What is the point of you anymore, fast food?

I discovered one of these food courts inside what I thought was a medical building. Everyone there was Asian so you know the food is legit. Im in Canada and $15 gets me a packed container of food overflowing. It costs almost $20 with tax to go grab a whopper meal. There’s also an Afghan place near me that will give you a big container filled with rice and salad, a soup container filled with Rajma masala and a side of naan for $8
There’s a burger commercial in my country where a guy is pleasantly shocked to learn his burger is. ONLY $5. $5 for one a la carte burger is somehow supposed to make me say “oh that’s cheap!” All it does is remind me that they used to cost $2 five years ago.
- All it does is remind me that they used to cost $2 five years ago
  Hey, but at least your pay also went up 150%!
- I have a local burger joint at which I can still get a $2 cheeseburger. It’s plain and everything is an up charge but that’s fine. A whopper or Big Mac clone is some $4.50, so like, it’s still pretty cheap.
  However, they have no seating, and it’s an old ice cream shop so just a big kitchen and a tiny indoor order/pickup window and 2 benches. And there’s always a massively long line. Takes easily an hour to get fast food there during peak, cuz nobody goes to the local depressed millennial McDonald’s (one of those sad gray ones)
Congrats. You just explained the problem of the West using a food analogy.
My local one will hook you up too. They throw in extra sides for waiting an insignificant time or give you the last few of something if it's getting close to closing.
you can technically split it into 2 meals.
The Chinese take-out by me goes for $14-18 dollars but you can easily split it into 3 meals. The only problem is I can't order my favorite dish because it's so good I end up eating all those 3 meals at once.
There's one of the problems. I don't need enough food for a family of four. I need you to give me an appropriate amount of food for one human being for $6.

Yeah, prices went up and the quality went down. The best thing to do is stop buying there. As multiple people already pointed out, you can get a lot more and better food for 25 bucks.

The fast food chains forgot that they aren’t actual restaurants. The customers have to remind them. Aaaaaaaand that’s the problem.

I bought a single Big Mac in rural nowhere the day before yesterday. I expected to pay about 4.50. Nope. Almost 7 dollars. 6.80 for single, cold, dry, wilted ass lettuce, dry ass cheese, sloppily made burger. I waited outside for nearly half an hour for it. Girl came to my window and said, “what did you order?” I told her and she still handed me a bag with a 4 piece nugget and a small fry. I had to go in and tell them they got it wrong, show my receipt which was stuck on the bag, then wait another 15 minutes for that cold, yucky sandwich.
The person who ordered the nuggets either left without looking or decided to say “fuck it”, because they didn’t come back in with me.
I would have done that, but I paid 7 bucks for the the shit.
That is it for me.
I don’t get mad when people make mistakes, and I wasn’t mad when all that happened. The only thing that made me mad was the price.
McDonald’s can kiss my ass. A few more dollars and a short wait and I could have got a banging ass meal just down the road at the noodle joint.
- It's the Satanic pursuit of endless profit growth that has driven these companies to Hell. For decades, they focused on expanding the number of stores. But eventually you hit a wall. Eventually the country is saturated, and marketing can only convince people to eat so many burgers.
  In a sane world, this is when companies would be content with their current size. Congrats. You won capitalism. Good job. Now just maintain your current size and pay out handsome dividends forever. No need to keep trying to grow.
  Well, that's not good enough for Satanic capitalism; the growth needs to come from somewhere. So they have to start slashing quality and raising prices. It's enshittification/late-stage capitalism. When you max out growth, all that's left is to raise prices and cut quality. Ultimately this does destroy a business, but Satanic capitalists only care about short-term concerns.
- Big mac has always been a scam.
  It has the same amount of meat as a mcdouble. They're literally just selling you bread.
They thought they tapped out the fast food market and had to attract restaurant goers.

My local burger, taco, and sub shops are half the price of the international chains, plus the food is better and the staff are paid more. Shop locally every time you can

I agree with the people saying that being able to cook for yourself should be considered a key skill. My birthday meal when I was a kid was called a jigs dinner and if my grandma hadn't taught me how to make it her way then it would have been lost. Having that said. We are talking about eating out, which is a thing that humans have been doing for awhile. I can get a feature meal at McDonald's for just over $15. Across the street I can get a half pound jalapeno burger with onion rings and a beer for about $20. We need to start giving value to small businesses. Because they do produce quality and value.

