I think it’s been ten years since I’ve been to a Wendy’s.
Yeah I think I like cooking for myself better anyways.
Yeah this is mostly me. I eat McDonald’s sometimes but can find alternatives. Or make my own.
I think at this point I only ever go to fast food places when a friend who loves fast food places is over and we happen to go get food. Happens maybe once every couple of years.
I think I’m at an age that if I want burgers or barbecue or something unhealthy or greasy is rather make it myself and have it be extra dirty and less expensive.
How Wendy’s thinks this will play out: 🤑
How it will actually play out:
"WHY DOES THIS BURGER COST 16.99 WHEN IT COST 6 DOLLARS 20 MINUTES AGO?" "Sir, this is a Wendy's" "Oh okay, well fuck you" [drives off]All they need is for enough people to not want to have wasted that time for nothing to buy it anyway to still make more money.
I’ve always said that it’s bullshit that those meals were so cheap in the first place. Their lobbyists paid off a bunch of politicians to make it so cheap. It shouldn’t have ever been as cheap as it was. That food is terrible for you in every way. It’ll probably be good for a lot of people to stop eating it so much. So i see this as a win win.
There’s a documentary “King Corn” that talks about how US government subsidies to farmers for growing corn have made it so inexpensive that it creates a surplus and prices that are too low relative to other foods. This resulted in the proliferation of corn being fed to cattle and other animals, which makes them less healthy to eat but fattens them for slaughter sooner. Also corn syrup is so cheap to make it made soft drinks less expensive. These are large reasons why fast food was so inexpensive and so bad for you. Also surplus corn and corn syrup led to the creation of a lot of unhealthy breakfast cereals which are marketed to kids.
If you try to live your life as disconnected from evil megacorps as you can, it’s just a natural boycott.
I’m like a stubborn mule. The more you push the more likely I am to push back.
To exist is to resist
Not trying to be clever but I really see it as to resist is to exist.
Otherwise we are subsumed and consumed.
I have had some fast food in the last year, but each time I regret it and it gets longer in between.
For the same price I can order from a real restaurant and have leftovers.
Wait until you learn about cooking at home.
It’s still expensive and you have to have time. I still do it, love to cook. But sometimes I have no choice but frozen or fast food. Saying you don’t eat fast food, to me I just see privilege. Not that you said that, but it’s in this thread.
It is interesting to see the American context where food is so cheap. In my country eating out, even fast food, is the privilege. For me there’s no cheaper option than cooking at home, by a wide margin. It does take some planing. But I would go broke in a week if I ate a whole work week straight of fast food. It would be over half of my monthly income. Just one week of lunch only. So for me there’s no option, I have to cook at home or I would starve.
I’m in Aus, and I basically never eat a proper home cooked meal. I can get a hotdog for $3.50 and outside of super basic food like just rice, or oats, I can’t match that.
We don’t need to talk about how much I waste on drinks though, thats an entirely different problem.
You went “i need an example for something that is cheaper to buy than to cook” and you picked fucking hot dogs??
It’s this way in America too if you cook from scratch. People often think fast food is cheaper because they’re buying pre-made/frozen stuff at the grocery store, or they just don’t know how to plan properly.
I meal plan around sale items and spend an average of $120/week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for two adults. That’s less than $3/meal.
I cook almost every meal, and I eat mostly things based on beans and rice.
I also don’t really enjoy cooking, so I streamline. I prep several days at once, and put everything in containers for when I need it. I keep the frying pan on the stove, and toss everything in when the rice cooker is done… It’s very low effort, but endlessly versatile between veggies, spices, and cooking methods.
You have to wait like 20 minutes to let the rice cook, but then it’s less than 5 minutes of effort for most meals, then if you immediately rinse everything down you don’t need to completely wash it every time
It’s also extremely cheap, the only thing I know of that’s cheaper would be bulk top ramen. I use a $20 rice cooker and a frying pan… My food expenses are about $25-35 a week, and I like to pick up fresh veggies and other things to vary it up. That’s like 3 meals, maybe 4 at a fast food place these days.
