Americans are choking on surging fast-food prices. "I can't justify the expense," one customer says
Kevin Roberts remembers when he could get a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a drink from Five Guys for $10. But that was years ago. When the Virginia high school teacher recently visited the fast-food chain, the food alone without a beverage cost double that amount.
Roberts, 38, now only gets fast food "as a rare treat," he told CBS MoneyWatch. "Nothing has made me cook at home more than fast-food prices."
Roberts is hardly alone. Many consumers are expressing frustration at the surge in fast-food prices, which are starting to scare off budget-conscious customers.
A January poll by consulting firm Revenue Management Solutions found that about 25% of people who make under $50,000 were cutting back on fast food, pointing to cost as a concern.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcdonalds-price-increases-fast-food-cost-popeyes-wendys/Open linkView original on lemmy.world745
Comments408
If you can eat at a nicer place for the same amount of money, why would you eat at McDonald’s?
I would rather spend that money on a local burger joint. Give me a single named joint with a generic paper bag with grease stains on the outside.
Unfortunately, so many local burger joints have a "flagship" burger featuring a Sysco patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion for $17, sides extra.
I know a Sysco burger when I see one. Normal burgers aren't chode cylinders; Sysco burgers have goddamn right angles. They taste like they're about 40% gristle. It's basically just the "technically beef" parts of dollar store dog food pressed into the vague shape of a burger patty. The paper that separates the frozen turd patties is better, both in terms of flavor and nutrition. Fuck Sysco burgers. If Sysco reads this and doesn't like what I have to say, they can go fuck themselves until their asshole is as fucked up as a Sysco burger eater's asshole 93 minutes after their shitty lunch.
Sysco has variety in their products. I just checked and they apparently have 128 different beef patty SKUs: https://shop.sysco.com/app/catalog?q=beef+patty&BUSINESS_CENTER_ID=syy_cust_tax_meatseafood&ITEM_GROUP_ID=syy_cust_tax_meat
Though I'm sure a lot of them are just variations on leanness and package size. Point is, unless you're going to a specialty place, any restaurant is going to be buying Sysco patties (or at best, Sysco ground beef packs and hand-formed into patties) but the nicer restaurants are going to be using the better choices, and the shitty places are going to be using the cheapest ground beef formed into a cylinder and frozen.
I am honored to have inspired content like this!
I feel very lucky to have no idea what you're talking about, and that scares me
Sysco supplies a lot of restaurants with food, all kinds of places. But they have also optimized and helped with Enshitification by having restaurants mold their menu on the offerings of Sysco.
What ends up happening is every Mexican, Burger, and pretty much everything else that buys from Sysco tastes exactly the same. Mexican food is especially obvious.
I'm not sure this is an enshitification thing. That should have a degree of hostility with users. This is plain ol' low-quality product (made easy)
I chose to label it that way since all these places that had to make their own food are just making the same, tasteless meals.
I go to a mom and pop Mexican place and it’s the same shitty salsa, chips, and menu options. Same with burgers and so many others. I just need to learn to cook better quick meals.
Bowling alley food. It's food, but really it's just there so they can claim they serve food.
Spoilers:
Sysco provides a lot of restaurant ingredients/premade food. Your chili from fancy restaurant might just be the same damn thing from Wendy's, the dollar store, and the niche "homemade" food cart.
They might decorate it a bit differently once they open the bag.
This isn't a good or bad thing. It's how you can order fries in Maine and California, and they still taste the same. But also why some restaurants, side dishes taste the damn same.
Anything where you can get a burger bun that doesn't taste like it full of sugar is worth it over anything else.
The bread quality in america is the lowest of the low.
Convenience and familiarity, mostly. If you go to a McDonalds you know exactly what you'll get and you'll be able to get it pretty quick.
Name one burger joint that doesn't have exactly what mcds has and more...this comment is laughable.
People eat at McDonald's because of marketing.
I hate McDonalds, but on roadtrips they are usually a godsend. A lot of them still have a play place which lets my kids be monkeys for a bit, and the Happy Meals give them a shitty toy to occupy their time for the evening.
It sucls, I don’t eat there, but McD’s has its place.
::: spoiler spoiler , :::
I've eaten a lot of burgers and fries in my life and can't think of a single place that replicates a McDonalds burger and fry. Having the same menu item (as in a "double cheeseburger") doesn't mean anything as they all taste and look different from one another.
A poorly put together "meal" that very likely has been sitting under a heater for a length of time unless you went there when it was busy. And if it was busy, the chance for mistake is high and it's going to be sloppily put together. What so you can save a few minutes? Most places do take-away... so you call them, place an order, pick it up. No sitting 10-20 minutes in drive-thru. And you got more food, better food, for the exact same price and you probably got it faster on take-out. And dining in... you wait a few minutes... how do you not have a few minutes?
And who actually cares about familiarity? That's either saying, you go to that one place way to much and your food choices are predictable and boring. Or you're highly susceptible to advertising. And really, those two things aren't mutually exclusive.
::: spoiler spoiler , :::
At least their username is accurate.
Obvious food quality and health issues aside, I know some are still boycotting McDonald’s for providing free meals to the IDF. They also exploit forced prison labor to drive profits.
https://truthout.org/articles/major-brands-like-mcdonalds-kroger-and-coca-cola-linked-to-forced-prison-labor/
Seriously. For the same price as McD's I can go to In-n-Out. That's just comparing fast food places. For the price they're charging for a Quarter Pounder I may as well go to a sit-down restaurant.
Speed, for one. If I'm traveling across the country and I just want to eat and get back on the road, or even if I just need some breakfast before work, it's a lot faster.
My go to for this stuff now is truck stops. They'll usually have a fast food restaurant in them but also healthier options for snacks and meals
That nicer place is probably at home. Not that there's anything wrong with it. But I think all fast food chains raised prices? At least here in Europe it's not like McDonald's is somehow standing out as more expensive. Worse, yes. But that was always the case
You're failing to realize that the issue here is that it went from basically the cheapest food you could buy to more expensive than cooking at home is the issue here.
Millions of people grew up eating this crap cuz it was cheap. Now that it's as expensive as other better options people are starting to realize it isn't cheap anymore.
::: spoiler spoiler , :::
Yeah I can get a better burger/fry combo from a local restaurant that uses high quality ingredients and cares about having my business. There’s no reason to pay the same for low quality junk from a fast food chain.
Addicted to the absurdly high amount of sugars and preservatives most likely.
If you're in a hurry mostly.
Not only have the prices become absurd, the quality control has gone to crap.
For years we've taken regular road trips and use to stop at fast food places every single time. In the past 3 years we've repeatedly been served triple salted food, awful sub sandwiches, "cheese" burgers missing the cheese and condiments, and cold burger patties so old and dry they couldn't be choked down. When you factor in the amount of waste due to the lousy food, the actual prices are way higher than what's shown on the menu.
