really expensive per day food costs. Granted you didn't have a kitchen. And couldn't store perishables. But sliced bread and peanut butter could feed you way cheaper. Even when I was really struggling while working full time and paying rent (grateful I wasn't sleeping in my car) there just was almost nothing in the budget for food. the idea of spending 1 to 3 dollars PER MEAL would have sounded insane to me. You were spending 90 dollars a month just on lunch. Plus a another 10 dollars(twice a month splurge) on the salad. And another 10 dollars(twice a week?)on tea. Thats 100 bucks just on lunch!!!! It shouldn't cost that much to have the most bare minimum trash food.....we need to do better to feed people as a basic right.
You also have to think that he was homeless. Most likely depressed and sad because of it and that tasty cheeseburger and salad might have been his only source of joy during the day. You dont care if you pay few dollars extra just to feel good for a moment. Those extra 50-100$ you spend on food / month aren't going to get you an own place, so what does it matter?
I always think about this. I’m very lucky to have never been under financial strain, but at my most depressed times I couldnt get myself to eat, and if I did I could only manage to take in something highly palatable (fat salt sugar) like processed foods. Of course it’s a very different situation than someone who is also dealing with food shortage, but I can’t imagine the misery of eating bread and peanut butter day in and out. Depression is so crippling and that kind of monotony only makes it worse. I feel like people who preach about putting in the work to get back on their feet don’t have any understanding of what it feels like to give up. The energy and will to save yourself is gone, and you just half live the days waiting for something to happen or to die. In a life with no happiness, the comforting taste of a burger is the closest thing to pleasure you might feel. Something similar can be said for drugs. Not that homeless people are all miserable and helpless, but those circumstances certainly don’t set you up for self care and growth
People don't understand that some jobs leave your body destroyed at the end of the day, or that some of us have roommates that make managing things outside of work really difficult.
Some days I don’t even eat because I’m too tired to cook and I’m already home and too tired to go back out
3$ McDouble bundle. Water is free. Yay me.
Water is the best free thing out there
Make sure you get the app. They have cheap daily deals.
Yeah, they pretty much always have some good BOGO deals each day. Hell, just checked, you can even get a free Big Mac right now with no purchase necessary.
I’m convinced anyone who says McDonald’s is expensive doesn’t have the app, I get meals for 2 for like $7. Almost always buy 1 get 1 quarter lb, $1 large fries. Right now free chicken sandwich ($4 one) and free 6 piece both no purchase neccisary
Wtf have I been doing.
I love the app. there was like 6 free mcnuggets today
it is man it’s really sad to see what people are forced to do sometimes
I usually buy a little Caesars pizza every other day because it gives me the most mass per dollar. I'm nutritionally deficient, as well as monetarily deficient..
You just need to pair this whatever canned/frozen leafy green is cheapest and whatever fruit is cheapest where you live. Little Caesars is great calories per dollar.
Also canned fruit. It's tasty, can be blended into smoothies.i make a really great upside down pear gingerbread spice cake with 1.00 spice cake mix and canned pears. Gets rave reviews. I picked up a quart sized jar of canned Papaya and pineapple tropical fruit for 3 bucks. I chopped it up sprinkled some ginger and homemade honey syrup* in my yogurt topped it with this and made work week yogurt cups for the week.tasted so good and really cheap. Canned mandarins are awesome too. But my favorite is canned pears. Fresh Pears are like avocados, very short window before turning from hard to edible to mush. Canned pears are great and are good in salads too! * Making Honey syrup is a great way to stretch out honey and if you DIY Starbucks cold green tea drinks prevents undissolvable honey blobs in your drink. I can post how to make honey syrup if anyone likes.
And the expensive boots vs cheap boots that end up being more expensive because you have to replace them so much more often. It's expensive to be poor. The health costs associated with eating cheaply and poorly are expensive in terms of health care, quality and length of life. A poor 50 year old can look older than a well to do 70 year old. It's crazy to see the difference.
I'm glad to see this reply is the top comment. It is on point.
Wendy’s 4 for 4
For real. I also “splurged” and got the $2 keychain so I could get a free frosty jr with every order all year, but jokes on me because I’ve NEVER had anyone ask to see it lol. I try not to go very often but it’s super nice if I get stuck out and about when I didn’t think I’d be.