Boggles my mind to hear about getting McDonald's for $15 like it's a good idea.
- And then imagine paying another $10 for Uber Eats to deliver it to you cold.
Yup i got my grandma to teach me her secret recipes, got to spend time with my grandma and I know her amazing food isnt going to be lost
Jigs dinner
The fuck
Are you Newfie too?
- Hello fellow Newfoundlander! I was just about to comment the same thing when I saw jigs dinner!

I started getting gyros instead. It’s fast, as cheap as fast food used to be a couple years ago, and tastes better. Plus, it’s a local restaurant and not a national chain.

Sad to say gyros in my area are $16 to $20 bucks. Still since McDonalds is the same price I do eat the overpriced wraps on occasion.
- My condolences
That sounds like a great choice. A fresh Gyro certainly could be better for you, too.

People in comments saying to cook for yourself. I do cook for myself but geez grocery prices aren’t making it easy.

"Prices aren't making it easy", covers at least a decade I am not looking forward to. I wager that a $65 Xbox controller will become a $200 item in a couple of years.
I cook for myself and it's still not good
- Our produce and ingredients suck here in the US. It's all devoid of nutrition and usually gamed to look better than it actually is. Lots of things taste funny to me, and if it's not flavorless, it tastes like chemicals or metal. There's simply no regulation or oversight.
  When I have food that is grown or produced locally (and ethically) or food that is imported from Europe or even Canada, the difference is stark — I feel like I can actually digest and the flavor is night and day.
I'm not sure what your reasoning is here.
Grocery prices aren't making it easy, so buy from restaurants that are even more expensive?
Three cans of hoppin johns beans, one can of chilli beans, 1 oz can of tomato sauce, 1/2 lb ground beef several onions sliced, garlic. About $20-25 for this and if makes 5-6 meals.

Frozen pizzas are better then fast food. Even the lowest tier.

And the higher end ones are just GOOD.
Its a similar price to fast food, I can just keep a few in the freezer and I can add some little extras to make them more to my taste or chuck some leftover stuff on them to use it up.
Little bit of garlic powder, some cracked pepper and some chilli flakes...
Eeeew what? I mean fast food is trash, but i'd rather eat the cardboard box than a cheap frozen pizza. And if you buy an expensive frozen pizza you might as well make one yourself that is cheaper and better
Hard agree. You can also break them in half or into quarters and cook them in smaller portions. This is how my partner and I save money on eating out. We usually eat out due to some combination of being tired or lazy, or craving salty, greasy food. This hits all the major potential bases but keeps us from gorging on pizza or wasting what we can't eat.
Sometimes I grab a pizza from the refrigerator isle at my local Lidl. They're definitely not fresh or gourmet quality, but for 2.90€ and 15 minutes in the oven, you really can't complain
"than".
This is a baffling opinion. Frozen pizzas are almost always fucking dogshit.

That's McDonald's and Burger King here in Costa Rica.

Hence the only burgers I eat from there are the chicken ones

Are they chicken burgers, or just chicken sandwiches?
- Most of the world uses "burger" semi-synonymously with sandwich - basically anything where the main is a big hunk of meat

Mcdonalds is pricey and it sucks. Damn it, man.

Thing is, I make more than ever, but yet due to increased (mostly) energy costs, I can afford nothing.

Few years ago I was able to eat a few times a week out, but nowadays I eat at most a few times a month. Base price for döner was 6-7 euros, now they are starting off 12 euros. However my salary has not doubled. Lately, I usually just pick up take away food for the kids, not for us parents.

I was able to upgrade my phone once a year or two, now I've been using the same phone (even with screen cracked) for 3,5 years.

Best thing last, I'm a co-founder for a fabrication company. We aren't turning profit because everything is expensive. Our costs have doubled, and salary costs gone up 75%. It would be easier to just run the business down nowadays than struggle.

Only fast food that is worth the money is Döner Kebab. But man they went up more than 100% in price in the last 15 years.
I used to buy one each Friday on my way home from school for 3€, now they are 6.50€ at the same place. Still a lot cheaper and way more tasty than most other fast food, so I still consider it king.

