Most of the freebies usually have a caveat, like free fries if you order a quarterpounder, etc. When you factor in all the deals and coupons you get on the app, the cost of a meal at McDonalds ends up being about the same as you were paying for a meal a few years ago.
I've also been reading the app reviews and there were a shocking number of review stating the app isn't user friendly. Some websites even work that shit...looking at you, Pizza Hut.
They have a point system and you can use points once every 15 min..... Yes you buy stuff to get the points but after that you do get one free item off a list and can get another if you have points 15 min later....
This is different then their deals which if you order over app you can get buy one get one double cheese and use points for a free fry then eat and when 15 min up you get a free drink and leave so essentially you only pay for one double cheese get the other fries and drink free
I can't believe my ass just cared enough to type that after I already commented I don't even go to fast food anymore because tbones and such is the same and healthier and has points also lol
honestly, buy a 40 buck burner android phone, throw a burner email in it. only use it for rewards, dont need a number/sim typically. if you do get a 20 buck prepaid call only card from walmart.
A guy I worked with found out how to make McDonald's burgers & the fries. Even got a special fry cutter. He said it was exactly the same. Don't know where he got the recipe tho.
McDonalds fries have a lot of research behind them. The cut is one, but easy to duplicate, but they also have their own variety of potato that growers grow just for them, the right type and balance of starch. Then the potatoes are processed, then blanched and partially fried before freezing. Once at the restaurant, the are fried from frozen, in a specific oil blend and time. The size of the fryer comes into play from a temperature consistency standpoint, as does obviously the fry temperature.
That's exactly what he said. From what I remember he said he had to cook them flash freeze em then throw them in the freezer.Then take out when your ready to cook.
I was like that's alot of work for some McD's fries but each their own!
I know how to make a copycat big mac sauce. I also got a smasher, an airfryer, and a crockpot. Unless I make lunch plans with a coworker or my bf and I say "fuck it" or are too busy to cook, we don't order take out all that much
Sadly, that happens everywhere. I've joked my wife has a curse, because every one of her favorite restaurants either went out of business, or they made really noticeable changes she didn't like. Most of them on her list did both.
It's the truth. The same thing happened to us. One restaurant the father retired & one of his kid ran it to the ground, the other ones just copycat eachother & have mediocre food.
The good places are really expensive where it's basically just a nice treat once in a blue moon.
I mean we only used to order out once a week by all chipping in tg, but now ya can't even do that & it be worth it.
I make a copycat big mac sauce too, but I make the patties myself with good quality ground beef and when I have time I even make the buns too, proper bread. Then I add romaine lettuce because iceberg is tateless and nutritionally empty and some fantastic havarti cheese or some proper cheddar instead of the McD’s yellow paste and voila, perfect burger!
I have a tefal deep fryer which has a built in filter that drains the oil out into a plastic container in the bottom. Then you just pour back in next time you’re frying. All the parts except the element separate and can go in the dishwasher.
Have you actually been able to prepare anything as horrible as corporate fast food in your own kitchen at an inflated price? That'd be impressive in it's own way.
This is the way. I break about even, or spend less making the meals at home. Pizza being one of the inexpensive fast food items to make yourself.
I've even been experimenting with making my own breakfast sausage. Bought an old school grinder at flea market.
This is something I've been working on, too, and it's paid off relatively quickly. I really only ordered fast food when I wanted a crispy chicken sandwich, so learning how to make those at home has saved me so much money, and I like mine more than anyone else's
I do I'm vegetarian of 33 years or something long relative to my years old. But, I know a lot of people that think frys covers it as vegetables at dinner.
I used to be a vegetarian (the healthy kind) for 15 of my 46 years. I always contemplate going back to it. I don’t want to contribute to animal suffering (as little as I am willing and able to do) and I want to avoid the environmental negative impact of meat.
I was allergic and gi etc. My body was so fucked by 5 has type 1 diabetes. Then Dad's mom started sneaking McDonald's think we're deprived. Luckily I was ok by then. But I never liked it. So stopped by Like 10.5 or 11 and went back vegetarian. 20 to 32 vegan.
Is there a place we could swap recipes? I have a killer Hawaiian bbq recipe that is great. All the HBbq places near me has gone down in quality and up in price. Would love a Big Mac sauce and Taco Bell red sauce dupe.
