memes @lemmy.world

7mo ago

What is the point of you anymore, fast food?

153 comments

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

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.

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

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.
- "than".

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

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.
- 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.

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.

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.
  
  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.
- It's broken.
  
  What's wrong with it?
- 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

But my kids get a "free" toy. 🤷

Obligatory: $25

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

$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.

I feel like we are now in Soylent Green age.

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.

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.
- 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
- 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

153 comments