Fast food is called fast food because it’s fast not because it’s inexpensive, yet we usually think fast food will cost less than food at a sit-down restaurant. If you have been to a fast food restaurant recently, you might have gotten sticker shock when you saw the total for your order. Unless you stick to the value menu, hamburgers, french fries and milkshakes can add up quickly.
One person turned to Reddit to ask, “Is it just me or does fast food seem more expensive nowadays?” He went on to explain, “I feel like I used to spend $5 on McDonald’s or Burger King or Wendy’s and be ok. The other day I spent like $15 just for myself on a meal I’d normally get that I dont feel was this expensive. Then I spent like $30 at Burger King for me and my SO. I know with inflation prices go up… but it was just a sticker shock. I just thought fast food was supposed to be cheap.”
Many Reddit users weighed in with their opinions about fast food prices and if they think it’s getting more expensive than it used to be.
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Costs the Same as a Diner
Reddit user serious_rbf answered:
It’s equivalent or cheaper in my area to get take out from a diner or something similar. Especially since portions in fast food places have become smaller
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The Apps Save $$$
MooMooQueen wrote:
Download the apps, your mind will be blown. Burger King: spend $1, get a free kids meal. Burger, fries, drink, ice cream, 10 nuggets = $1. Wendy’s: buy anything, get a free chicken sammich.
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Definitely Inflation
arkol3404 shared:
Yes, prices have definitely gone up. I remember cheeseburgers being $.59
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Crab Legs Cost the Same
book-reading-hippie explained:
The other week I bought a pound of crab legs from Walmart for $17, it was enough for two portions of crab. So around $8.50 per meal. I was shocked to realize I could have crab legs for dinner for the same price I’d pay for dinner at McDonald’s.
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Taco Bell
xX_ATHENs_Xx added:
A few years back a family member was in the hospital and we didn’t really have the time or money to cook ourselves, and I remember Taco Bell being way cheaper than it is now, I would always get a couple of burritos and a soda for like $5, now my same ordere costs me 11
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App for the Win
oortuno shared:
Yeah, if you order a combo off of the menu, you will get wrecked. BUT, if you download that fast food chain’s app (almost all of them have one nowadays), and stick to their deals and value menus, you can really cheap food. Burger King is actually one of the cheapest options due to this imo.
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Size Matters
Honeybee71 wrote:
The burgers have gotten smaller too
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Prices Going Up Slowly Over Time
theinsanepotato explained:
A decade or so ago, I know for a fact a McDonalds double cheeseburger was $1.00. A few years later, it went up to $1.25. Nowadays, its $1.50. So yeah, prices have definitely gone up.
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Skip Fast Food
Unsealedwheat11 answered:
It’s great, now it’s cheaper to eat at home then at fast food. Better excuse to eat better
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Prices at Diners Aren’t Going Up as Much
Another Reddit user wrote:
I feel like it’s kind of specific to fast food. At this point you can eat at a nice cafe for about the same price as a fast food drive-through.
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Isn’t It Ironic
YetAnother2Cents added:
Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s used to have the $6 Burger maybe 10 years ago. It was a ~$3 burger that was supposed to be like the $6 burger you got at a sit down restaurant (it wasn’t). They have a bunch of burgers now that are ~$6.Ironically, since casual restaurants are so challenged these days, they often have burger features that are about the same price as fast food.
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In-N-Out
DedicatedToLosing answered:
In-n-Out is still really cheap. I get 2 double doubles and fries for $10, a regular hamburger is just shy over $2, and the quality is still really good
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Charging Too Much
Kmart99 wrote:
100% it is going up faster than inflation.It went from ‘a lesser, but still cheap and quick alternative’ to ‘lol everyone is addicted to this garbage, we can charge whatever we want’.