Local/regional chains seem to stay more reasonable, but honestly, local restaurants in my area are almost cheaper than fast food. A typical combo meal seems to run around $10-15, and you can find lunch specials and weekly specials for $8-12.
The food is way better as well.
I could go to Arby’s for a combo (roast beef sandwich, soda, and fries) and spend around $14. Or I can go to the sushi place half a mile away and pay $11 for their made-to-order bento box: teriyaki salmon filet, small salad, 3 gyoza, 4-piece Cali roll, and tasty rice. I haven’t been to Arby’s in years.
Love local but my sushi place lunch special for 3 rolls is $15 now Local authentic Mexican taco place has $8-12 options tho and the most amazing chorizo burger you’ve ever had for $12 with sides
+1 for local.
If it’s the same price, then you’re usually getting something much better for your dollar, and supporting a local business instead of a big corpo.
If it’s cheaper then win win!
A lot of folks are suggesting fast food apps help you continue getting cheaper prices on their low quality meals. But not much mention that you are selling your data to continue receiving those meals at those lower rates.
Where I live it’s the chicken places. I can get a meal and a drink from church’s or kfc for under a tenner.
The Costco Hot Dog is a 1/4lb hot dog sold at the international warehouse club Costco’s food courts. It is notable for its price, which has remained steady at $1.50 in a combo deal including a soda at United States locations since its introduction in 1984. That price has become increasingly low relative to inflation and spawned a cult following
From the wiki
The sausage is so good too but that’s not in the states IIRC
I used to be able to get a sausage at the one in Hackensack. Haven’t been there in ages though so who knows now.
It used to be, it has been a long while since Ive had or seen one, may have went away with the switch from Hebrew National dogs.
And as an added bonus, you get about three days worth of salt in that one hot dog.
It’s how I retain that resting heart rate of 112. I don’t even have to go to the gym anymore; I’m getting my cardio in just sitting here.
LMAO
Everything is more expensive where I am but local mexican restaurants have stayed the most reasonable (more so than chains). Chain-wise I think subway is still pretty affordable.
It’s cheaper to go to our local Mexican place than to Taco Bell. My wife gets the two chalupa combo. And to switch from chicken to ground beef, the combo is $13. Her standing #4 at the Mexican place is $8.75.
When Taco Bell was advertised the $5 box, all the local ones had it at $5.99. Now it’s $8.99. There’s one Taco Bell about 20 miles away that actually does follow the advertised prices. But it’s not worth driving that far.
Almost all of the taco bells near me still have the $6 box, and when I’ve traveled the majority on the road still have it too. I’m guessing all the ones near you have a shared owner who’s raised the price.
It amazes me that Taco Bell isn’t still cheap, considering the quality of their ingredients.
They, and most fast food, forgot what they are and why they are there. Cheap and fast food. Not sit down and expensive.
I actually enjoyed Taco Bell, precisely because it was cheap, fast, comparatively healthy with vegan options, and open late. Essentially since COVID they have raised prices insanely (NY Metro soft tacos are almost $4, speciality ones reach $8+tax(so $9) per taco), they are no longer as quick despite all of them essentially being Kiosks with a food assembly line in the back now, they have taken away vegan options and some of their fresh veggies like pico de gallo / played with their menu items too much how many limited drop food items can you do a year?, and many are no longer open late. Taco Bell could have ended up like in the Demolition Man film, but COVID ruined any love I had for the brand.
Panda Express! Why does McDonald’s even exist??!
Costco hotdogs
They successfully changed your habit to eating out by so much you don’t even consider making your own food anymore?
What in OPs post makes you think that they’re always eating out and not eating their own food?
They narrowed their alternatives to Macdonald’s down to other restaurants
And I suppose you make every meal at home all the time?
Yeah unless I’m away from home for other reasons than eating
I feel like Little Caesars is still pretty cheap.