The ridiculous prices and regular bad experiences pushed us to a tipping point and we now find a grocery store along the way for deli sandwiches. It usually only adds about 5 minutes to the trip. Not only are the prices about 30% less but the food is consistently edible which makes the real price probably 1/2 of fast food places.
This is something we wouldn't have taken he time to do a few years ago, so for us there's been a big upside to the absurd prices and lousy food. We're permanently changed our habits and cut fast food out of our diet completely. We are now spending less and getting consistently better quality, healthier food.
Maybe we should send "thank you" notes to the various fast food corporate headquarters.
You can't pay your employees poverty wages and expect them to care about quality.
It has to hurt for the people who spend their hard earned money on a night off from cooking by ordering out at McDonald's, but it's a lesson we all learn the hard way.
it's very hard to give a shit when you're making a meal that costs $15 in 30 seconds when you make maybe $9/hr. the math is so plainly unfair and it's right in front of you all day
Yeah. When you entire shift could just barely afford a days worth of calories and nothing more I think you would basically check out.
All the fasst food places here pay like 15$ minimum, mcdonalds. Bk, Wendy's, all the big names.
It's still shit money but it's not THAT low.
If you're selling a product that you can't produce by paying employees a lousy wage, you have to pay what's needed to produce a salable product. This is the way business works everywhere and is true for both skilled and unskilled labor.
These companies have radically increased their prices while allowing the products produced to go to shit, and their customers are doing what customers always do when faced with crappy products and high prices. We're going elsewhere.
I usually go to the salad bar of my grocery store and pickup a salad with no protein or dressing, then go to the dressing isle and buy a bottle of the dressing of my choice, finally go to the deli and pickup a cooked chicken. At home I shred the chicken and store it in a container and every day after I just stop buy the salad bar and pickup a hefty salad for $5, add a bit of my shredded chicken and dressing with gusto.
Best lunch ever.
After trying a few grocery store deli sandwiches, I will avoid fast food sandwich shops unless there's simply nothing else available. The deli is there to get you in the store to spend money. They don't have as much of a financial incentive to skimp on the ingredients. It wasn't uncommon for me to get a sandwich so stuffed I couldn't close it
This is a really good idea!
Death of fast food is a treat we can all look forward to. Keep raising those prices geniuses!
I'm seeing more local places popping up. I'm happy with that. $15 for a big Mac meal or $15 for the Chicken tikka masala? I'll take the big Mac, said no one.
Full dinner for my family of 4 at McD's us $65.
Full dinner at my locally owned restaurant that offers takeout plus lunch the next day from leftovers - $70.
Eat local. Better food, superior quality, and it keeps money in the neighborhood.
That is fucking bananas in pajamas bananas.
That is bottom tier food for even fast food. $65??!?
It costs $65 for two dinners from my local Indian restaurant and those dinners can serve two. Our serve two for 2 days.
wtf
Same here, but the reason this doesn't work is because a bic Mac meal doesn't cost $15. It's more like $10 or even lower with deals. If you are on a budget and have no time to cook, I can see how the cheaper option can still sway the decision. For me, it's lower than that and will settle for Wendy's 4 for 5. At $5 bucks, it's absolutely worth it every now and then when I just want something cheap and quick.
Dave's combo $9.69 I assume that is a small combo. Local burger place $14.30 that's with a fountain drink 20oz and a small fry (sweet potato or normal ones). Their small fry will feed two adults, like five guys, they add extra fries.
Local place uses local beef, veggies, and bacon. Wendy's I get mystery meats. I'm hoping it's fresh but we know none of it is.
If you get an equal product at Wendy's it would be around $14.69. You will get the large shit fries and a liter of cola. I'll take the local place. For the record I picked the cheapest meal Wendy's had bc most families would look for a "deal". There is the cheaper menu which has jr burgers but my local place has sliders for more $4.45 compared to the $2.49 jr burger. However I can get a good medium rare slider with normal toppings for the $4.45. I will still take that. More food for cheaper.
Large big Mac is $12.21 so I was off by $2.79
It's not just fast food unfortunately. Sit down restaurants, even mom and pop ones are through the roof in pricing as well. Even groceries to cook at home are crazy these days with the pricing
Used to be that people went to fast food because it was good, fast, and cheap.
These guys running the show have managed to reverse all three of those points. Now fast food is shit, slow, and expensive. It's honestly amazing that people put up with it as long as they did.
The size of the patties are ridiculous.
They're smaller than the pickles now.
https://www.tiktok.com/@mookey54_/video/7367775183572143402
highly debatable...
That's pure greed at this point...Jimmy John's is still well in an affordable range. As a rule, I tend to avoid buying food from places with surge pricing as fast food is supposed to be affordable! It's not fine dining and as a result should be priced appropriately; they've forgotten their role in the food space and thus their business will live or die based on future choices.
Yeah, but their owner is a big trump fan, and for some inexplicable reason he's paying Rudy Giuliani 's legal bills...
Their subs are decent tho and probably cheaper than subway at this point.
Man, subway actually used to be decent too. $5 for a foot long is pretty much what it was worth. And if you knew what you were doing it could have been relatively healthy.
I haven't been in probably a decade now. But sometimes I still get JJ's. Just wanted to mention that like a lot of big chains, we really shouldn't be giving them a lot of money.
Sucks to hear that but thank you the info.
I could be wrong but I don’t believe he owns the company any longer, I think he was bought out.
Yeah by Inspire brands, the same people that run Sonic and Arby's. I mean I guess it's better than Yum! In quality...
But this is also Roark capital who named themselves after an Ayn Rand character and have several violations and creepy history as a private equity firm and are currently trying to buy all sandwich companies to own a monopoly on it.
If you order online, Subway always has a coupon to get footlongs for ~$7, which is about $5 from 2010 adjusted for inflation. They have a lot of perpetual coupons that they rotate the codes on about once per month, but there's always an up-to-date list on the subway subreddit.
If you order at the right time, you can get salmonella from the lettuce. Guess how I know.
Ugh, if I’m gonna get salmonella, it better be from delicious sprouts, not boring lettuce
if base food prices really make the old fast food economics nonviable, I expect the space to die off and be replaced by fast causal. otherwise I expect a lot of them to die on their own greed and the rest to get with it. it seems the fast food space is going all in on drive-thrus so maybe that's their future niche?
That’s just it, we can see the finances of McDonald’s, and they could definitely make their burgers quite a bit cheaper if they wanted to. But they keep wages low and prices high because it allows them to make massive profits.
Which is stupid to do in the long run, because a nice restaurant is the same price or slightly higher. But all the stockholders are concerned about is quarterly profits, not long term ones. Capitalism is remarkably short sighted.
