The best fast food value for your buck

[Kingpin]

My wife makes me eat healthy and WE never eat fast food. I do on occasion but rarely let her know I do. A guilty pleasure (she knows I like hot dogs but I only eat them at ball parks or today-4th). I’d probably be dead if not for my wife.

 

[OGtruthhurts]

Wow, you remember Carolina Circle Mall? There was an arcade by the Ice skating rink.

Didn't they tear it down around 20 years ago?

i was very young

My wife makes me eat healthy and WE never eat fast food. I do on occasion but rarely let her know I do. A guilty pleasure (she knows I like hot dogs but I only eat them at ball parks or today-4th). I’d probably be dead if not for my wife.

where did she hide your nuts? smh

 

[Icky Mettle]

I’m at Cook out right now eating a hotdog and fries for the 4th (celebration with friends tonight). Everyone is correct. They have the best “value” for food. But quality should be factored into the equation. It’s hard to mess up a hotdog-so that is merely adequate. But the sides are horrible. Fries are below average and their hush puppies the worst I’ve ever had. So value wise they get poor marks from me.

I think the only “main course” I’ve ordered at Cookout is the chili cheeseburger. It’s been several years since I’ve been there, but I remember always thinking that was great.

 

[Icky Mettle]

I would do that too, except when you're traveling with 6 kids (occasionally I will go with just my three, though that doesn't really change the considerations) there's no time to plan to bring my own food.

Sounds like the Brady Bunch.

 

[superrific]

Sounds like the Brady Bunch.

All boys.

 

[Icky Mettle]

All boys.

Yikes!

 

[superrific]

Yikes!

And half of them are autistic.

 

[Icky Mettle]

My wife likes to eat fast food, especially when we go on trips. I'm the guy who brings his own food along and eats it while she eats her fast food. I do get looks from folks in the dinning area, but fuck them. We both get to eat what we like.

We take a trip from Charlotte to the Finger Lakes every summer. It would be about 10.5 hours if you didn’t my stop at all and if you didn’t hit bad traffic. For a long time, it was the rare occasion where I would eat fast food, and I always looked forward to it. Then my wife pointed out that it was typically setting us back about 45 minutes, so she wanted us to pack our lunch and eat in the the car to avoid the lengthy stop. It’s been great. It has cut a lot of time off our trip, and I also started to realize that I was often disappointed with the big chain fast food. It wasn’t nearly as good to me as it was when I was younger.

 

[superrific]

It wasn’t nearly as good to me as it was when I was younger.

Well, it's gotten much worse. Taco Bell used to serve beef in their tacos, not "taco meat" (aka 23% meat).

Baumol's law predicts that service-intensive products get more expensive over time relative to products that can benefit more from automation. This is why universities have gotten way more expensive; it's not student debt availability, it's just the way things work.

So while fast food has increased a bit faster than inflation over 40 years, it should have increased more relative to quality.

 

[Kingpin]

i was very young

where did she hide your nuts? smh

You mean I should man up and resist her efforts and insist on eating fast food all the time-and almost certainly be dead? I’m much healthier as a result and appreciate it.

 

[Icky Mettle]

One thing I find interesting is how kids these days aren’t all that into McDonalds. McDonalds was an integral part of my childhood. I probably had it about once per week and I always looked forward to it. I loved it.

Now my kids haven’t eaten McDonalds in a few years and have no desire to. I know their friends and my friends’ kids are much the same way. I imagine part of it is that there are so many more options for easy meals these days, and another part is that parents are reluctant to feed kids McDonalds for health/nutritional reasons (despite the fact they’ll feed them a lot of other unhealthy garbage).

 

[Icky Mettle]

Well, it's gotten much worse. Taco Bell used to serve beef in their tacos, not "taco meat" (aka 23% meat).

Baumol's law predicts that service-intensive products get more expensive over time relative to products that can benefit more from automation. This is why universities have gotten way more expensive; it's not student debt availability, it's just the way things work.

So while fast food has increased a bit faster than inflation over 40 years, it should have increased more relative to quality.

Speaking of Taco Bell, there’s one almost directly behind my house. I can see the sign from my house during the winter when the foliage is gone. I’ve eaten there once in the 13 years I’ve lived in my house. To be honest, it tasted really good that one time.

 

[stankeylegjones]

Having said all of what I've said, my vote for best value for your buck has to go to Five Guys. Every time we go, I get a handful of complimentary peanuts

 

[King Hippo]

My wife makes me eat healthy and WE never eat fast food. I do on occasion but rarely let her know I do. A guilty pleasure (she knows I like hot dogs but I only eat them at ball parks or today-4th). I’d probably be dead if not for my wife.

 

[King Hippo]

Having said all of what I've said, my vote for best value for your buck has to go to Five Guys. Every time we go, I get a handful of complimentary peanuts

That's like $20 a person.

 

[Bigs23]

Are any of the major FF chains "good value" any more?

If I wanted to spend $15 or a little more I can go anywhere else

Like where?

 

[UNCatTech]

Lol, should I blame you then for a leaking roof at that Daryl´s in 1984 before a Phil Collins concert at the Coliseum? Dripped on three of us all dinner long, along with several other tables on the second floor. The jail was dry however. POURED that night. Getting from the car to the show we just ditched most of our clothes and bought new things there just to get dry.

As to the other location, loved it when it was a Mexican joint, but can´t remember the name now. Yeah, I ate at all of the incarnations in that location. Smokey Bones used to be good, but has dropped in quality. Ate at all of them fairly frequently in the late 70s and early 80s. Still hit Daryl´s about every other year when I am in town.

HVAC not roof. Hope the Air was working.

The other was Casa something when it first opened..

I wish I would have been at that concert.

 

[stankeylegjones]

That's like $20 a person.

Not for me, what I eat there is free!

 

[UNCatTech]

I’m at Cook out right now eating a hotdog and fries for the 4th (celebration with friends tonight). Everyone is correct. They have the best “value” for food. But quality should be factored into the equation. It’s hard to mess up a hotdog-so that is merely adequate. But the sides are horrible. Fries are below average and their hush puppies the worst I’ve ever had. So value wise they get poor marks from me.

My family was talking about this today. My daughter obviously loved cookout.

 

[King Hippo]

I’m at Cook out right now eating a hotdog and fries for the 4th (celebration with friends tonight). Everyone is correct. They have the best “value” for food. But quality should be factored into the equation. It’s hard to mess up a hotdog-so that is merely adequate. But the sides are horrible. Fries are below average and their hush puppies the worst I’ve ever had. So value wise they get poor marks from me.

I think they have good fries. They have the ones with the tater skin still on them.