Street food/food trucks are the real fast food now. Chains are just shitty restaurants
Yeah.. I stopped eating out at places that were "just okay".
Like I'm willing to pay 4-5 euros for a "just okay" hamburger. But for 9 -15 I expect it to be top notch. If it isn't top notch I'll fire up the old frying pan myself and make a burger/fast food for like €. 3?
Beef, veal, lamb or chicken? I don't like chicken döner but veal/lamb are amazinnnnggg.
And you have to consider EVERYTHING has gotten expensive, so its a blessing döner is still affordable.
Fast food chains can die in a fire though. Their price hikes are in no way fair or justifiable.
- If you know what meat your kebab is made from, it's not a real kebab shop.

"fast" food? ha! try standing in line while a bunch of dickhead doordashers get to cut you in line. try walking into an empty establishment only to wait 20 minutes for a sandwich because of all the idiots that want to pay twice the price for a fucking meal.

I'll say I live in a big city and have never once used Doordash/Uber Eats/any other exploitative meal delivery app for that reason. But even then you're not safe.
I once placed an online order for takeout, ordered on the actual site for the restaurant (not any of those branded online order services hosted by the meal delivery companies), picked the option that said I'd walk over and pick it up, and then was told when I got there that Doordash already came by and grabbed it.
I then get a call on my phone from a Doordash driver asking where I live, because it wasn't included with the order for some reason (gosh I can't imagine why that would be). After spending 5 minutes explaining that I would not give them my address because I was at the restaurant and never ordered delivery, they show up 10 minutes later and hand me a cold bag of takeout.
Amazing service.
- That sounds like a real outlier. Never had anything like that happen on a pickup order.
- I would have made them remake it, since they let someone run off with my food.
- please tell me you got a refund and ate elsewhere
- Sounds fun. Maybe I'm missing something but I wouldn't expect a local restaurant to have rolled their own takeout backend. Are you actually seeing places that do? The branding might be subtle, but I'd be really surprised if they weren't using a canned service.
Like a plague on places to eat these days. The drive in getting served over people in the restaurant was always bad but now it is a new sort of hell with the lobby filled up with dashers and the like all butting in front and such.
Real sad part is talking to a few of the non chain places, it seems like you don't really get a say about if you want to use ubereats/doordash/skip etc. they just kinda list your place and then drivers start showing up and unless you want to fight each one it becomes easier to just go along with it. Only place I know of that made a fight out of it was a pizza place (with their own delivery drivers), it was a mess. They even had a large sign on the way in that they will at no time give an order to any delivery app service. But it was was like they could not read and just plowed in anyway, butting in line and doing the yell the order number thing out they do. Last I checked they started trespassing people and are trying to sue skip/doordash/uber.

Lately, instead of picking up a fast food buyer and fries for $13, I've been going to Chili's. They have a $10.99 special that is a REAL bacon cheeseburger, excellent fries, and a drink, and it even includes a salad or a cup of soup. With tax and tip, it's $15.

The last time I went to 5 Guys, it was $24.50, and it wasn't nearly as good.

They have a $10.99 special
$11.
The last time I went to 5 Guys
I stopped going to Five Guys unless it's a kid's birthday request.
Last time we went to Five Guys, kids got hot dogs, one plain, one with bacon, Wife got a burger, we got a regular fry and a cajun fry to share at the table and 4 softdrinks it came to $75, note, I didn't even get myself a burger I got a drink and ate the fries.
For $10 more dollars, we can all go to Hibachi, walk out of there stuffed and have enough left for another meal.
$15 bacon cheese $10 hot dog $7 Fries $4 bottle of soda
They're just insane.
- Yeah, I wrote them off long ago, but I was recently pressed for time and they were right there. I was shocked at the price. Other than the fries, everything else is average, with the worst, cheapest buns in the biz.
  The fries are legit, though. Classic Boardwalk-style fries, especially with malt vinegar.

Use. Your. Ovens.

But I'm allergic to mittens.
Don't have one, don't have space to have one, don't have money to get one, don't have any hope to ever get a place with one. Just like evergrowing amount of people.
- Get a cook top. Even nice ones are like 100 bucks. Even induction ones and compatible pans are cheap. Five or six fast food visits and you could've bought enough to cook a massive variety of cheap meals.
- A toaster oven can do most things that a full-sized oven can do.
- That really blows. Are you living in one of those chinese/japanese domiciles that are essentially just cages for people?
  Sardine-culture aside, perhaps you can try an air fryer. I honestly have never used one, but it seems like something people would recommend as a replacement and they take up a fraction of the space.
Can't I grill food? Or cook it on the range? Why do I have to use my oven to make meals?
- You can if you want to.
  Using an oven is just easier and should appeal more to the kind of person that is used to eating out all the time because of how low-effort it is.
It's broken.
- What's wrong with it?