Ride your quarterly profits and attendant bonuses as long as possible and don’t give a shit about the future because that’s the next CEO’s problem in less than 5 years from now when you golden parachute out
Fast food has been all in on drive thrus since the inception of drive thrus. Most places make about half of their money that way and for some it's far more.
We got JJ's a couple weeks ago. 3 sandwiches and 3 cookies was over $50. That was not worth anywhere near that much.
Yikes! On average (as a single dude) it’s around 19 and some change for delivery. In store I end up paying around 13 dollars! For more than one person, it’s better to eat at a proper sit down restaurant.
Surprised to hear this. Where im at Jimmy John's is the most expensive. I wonder if it's supply chain related.
I wonder about that, it could be they simply feel that’s a price people will pay there! Honestly, if I get a sandwich, chips, and a cookie for delivery it’s around 19 and some change. If I buy in store it’s around 13 dollars.
In addition to my original comment, I totally forgot about Culver’s which would actually be the cheapest; Their value combo is less than 10 dollars and mighty tasty! I visit both places as they are lighter on my bank account.
Fast food was affordable because they paid sweat shop wages. That’s not the case anymore. In any event.. I would argue with the “supposed to be” affordable comment. Just because it was doesn’t mean it’s supposed to be. As far as I’m concerned this can only be good for the health of the public- when fast food prices are at least comparable in price to healthy options.
Edit: lol at all the people comparing the US to Nordic countries. Apparently they think US franchise owners are the same as those in countries where making a profit is akin to a sin. Hahaha. They thought by raising wages, owners would cut into their own bottom lines. “Bruh, in countries where mcmansions don’t happen, this isn’t a problem.” Net profits have not gone up at all compared with the rest of the economy.
And apparently people really like their cheap big macs. Eat something else? And I’m sure many of them were arguing for livable wages over the past five years (I was). This outrage is hilarious.
Edit 2: Apparently people don’t know what “gross” means. If my costs go up, then my prices go up.. and my gross returns go up to cover both the costs (expenses) and net proceeds. I’m at a complete loss at the nature of these arguments.
McDonald’s NET growth from end of 2009 to 2023 was 4.56 B to 8.47B. A 186% increase. This is roughly a 5% annualized increase. I intentionally sought pre/post COVID numbers for a reason.
In this same time the US GDP grew from 14.47B to 27.35B. Almost the exact same rate of growth at a 189% increase.
Net profits are what you’re concerned with in your arguments when accounting for greed.. not gross. If anything, I’ve shown McDonalds is making less money today. But you know, feels are more important than facts.
My guy, it's cheaper to get a big mac in Norway than in the US and their lowest wages are more than double ours in the US.
Yes but the owners in Norway aren’t making more profits than last year.
The whole problem isn’t that they’re not making good profits, but that it’s not exponentially growing profits.
Greed.
I won't believe paying fast workers a liveable wage necessitates the rise in cost unless there's hard data behind that. Sure, it's likely a necessity to continue profit growth quarter after quarter, but I'd wager they're able to continue making massive profits even with having to pay their staff like they're humans.
I agree with you about fast food though. We'll be better off without them. Fuck em.
Hey, I can edit too: You never said gross prior to your edit, you were talking about consumer costs. I'm still not yet a believer, but I Iove you :)
Bruh, McDonald's exists in other countries...
A big Mac in the Nordic countries costs like a dollar more than America, and their workers get the equivalent of like $20 some an hour, paid vacation time, and the company actually has to pay taxes.
It ain't the labor that's expensive.
It's not the ingredients either.
It's the profit rate to keep shareholders happy
If that arrow always has to go up, it's the one thing that's literally impossible to ever go down.
McDonald’s in Europe charges similar prices to America but pays living wages to their employees.
McDonalds gross profits are $14.68B over the last 12 months with over 9% year-over-year growth.
They aren't struggling and other than covid (which just held steady for a few years at $10B), the trend has been going up, not down, not stagnant for many years.
Remember that's gross profits. If wages were hitting them hard, then we'd see the trend decrease but that isn't what happened or is happening.
Yes, you’re comparing COVID lows with today’s returns. That’s perfect. Not that I give a damn about franchise returns. I just don’t eat there.
Do you have any idea what “gross” means? You’re literally including the increase to wages in your argument.
I don't think anyone actually thought that.
They're simply making the point that the problem is not the wages paid to the employees, as you imply, but the obscene salaries paid to executives and franchisees.
That the American execurives and franchisees are not going to take the necessary steps to correct that problem pretty much goes without saying, but that doesn't in any way change the fact that that is the problem
The profits today aren’t any different than the profits from 15 years ago (when fixing for economic growth). I’ve already done the math. The only significant variable that’s changed here is wages. I.e., expenses.
Undoubtedly.
And that in no way contradicts, or even really addresses, my point, which is not about overall expenses, but about the distribution of them - the portion that goes to employee wages vs. the portion that goes to executive compensation packages.
Why are you complaining that wages are on the increase? Who’s paying you?
Point out that complaint please.
And you read that as a complaint? That’s your issue if you interpret plain facts as complaints. Feel free to read a little more thoroughly.
2023, McDonald's net income $8.5B on $25B revenue, or 34% net profit margin.
2009 net income $4.5B on $23B revenue. 20% profit margin.
Over the time period that you picked, their profits - the money that they don't pay to either workers or farmers - nearly doubled as revenues barely changed.
Fast food absolutely still pays well below a living wage in most of the US
Hey McDonald's.
This isn't reddit so you probably won't see this.
Hashbrowns cost $1. Figure it out. Not here to haggle.
Also can someone sue these MFS giving deals through apps? Like "sorry homeless guy pan-handling out front, medium fry is only free if you have a $200 phone! Sucks to suck." How is that ok?
Jack in the Box still has 2 tacos for $0.99... if you order through the app. If you don't use the app, they're over $2. Those tacos aren't worth it.
I have vague memories of there being a law that you're supposed to just be able to ask the cashier to apply any discounts you know about at the cash register?
This is absolutely not real. I mean just think about it for a second.
I thought about it for a second, and could see it being an accessibility law passed for this very type of thing. Kind of like how (in the US) you must always be able to join a sweepstakes without paying any money (usually you mail them your name and address) even if the way they want you to join us by buying product or something. But anyway, I don't actually know about that coupon thing.
Accountability? In the US? For corporations? Favoring people??
The "No Purchase Necessary" isn't about giving everyone fair access to the winnings, it's about being legal even where gambling is not, since "maybe winning" something in exchange for money is either illegal or highly regulated throughout the US.
Ah, I didn't know! Thanks for the info.
There is a law in the US that any x for y deal must be sold at the ratio unit price.
So like "10 for $10!" Means they are breaking the law to sell them at a price more than $1 for 1.
