Cost of Fast Food

I think the cost of fast food has reached the threshold where it is no longer worth the convenience.

Huband went out and got a salad and a drink and it was 15 bucks!
One of the last fast food places I like is Taco Bell, hear me out, hear me out. Yes I know it's trash food, but
sometimes I like a good trashy fast food taco. There is one location that is always clean and fresh and really good.
All Taco Bells are not the same, I do know that. Taco Bell is still cheap but they have raised their prices BUT here's where
they killed it. Got my little tacos and I could taste that they are now mixing more of the "meat" with bean and other plant proteins.
The texture is totally off. Remember the days of them giving you a hundred sauce packets? Well those days are over too, now you have to beg for a sauce and you're still lucky if they put it in the bag!

a reply to: JAGStorm

I stopped at McDonald's to pick up breakfast for my 4 kids and myself and it was $40!!!! I don't normally do this but mom had to work early and I overslept lol. I'm not doing that again!

I quit taco bell long time ago. When they quit supplying green sauce.

a reply to: JAGStorm

It's probably for the best really, lol. Like you, I like raggedy food too sometimes. I wasn't raised on "caviar" by any means, so it's nostalgic for me.

It's not only fast food though as I'm seeing A LOT of products that have visibly shrunk in size but the price is still the same or higher.

Take for instance, a package of "Hillshire Farms Smoked Sausage", if you're familiar, comes in a "U" shape and is normally about an inch and half wide across it's circumference.

Now that same package is 4oz. lighter and the sausage is now about seven eighths of an inch wide; looks like a hotdog. Price is higher smaller portions. Chips, bread or prepackaged anything for that matter are all taking a significant "haircut" to suppress the true cost.

I don't do fast food anymore because that expense has been repurposed for gas and utilities. I'm sure I'm not alone.

I don't do fast food much but the other morning I stopped to grab a couple iced coffees and bagels and it was almost $20! I almost threw up but still gave the girl a small tip. Not her fault. I am in the habit of shopping at several places now - local farmers' market for fruits and veggies, local fish market, and only regular grocery stores for some other staples. I'm lucky that there are a lot of flea markets around me that have meat/seafood/farm stand products for cheap money. plus whatever I can grow in my own space.

Geez. Given these responses if any of you guys saw what a meal costs in NYC you'd strap up arms 🤣

originally posted by: AgarthaSeed
Geez. Given these responses if any of you guys saw what a meal costs in NYC you'd strap up arms 🤣

If I was within 50 miles of NYC I'd be strapping up arms, just because.

Occasionally, I enjoy a Hardee's biscuit on a lazy Sunday morning. Two bacon, egg, and cheese and two sausage, egg, and cheese set me back about $25. I guess I need to start making my own breakfast biscuits and putting them in the freezer.

BTW, using Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay biscuit recipe for bacon and egg biscuits is a must try. I highly recommend it.

Not Taco John’s??

Seriously, we have a major fast-food place and a local family-owned diner. The diner beats the arches in quality quantity and price, and did so even before the inflation and corner-cutting kicked in.

So unless one needs it really fast at the drive-thru, there are better options.

We mostly stopped the fast food ourselves, we love Chic Fila though, and now their sandwiches are almost 6 bucks. Which is too damn high if you ask me.

As far as Taco Bell goes, it was always a bargain fast food and once it stopped being so cheap it lost its appeal.

It's a shame cause you are right if you get a good Taco Bell it was fine, but there are so many chitty ones.

Everything is so expensive I have plans to triple my garden space this year. I’ve already scavenged most of the materials needed thanks to my landfill access. Should be able to put in 2 more 10x5 raised beds with the lumber and another 15 cut 45 gallon drums I used as planters.

The cost to fuel ratio for fast food is not worth it.
a reply to: JAGStorm

originally posted by: Athetos
Everything is so expensive I have plans to triple my garden space this year. I’ve already scavenged most of the materials needed thanks to my landfill access. Should be able to put in 2 more 10x5 raised beds with the lumber and another 15 cut 45 gallon drums I used as planters.