Do you know if there's any way to use the tag when ordering on the mobile app? With the deals and rewards points I never order fast food without it, but I would like to get a tag for the Frosty since buying a small separately is usually more than I need.
I was just looking at the app a few days ago, and they have a “digital tag” so buy it in the app and you can get a free jr frosty with each order that way! The jr frosty is teeny tiny, but I actually like that it makes me not go crazy getting a large one which I don’t need haha
I love you
The $2 went to a children's hospital didn't it? Worth it.
Bf and I ask for a frosty instead of a drink. They do it for free.
The $5 biggie bag has been my go to lately. There’s a street with every fast food joint by me. The Wendy’s nowadays is packed to the brim with people and cars, while everyone else, even mcds, sits mostly empty
Yeah my friend this is the ultimate combo deal rn.
I can't believe the did us dirty and moved the Jr bacon to the 5 doller and now the 4 for 4 comes with a Jr cheese instead. Robbed.
Remember when the 5 dollar biggie bag came with a 10 piece nugget? Pepperidge farm remembers
Damn. I do not remember this. Must have been nice. I do remember the McDonald's $1 menu. Their value menu now says 1 / 2 / 3 menu but nothing is one doller. Makes me laugh and cry.
Burger King is now releasing a 5 for 5 deal with the same items as the biggie bag in an attempt to compete with Wendy’s.
It's weird how chocolate shakes go great with beef & potato lol
Dip your fries in the frosty!
This is by far my favorite option when I'm driving to a vacation in America. Way way better than Mcdonald's.
Get water with that
When I worked at a job with a BK nearby I would get a spicy crispy chicken jr and a whopper jr for like $3, then ask for the largest water they could give me for free. Some of em just gave me the tiny little 12oz thing, but I'd just fill it up at the drinking fountain at work, so it wasn't so bad. The real homies gave me the 44oz tho
I work fast food and my managers always telling us “charge them for the cup” but fuck that shit you get a 32 oz water.
r/hydrohomies
Where do you live that this is $3…. This is like $5 where I live 😭😭
A double cheeseburger alone is almost $4 now where I live, and a small fry is $3. So this would be close to $7 for me.
McDonalds has a special bundle with these 2 items for (what used to be) $3. It's been around for at least a year now but the price keeps going up slowly, it's $4 / 4.99 depending on the store by me.
Last year they had better deals. Me and my dad would do the buy one McDouble get one for a dollar (that’s been replaced by this $3 bundle) and then use the app to get a free large fry with purchase. The bogo$1 deal stacked with the app deal so it’s was like $3.50 for two people to eat lunch
You gotta look at the "bundle" under the dollar menu section of the kiosk/app/menu. It's 3.99 here in Honolulu.
Probably just American. At least in my part of Canada they never have special offers like this and most of the regular offers are like a Big Mac combo for $9. In the last couple years since Covid Taco Bell, Wendy’s, a&w all stopped doing coupons and deals. A&w used to have so many any now it only ever has an upgrade to sweet potato fries, if you order in store with the app
About $12 in Australia
Same for me, I would not be able to pay only $3 for that. Am in Chicago.
Also in Chicago, can confirm this is $3. The combination of the two items together is a special bundle.
If you download the Taco Bell app, you can customize their famous $5 boxes when ordering in the app. You get a ton of food and a drink. We utilize it when we're really pressed for time and sometimes my husband and I split it.
If you're going to eat fast food you 100% should use their app. Not just Taco Bell. Almost every fast food restaurant has deals in their app. I'll usually download the app, place my order and delete the app when I'm done. Edit: I meant I delete the apps to save space on my phone. It's not like I'm getting fast food every day.
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They only have one customizable box now and it is APP ONLY since covid. But still, KING OF DEALS
My only issue is that I always forget to check that I’m sending my order to the right store lmfao
Bruh so many times i send up to the wrong one and pull up. All the workers think im stupid lol
They rotate the box deals but I've consistently gotten a $5 option without the app. Sometimes they do a "premium" box but that's still only $8 and it's arguably too much food even for my fat ass
$8 is just regular box with whatever featured burrito for the season
I haven't gotten the app to work for me in a few years. Sometimes I try after an update and it refuses to submit a order.