The caveat is packaging. E.G. Marlboro can wrap two packs of cigarettes and call it a Buy One Get One deal which is not the same. Weird little loopholes.
Hashbrowns from McD is $2.19 here lol. I stopped buying them long time ago.
Hash browns used to be $.90 ea or 2 for $1.
The apps are fucking awesome though.
I literally get free burgers with no purchase required regularly at the moment thanks to a fast food app.
I'm surprised to see all the replies about the McDonalds app and how its actually a great deal.
Most companies are doing this now, and giving free food regularly as an incentive to keep using it.
Why would these companies spend money to keep us using the app, and keep it installed?
The truth is, they make far more off selling your data then they spend giving away food periodically. Look at the permissions the app needs under the guise of "making it easy to tell when you are near a McDonalds so we can start cooking your food!".
Lemmy is supposed to be better about privacy and such than this.
That's not the only motive. The other is that if people are in the habit of using the phones and kiosks to place their orders, then that's less money spent on people stuck on order taking. I'd even speculate that is the primary driver of "discounts in the app".
For many of the restaurants, I'm actually in favor of tapping in the order, since it's less likely to screw up getting the order right when I'm tapping it in.
I think this is a case where people might actually prefer the kiosks over the cashiers, since like you said, the kiosk doesn't vet your order wrong.
There can be multiple reasons to do things, and they can definitely add on new ideas on top 9f old ones when they realize an avenue to make more money.
I'm not even saying noone should use these apps, just be aware of what the cost actually is.
I hope people in general figure out this whole "free" stuff scam soon. Drug dealers have been giving out "testers" for hundreds of years but I guess people just assume they aren't part of the "easy to deceive" crowd.
Give me a fucking break.
All big companies are keeping tabs on socials, incl. Lemmy. You think you're special for using Lemmy? 🤪
There's not enough of us for any movement here to make their stock price move.
They don't care. It would be a bad use of their resources.
They will eventually, but they don't.
Keep convincing yourself that you're special.
Are you really that dumb to think your comment isn't scanned by companies?
😂
Smart comeback!
Well, I just spent a good 5 minutes in Lemmy and encounter nothing but white trash. I am certainly gonna go outside again, but not of your command, wanna-be-master. I'm not your fucking slave.
No one likes you.
They’ve either been banned or deleted their account hahaha
Of course, because people here hate Asians, as I have been trying to point out. Luckily your racist friends like you. Now go dig a hole please, and drop your mom in it first. You motherfucking racist barbarian baboon brain.
I was running between work and meeting friends for drinks last week. Lost track of time and it got past 10pm. On the way home, saw a Burger King drive-in. Haven't had fast food in years (we eat at home a lot). What the hell.
Two discoveries:
For that kind of money, you can do much better. Lesson learned.
I've got a couple of sealed packs of peanuts in the glove box.
Almonds also work really well for an emergency snack.
I also keep a few packs of Poptarts in case my kids lose their minds.
Jerry Seinfeld has joined the chat.
Overdramatic headlines to try to make this more exotic and mysterious than the reality - YOU GREEDY FUCKS HAVE INTENTIONALLY TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF EVERYONE SINCE THE PANDEMIC STARTED. It was never acceptable and you finally pushed fast enough to even upset the wealthy and those who spend outside their means.
You are all broken humans. You chase endless growth without purpose, you are a disease.
News headlines gonna be like "millenials are bankrupting an American institution, the fast food industry"
They need to make up their mind whether they want us on this or the avocado toast
Avocado toast is probably cheaper at this point
Actually I still can get avocados for a dollar a piece and you only use half for some toast plus a single slice of bread and an egg and a some hot sauce....
I think avocado toast literally is the cheaper option.
But it's really just older people seeing constant access to specialty foods that were rarer and thinking if we are burning the planet down to have produce whenever we want it then it must be better than it was back when you couldn't.
Tbf I think the avocado toast outrage was over people paying inflated prices at a restaurant for something so easy and cheap to make at home, not the dish itself or any of its ingredients ever being a luxury.
Mmm, I may need to have that for dinner tonight!
In 2024, pointing out that costs have been down for a couple years now and increased pricing is just greed makes you a dirty communist, even to liberals.
They can fly their little pride flag but it turns out there's only one class they'll REALLY go to bat for and its the owner class.
tHe MaRkEt WiLl ReGuLaTe ItSelF! Okay sure, for the most profit without regard for the consumer. Corporations need a heavy hand.
All of the megacorps are raising prices because they know consumers cannot do anything about it.
Meanwhile, wages can't keep pace with inflation because, "tHaT wOuLd MaKe ThE pRoBlEm WoRsE" Yes it would, but only allowing huge corporations to do that shit makes the class disparity worse and not allowing individuals to match is boiling a frog in water.
The ridiculous part of this is that fast food is already subsidized by cheap corn, soy and dairy so their customers are getting screwed at both ends. I'm guessing we'll see record fast food profits soon if we haven't already.
good. Maybe people will stop eating shit
It was fine when it was an occasional treat that parents would take their kids to. It was terrible when people began to rely on it for daily consumption.
::: spoiler spoiler , :::
As an occasional thing, it’s perfectly fine.
::: spoiler spoiler , :::
But it's not even cheap, that's the whole point of the article.
::: spoiler spoiler , :::
wendys $4 meal still exists and tastes better imo
The formerly $4 Wendys meal is $7 here.
::: spoiler spoiler , :::
If you're that broke you'd cook your own food. I think the term you're looking for is lazy
::: spoiler spoiler , :::
depends on the country. mcd in japan is like gourmet big kahuna burger compared to usa
its actually way better than it was a decade or more ago. they actually imporved the food at one point. not that it makes is much better in any way except in comparison to itself. that being said there is a lot of fast food places and they were quick and consistant. I have cut down myself due to prices.
Explaining a dystopia to an american: imagine no burgers
🎵 Imagine there's no burgers It's easy if you try Imagine paying $8 For the apple pie 🎶
I'd rather be dead.
And itll be spun into blaming the cost on pay increases of the workers
Literally in the article...
Yeah they dont waste time
I've been seeing a metric fuck ton of articles pop up about California's recent wage hike and blaming the price hikes on that.
Only 25%? Who hasn't cut back, even if it's subconsciously?
I know it's just an anecdote, but my wife and I make a lot more than that and we've had to cut how often we get fast food because it's become way too expensive.
Shit, half the time we just get sit-down service because the cost isn't that much higher. Why would we get low quality fast food for $30 when we can go to a local sit-down restaurant and get higher quality food for $40, tip included?
I was flabbergasted yesterday when I got 2 happy meals for the kids, a mcrispy and a filet of fish, and the teller said $30. My wife and I just stared. Wtf happened. We went there for a quick easy cheap meal while road tripping. Next time we're packing sandwiches.
are you still staring? did you end the road trip? you really just left the story hanging there.