A lot of people are saying to learn to cook, but things aren't that simple. Many people know how to cook perfectly well but order out anyway, either because they're busy or because they have mental health conditions that make cooking incredibly stressful.

We need to change our economic system so that CEO bonuses aren't inflating the prices of people's food. This would make it easier for people to eat out more often if they feel they need to. It shouldn't break the bank to get simple meals at a restaurant.

I have a small, poorly designed and lit kitchen. Next place I buy will have a much better kitchen.

I mean… at least it’s still fast, right?

Seriously though, I don’t remember the last time I ate fast food. If we don’t count pizza delivery that is.

Learning to cook at home is a great skill and talent.

Or order delivery, and buy the same thing from 3 different places because all of them sell the same cheap frozen / deep fried crap that turns cold amd soggy by the time it gets to you

During these trying times I just get 2 hot dogs from Sam’s. Can’t beat $3 lunch.

I've been eating a metric fuckton of hot dogs lately. I get a pack of 8 for $3.99 and a pack of cheap but not too cheap buns for like $3. Roughly $7 for four "meals" isn't bad (except for my health maybe).
Plus I cut lines in them and air fry them and toast the buns, so, you know, fancytrash
- Onion and bell pepper chopped and sautéed for a topping brings a whole lever of flavor without costing much. So fancy you need to eat with your pinky extended.

That's Taco bell in India. Never had such expensive, shitty food before.

I’ve heard that Indian street food can be so unhygienic that a YouTuber almost got seriously ill after eating it. There are tons of videos showing Indian street food vendors where the food looks unsanitary and even dangerous.
- If you're local you know where to go but your immune system is also used to the baseline contaminants that exist. To eat street food as a traveler you risk a few days-weeks of stomach upset but after you get through that you're usually ok for while.
  India isn't special for it, same concerns exist in any country that doesn't have reliable clean water or well enforced food safety standards. If the FDA, EPA, and USDA aren't fixed soon this will soon be true in the USA as well.
- How do you “ almost” get seriously ill?
- I’ve heard that Indian street food can be so unhygienic
  True. But at least it's cheap. Taco Bell in India is as expensive as a full dinner at a good restaurant.
  unsanitary and even dangerous.
  I mean yeah... That's what you get when you visit/live in an unregulated, corrupt hellhole.
Same experience with KFC in China.

A Costco hot dog+soda is still $1.50, and good.

Steak and Shake is still pretty cheap too, and darn good.

Cheap fast food is still out there… if you know where to look. But it’s definitely not McDonalds, Chick-Fil-A or any of the giga chains.

Steak and Shake went all in on the MAGA grift. Their official Twitter page posted that they would be only using beef tallow from now on and they had several fucking Teslas in the image.
They have several posts like this
- Well fuck, looks like I won't be getting more steak and shake seasoning. Not even worth stealing it off the table if they're shitbirds.
McDonald's has gotten a little better if you order just right. They've added buy one get one for $1, and if you use the app you can pretty much use an app deal or reward every time you order. But there are still items that are expensive and don't have deals, so sticking to the cheaper items limits your menu.

The downtown experience: $45 burger with a side of truffle fries. It's mediocre at best.

Wtf? 45 usd for a burger? That is insane
- Only one specific hipster place I'm thinking of in Downtown but yeah. Lol
Lol, and they charge you for the fries.

Fast food and major chains have gotten absurd. I used a gift card at Red Robin a couple months back. It was $19 before tip for a dry burger and bland fries. Two bucks more could’ve gotten me a seat and meal at a five-star local place just down the street. The value just isn’t there anymore. Eating local almost always tastes better, feels better, and costs the same or less. Why settle for mediocrity when better is right around the corner?

Apparently chili's is doing some meal deal where you can get a 1/4lb burger, fries, and a drink for around $10 and I believe you can order to pickup from those places.

You hear that fellas?
$10 for a quarter-pound of meat.

I fel sorry for people whondont have an Aldi or a local equivalent

I have an Aldi but my wife and I have five jobs between us, a 20 year old still living at home and two teenagers who aren't driving yet. Sometimes we don't have time to cook. I still shop at Aldi tho!

This is the realest meme I have ever seen.

It's called I'm at work, I'm in some godforsaken suburb on the other side of the hills, and I have 30 minutes.