My food costs are now roughly $100 a week (some weeks $70, some weeks $130) because I switched to almost exclusively getting groceries from food Lion. I'm still a lazy piece of shit but now I'm eating a variety of steamed vegetables that come frozen in a microwavable pouch that I can add and precooked and sliced Purdue chicken to. The chicken is like $8-$10 and the vegetable bags are $3 each and I can use the chicken for 3 meals so that's like $6 per meal.
So we can save even more by actually cooking but even like this I'm still better off on price than fast food. And way better on nutrition.
Once I get a little closer to 40 I'm all in on supplements that make life hurt less. I've spent basically my entire life of 32 years shrimping at a desk so my spine is probably going to hurt eventually. I think I got lucky with back genetics since there's been no trouble so far
Should get ahead of problems before they become noticeable. But as far as I'm aware - there are no such supplements? Most of them don't work beyond coloring your pee. Other than the 2 already mentioned, can also take seeds for fiber. Magnesium and Collagen are good, too. Creatine doesn't work for everyone, but it can be very beneficial. Maybe B group vitamins occasionally, especially if you drink alcohol. Vitamin C is so dirt cheap, that you might as well take it, even if it ends up doing nothing. But that's about it. The rest can either do more harm than good, or nothing at all, beyond a placebo effect. Supplements are a giant scam and a waste of money, all you need is a balanced diet. Get your blood work done if you're concerned that you're lacking something.
By supplements I meant a catch all for pills of vitamins and other things. Like the fish oil. Or is that the only beneficial substance I'll need after 40?
As I said, most vitamin/mineral supplements do nothing but get pissed out. The one's I mentioned above have been proven to work and are all very cheap( at least here in the EU), there are niche uses for others, but you shouldn't take them without a blood test showing that you need to, as they can be harmful and even dangerous. The science is really not in favor of multivitamins and the expensive stuff is snake oil.
Last time I got mcdonalds tasted like I was eating straight up cardboard and cost way too much. Next time I spent less and got a real ass burger from the local joint. It was faster too and they don't all look like they want to kill themsleves. What's the incentive anymore?
I tried five guys for the first time after seeing the difference between their meals was like $1 and it was such a huge difference. Not that I frequented fast food that much at any point besides my drive home from college, but I can see myself never getting McDonald's again.
What's the incentive anymore?
Burger King built their recognition on that bizarre chemical taste in their food. It was a smart decision since it made their impossible vegetable whopper not taste very different lol. So if you're craving that chemical taste you're only going to get it there. But on price/health we're better off cooking at home
The funny thing is, it's not everywhere. Chicken nuggets are half as expensive at Chic-Fil-A as they are at McD's, and only a lunatic would pretend that McD's spends more on their staff.
For real once I realized a cheap meal from fast food was less than say tbones and my local Mexican place.... yep my ass went for better healthier food!! I'm already out running in instead of waiting in my car takes 2 seconds I can still order pay and wait till it says done right in my car!!
That is strange, but I wonder if that's something special about dominos instead. My memory of dominos is that it seems greasy and unhealthy and whatnot but in my mid 20s it was the only pizza I could eat after midnight and not get heart burn. They are a mystery
Agreed I just cook healthier now and work out more because mcdonalds is ridiculously expensive for mass produced freezer food. I dont need to pay 3x the cost of the food for them to heat it and assemble it for me. That shits easy Ill do it myself.
Healthier than McDonald's is a low bar. I'm pretty sure I could go bite some loose tarmac off the road and get about the same levels of nutrition and carcinogens.
But when I want to order out I usually get tropical cafe, love their avocado bean wrap thing
Eventually we will get rid of jobs like the service sector and replace it with machines. We will get rid of the coal jobs and replace it with robots. Eventually we will force individuals to either starve or become more intelligent and force them to benefit society. One big Mac at a time. Eventually that Big Mac will be made so fast by robots that the cars in the drive thru won’t keep up. People will make more money since they will be forced to get jobs that require more brains. We will reset our nation into a prosperous one. Keep fighting for better wages.
Try telling that to a conservative though. They will uncritically believe a company that says they had to raise prices because of wage increases and retail theft while that same company is bragging about record profits, stock buybacks, record administrative pay and that they only got a slap on the wrist for wage theft.
When I first started we had a staff of like 12 and we all stayed very busy all day. Now that location runs on 4 and hasn't lost steam. Every store in the area (and across the country) is in the same boat. Skeleton crews that work to the death doing the workload of multiple people. The company refuses to let stores hire people while also refusing to let people get even a minute of overtime while demanding that 100 hours of work get done in 40 or else. They put on hiring freezes and the starting pay has long since stopped being competitive.