I can get a full, wellmade calzone and drink for 8.15 at a nearby pizza place. I got two small cheeseburges and a small fry for 10.00 at McDonald's. Ridiculous
I probably am gonna get a lot of hate for this. Isn't that a good thing? Afterall processed food is the leading cause of most diseases today, most notably cancer. It's about time organic food is promoted heavily and incorporated in the policy making.
I'm not because I stopped going, fuck these assholes and their insane prices for shitty food and terrible service.
Fast food restaurants like McDonalds have eliminated all the reasons people went to fast food places.
And yet people still seem to go there. Things won't get better as long as people put up with it.
That's their choice but yeah, it's a bad choice. Still though, a lot of people have stopped going and a lot more have reduced how often they go. I don't think that trend will be reversing unless the offending places improve service, food quality, and price.
If I can go to an actual restaurant with better service for the same price with similar (or better) wait times, why bother with shitty fast food? You can preorder and pick up from any place too, it's not restricted to fast food.
It's not just fast food. They're getting the attention because they're supposed to be cheap, but the price of eating out in general has jumped over the last 4 years or so.
For example: We often eat at a local barbecue place, usually getting the same order each time. (During the pandemic, we would get take out.) I don't have the numbers in front of me, but when I looked it up a while back, I think we were paying ~$15 more now for the essentially the same order. Adding $15 on to a ~$30 order is a huge increase, as a percentage.
In general, our dining out expenses have gone way up since the start of the pandemic, but we aren't eating out more often or ordering more extravagant foods. The prices have just gone up. (When we go out for meals, we go to a mix of fast food and casual dining places, some with counter service.)
i haven't gotten fast food regularly in years (only once this year, trip to taco bell, feelin a bit proud tbh), but i have been lucky enough to WFH for a lot of that. when you're starving and want something you just want it, even if it's overpriced garbage. i dread the day of having to work an office job again.
what really pisses me off is the psychological manipulation: these companies think they can just rewire our brains with their dogshit marketing. ohh $3 is actually fair for 1 hashbrown. there was never a ""dollar menu"". they don't even list the damn prices on their website like a normal restaurant. it's so fucking shady and dishonest, the whole damn thing, the gray prison architecture, taking away the soda fountains from customers (and making the kitchen people worry about drinks as well). it's so so fucking sick. WE'RE the ones suffering, they're the ones looking at graphs and DESIGNING our suffering. they don't have to pinch pennies, they don't have to pinch shit. fuck mcdonal i CANNOT wait to see them fall.
Good, stop eating that crap. Learning to cook was the best thing I ever did.
I live very close to a wendy's. Some of my friends say they'd eat there all the time if they lived where I live. I also live walking distance from a grocery store. It's cheaper and only takes a couple extra minutes.
I’ve literally had a cheaper bill at a full on sit down restaurant a few times now. The only time we eat at fast food anymore is if we’re traveling and it’s a quick choice.
Lol, I feel that. My 8 yr old loves McDonalds. The rest of us tolerate it. He got a McDonald’s gift card for his birthday and was thrilled.
At the risk of sounding like a shill...Wendy's biggy bag is an incredible value. $5 for a sandwich, fries, 4 nugs, and a drink.
I eat there like once a month at most but it's the only fast food I'll eat besides McDonald's breakfast when I convince myself I deserve a treat (also like once monthly)
It's still fast food so don't go in expecting a delicacy or anything but it's pretty great for the money.
I like the crispy chicken BLT option the best. When I'm feeling crazy I get asiago cheese on it.
Im in Canada and i was telling my daughter that when I was her age, I could walk into McDonald's with $5 and get a big Mac meal and a nickel in change. Now it's like $17+ for the same thing. Probably lower quality too.
https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/mcdonalds-ceo-chris-kempczinski-got-raise-last-year
Being friendly and just going on his base salary and not all the other piles of money tossed his way, in plebe terms, he makes $673/hour.
It cost damn near 40 bucks to get two Jimmy John's sandwiches delivered. I could make 40 sandwiches for that price.
Going vegan in the midwest has made avoiding fast food way too easy.
Especially when saying "no cheese" 8 times means you will definitely be getting cheese
My wife and I made a pact never to return to TBell after they messed up 5 consecutive orders. The final straw was them putting meat in her potato+bean crunchwrap...
Businesses will charge as much as they can get away with.
If they CAN charge, they WILL charge, and as long as you keep buying, they'll keep gouging.
I hate to say it but maybe we could all afford to eat a little less often. We have an obesity epidemic. This "bliss point" hyper palatable processed garbage is killing us. If we stopped buying it, and learned to just fucking live with being hungry every so often, we wouldn't be dying of heart failure as much.
My solution to making home cooking taste better than fast food was buying a fat sack of MSG and using it in everything. Truly it’s the king of flavor.
I mean, that's basically what restaurants do...
My friends and I were hanging out at my mates' place (he used to work as a line cook), he made us all pasta and it tasted amazing.
Turns out the secret was to add a scary amount of butter, and then add some more.
Salt, butter and MSG is the secret behind half the restaurant industry.
Sugar too.
The calories don't count if somebody else adds them behind closed doors.
Pretty much. But publicly MSG still has that “ooo scary and harmful” stigma to it. It’s no more harmful than salt or sugar, but some weird racism against Chinese immigrants in the 40s created that stigma.
"I ate 2 lbs of chow mein, a bucket of orange chicken, and 14 egg roll. the fucking MSG makes made me feel like shit!"
It was invented by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda who studied the chemical basis of kelp. Long story short he ate soup with brown kelp flakes and wondered why the kelp tasted so good, studied it and found msg. He then discovered a way to mass produce it from wheat and soy.
Man was a food genius
Uncle Roger that you?
home cooking takes time and energy.
Conservatives gonna use this to justify shooting down minimum wage raise smh.
They’re going to blame minimum wage raises, even though it was happening before the minimum wage raises, and in states where the minimum wage wasn’t raised at all.
This is HORRIBLE! If we DON'T give these places TAXPAYER BAILOUTS then we will be FORCED to eat at the cheaper LOCAL PLACES!
-Small Business Loving Republicans
It's actually serious enough that fast food companies are planning to reduce prices. It's unheard of.
I suspect this reckoning is coming for other industries too.
In some companies when the post-pandemic shortages hit for real and hard, they rose prices until they actually could source enough stuff to actually serve customers. Then a very vocal group of "told you so" folks saying the fact they made same money with higher prices and fewer customers and thus less expense was what they should have been doing all along. So even as shortages eased, suddenly a lot of companies switched to "low volume, high margin" strategies, e.g. screw most customers, we can gouge a few and make the same money while taking care of fewer people.
