Dude it's insane. I don't understand how the hell these places stay in business anymore when the quality still sucks ass and it's all so expensive now. Like even taco bell, who used to be the king of cheap, costs a fuckton these days.
It’s become a habit for many people. Cooking is a really difficult habit to (re)learn. It’s possible though and good meal prep is very convenient on long days at work.
I just hate cooking. I cannot stand it. It takes so much effort and you have to clean all the mess you made (even cleaning as you go sucks). And then you end up with something that may or may not pan out. And if you're trying to meal prep then you have to eat the same meal for the whole week which I hate also.
If this was the only thing you'd ever have to do, fine. But the majority of the rest of our time is spent at work or sleeping. We have few precious hours where these things aren't the case. I hope this doesn't make me sound too much like an asshole, but I'm fortunate enough to purchase things like pre-prepared foods and get takeout a couple of times per week. So I take advantage of that because I don't want to spend my few moments of free time slaving away over a stove or cleaning the mess of pots and pans and cooking utensils.
Another this about cooking when you live alone...a lot of perishable foods can only be bought in somewhat larger quantities and then they go bad before you use them all up. I tried to make a recipe out of a cookbook several months ago and I was frustrated at how many things I had to buy a large thing of when I only needed a very small amount for the recipe. Ended up with a lot of food waste.
None of these problems mean you have to resort to buying fast food though.
You can buy things like crumbed chicken tenders that last over a week in the packaging and take 15 mins to cook in an air fryer. Mix some mayo and hot sauce, steam some veg and you've got a cheaper, healthier meal than most fast food, in about the same time it takes to drive through and order.
That actually makes up a decent amount of what I eat already. The majority of my diet comes from the frozen food section at the grocery store. I get both the prepackaged dinners and also the precooked meats and "steam in bag" veggies you're talking about. But on days where I don't want that, I get takeout as a treat. Most often, I actually order food delivery instead of fast food, but I get fast food now and then too. I've actually got into the habit of going to the chick fil a near me because it's literally a 5 minute walk and they have a good salad. McDonald's seemed like they stopped selling salads some years back for whatever reason.
One of the points of my previous post is that I don't care about the cost though because I'm fortunate enough to not be scraping by. I don't get this takeout or fast food every day, but it doesn't bother me financially to do it a couple times per week. Plus, sitting in your car listening to music and browsing your phone while someone prepares food for you is hardly a comparison to putting together something yourself. The time might be the same, but the effort is significantly lower which is the point.
Yes, I fully relate with this as if you spoke from my heart. Agreed on all points, haha.
I do cook, kind of have to when you have kids. But I definitely do not enjoy doing it. Especially because I'll slave over a new dinner idea and my kids will just refuse to eat it.
Not cheap, not convenient, not fast, and, let's be real: It's barely food.
A while ago, I was charging at a highway stop, so I decided to quickly get something to drink at McDonald's. I just asked ordered a drink, nothing more. One lady started preparing the drink and put it somewhere behind the counter. I was right there, but she didn't hand it to me. I asked if she could give it, as it was the only thing I had ordered. She mentioned she was not allowed to hand over the order to customers, and she was waiting for someone else who was allowed to. It took roughly 10 minutes before I had my drink, it was very frustrating, especially for a "fast" food chain.
Me, limping my ass into a McDonalds for the first time in forever: "I'll have 20 nuggets, no meal." (expecting 5$, or something close to it since it had legitimately been a while)
"Yeah, that'll be 12.47"
The fuck???
$17.99 for the 20 pc. In Canada. $10.79 for a 10 pc. I about shit when I immigrated here and realized nuggets were off the table. I can't imagine ordering that and picturing one dollar every time I pop one into my mouth. My wife buys me a ten piece for my birthday every year since I won't buy them myself out of protest. Also, my kid is old enough now to finish her 4 pc. Happy Meal, so I don't get to scavenge for uneaten morsels like I did before. It's tragic.
The fuck
And the lines show it. I remember the single drive-throughs being backed up around the building and them putting in the dual-ordering drive-throughs to handle the traffic. There are never more than 2-3 people in line these days and there's almost no one inside. I get it, they're property banks these days.
I don’t usually eat fast food, but one night I was starving, and there happened to be a drive-thru right next to me. I saw only two cars ahead in line and thought it would be quick. I pulled in and waited. Fifteen minutes passed. Then nearly twenty. By that point, a long line had formed behind me, trapping my car.
At the thirty-minute mark, I started asking the cars around me if they could maneuver to let me out. After almost forty minutes, I finally managed to escape.
