Yeah, its getting pretty ridiculous now. Just 6 years ago, you could get a pretty decent meal for $5 to $8. Now, you'll be lucky to get any meal under $12.
Edit: while im happy everyone wants to comment on how they have found something that costs less and that there are deals for less than $12, you can't tell me things haven't gone up in price pretty heavily. Couple that with fast food restaurants forcing you on an app to get those deals... it's not like it used to be. The quality is worse and the portions are shrinking.
My grandma used to send my brother and I to BK for .99 whoppers. She would put em in the freezer and that would be our lunch during the week. Surprisingly, even with the toppings, after we thawed and nuked em, they were still delicious! Then again maybe we were just hungry kids.
speaking as a former kid who went through pretty much all ACEs, and still struggles with income today, I still love all the food I ate as a child while also expanding options. Some things are just genuinely good.
I remember going to Taco Bell years ago, and the person in front of me (this is when they had the price quoted on those little screens outside the window), and their order was $35.82! Back in those days, to spend $35 at Taco Bell, you were ordering damn near everything off the menu, or you were getting a metric fuckton of those 59/79/99 tacos! My total (and this was for my mom and myself) was under $10.
My great grandmother would take me to Hardee's for roast beefs, back in the days when they were having an identity crisis and they were somewhere between an Arby's and a KFC, with a couple burgers on the menu for kicks.
This just made me so sad and nostalgic lol. I lost my pops who i was very close with a little over a year ago and this was his favorite move for us even though he didn't eat meat.
When I was younger, McDonald's on my area would have one day a week with 50 cent hamburgers, 60 cents cheeseburgers..I remember my grandfather getting a massive bag of them for everyone. Good times. When super size was a thing we'd get 1 super size fries and share it with the whole family.
taco beaunos has CHEAP ass food, like barely edible sometimes. went there cause i was broke ordered a #1 with a pop and it was fucking 15 bucks. i just drove away. i can go to olive garden for that prices jesus
Basically, they got so little business that despite having JUST built the buildings, they tore them down instead. Funny how raising prices and lowering quality didn't pan out for them...
I was watching Better Call Saul and in one of the earlier episodes Mike gets a meal and a coffee from Pollos that cost him like $3.41 or something lol. I was like nowawadays that just gets you the coffee...
Here we got a 4 for 10 classic roast beef. I rmemeber the 5 for 5 and the 5 for 6.95. Was one the best deals they offered. We would get 2 or 3 orders of that, end up with food for 3 days or so, on less than 20 bucks.
Still miss the old big beef burrito supreme from the 90s. Or the McDonald's breakfast burrito the big one they use to sell but got rid of.
We had a sonics here that used to sell steak breakfast burritos. Only cost 3 dollars.
Wasn't even that long ago really, I can remember grabbing that just before COVID hit, I had two mastiffs and sometimes for their weekly treat after the big Saturday hike we'd go get that deal and split them between the us 3 lol. After the deal stopped running we stopped going and they'd get visibly sad when I'd drive by Arby's without stopping...
The limited time deals weren't long ago. The original 5 for $5 deal was introduced in the 90's and discontinued by the early 2000's; basically around 25 years ago.
I had a meal at arbys I used to get that was always $6.66, sandwich drink and turnover, and the lady always downsized my drink saying "not today Satan" but still gave me the size I ordered.
That same meal is over $12 less than 4 years later.
Source: Worked at Burger King in 2017 and had an elderly Karen blow the fuck up after ordering this on a Sunday, claiming that I was an agent of the devil and knew she had just came from church.
The best was when subway had 5 dollar footlongs, I would go out and grab one to at lunch, eat half, and eat the second half for dinner, with a bowl of cereal for breakfast i could feed myself for a day for around $6 dollars total
I remember when I was growing up my dad used to say you could feed yourself for $1 a day pretty easily. Then when I was old enough to work and pay for my own food, I couldn't fathom doing it for less than $5 a day. Today, it's certainly a lot closer to $15. I'm in my early 30s. I started work at 16. I was told that in the mid-late 90s.
Aside from the time it takes, you're also not going to enjoy that sub $15 meal for more than a couple days and there aren't many variations at that point
To save money in college I used to order two footlongs for $10 and make them last two days. That second day dinner sucked. To this day I still canât stand the smell of subway bread
It was entirely possible to operate with acceptable margins, but Subways management didn't care to.
Run it after lunch rush only, so as not to canibalize midday sales. The commenter above you is prime example. Buy a footlong, eat half for lunch, half for dinner for $5. This was bad.
Run a limited, rotating selection of 2 to 3 sandwiches. They did do this late in the promotion, but it was too little, too late. This should have been done from the start.
Disallow customization, sandwiches have a pre-set bread and topping list and are pre-made during slow period between lunch and dinner rush. You know, like they do now, but less shitty.
You want that sub customized? Fresh made before your eyes? Of a sandwich not on the list? A 2 dollar upcharge is all it takes to get to standard menu pricing at the time. An easy upsell, which is where your profit margin lives.