Now you can see erosion in the "high margin" businesses, because that temporary success and the extent it continued was built on:
I really hope so.
I stopped going to five guys three years ago when a burger, fries, and a drink hit over $20. I'm not sure the local place was ever under $10.
Wendy's 4 for $4 meal still going strong.
4 for $6 where I am :(
One Jr Bacon cheese burger is now $3.49 where I am, there are no longer 4 for deals......
If fast food prices get unaffordable, maybe people will eat healthier in the future. I cannot see a downside to this, at least not long term.
healthy food isnt much cheaper. at least in my experience
"Isn't much cheaper" is still way cheaper than fast food. Just changing your diet to something with less sugar, less fat, less saturated fat, less salt and a more balanced amount of carbohydrates and proteins is going to do wonders in bare months. Even if you keep your calorie intake a constant (which, with healthy food, it means you're gonna eat a fuck ton more).
Healthy food is cheaper not for the price itself, but for the net long term benefit. Less chances of diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, while improved vitality, energy and fitness levels.
Should healthy food be cheaper? Yes, it definitely should. Should the estate subsidize or cut taxes on raw food and basic items? Hell yeah it should. Nonetheless, while we still fight and ask for that, eating healthy at home is still cheaper than buying in unhealthy fast food chains.
What kind of food? Store bought TV meals or raw ingredients for home cooking?
Unfortunately, the cost of healthier foods has gone up at the same pace. Instead people end up eating less or giving up other necessities like downsizing their housing or moving in with parents.
Raw ingredients are still affordable. If you can cook, you are easily able to live on a healthy diet for small money.
Source: I learned to cook because we were poor.
Not really. An ever shrinking head of iceberg lettuce is about $2.50. A pound of the lowest grade ground beef is about $8. Bag of store brand buns is $2. A beefsteak tomato is $1.50. Pack of store brand American Cheeses is $4.50. Add in the other condiments that are harder to break down the price of, electricity/gas cost for cooking, water for cleaning, etc., and the cost for the cheapest, crappiest version of 4 quarter lb burgers is not much different than the $8 times 4 that McDonald's is charging and I guarantee the quality is lower (lower ratio of meat:fat in the burger, buns with more sugar and preservatives and less fresh, etc.) And this is just the consumables, not the having a kitchen to do this in, the pans, utensils, etc. Unhoused people don't have those things.
It used to be that because McDonald's, etc., got their stuff in bulk and used lower quality ingredients and low paid employees, they offered these products for very low profit because of high volume. Now the cost including labor, supplies, etc., is less than half of what they charge. So their profit margins are huge if they have the same number of customers. But their customer base is going to dwindle, and so the profit margins will shrink, but that's not a concern to corporations that only focus on today's stock prices and don't care about tomorrow.
If your replica the the mistakes of fast food, you won't get far. Have you tried other food options that are not burgers? Because burgers are a perfect example of expensive, but not really good food.
I was just giving an example. Sure if you avoid fresh produce, eggs, milk, or meats you might be able to make some cheap meals. But those things right now are very expensive. Beans are still pretty affordable for the nutrition.
Eggs and milk are still OK, pricewise, even if the prices have gone up. When it comes to meat, chicken is cheaper than beef, so there is no need to rely on beans if you don't like it.
The point is that a burger is basically a very bad food item that happens to be expensive, too. Not the best thing to eat in the first place, and from a fast food place even more so.
Eggs are around $6/dozen for the cheapest right now but have been as high as $14/dozen in the last year due to the shortages from processing company consolidation. And milk right now is $6/gallon. Plus with borderline cholesterol I avoid cow's milk. If a dozen eggs costs an hour's labor, that's not very affordable. Especially when rent costs more than most people make in a month. My partner lives with 3 roommates and only makes around $20/hr. Food has to be quite cheap.
On the flipside it’s forcing people to make healthier choices.
Cheaper doesn't necessarily mean healthier. I know when I was young, most nights I would make a box of rice a roni and chop up a hot dog to add in. It was about the cheapest meal I could make, but it definitely wasn't healthy.
I literally had cake for breakfast most days cause you could get discount nearly expired ones from the hidden end cap in Walmarts and that was cheap and gave me some energy for the day and then nothing but hotdogs and hashbrowns.
Yeah, cheap doesn't mean healthy. We should at least start with making sure people can get all the calories they need each day this country certainly produces enough of them and throws away so much.
I'm tired of malnutrition and starvation being looked at like a good diet for the poor.
Five guys is a terrible example, they've always been crazy, but even five years ago BK, McDonald's, Wendy's had dollar menus with burgers and other substantial food items that poor people could access.
Those prices are suddenly firmly gone, and it happened earlier then and far outpaced even the rampant inflation in the US.
I agree that people shouldn't be eating that s***** fast food anyway, but a lot of low-income people saw those dollar menus and cheap fast food as lifelines, and within a few years the cheapest items have arbitrarily quadrupled Quinton toppled in price.
There is zero practical reason aside from profit that french fries cost more than they did 5 years ago. Potatoes are just about the easiest thing to grow and there have been no diseases or mitigating circumstances in the past 5 years that explain why someone living on a couple dollars a day can no longer buy a hash brown for a dollar.
You are framing this as an access issue rather than one of predation.
Fast food chains don't make a cheap menu to help poor people experience their food, they do it to milk every bit of money from a populace.
Don't expect social justice from corporate entities.
I specifically said this is a profit driven problem.
You're swimming through self-righteous aggression to vehementally agree with me.
That's a bit harsh. No aggression intended, or apparent.
Are you OK?
I'm good, I dislike half-baked assumptions and lazy springboarding:
"You are framing this as an access issue rather than one of predation"
I specifically say that the problem is profit-driven; in no way is my comment framed as an access issue.
"Fast food chains don't make a cheap menu to help poor people experience their food, they do it to milk every bit of money from a populace."
Nobody said that fast food chains are trying to help people; I noted that the problem of increased fast food prices can only be attributed to corporate greed.
"Don't expect social justice from corporate entities."
No comment here expects or advocates for social justice from corporate entities. It is a fact that many fast food companies very recently used to have substantial dollar menus and no longer have dollar menus.
Your comment is immaterial as a reply and reads as populist posturing at the expense and disregard of the comment you're responding to.
If you agree? Fine. If you disagree? Fine.
Don't agree with what I'm saying by pretending I said something I didn't to drum up false controversy.
It was most certainly cheap. Remember the dollar menu? You could get a McDonald's cheeseburger and fries and drink for about $3 plus tax.
Post said 5 guys has been over priced, not all fast food and not McDs. And that's right, 5 guys I always found to be... "ok" but dreaded when the work guy would select 5 guys as "the lunch place" on his turn. Always about to spend a lot of money for a burger when I don't even feel like a burger that day.