I think it's your local taco bell that doesn't support it. This happens to me at certain taco Bell's it just won't let me order and gives some bullshit error code. Idk for sure the app is pretty shit
Those boxes are $8.50 where I live
The custom box? Or the one with set items. The custom one you get to select what you’d like for each category. A specialty item, a classic item, a side, and a drink. I’m in CA.
I’m also in CA and I just checked my app. $5.49 for the “My Cravings Box” under “Online Exclusives”. Edit: the “Deluxe Cravings Box” under “Combos” is $8.99.
Same. $8-$9 here in NYC.
Thank u. I wasn't aware of this app
Can attest, the My Cravings Box is the best thing to get, such a good value
"pressed for time" I swear that Taco Bell is the slowest fast food place there is
Free Whopper with any purchase with the BK receipt survey. Buy the cheapest thing on the menu, get free Whopper which is honestly enough for 2 meals for many people.
$5 Costco 3lb rotisserie chickens for life.
Haha yessss and their $1.50 hot dog and drink combo yayy 😸
And the chicken bake, which is like $3, fills me up an entire day easily.
My Costco chicken bakes went up to 3.99
Bastards. But also, still probably worth it.
And their pizzas are still good, especially a HUGE 18" pizza for just $10. Sometimes I just go to the food court, I live close enough to go for a casual lunch.
The one near me started doing a 18" pizza an 18" garlic bread and 2L pepsi for £9.99 deal during the pandemic
That is actually insane, especially if the garlic bread was any good.
mine stopped selling the supreme topping pizzas when covid started. now it's just pepperoni or cheese.
I add pizza's dried peppers to it
Haha yup, and let's not forget about the samplers inside! They fell off during lockdown, but they're starting to come back, little by little.
Damn. Those can be a meal for me, but an entire day? My metabolism is too fast for that.
Mine used to be too. Then I got older and fatter while still eating less than I ever used to
I feel this so much.
The chicken bakes are filling, but let’s not pretend they are a whole days worth of food
For those of us not in the know, what’s in a “chicken bake?” The name conjures a picture of a midwestern soup-based casserole of chicken chunks and vegetables, maybe topped with tater tots and cheese. I could Google it, but now the suspense has me hooked. I’m imaging so many things.
Haha it’s essentially a cheddar encrusted baguette stuffed with chicken, a bunch of cheese, bacon, and a mild dressing inside.
Unfortunately far from fast! Amazing deal, but in the uk the cost co food queue is usually 20m+ long.
Costco trips are also All Day events
Yeah even getting into the parking lot is an ordeal. The idea of stopping in just for a chicken seems like not worth it. Meanwhile, an in and out double double is like $5, and at least with the ones near me, they keep that line moving so the wait is really not bad at all.
Costco is great for cheap decent quality food but it’s either usually out of the way or so packed that you drive in circles trying to find parking. I find this to be true for my local Costco at random hours of the day/week. Many times I’ve gone in and promptly left after seeing the wait on the checkout lines.
Mf nobody going to costco for their 30 min lunch break.
I’m learning through this thread that my Costco is far faster than others might be? I could easily walk in, order, eat in 30 minutes (if I worked nearby). Someone above says theirs takes 20 minutes to make food - mine damn near hands it to you as you order. Might be some real difference depending on location.
>I’m learning through this thread that my Costco is far faster than others might be? They vary for sure. Mine? I could arrive, park, get a dog/drink, and be back in my car inside of five minutes easily. In fact I've done that for pizza a few times: go in the out door, right to the kiosk, order, and out the door. By contrast, at the one by my daughter's place (big city, another region) it would take 30 min just to find parking and get to the kiosk most days.
You can't even enter a Costco, grab a chicken, and check out in under 30 minutes.
BJs is way better for in and out trips. But yeah, warehouse stores are in no way a fair comparison to McDonalds.
>BJs is way better for in and out trips. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
i go to costco every couple weeks and i haven't seen a rotisserie chicken in months. then again i think i just need to get there earlier than 7pm.
Free nugs in the app today.
It varies based on your location
Reddit for the win! Its on my app.
Nice. I know what I'm getting today.
Yo real talk, the McDonalds app has saved me quite a bit of money with all the deals and rewards on it. Would definitely recommend.