Frustrated and still hungry, I drove a little further to a local gyro joint. I walked inside, placed my order, and within five minutes, I was enjoying a fresh, delicious lamb platter.
If this had been an isolated incident, I wouldn’t have thought much of it. But the reality is, experiences like this are all too common. Fast food isn’t fast, and to make matters worse, it’s often not even cheap anymore. Unless you’re scraping the bottom of the so-called “value menu”—which has become scarce and filled with low-quality options—you’re likely paying the same, if not more, than you would at a local spot.
When you stack up the cost, the wait, and the disappointing quality, it’s hard to justify why anyone bothers with fast food at all.
America has too many drive thru’s. Cars waiting all the time because understaffed fast food places are squeezing labour. I’ve started just walking inside to no line up, but even then, drive thru gets priority.
Yeeeess! Gyro is my go to "fast food" too! My favorite gyro place loads plates up enough that I can get a large lamb plate for $15 and split it into two meals. I order on my way there, and it's always ready within 10 minutes of ordering, without fail.
Same... And the food is so goddamn good.
It's a real bummer that half of Americans seem to want to get rid of all of the fucking people willing to make all of these delicious varieties of food. What a boring fucking place that would be.
It’s been a long time since fast food was any good. It’s addictive, maybe comfortable, but definitely not good. Break your addiction, especially now that you could save so much money
I got a bacon double cheeseburger, large fry, large drink at a Hardee's this week and it cost damn near $18. It was "okay."
And half the time it's not even that fast anymore either.
Might as well order a burger from an actual restaurant, to go, for the same amount and pick it up on the way. Half the time they'll even bring it to you curbside.
The Burger King closest to me once had a 20 minute line to wait another 15 minutes for the food.
“Fast food” is still relatively cheap in Japan, and me and my son like the taste of Burger King, but that was ridiculous.
And it wasn’t even a staff issue, there were eight people back there running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
Hey now, those poor businesses need to make up for their profit situation! Even though they have all made record profits year after year... After year...
We will be in a recession once they decide it's time for one.
Honestly, it's been a great help reducing take out. It's such a gamble, I'd rather spent nothing on a sure thing (even if it's boring) than nearly $40 for a meal I may not even finish.
Now please tip 200% for the garbage
Fucking Applebee's is right now cheaper than all of them with $10 for a burger and fries.
Sure, but then the wait staff expects you to tip at least 20% for simply being given one, and if you don't you're an asshole.
Sure, but then the wait staff expects you to tip at least 20% for simply being given one, and if you don’t you’re an asshole.
That's the neat part about affordable food, 20% on $10 only means you tip $2.
They bring you the food, refill your water, and serve you on ceramic plates with metal silverware then take your dirty dishes away, no trash. The burger and the fries are way better than McD.
IMO The only FF place you still can't touch is a $6 Taco Bell with the cravings box. It's a huge amount of shitty food for a total of $6, it is super fast and it runs through you super fast.
We got 2 kids meals at Culver's and ate for $15. We are in 60s and it was enough food for us, and on the plus side it included ice cream!
Small McDouble combo is like $5.80 in Canada right now. Shit's almost cheaper than groceries.
In my industry, there's a saying along the lines of "Good, fast, cheap. Pick two."
I think the fast food industry version is "Good, fast, cheap? No, no. And believe it or not, also no."
I don't eat fast food very often, so this is entirely anecdotal. Of the fast food chains I've eaten at in recent history, Taco Bell is by far the worst. Against my better judgment, I even broke down and gave them a second chance at a different location thinking maybe my first terrible experience was a fluke. Didn't work out. Makes me think it's bad everywhere. Wendy's has held up the best of the places I've eaten. It's definitely not cheap anymore, fast depends on the location as well as other factors, and good is relative, but overall it hasn't gone down hill as bad as the others.
I got a double cheeseburger platter from a BBQ place with 2 sides for $10. Better burger than fast food and I got fries and collards.
I switched to mostly cooking for myself sometime last year, really just trying to save money, but I feel significantly less fatigued day to day and more focused and don't wake up with random stomach pain anymore.
And yet people keep going. And why? Because those companies hire people with psychology and chemistry degrees to ensure they do. They play every psychological trick in the book to keep people coming back. And as much as anyone here (me included) think a burger from McDonald's is shit, there are people, a lot of people, who feel like they just can't live happily without their regular dose of Big Mac.
And, of course, McDonald's has used those psychological tricks to convince such people that McDonald's cares about them.
The whole thing is sick.
If you have a Braum's nearby you can get a bomb-ass burger with two quarter pound patties, crinkle cut fries, and drink or shake for about $9.
But you probably don't have a Braum's around unless you are in the US and in one of like two shithole states.
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