Yeah, I love my local pizza place and I'm on good terms with the owner, but the prices have gone up enough that I've set a hard limit of only going there once a month, and there are some menu items that I explicitly just will not buy because they're so overpriced.
Cost frankly does define my dietary habits. The number one reason that I don't decide to grab the odd piece of vegan chicken to put in a bagel is because it costs 50% more than regular chicken.
Local breakfast spot... Used to be $8 for "two eggs any style" with meat and home fries and stuff. Used to be $13.50 for eggs Benedict.
It is now $14 for 2 eggs any style (get fucked), and... $16 for eggs Benedict.
Like ok, I'll do the eggs Benedict at that robbery rate Jesus.
The devil's bargain that the American Middle Class struck in the 70s was that women would enter the labor force and all the domestic work would be handled by a professional service sector. Rather than cooking at home, we all eat out at cheap kitchens. Rather maintaining a home, we just rent. Rather than spend a day cleaning, we have dishwashers and rumbas and cheap immigrants to do maid work. Rather than spending time outdoors, we get a gym membership. Rather than providing child care ourselves, we outsource to daycare centers. Etc, etc.
That deal has been breaking down since at least the Housing Crisis of '08, but its really kicked into high gear after COVID. What was supposed to be cheap industrialized outsourcing has climbed in cost by leaps and bounds.
You can argue that the original deal sucked. Establishing a permanent underclass to do the grunt labor of civilization had all sorts of awful knock on effects, not the least of which was the food getting saltier and sugarier and generally more awful for our physical health.
But the alternative is what? Tell half the population to get back in the kitchen? Boycott Big Agriculture? Just eat smaller portions?
I think they all tried to become semi-fancy to compete with restaurants, instead of focusing on being cheap, cheap, cheap.
That's even more reason to stay away from that junk rubbish.
And many parents working two jobs while living in a food desert have few good alternatives. Ain't got the time nor money.
That's how you keep folks scared.
I went through the burger king drive through a few weeks ago and got just a crispy chicken sangwich and the girl said €7.45 and I couldn't fucking believe it. I kept the receipt to show my wife. I also made sure we got a loaf of bread and some lunch meat to make sandwiches for the last few weeks. Honestly fuck those people
I mean… the reason isn’t good, but the outcome is. Maybe this’ll actually make a dent in the obesity epidemic, which fast food exacerbates immensely.
Note that "cook at home" is likely to mean "toss box of pre-cooked factory food featuring mechanically separated 'meat' and enough junk to keep it shelf stable for months into microwave or air fryer to reheat", which is unlikely to be any better, and in fact may likely be even worse (going harder core on some of the processing to last months in a customer pantry).
Yeah, that’s a really good point. It’s kinda horrifying what poor people are forced to consume in this country. The crap we sell at the bottom tiers of food supply is actively deleterious to your health. It’s awful.
Honestly, not just poor people. People with money also happily slurp up much of the unhealthy food.
Makes it easier to not eat that trash.
Taco Bell’s app is a game changer, can still get a box for like $6. But that’s the only place I’ll get fast food anymore
I feel real bad for everyone living in a place where Taco Bell won the texmex fast food wars instead of Del Taco. A 1/2 pound bean and cheese burrito is still under $2, the fries I get on the side are more expensive. They were bought out by Jack in the Box so I’m waiting for the quality to start tanking, though.
Joke's on you, we've got the three seashells.
There are two Del Tacos in my entire state (i didn't even know there was one), so they didn't really have a chance.
Taco bell is the only fast food I eat as well. The rewards are pretty good. Free cheesy gordita crunch? Fuck yeah!
Amen, them shits is fire
You might want to look at the T.O.S. closely.
https://www.allrecipes.com/mcdonalds-new-terms-and-conditions-8384841
They should look at McDonald's TOS closely because they use the Taco Bell app?
The article discusses McDonald's but hidden gotchas in the TOS are becoming an industry standard. I shared the article because if McD is doing it, then it might be a good idea to look at your Taco Bell ToS closely, just in case.
Clearly I didn't do a good job at making a clear statement with my previous comment.
And I’m not really anticipating suing a fast food restaurant. I know what I’m getting myself into when I eat there lol
That's like saying "I have nothing to hide, why do I care if the government listens to all of my calls".
Why do you think a fast food corporation would want their customers waive their legal right to sue them...?
Why would I care? I’m assuming the risk by eating there in the first place. And anyway, I’m not a litigious person, if I got sick or something I’d just chalk it up as a L and go on with my life
What if you couldn't just go on? What if their negligence seriously and permanently harmed you i.e. burns from scalding coffee, toxic chemical contamination, etc.?
Is the risk of hospitalization, or major surgery, just an L to shrug off?
Again, I ask you: why do you think a fast food company would want to sneak in an arbitration clause?
Dude just don't eat there, it's fine. I'll continue to eat there using the app, idgaf
In theory this will mean a more healthy population, as people start cooking food at home, instead of eating fast food.
Sucks for people on the move though.
AntiCommercial-AIlicense(CCBY-NC-SA4.0)You're not wrong, but I'm still betting that stuff you buy from the supermarket and cook at home will be healthier than what's cooked at a fast food joint.
AntiCommercial-AIlicense(CCBY-NC-SA4.0)The biggest issue is breaking the habit - when people are building new habits, some portion are going to make healthier decisions (Though you're right, some will continue doing the next lowest effort option)
except that the prices of food as a whole are going up right alongside fast food.
::: spoiler spoiler , :::
Who cooks three meals for themselves? Just skip breakfast.
Cook fast meals. Meal prep.
Regardless, stop eating garbage fast food.
::: spoiler spoiler , :::
Not saying you're wrong in some cases, but I buy these pre-cooked meals at Costco, where all you have to do is heat them in a pan/oven and serve, then they're quick to do (and I'm a horrible cook to boot).
But I get it, it comes down to how much money you have, and how much time you have to spend to make how much money that you have.
But the bottom line is, at the end of the day, for practically everyone, eating home cooked meals is going to be better for them, than just sustaining off of fast food meals from outside 24/7.
AntiCommercial-AIlicense(CCBY-NC-SA4.0)::: spoiler spoiler , :::
I never said you did. I was just saying that eating some Costco sold food that you have to prepare in your own home would be preferable than eating fast food 24/7.
AntiCommercial-AIlicense(CCBY-NC-SA4.0)::: spoiler spoiler , :::
I'm talking about overall which scenario is healthier/better to be eating, outside food versus home cooked food, specifically what ingredients each uses and how each one is prepared.
You're misinterpreting what I'm saying, and missing the overall point being made.
It's not a quantity issue in and of itself, it's which of the two scenarios you choose whenever you want to eat.