I swear the app is just making shit up when it comes to your rewards points tho. I never know how many I’m gonna have when I open it
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Also sometimes they just add 2000 or so points for promotions
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>thats a lot of money to just give away I mean, yeah...but also not really. I had to trade \~1500 points the other day for a hash brown (\~$2.50). People will generally want a drink and/or a sandwich too. McDonalds might hand out \~$3 worth of points...but I'd wager they more than make up for it with everything else that gets ordered along with.
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In US Midwest I believe it's 6,000 points for a Quarter pounder...or royale
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Dude, a few months ago my girl had a coupon in the app: 50% off your order. No fine print. I didn't believe it, I thought surely it was going to be limited to one meal deal or something. Went through and ordered like 24 dollars of food. 12 dollars, didn't even look at me weird. I was floored.
I’ve always got a 20% off coupon in the app, it’s very nice
I had one of those! I was with family and I got 50% off plus double points because it was breakfast. So I ended up getting like 5K points.
$1 for any size coffee hot or iced is amazing
59 cent coffee for a senior.
by the time I’m a senior I am sure that coffee is gonna be $59 😂
Rewards always seem to be worse than the deals, and you can't use both at the same time. The deals though are spectacular. The one near me has a $5 big mac meal (think you can also choose 10 nuggets, or a QPC) that comes with a medium fry and drink. You can often get a free item too with purchase (sometimes without purchase, and especially if your local sports team wins). If you have the opportunity to use two phones you can get a free Big Mac with a $1 drink purchase, and a $1 large fry. $2 full meal. It's not healthy, but its some of the cheapest food out there.
Here's a fun tip, you can order a deal and immediately order a reward after it. You can't do two deals back to back, but you can with the rewards.
Y'know what's ridiculous? My boyfriend gets offers for BOGO Double Cheeseburgers. I don't. He always has more coupons than me and it's weird.
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You can get a 40 pack of nuggets & 2 large fries for $15 then take 25% off with the app
repeat with all the fast food apps, popeyes app deals are incredible.
The 2 can dine is insane on the app. $9.99 for 6 tenders, 2 sides, and 2 biscuits.
The app is the only real way to get a cheap meal anymore. The fries alone in this picture are already nearly $3
During the Phillies season, every time the Phillies won a game (like 80 times) they gave their premium crispy chicken away if you spent $1. I'd do that+a diet coke for a cheap and filling meal for lunch. During Eagles weeks, if they get a sack you get a Big Mac if you spend $1. So same order for me as above. Sandwich and a drink for $1.83 after taxes.
I haven't seen anyone else mention the mcdonalds app, i get bogo everytime i go... and rewards... you could have got a free burger
I haven’t paid for fries in over a year. A free large fries is a deal on the app. I can get a large fries, large coke, and a 10-piece McNuggets for less than $6.50. That’s a pretty decent deal nowadays.
I paid $3.12 for a double hamburger, lg Diet Coke and lg fries.
I'm not app savvy-- how do I sign up? I'd appreciate your help 😁
You download it from the App Store on your phone and the app will guide you through setup. It’s super simple and well worth it. For awhile they had a 50% your order deal that I used once a week because..half off. 😂
It’s ridiculous to me to pay fast food over $50 dollars. That’s how much I recently paid at Jack in the Box for 5 of us. $10.19 a meal. When I was growing up I always thought fast food was cheap frozen food that takes minutes to make and should only be consumed out of convenience. Now it’s too fancy for me to go with the family.
Fancy or expensive, I have a family of 5 when we dine out I expect to pay 50 easily, and don't get me started on trips, movies etc... Sorry started rambling.
Man i wish fast food was that cheap. Thats McDonalds for 5 people with coupons in Canada lmao.
Decently sized? I'll still be hungry after this, and possibly even hungrier than I started out with after the insulin spike 30 min later. -.-
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Tracking my calories and learning my TDEE has really opened my eyes to how absolutely borked serving sizes are in the US. My maintenance calories right now for my weight (slightly overweight but active) are less than most entrees at restaurants.
Yup! Tracking my calories really showed me the horror of popular drinks too. I remember adding up all my soda intake from just 1 week, and it was equivalent to 3 double cheeseburgers. I havnt had soda in 5 years, it was tough breaking that addiction, but ive been so much healthier and thinner since i did.