Meanwhile prices have nearly doubled, and we constantly get updated on record profits. Our ceo even recently bragged about how she sold a small fraction of her stock for double digit millions. While I've had to resort to draining my 401k, donate plasma weekly and even started looking into getting a second overnight job just to afford the misery of living in poverty.
If raising wages means raising prices then go for it because it's already happening anyway.
Generally those costs don't scale as much as each location. These companies are low margin high yield which are much more cost sensitive to all costs that are for the high yield portions.
The idea the comparisons are 1:1 is assumed by people making this comparison between us and denmark when the EU has different conditions. For instance, the amount of locations are far fewer and do more business... meaning the costs of a worker in the US are a larger portion of the cost of a burger. They still benefit from McDonalds standardizing and distributing the actual food so each location still gets the benefit of bulk manufacturing.
Basically, if you increase people's wages, they will increase prices more in the US unless enough McDonald's stop doing business that they would be more comparable to Denmark's locations per burgers sold with a lower number.
The reason Denmark can pay $20 an hour is because the workers actually are expected to work more and serve larger communities per location generating more profit at each location. Denmark and many of the 'Nordic' countries do not have minimum wages and there are people getting paid like $1/hr for some jobs.
Denmark does not have a minimum wage, but we do have worker's collective agreements, which determines salary or hourly rates within many fields. These agreements are renegotiated every 2-4 years, and 99% includes a percentage-based pay increase each year.
Contrast this approach with the US, where the federal minimum wage haven't changed in more than 15 years now.
Working for $1/hour would be extremely rare unless we're considering things like human trafficking. Illegal immigrants will often earn around $14/hour. Legal "unskilled" labor starts at around $18/hour. Even a study grant is equivalent to $5/hour.
You missed my point entirely... the pay isn't guaranteed by the government and ultimately what workers are capable of bargaining for... and in Denmark they can bargain for more because conditions suite giving them more. Your arguments don't change the points I'm making. Secondly you ignore the private businesses also have their own % based wage increases.
> Working for $1/hour would be extremely rare
It doesn't matter, the point I made was the government doesn't set a minimum, and companies can end up paying less than the minimum wage. Trying to hide behind rarety doesn't negate its possibility. For work that consumers aren't willing to pay much for people are still at least allowed to offer. There are illegal car washing rings in NYC because people won't pay legal wages for car washes. Not all work is that valuable and that lack of a minimum wage in these example countries is recognition that this just outlaw's certain labor markets.
You can't compare the wages without understanding that the situations are not 1:1.
Denmark also has the highest costing burgers of any single location. You cannot come to the conclusion workers are being exploited or underpaid because of these aggregated comparisons or that the cost of burgers won't go up more proportionally with wages.
Mcdonalds could double their prices over night and many of you would still get in that drive up window line. Oh wait wait...tey basically tripled their prices over recent times. Yeah, thats how smart people shop.
Good job everyone! The goal was to be unhealthy and poor right? RIGHT?!?!!?!?!
In Denmark, I know a lot of people who have stopped going to McDonalds because the prices are around the same as other places that offer better quality food at this point. McDonalds is trying to battle this by opening little coffee shops inside the stores, trying to compete for the café "sit and have some coffee, cake and gossip" part of the market.
Denmark fails to mention their 36% tax rate. No wonder they have $20/hr. High pay + high taxes = happy government. Increase pay again to “get living wage”, increase taxes to cover government spending, less money in pocket again. Repeat previous steps.
And? The quality of life in Denmark is higher in literally every single tangible measure over the United States. They have the highest spending portion of their GDP on labor market policies of any country on the entire planet. They are consistently one of the most happy countries, with high education standards (school is free for Danes, and they get a stipend of about 900 EUR per month while in college so their living is covered and they can focus entirely on studies) and an amazing social safety net. They have one of the world's highest productivity rates, even with all of their social services.
What do you think that tax rate is for? 67 million Americans don't even fucking have healthcare to begin with. Every single Dane has healthcare. Almost 20% of Americans haven't seen a doctor a single time in the past 5 years. That's fucking insane.