AntiCommercial-AIlicense(CCBY-NC-SA4.0)I can make tastier, cheaper and healthier burguers than McDonald's at home faster than the delivery itself. It's just a matter of practice. I really don't get how they can justify their prices at this point.
Re: the comments here I'm not for a moment buying the "too busy to cook, must eat fast food" argument or similar arguments portraying fast food as, why, almost necessary in this busy day and age! If you don't want to cook (I don't want to if I can avoid it, but do it anyway occasionally and usually make several days worth of dish X at a time to minimize my cooking time), you can easily go to you nearby Winco/Walmart/Aldi/etc and load up on some interesting frozen dishes for way, way less $ than the prices I'm seeing mentioned here. And I'm not talking about some kind of 1960s "TV dinner" things either - bogus stereotype of the concept. Even Trader Joe's (where you shouldn't shop b/c anti-union) is comparatively cheap and has super interesting frozen stuff. No time to cook tonight? Well just pop your frozen dish out of the freezer and into the microwave and five minutes later you've got an actual "meal" of sorts in front of you, and likely one with 1/10th the calories of that "meal" you got from McFatsos at 5x the price.
Ah, but it won't be DEEP FRIED goodness and lots and lots and lots of volume and lots and lots of pure concentrated sugar in that totally mandatory fast food dessert. No, you'll probably be getting a relatively (to McFatsos) small-ish portion and it probably won't have started its life being deep-fried and it might just have some interesting veggies ... and no dessert unless you explicitly microwave something else.
This Will Not Stand! Must have fat and more fat and more deep fry and more sugar .... that's a "meal" ... and must have it because, er, oh yeah, "no time". Yeah, that's it, no time.
Americans are simply addicted to garbage food (fat/sugar) and in tremendous quantities and if they don't get it, well now, the world is going to hell clearly.
Partial source: worked in fast food in HS (McD's clone) for a few years and did pretty much every task there was to be done in the "kitchen". The "kitchen" being, in that case, a grill for cooking greasy burgers and prepping greasy bacon and a deep fat fryer for frying up those potatoes in bulk and also the "tots" (same grease as the fries) and also the frozen "pie" concoctions (same grease as the fries).
Eating this crap if you have a grocery store anywhere nearby and a microwave is completely unnecessary but people do it anyway because it tastes soooo good! .... because of grease and sugar.
OK if you're on the road all the time, a trucker or on an extended road trip, you have to figure out something cheap/healthy, but pretty much every motel room I've ever rented has come with a fridge and a microwave and I've had no problems figuring out a workable solution with the hardware available.
Say "no" to garbage "food" addiction and you'll save a fortune.
What also stinks is that most apartment rentals have a kitchen that has enough cabinets to store:
CHOOSE ONE
so eating take out or fast food is practically required.
Sitting in my apartment sobbing while trying to eat my pots and pans.
Yup. But as a tip you can store cookware in the oven, that lets you get like 1.5 of the options and if you are willing to give up some space thrift stores sometimes have cheap shelving you can use as a makeshift pantry against one of the walls.
I actually use a table I removed 2 legs from and have it using the windowsill instead just so I could have some useable counter space.
My puzzle skills are always getting a workout trying to figure out cooking.
It's currently $13 for a regular hamburger at 5 Guys down in Miami.
Once the cost was almost as much as a sit-down Restaurant. I just switched to them. Haven't been to a fast food place in 2 to 3 years
Boycott!
And eat WHAT? something healthy that grows in the dirt with toilet water?
I get the reference, but as an actual suggestion it’s a little thoughtless.
Don't be conceited. And cook your own food at home. You're welcome.
Let’s all just start making our own food at home and having friends and family over.
Grocery store profits have entered the chat
Let’s all just stop eating. Who needs food. Water and sunlight.
Nestlé has entered the chat
Wow that username. That will get you up in the morning.
The thought of it is getting me up in the evening.
Economists don't rrally think we need food.
https://theintercept.com/2023/10/29/william-nordhaus-climate-economics/
Friends?
Family? 😬
My behavior has changed completely. Stay in and make stuff from scratch with my friends instead of going out
The health conscious me, it sounds like a good thing if for very wrong reasons.
Well Subway, just about the only place you can get healthy fast food, only raised their prices 39%, in comparison with Popeyes and Jimmy Johns, whose prices rose 82% and 62%, respectively.
A big Mac is like 11 bucks right now. The fuk.
Man.. I remember back in 2009 a double quarter pounder with cheese, large meal, was something like $6.35 after taxes. Now it's $11.07.
Boycotting McDonalds and KFC over their support for the genocide in Gaza is a good idea anyways. Unless you want to feel like eating the meat of little children.
Don't eat that shit. Problem solved.
When I’m feeling wildly self-destructive, and my impulse control drops to zero, and I happen to be hungry, I might grab something from McDonalds, and I’m always shocked at how many other people are there. A lot of you are trapped so deep in corporate propaganda I don’t think there’s hope of escape for you.
Like, one guy lists how to make a burger with groceries because he can’t imagine anything else. And other folks are like: this is how poor people eat. Some else is like: Rice-a-Roni and hot dogs are the cheapest thing i could find; as if you don’t know what price per pound is. When I was so poor I couldn’t afford enough calories to maintain weight, I ate plain rice that I boiled and threw cheapest cheese on top; apples and frozen broccoli too. Only time I had a good BMI, ironically.
Some big plurality of our population is hypnotized & drugged to be thinking fast food is ok. What is wrong with so many people? Don’t let it end like this, please. Assume you are a brainwashed pig on a work treadmill of death. How are you going to get off of it? Like that’s the start of your real-life puzzle adventure video game. Now go! You have just pressed “Start”.
We have this local market with an excellent hot food and submarine bar in my work neighbourhood, and it's the only place I ever go. Not only is it super inexpensive, the people who own it won the lottery some years ago and just don't charge you tax. The price says 6 dollars, it's 6 dollars. You buy a few things, she rounds down the price to 10 bucks at the register. The place is always packed with those in the know, and they must make a ton of money even doing it this way. Explore your local hole in the wall places and support local and eat better if you are able. It's worth the effort and time rather than giving McDonald's more money.
We also have a local dumpling place where I get a huge box of veggie dumplings for 8 bucks. It's just a little nothing of a storefront. It's fantastic.
Let's cook at home
Why do they choose like the highest price chains for these nonsensical articles.
Wendy's biggie bag is the only good deal in chained fast food right now. Otherwise you've gotta find a local joint with good prices.
I'm disappointed that instead of cheering for healthier diets, people deciding to turn to healthier lifestyles, eating less, eating healthier .etc
People are upset for price rises on things that give you only seconds of enjoyment and packs you poundage.
Small price to pay for helping allies worldwide. Maybe eat the bullets.