The cost to fuel ratio for fast food is not worth it.
a reply to: JAGStorm

I'm expanding my gardens too. I also stocked up on seeds as I see that getting more expensive.
I noticed this year the seed selection was dismal. I'm not talking about being out of stock, i'm talking about never being in stock in the first place. My local go to garden center went from four aisles of seeds to just one, and many of those seeds are repeats.

A real restaurant, even a local greasy spoon joint near the truck stop, is better than any fast food franchise. I'd pay more just for the service and atmosphere. Fast food has been crappy for at least a decade or more.

originally posted by: MichiganSwampBuck
A real restaurant, even a local greasy spoon joint near the truck stop, is better than any fast food franchise. I'd pay more just for the service and atmosphere. Fast food has been crappy for at least a decade or more.

Around here those places take too long. Sometimes you don't have an extra 30 minutes to wait for food.

Kinda funny, but I normally get Taco Bell after I do a large shopping trip at Costco. Something about that store always makes me dizzy and weak. I don't do samples and I can't eat Costco cafe's pizza or hot dogs. They actually have a lot more grease than taco bell.

I get my stuff from there and then hit the taco bell on the way home, but not anymore since they changed the recipe.

Folks ...

just tell me that Dairy Queen still has good ice cream. Burgers and fries used to be good as well.

Cheers

a reply to: JAGStorm

I waited an hour to pick up from a local place about 5 miles or so away Saturday night. It was so worth it. Still, even ordering ahead can be problematic when on the go.

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
Folks ...

just tell me that Dairy Queen still has good ice cream. Burgers and fries used to be good as well.

Cheers

Haven't been to a Dairy Queen in what seems like ten years.
We do Culvers in Wisconsin.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I always get my fast food at the 7/11. 2 burritos and a tall boy 5 bucks.

However Burger King has a special on breakfast sandwiches.2 mix and match for 4.00USD in the Land of Enchantment.

Or you can play the 11:00 AM Texas Holdem tournament and get a free lunch voucher at the casino cafe.

me and my husband went to a new fast food sushi restaurant calle Poke cafe kind of pokemon themed. it was really good. i was a bit nervous about the freshness of fast food sushi. but about $15 a bowl. reminded me of chipotle but at a sushi counter.
www.pokecafeofnj.com... but for the most part i cook at home. better tasting and cheaper
a reply to: JAGStorm

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: JAGStorm

I always get my fast food at the 7/11. 2 burritos and a tall boy 5 bucks.

However Burger King has a special on breakfast sandwiches.2 mix and match for 4.00USD in the Land of Enchantment.

Or you can play the 11:00 AM Texas Holdem tournament and get a free lunch voucher at the casino cafe.

30 years ago I got the worst case of food poisoning at Burger King. It was so awful I didn’t eat there for at least another 20 years, I tried it one more time and it was still awful. I don’t see the appeal at all. I don’t like McDonald’s either.
It has a very weird chemical taste to me and absolutely hate their french fries. Right now I have three places, Taco Bell (which has been ruled out), Chick-fil-A, still pretty good but greasy, and Qdoba. Qdoba is very location dependent, some are amazing and others are the worst trash.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
I think the cost of fast food has reached the threshold where it is no longer worth the convenience.

Huband went out and got a salad and a drink and it was 15 bucks!
One of the last fast food places I like is Taco Bell, hear me out, hear me out. Yes I know it's trash food, but
sometimes I like a good trashy fast food taco. There is one location that is always clean and fresh and really good.
All Taco Bells are not the same, I do know that. Taco Bell is still cheap but they have raised their prices BUT here's where
they killed it. Got my little tacos and I could taste that they are now mixing more of the "meat" with bean and other plant proteins.
The texture is totally off. Remember the days of them giving you a hundred sauce packets? Well those days are over too, now you have to beg for a sauce and you're still lucky if they put it in the bag!

I was literally just saying this to my wife. A combo meal with drink at McDonald's is like $11.00 I think around here. I can go to this local place that makes fresh hamburgers and onion rings for like $14.00. Fast food prices have exceeded the taste of the food. The prices are getting high enough that I rather consider other "fast casual" options or real restaurants.