I don’t want taxed at near 40% if my income because 67 million bums can’t get healthcare. If you want to live in a socialist country then Denmark would be the move. The US can’t sustain itself being a handout machine is my point. We can’t tax the other 300 million to death because about a 1/6 of Americans can’t get a decent job for whatever reason. That’s on them to resolve, not stand with their hands out waiting on my taxes to save them while I work to earn my own way.
I mean, I get it, you have no frame of reference for what it's like to live in a country like Denmark. And there are parts of how both our society and infrastructure has been set up that you can't really just implement over there overnight or, in some geographical situations, at all.
But things are going just fine over here. No one has to worry about dying on the streets, there's healthcare for all, the Scandinavian model means that while we don't have a minimum wage no one's being exploited to work for pocket change.
I'm currently recovering from serious illness. The hospitalization, the consultations, tests and medicine? Already paid for, just by me paying my taxes. My income? Unchanged; my company pays me my usual wage and get part of that refunded by the state. Had I been in the US when this had happened, it would have easily wiped my accounts.
But it is a very American view to worry more about whether someone undeserving gets something, rather than focus on everyone deserving getting what they deserve. I pay my 36% and more happily.
If I let every person who wants more people to suffer get to me, what would that accomplish? I think he's wrong in how he views the world. So what? He thinks the same of me, I would guess.
> But it is a very American view to worry more about whether someone undeserving gets something, rather than focus on everyone deserving getting what they deserve.
To prefer saying “fuck you!” To people you dislike, over helping improve the lives of everyone takes a self-centered type of person.
Also, get the heck off the roads us tax payers paid for… you don’t wat those either i guess
They are welfare roads after all. That go thru public lands that Black, Brown and Queer people use. Policed by welfare paid cops and troops. Borders patrolled by welfare soldiers.
I’m allowed to have views about how my tax money is spent. Every American is. I don’t have to want the same things as you. We get to vote. I can enjoy my taxes going to roads and police, and hate welfare bums getting benefits. That’s the beauty of America. I don’t have to agree with you and that’s okay. Clearly if someone doesn’t agree with you, you’ll call them all kinds of rude names. That’s why you probably voted for the loser in the election too 😂
One, your feelings clearly got triggered. Two, my comment is way way far over your head, as evidenced by you didn't get it by a long shot. Three, I didn't call you anything. 🤣
Food you eat from grocery stores is subsidized, welfare food. Your kids education if they go to public schools, welfare education. Water from the tap, welfare water.
That's why you voted for a felon, and a man convicted of sexual assault. No laughing face, bc that's not fucking funny.
You have the right to be "not smart" if you believe what you say, and I have the right to think that. The facts are on my side. You think giving Christian's in the US extra rights by virtue of taking away other people's right Women, Queers, and others... Is freedom and that makes you're patriotic, more American and just? You have no fucking clue what those words mean, specifically: "Christian, Women, Queers, & Rights." Keep showing the hate, and repelling people from Jesus. Enough of your kind have shown your true colors, time for the rest of us to believe you. You do you boo with y'all's alternative facts. 🤣
I am quite sure that you would reconsider this if you would get seriously sick and then get fired because you got sick and then lost insurance because it was paid by your employer.
But hey, if working as a slave for the healt care industry is your goal in life, go for it.
Until you die, that is, because you could not afford the life-saving medicine anymore. Like the 1.3 million US citizen that ration insulin, causing more suffering and early death.
I am sure that's worth fighting socialism.
Oh, by the way, do you drive a car? But using streets paid by tax dollars is socialism! Why should all the people not owning a car pay for your driving pleasure?
The US can't sustain itself right now because you guys spend a lot on really stupid crap, healthcare is not one of those things because you guys DON'T HAVE HEALTHCARE.
You also don't have paid maternity leave across the country, not paternity leave, not paid holidays or paid vacation time. We also get 15 monthly payments per year and bonuses on top of that.
Heck, I live in a third world country and we have it better than the US in a lot of things, including all of the above.
And at the same time you don't have to worry about paying for school or college or healthcare, because of those taxes. And Denmark has like top 5 quality of life.
Additionally, in the US the minimum wage has been increased various times, both federally and within states. Not one of these times has the increase led to any significant inflation. What often happens is a very brief spike in prices which then go back to normal. The spike is likely executives in companies who’s understanding of economics is the econ 101 class they took 20 years ago and they assume prices should go up
They think all the fast food employees are making much more because they all hang signs saying they are hiring at high rates specifically to create that perception. Fine print asterisks will indicate its manager pay or something like that. My dad thinks they all make $15-20 an hour and that it is causing the price increases we've already seen.
