I get a quarter pounder with cheese, fries and a drink. It costs almost $15. I can go to a cafe where I’m waited on and served decent food for $20.
the craving for absolute slop rears its ugly head every once in a while. I blame the ennui
Yep. I love high quality food and spend a lot of time learning to copy from chefs I like. I’m very selective about ingredients (e.g. fish, only so much is flown in daily and accessible to normies), often make my own sauces, and have a pretty large collection of dinnerware and lacquerware for accurate plating.
Yet like clockwork, several times a year I will eat multiple McRib patties in a single sitting. That shit has presumably the worst ingredients, the same sauce as every other year slathered inconsistently, and is presented in a cardboard box that has definitely gotten thinner. It is in no way worth anywhere near the price but I do it anyway.
Sometimes slop hits the spot. Plus I can’t make my own heavily processed slabs of… whatever those things contain.
pfft. sometimes its worth the 5$ to not have to slow down to cafe speed. and i like fast food, its designed to be overtly tasty
Currently waiting for my order at burger King. I was headed out the door to pick up some plywood in the nearest town, just as two of my kids returned from school. They asked if they could come too. We’re currently about to head back, but wanted to pick up something for the one hour drive back.
I personally have adopted a mantra of if I’m going to eat fast food it’s going to be as frugal as possible so I have all of their shitty mobile apps. I check them when I want fast food, and I generally won’t eat out unless I find a good deal.
I mean, McDonald’s is an insane ripoff. At Taco Bell I can get veggie cravings box for $5.99 - that’s a Black Bean Crunchwrap Supreme, Bean and Cheese Burrito, Fiesta Potatoes, and a drink. It’s like 1500 calories for $6 and takes 5 minutes to get. We get it every couple of weeks when we’re just feeling super lazy and don’t feel like cooking, and we can make two meals out of it.
Stop ordering the fries and a drink. Shit’s bad enough already. Dinner’s $5 and I bring a drink with me.
Consumerism is killing us and corporations will not self-correct until you hit them on the nose with a curled up newspaper.
Usually a craving (This is the only reason I go to McDonald’s once a year or so) or it’s something I want to try that I don’t have at home (like Jollibee or Shackshack).
I like to splurge on a Shackshackshack from time to time.
I can go to a cafe where I’m waited on and served decent food for $20.
How much do you tip on you cafe meal on top of that $20?
I genuinely have no clue. I only ever have it once in a blue moon if I stop during a road trip and don’t have another option. I wish I had money to open a fast food place with because holy shit, how can you even fail, given what is successful???
It’s actually more expensive than other options, truly awful service, usually much slower than it was in the past (I’ve literally never gotten my food in a McDonalds in less than 30 minutes in the last 10 years because they prioritize drive through and online orders), it tastes like shit and makes me feel like shit after I eat it.
I have rarely gone to get fast food in the last few years, a lot of the reason because of the cost. That, and quality has gone down a lot even with price increases.
The times I have gone, were because I was short on time. I miss the days I could overlook the poor quality due to the cost.
Sometimes I want cheap, fast and delicious.
Not always, but sometimes.
I’m not sure where this cafe you can get waited on is selling a hamburger, fries, and a coke, with tax and tip, coming out less than $20, but if it’s edible, definitely, I’d eat there if I had the choice. The difference between the cheapest sit down restaurant and fast food is almost down to nothing, but fast food is still the cheapest thing you’re going to find, and the fast food companies know this, which is why they’re comfortable raising the prices. They’re attitude is if you don’t want to pay our prices, eat at home, but we know you’re not going to do that.
I regularly go to “La Mañica” in Albacete, where you can get the baturro with a drink and coffee for less than 10€. That bocadillo is bigger than my arm.
I just did that today for lunch. I had a very good patty melt with fresh onion rings and a glass of iced tea for $22 after tax and tip.
I know it sound crazy, but maybe some days use the time you spend on traveling to and from the fast food place and cook home instead multiple portions of food you enjoy for a fraction of cost.
I like cooking at home. I make really tasty food with fresh ingredients, and I know what’s in it.
Similar to what others have said but with a slightly different take:
Fast foods have fortified themselves as the backup plan in everyday life.
Some people, including me at some point, have accepted that they are gonna have a meal or two a week when a busy day happens and no leftover is in the fridge.
Thankfully ive learned that as long as you don’t leave it to the last minute, you can probably do a decent take out.
That’s the neat part: I don’t.
Not anymore. I scaled back my fast food consumption quite a bit in previous years, but when the prices of everything skyrocketed to absurd levels during COVID I just quit going to fast food places and never looked back. I get Taco Bell or something like, maybe two or three times a year now and that’s usually when I’m on a road trip or something. Otherwise they can get bent as far as I’m concerned.
If I want slop it’s cheaper and honestly also easier to just buy a TV dinner from any of the selection of general goods stores within walking distance of my house and pop it in the microwave. And these days probably faster, too, because I don’t have to deal with the McAttitude or inevitably discover that the fast food place is trying to run with half the staff it’s supposed to have because its franchise owner is a greedy prick, nor have to worry about getting sucked into the thrice-weekly fistfight in the parking lot, nor getting caught in the crossfire because some fuckmuch is salty about not getting enough ketchup packets and decides to shoot up the joint.
Exactly. If they are just reheating frozen food, it’s easier and cheaper just to do it at home using a mircowave. Throw in some frozen veggies for added health.