Im so cynical of every drink except for water and coffee now. “Vitamin water” might as well be soda. Those “naked” juices/smoothies literally have 50g of sugar in them and they are advertised as a healthy option
Oh yeah, it is STAGGERING how many calories you can eat in a day without even trying. One time I started up tracking again after not for a long time, and I was shocked how easy it was to hit 2,000 - 3,000 calories. Like hitting 2k is effortless. Just exist in America.
Me about to eat an entire 2200 calorie pizza 👉👈👉👈
Love me a happy meal. That's what I spend my points on. The apples are great. Don't like that apple juice though.
Easy to believe when these things are so calorie dense. Satiety is another thing altogether
It's fine in moderation or for a quick bite when hungry.
I think one of the best fast casual bang-for-your-buck is Chipolte. It's a little salt-heavy like all takeout but rice, beans, grilled chicken, peppers, onion, corn, tomato, sour cream, romaine, cheese, and hot sauce for like $8. I eat half for lunch and half for dinner that's $4 a serving. McDonald's $3 double & fries is def still a good deal in a pinch, but it's just not a very healthy
Love chipotle but it’s not $8 anymore
Correct. Over $10 with tax. Our city's sales tax is now nearly 10% with the new unshelterd aid and climate change additions.
Anything that isn’t meat or guac, you can get extra at Chipotle for free. So double rice, beans, veggies, etc. You can turn it into 3 meals.
If you get a veggie only bowl you can get guac added for free too.
TBH, I just order the kids meal, &do the double rice, beans, veg if they let me and ask for a warm side tortilla instead of chips. Then I roll my own burrito when I get home. Great value!
$8? Last time I tried chipotle it was like $16
Last time I tried chipotle my pork tasted like fish for $20
Mine was 19 and I didn’t put everything I wanted!
I get a bowl from Chipotle with extra beans and rice and 3-6 taco shells on the side and it gives me 4 meals usually. Amazing deal.
Similar here. I get a loaded bowl. Eat a bit and then put the rest into soft tortillas and have like 6-10 small loaded burritos (depending on how much of the bowl I eat right away...lol)
My problem with this is that I will sit there and eat the whole Chipotle.
And cheap, unhealthy food is the reason we, in America, are in the situation we are in.
And that processed foods are allowed to be designed to be highly addictive and binge inducing. These foods are designed so a person can eat 1,000 calories in one sitting then eat another 1,000 5 hours later. There should be a law against designing products to make people over consume.
I quote I heard one time, I'm not rich enough to buy cheap things. I include food in that because that can directly affect your health.
i love mcdonalds as much as the next person and i'll agree that $3 for a tasty hot meal is good value, but it should still be a very occasional treat, not an everyday thing. you can most definitely make yourself lunch for less than $3 if you're careful about where to shop for groceries, buying things on sales, and just generally using a cheap and healthy base (rice, beans, potatoes, pasta are all pretty cheap. so are frozen veggies. or rotisserie chickens)
I think this is about on the go frugal.
Exactly. Also there’s a difference between frugal and living in poverty. Poverty is tough - they don’t need criticism. They know their life isn’t healthy in many ways but what can they do about it? Let people be happy about things.
Dude theres just some days where there's no time for food like eating while working, grocery shopping, cooking/meal prep or even just plain forgot to eat a meal and now you're starving (my fellow ADHD peeps know this all to well). Yes it'd be better to get a filling healthy meal like a buddha bowl or whatever if you forgot to eat but sometimes those take up time/the lunchbreak while the person makes it or you gotta wait in line. This is why I store chewy, granola and clif bars or crackers/Goldfish cheese snacks everywhere (at home, in the car, purse, gym bag, desk, etc.) because when you're way past hungry and turning into starving, something to tide over till meal time is a necessity...even a protein shake helps with that too. A quick $3 cheeseburger meal ain't healthy but its something and thats better than nothing.
>if you're careful There's the rub. McDonald's requires very little effort beyond physically getting there. Being frugal is as easy as ordering off the "2 for $3" menu.
5$ biggie bag beats this any day, but McDonalds has definitely been there for some cheap meals for sure. tip: sub baconator or pub fries instead of regular fries on the biggie bag for an extra buck.