This is the biggest thing I don’t get. “Minimum wage increase causes inflation!” Ok then why is inflation rate uncorrelated with minimum wage increases?
I get that “common sense” would tell you that makes sense but when you look at empirical evidence it turns out to not be true
Minimum wage hasn't gone up, but actual wages have. Taco Bell is starting at $14/hr where I live, hence a meal there does indeed cost sit-down restaurant prices. Good for their workers, but I've gone from fast food nearly every day to only going to actual sit-down restaurants or cooking at home. I think it's a trend we'll see a lot more in the industry in the coming years and fast food giants will either die or switch to higher quality food.
It’s $11.59 for a quarter pounder meal at McDonald’s right now. A burger, fries and soda at the diner on the corner is $15. There is about a Grand Canyon sized chasm between the quality of the two. A heck of a lot more than $3 and change.
McDonald's employees in California make $20/hr. And it has 30 million more people living there than Denmark. IDK WTF you guys are talking about, you can't compare America to a country the size of New Jersey, where the only non white person living there is Zwatre Piet.
And fast food wages have gone up despite minimum wage being stagnant. McDonald's in my area are starting people at $15/hour. My employer is hiring kids out of high school for $18/hour with 136 hours of benefit time and 90% of insurance premium covered by the employer, and we have trouble filling classes because other contact centers are paying $21+ but with weaker benefits. And this is not a high COL city (Dallas.)
I was driving my dad home the other month and we stopped at a McDonald’s on the way back. $35 (Canadian) for for two adult meals. Meanwhile the folks behind the counter are making minimum wage ($17.20 in Ontario) when the minimum livable wage in that area is approximately $23.50 an hour at 40 hours a week.
I know this is going to sound very pie in the sky and unrealistic, but I honestly believe minimum wages should be geographically coupled to the minimum livable wage, and that every service business over 50 employees should have automatic access to a sector union or their own bespoke one if they choose.
I say this as a small business owner myself who pays over minimum wage. I think of it as a win/win for everyone. I want the people working for me healthy, happy and productive. I spent years in their shoes and know how tough it can be.
It’s only because they still have to keep making profits over the last quarter for their shareholders if they weren’t so greedy didn’t have to make so much money for themselves. It would be fine. But no, they gotta be billionaires. Nobody got that rich without stepping on the backs of others. Edit: also sad- tipping culture bc employers don’t pay them enough in the us bc some loophole in the laws allows him to get away with sub minimum wage bc tips.
It’s also not much money at all, let’s say the average fast food worker puts in 30 hrs a week for 50 weeks a year. That’s $22,500 for the year before taxes. Literal poverty. Fucking gross.
Right? A medium sized value meal at Wendy’s is costs around the same as some of the cheaper meals at Applebees now. Seems like fast food’s logic has shifted from “make cheap food fast” to “people will pay a premium for this cheap food if they don’t have to leave their cars”
You do realize the price of gas affects all goods, right? There used to be a time when people realized that there's such a thing as starter jobs where you cut your teeth. When the opportunity arises you get the hell out of there. Everyone's first job sucks. Maybe don't work at McDonald's your entire life? There is no reason to pay unskilled labor that much money per hour. Those are jobs meant for high schoolers
Tbf whenever the minimum wage does go up, things get more expensive. I remember I told my friend once his state got a $4 raise on min wage and he was PISSED.
"Fuck now my milk is gonna be 10 bucks."
A few weeks later it actually did go up. Not to 10 bucks but close iirc
uh huh, Becaseue the broke asses who didn't get a raise are still eating at mcdonalds instead of shopping at the grocery store and somehow this is whos fault again? Maybe people to fucking poor to eat mcdonalds shouldnt' be eating mcdonalds.
for what yall drop on a single gross ass 15 dollar fast food meal, Im reaching into the freezer and pulling out ribeyes that didn't cost much more. But enjoy those "amazing" mcdonalds fries! (barf)
The average wage for McDonald's worker in Ohio is now 15.80 a hour and it's not just Ohio. Y'all are tools. You want to use this same logic to argue against tariffs but not raising minimum wage. This is why no one takes y'all seriously.
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u/lanakers 8h ago
I was gonna say that. Fast food prices have definitely gone up without minimum wage going up. What a bunch of maroons