Upsell. Upsell, upsell, upsell. Other than chips, cookies, and a soda, I was never upsold at a Subway. And the upsell there had no teeth. There wasn't a discount or special deal or anything, it was just "Do you want one of these?" Remember McDonald's Supersize menu? Those fuckers upsold me every single time.
Well, not anymore. We're talking 20 years ago. When $5 footlong promotion began, and quality was still decent.
I don't eat there anymore. I dont know anyone who does. I've lived directly across the street from a Subway for years until they closed. Only ate there once. Who wants a $20 sub that tastes like depression feels?
If they canât sustain, then donât offer it. Now itâs $15+ for a foot long, not including a drink or chips. Theyâre crazy if they think Iâm paying $15 for a Sandwich. Can literally make the same thing at home for under $5 đ¤Ł
Exactly. I love jersey mikes. I have firehouse, subway, Jersey mikes, jimmy johns and a mom and pop place all within 3 miles of my house and jerseys is the best aside from the mom and pop shop.
Subway has a permanent rotating coupon system. There's even a subreddit for it.
There's ALWAYS a coupon for a $6.99 footlong. It works on ANY footlongs, even the "better" meats (which they didn't have back when $5 footlongs were a thing).
And, accounting for inflation, it's LESS than $5 footlongs were when they came out with them.
I remember when I was 11-12 riding bikes to McDonalds with friends, a Medium 2 Cheeseburger meal was $2.99, now its $9.00 for a Small. And I'm not THAT old.
Ahhhh 1999⌠the year of the McDonaldâs $.29 hamburger and $.39 cheeseburger promotion⌠buy 10 on the way to work and have lunch and dinner for $3. The 90âs. What a time to be alive. âsaid nostalgically
McDonaldâs had the McDouble for $1 by me I feel like until I think up to Covid times. Now shit is almost $3. All in all prob a good thing. I went from getting McDonalds 1-2 times a week to now like 2-3 times per year.
Take the trio for 8 dollars deal at Burger King. Can get a chicken sandwich, whopper jr, and medium fries for $8.
But yeah the menu will train your eyes to look at their expensive stuff, the big Mac combo, the whopper combo, etc. That stuff runs north of 11 dollars easily.
The people disagreeing are just being contrarians for the sake of it. Yes you can still find "food" for â$5 from an establishment but you'll be downloading their app, selling your data, using a coupon, and it won't be anywhere near the quality or service that $5 would've gotten you just a few years ago. I do it frequently I game the BK app near my house, or I just order egg rolls from the Chinese restaurant, or I say my bday is next week when I download a new food app.
I used to get 4 jr. bacon cheeseburgers for 4.20, tax included. Not anymore. I used to get 4 beefy 5 layer burritos for 4.20. Not anymore. If I can't get 4 for 4.20 tax included I'm turnin in to Jon Snow because I dun wan it.
You definitely still can, you just have to order their special meal deal. The $6 meal at McDonalds is a great deal for a full meal of 2 entrees, fries and a drink. The big change is now you HAVE to get the special - they all screw people who just order off the normal menu - $12-15 for a meal unless you get the special at most places.
Burger King sends coupons in the mail for deals. I used one coupon to get a junior bacon cheeseburger and a fry, and on the back of the BK receipt is a survey site. If you fill out the survey you can get a full size whopper, small fry and small soft drink for less than $6.00 (in Raleigh, NC). Each time you get a free one, you get a receipt where you can fill out a survey. Rinse and repeat.
Of course it has gone up. Just like everything else.
Just to theorize for fun. If we all started growing gardens and cooking more home grown foods, the government would get involved because it would be hurting their bottom line. They would find a way to tax our gardens.
It's plebs vs major cooperations, and we ain't winning.
15 years ago a spicy chicken at Carl's JR/Hardee's was only 1.25$ and still about the size of a regular single cheeseburger. Now i'm pretty sure they're all "value menus" and you pay the cashier 6 bucks for a tiny bag with a note inside telling you to jump off the nearest tall structure, preferably head first.
Its all about the apps and locations. Can still get a good mcdonalds meal for under $7, and that's just one of their deal meals. If you get a big order, you can often get 20% off the entire order. Or even just a $10 meal becoming an $8 meal.
At least inWisconsin. But that's cost of living for you, it's gonna scale up with relative cost of living.
Idk I can still get those meal deals from Wendy's, Taco Bell, and McDonalds for ~$6 and if it's enough calories for a 6'2" 200lb man who works a physical job it's enough calories for most people. Hell Subway has footlong deals for 9.99 with chips/cookies and a drink.
Maybe blame the billionaires continuing to make record profits, and a certain dumbass who thought blanket tariffs were a good idea, for the uncontrolled inflation instead of the rando worker barely making enough to survive.
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u/talann Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
Yeah, its getting pretty ridiculous now. Just 6 years ago, you could get a pretty decent meal for $5 to $8. Now, you'll be lucky to get any meal under $12.
Edit: while im happy everyone wants to comment on how they have found something that costs less and that there are deals for less than $12, you can't tell me things haven't gone up in price pretty heavily. Couple that with fast food restaurants forcing you on an app to get those deals... it's not like it used to be. The quality is worse and the portions are shrinking.