I would just bring some bread.
Seriously, fuck paying more than my entire weeks food budget on something shit.

But my kids get a "free" toy. 🤷

Yup, cuz corporate greed. Shareholders keep pressuring companies to increase profits EVERY QUARTER.

In & Out is still cheap, but the line is regularly all the way around the block where the place is at every location, so it's hard to say it's fast food.

Urgh I can't argue about the price and quality of their burgers but man it feels bad to support the people that run it. They're big time conspiracy MAGAts 🤢
https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/food-drink/shocked-by-in-n-out-burgers-anti-vaccine-mandate-stance-you-shouldnt-be
- Well fuck... Can't have shit 😩
  Though... I haven't been anywhere, ever, that checked for my vaccines. I have had that little card in my wallet since the first vaccines for COVID were being rolled out and got mine; it's never left my wallet. Is that just a thing in San Francisco or is it supposed to be the whole state?
They're also not in a lot of the US or in international markets.

Stop eating that shit and its not a problem

Obligatory: $25

I feel like we are now in Soylent Green age.

$25 for fast food for a single person? Two McDoubles, a small fry and a small drink is $11.05 here in Canada. More than enough food for a quick meal.

Eww McDonals. I'd rather just go hungry
I spent roughly 16 USD on my order, I normally got two bacon mcdoubles no onions, a large fry and a large lemonade. This same meal used to be 11/12$ less than 4 years ago
In the US I use the app to get 2 mcchickens and a large fry on Friday for $4. Does the job just fine.
We also have a $5 mcdouble, 4pc mcnugget, small fry and small drink combo. You can't just walk in and order what you want if you want a good price, unfortunately - but theres still some value to be had if you at least try - that $5 combo is on the app, drive through board, and the in store kiosk.
Those arent denominated in the same currency, so direct comparisons of prices are somewhat... fraught.
- Dude, $11 CDN is $7.87 USD. If anything, the difference in currency amplifies my point.

That feeling of regret when eating some mid fast food is the worst lol.

Cook at Home - Ideal with friends - share costs - socialize have a great time - eat well. Period

Prices have definitely gone way up, but the only way you're paying $25 for fast food is if you're getting it doordashed, and if you're doing that, you are the problem.

The first time my usual Taco Bell order cost $25 instead of $15 I said “How much?? Are you sure??” He sheepishly said “ Yeah.. we raised our prices because of Covid. Do you want to cancel your order?”
It’s not going to go back down.
On my birthday a couple weeks ago I was looking at getting two nugget meals from McDonalds for me and my roommate. It wasn't delivery, was pick up in the store. Was with a coupon.
$23.
Nah bro. Shit just expensive now.
- I mean that's for two people. So your meal cost was half of that.

Go to In-N-Out. It's the superior fast food brand

Either that or cook in your own god-damn house

It's not fast food though. In-N-Out takes much longer than most sit down restaurants.
But then I would have to live in California and lno one wants to do that.
As someone who hasn't eaten recently and who loves burgers...
Die. that gif was unnecessary and made me so much hungrier than I already was. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy
yeah shove that corpse right in my face i fucking love cruelty and violence against vulnerable individuals
- Hell fucking yes, good food is delicious.
  Shake and bake baby

the point is your parents forgot to teach you how to cook

My parents cooking was meant to be forgotten. Alton Brown is my Yoda.
oh yeah that might be, Jerkface, but I've learned myself.
However, while at work, I have to eat out, no way of bringing my own shit with me.
- They also forgot to teach you how to be frugal

Lemmy: THE CORPORATE PIGS WILL BE FIRST TO THE SLAUGHTER! DOWN WITH THE OLIGARCHIC BILLIONAIRES POISONING US AND KILLING THE PLANET! WE WILL CREATE A NEW ECO-COMMINIST UTOPIA OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY USING THE SWEAT, GRIT, AND COURAGE OF THE WORKING CLASS!!!!!111!!!!

Also Lemmy: Corporate earth-destroying health-destroying cheeseburger cost $1 more 😭😭😭

Do you reckon it could be different people posting?
I like how Lemmy is sometimes Reddit but way of the deep end
We cant all be privileged enough to spend all free time by the stove or eat the fancy fair trade stuff.
- There are plenty of cheap foods that are easy cook and take minimal time to do so (ex: pasta.) I blame capitalism for making people addicted to food from restaurants.
- Privilege is when you cook rice instead of spending $150/week on fast food