8-9 dollars for a whole pizza? That I can get a couple meals out of? A pretty good deal.
You can get medium Dominos pizzas for $7 if you order online and look for the Deals. They are 8 slices which is 3 or 4 meals for me.
Shit is cardboard, but it’s pretty tasty cardboard and make sure not to sleep on the crazy sticks.
$6.50 for a pizza here, pretty great deal.
If you’re in the more western states (and even some parts of central) US, In N Out. One of the best quality to price ratio you’ll get.
In N Out has the worst fries I have ever eaten.
Costco hot dog.
Little Caesars.
Rally’s (though it’s gotten worse).
I got food poisoned at Rally’s four times growing up! No idea why my family took so long to put two and two together but seriously… four damn times.
Whenever I try to order Wendy’s, I need to buy 2 pounds of food to get over the 12 dollar mark for free delivery.
Jack in the box tacos are still 2 bucks and filling af.
Wendy’s Biggie Bag is a solid deal.
Also, Taco Bell, but only if you know what you’re doing. There’s a $6 box that gets you all you need for a meal, but I think you need the app to order it. Otherwise, your best bet is multiple items from the $1-$2 menu. The combos are a trap, stay away from those.
Taco Bell is not cheap anymore. Maybe before the pandemic, but they crazy now.
Different taco bells have different pricing, most taco bells have a $6 app only box that’s one of the best value meals you can get in fast food, but some individual taco bells raise the price on it.
For example, of the 4 closest taco bells to me 3 have the $6 box, but one charges $12 for it. That expensive taco bell has everything marked up at least 30-75%. It’s not the worst in the country though, there’s a taco bell in NYC that charges $25 for the $6 box.
I live in the South in one of the cheapest cost of living areas. I haven’t tried the app, but ordering off the menu is crazy. When I was in college, soft tacos were like 0.89 and cheesy 5 layers were like a buck. When I order my old order from back in the day, it comes out to like $27 now.
If the app box is anything like the ones they used to just have on the menu, then I really hope I can handle the sodium these days.
I remember 59, 79, 99.
Pretty much everything on the menu was 59, 79, or 99 cents. Those were the days.
$7.39 for a DORITOS® CHEESY GORDITA Supreme per taco, no extras past the tomato and cream from Supreme. For less then the price of two, I can get a whole steak taco plate just about anywhere else.
I get that, but these were like 3.50 a few years ago. I can’t justify it. I’d rather sit in any Mexican restaurant and pay like $11 for a full meal.
Chipotle, especially for the amount and quality of ingredients. I used to splurge occasionally and get their quac for a dollar… I haven’t done that in years since it went up to like $3. Be careful of salt content.
A lot of America centric answers, so I’ll give a more global one: Ikea or any comparable store which uses cheap meal deals as a loss leader to get you to shop in their store. AFAIK the costco hot dog is the most famous US example.
IKEA is also a well known US answer.
I love Ikea. I’ve never bought furniture there, just head up there and vibe in the display rooms for a while. Back when I still smoked, I loved going there high. Leave with some swedish candy and a hotdog. Love it.
Wait, what else do rice cookers do?
Sex.
Serious answer: In the past I’ve made apple sauce/compote, reheated meals, boiled eggs, steamed vegetables and dimsum, reheated/cooked stuff like soup, etc. etc.
Also useful as a bain marie. Apparently you can also make bread and cakes in them. Also hot chocolate.
Honestly, if I ever move to an appartment, I think a rice cooker, air fryer, and microwave would allow me to do almost all of my cooking.
It really depends on the type of rice cooker you have. But they’re useful for a lot of other grains. I make steel cut oats in mine a lot, which have a much nicer texture than rolled or instant oats.
We have all but stopped drive thru when out for a concert or other events. What we do now is pack some home made sandwiches with some chips, etc for the drive home.
I still do mcd sometimes when working but I only order off the deals or redeeming points for something. I never pay full price.
