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.
+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!
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
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
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
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.
The sausage went away during the pandemic for my local.
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.
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.
This being said: eat/cook at home. Rice based meals can be made for as little as a dollar per serving, if you buy in bulk. (Get a cheap rice cooker, it can do more than cook rice, save on energy costs, and takes out most of the hassle.) Potato based meals are also very cheap. Baked potato with a bit of butter contains much of the nutrients you need to survive in the short to medium term.
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.
You can steam with them or cook boxed meals.
IKEA is also a well known US answer.
Costco hot dog.
Little Caesars.
Rally’s (though it’s gotten worse).
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.
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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.
McDonald’s is still cheap but only if you use the app for deals and points. They want to drive people to the app to eventually hire one less employee at each store, which will save them more money. They keep the app cheaper to drive this change.
I think it may be targeted though. My friend who is on the road alot and eating fast food always has 30%+ off McDonalds coupons in the app and never any Uber Eats coupons in his app. I order more delivery and always have Uber+McDonalds coupons but my app only ever shows $1 Hash Browns and $5 Chicken nuggets box which I always thought was normal price.
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.
It amazes me that Taco Bell isn’t still cheap, considering the quality of their ingredients.
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.
They, and most fast food, forgot what they are and why they are there. Cheap and fast food. Not sit down and expensive.
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.
Don’t know about the same owner. But I know they are all franchises. Closest one is a major college town.
For the level of “quality” they delivered, they have always been too expensive.
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.
$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.
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.
We used to have it too good. That’s why I can’t justify it when I could go in any sit down place and pay like $4 more max.
That biggie bag was a nice surprise.only learned about it recently.
These 2 are the only answers I can think of. Since everyone’s dollar menus are dead and gone, the Wendy’s or Taco Bell $5 for 4 items is the best of what remains.
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.
$6.50 for a pizza here, pretty great 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.
Crazy bread was the only thing Little Caesars still had going for it. Now they’re half the size and never cooked through.
I just let 80s/90s Little Caesars stay in my memory now. They used to be the best pizza place. Now Tontinos frozen pizza is better.
The deep deep dish is really good with really good flavor. It’s a favorite for me.
Chipotle, especially for the amount and quality of ingredients. I used to splurge occasionally and get their quac (edit : okay that’s not… quite the right spelling for “guac” there:-D) for a dollar… I haven’t done that in years since it went up to like $3. Be careful of salt content.
I keep finding myself surprised that this is a complaint when there are so many better options available.
McDonald’s used to be the cheap place.
I’d still say they’re the cheapest of the big chains. An article came out a week or so ago saying a meal was $18 but that was at a specific McDonalds at some rest area off a major highway in the NE. The prices in the rest of the country are more normal.
The problem is if you want cheap, you have to use their app and be ok with the deals that are offered. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that it’s probably the cheapest option in the event I forgot to bring my lunch to work. I can get a double cheeseburger and a 6pc nuggets for $4. It’s not much variety but it’s something in a pinch.
If you’re not using the app, then their prices are criminal compared to what they used to be.
But it hasn’t been actual food in decades.
Why do you want to eat cheap food? Do you honestly have no other alternative that putting this garbage into your body is worth it?
It’s a net loss as far as I am concerned. You put this crap into your body and eventually you’ll be paying out of your ass in medical bills.
Take better care of yourself.
You: “No one is allowed to academically ask anything and I’ll attack you if you do.”
You: “I like to eat shitty over priced food while I complain about shitty over priced food being too expensive. I am the victim of myself.”
ROFL nothing here is “academic”.
Actually I don’t eat it or any fast food. It’s literally completely academic discussion from my end.
Funny that you had to attack again. I see the trend. Ciao.
You keep using the word academic but it’s clear you don’t know what it means
Chain restaurants often times will be more expensive than small, hole in the wall places. Part of that is the price of rent that gets passed onto the consumer. If you have the option, I’d say try to find a taco truck, food window (no seating area), or grab and go food from a grocery store.
If you’re in Seattle, Dicks Drive In is still relatively cheap compared to McDonalds.
Dicks isn’t far behind really. But in far more willing to spend my money there because the food quality is so much better and they do a great job taking care of their employees.
Having worked there when I was younger I can confirm they paid well and their scholarship put me through a year of college.
Go eat a bag of Dick’s.
Gladly
They used to sell a T Shirt that said that and had the Dick’s drive through logo on it. They might still sell it, idk, I still have mine so I never looked to see.
I live in a different continent and still miss Dicks.
Every time I go back I get Dicks.
Dicksdicksdicksdicksdicks.
Waffle House if you don’t mind dining in. They’re everywhere. They’re always open. You’ll almost always leave entertained by the sheer mixture of colorful personalities.
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.
I just pay a couple bucks more for substantially better food. I want to say something local, but honestly, Culver’s.
Culver’s is pretty solid.
Culver’s is on par with high school cafeteria food, tbh.
You must’ve gone to a pretty bougie highschool. The stuff my school served could be better described as food-adjacent.
That depends on where you live. Traveling around the country there are definitely some to be avoided.