Cooking isn’t privilege in any way. It’s normal. It doesn’t have to be fancy, it’s just basic preparation of food humans have done since we discovered fire.
If you’re so exhausted you can’t care for your own basic needs, that’s not lack of privilege, that’s exploitation
Haha!
I cook most meals at home, restaurants are for when I don’t have time or leftovers.
Hot take: every business that has a happy hour already has surge pricing and nobody minds because they promote it as offering a discount on the “normal” price.
Some parts of Canada had an environmental fee on plastic bags introduced a while ago, and some places phrased it as a 10¢ discount for using a reusable/paper bag.
But Happy Hour is literally the opposite of surge pricing.
This is not something I’ve heard of as someone who also doesn’t bother with fast food. Is this like, higher prices during rush hours or something?
Yep.
I ate at McDonald’s for the first time in a few years. The same meal I used to get on the go now costs over 100% more since before 2020. The only reason I went to McDonald’s was because it was cheap, not because it was good. I don’t think I’ll ever go again.
I literally don’t believe American fast food prices and second every point you’ve made.
It costs more than a sit down meal! My wife got Carl’s Junior a couple days ago and it was $22! So if I had got a meal it would have been $44. For fucking Carl’s Junior? Are you kidding me? Get the fuck outta here!
I was traveling for several years and when I visited the states again I thought it would be fun to go through a Wendy’s. I was charged 4.50 for a plain hamburger, and I was shocked and assumed she entered the order wrong, and asked the fast food worker why the price was so high and if it was that high all the time.
She was so bummed out and told me she couldn’t even eat fast food except for the fries she got on her shift because the prices were so crazy now. That’s about the last time I stopped by any fast food places in the states.
I’ve been traveling again and I’m in Taiwan right now, a stacked buffet plate is about 4 bucks and the vegetarian pay by the plate place I’m at now are 2 bucks a full plate.
I understand what you mean, however it would be a better data to compare fast food prices for the same country. Its normal that the prices in the US dont match yours. Its not the exact same economy… how was fast food in taiwan before vs now? That is more interesting information
My anecdote is about prices in a single country skyrocketing, I think you only find that particular country’s data less interesting because it’s a country you’re familiar with.
I do have more international data points for you, though.
All the American fast food joints keep their prices pretty consistent across countries I’ve been to in any year, within ten percent or so of conversion rates anyway.
As for local fare in Taiwan, inflation is blowing up here. prices in general here seem about 50% higher than 5 years ago.
China’s prices have all doubled since ten years ago, except for housing, which is slightly cheaper(evergrande). Not that they were ever expensive.
Sometimes I get angry that there is nothing legal I can do to cause financial harm for certain companies. The quest that can happen is me stopping the consumption of their products, bit what is I want doing it in the first place?
Would you like to know more?
Yes
Good citizen.
A good bug is a dead bug!
Fast food has surge pricing now?
Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and daypart offerings, along with AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling," he said.
AI-enabled menu changes
suggestive selling
I’m pretty sure Tim Hortons has had access to AI menu changes for years now. It would explain a lot.
Can’t wait for my neuralink to mine my hungerdata and starve me everywhere I go
There was a story going around yesterday about Wendy’s supposedly trying it. It sounds like the kind of headline that’s going to turn out to be BS, but I also didn’t really look into it so I don’t know any of the details. Seems like the kind of thing you’d have to be an idiot to actually attempt. Hard to imagine a universe where that goes over well.
Will it go over well?
Of course not!
But will Wendy’s keep bullheadedly pushing on until it somehow eventually sticks?
Definitely. 👍
Ohhh! Lemmy is my people. We are small as a group but mighty in spirit. Sometimes I miss my weird little subs at Deadit and o go back and am reminded by the thirty point IQ drop across the board and I content myself to return to Lemmy and see exactly what I needed to see.
Off to the rest of my day.
This one meme satisfies so completely. Except that I may modify it to reflect my decade clean from fast food. Onward!
Rice cookers of the world unite!
