Today I went to burger king for the first time in years. It was even worse than I remembered it. (had the vegetarian option, don’t know if it’s as bad with the meat burgers) Additionally it’s fucking expensive and not as quick as it used to be. So my question is why do some people go there regulary?
Sometimes I channel my spirit animal
And I hunger for a pile of garbage.
Hi, that’s me. I get an hour for lunch during the week, and there are a handful of fast food places minutes from my work. I drive through, and sit in the parking lot eating my lunch and playing games on my phone. It’s my quiet time for the day.
There’s a bit of a game for some of these fast food places. Most people just roll up and order a #1 or whatever was in the commercials. That’s how they get ya!
Sometimes you need to download the app, or check the menu for a budget meal. A slightly smaller burger and less than a pound of fries is an adequate meal for around $5-7.
I used to order a kid’s meal, and it was more than enough food for an adult. My kids enjoyed getting toys at the end of the day, too, but they were all plastic garbage.
One of my coworkers lost a lot of weight, and when I asked him what he was doing to lose weight he said he was ordering kids meals.
for a time during the 1990s they had an ‘all american meal’ which was small burger or cheeseburger, small fries, small drink. was cheap, too. basically a dollar-store happy meal without the toy or box. this was before those went ‘kids size’ and swapped in “healthier” items.
then they jacked the price up so far, it literally cost more than ordering a la carte.
Same, when I ate fast food a lot it was because there were places next to work. Eat in my car and read for the short amount of time I had.
Honest question: Why not cook a bunch of meals once or twice a week and eat that instead? It can be cheaper and it’s way less likely to get you sick in the long run.
Honest answer: Because that sounds terrible.
I’m not going to waste my time cooking food that I won’t eat at it’s prime, just so it can take up my fridge space until I inevitably ruin it with a microwave later in the week.
Also, storing and reheating good creates MUCH more potential for contamination and food borne illness.
I can pay for my lunch with the money I make in the first half hour of the day. It’s not breaking the bank.
sdfhjlaks;fjlk;asfjkl;sfjakl;
And meal prepping is 2 hours of your week every week, plus however long you have to work to pay for the ingredients, which is probably another 2 hours
sdfhjlaks;fjlk;asfjkl;sfjakl;
You are missing the point, it’s not “4.5 hours a week of work” vs “absolutely nothing”, it’s 4.5 hours of work vs however long to have to work to pay for the ingredients, plus the time to make the food. If I spend an hour meal prepping and it takes me an hour and a half to pay for the ingredients, eating out at lunch only costs me 2 additional hours of my time, not 4.5
I also don’t know what meal you are preparing where chopping veggies, searing meat, packaging and cleaning up afterwards only takes 20 minutes. Even making chili, which is the prototypical “throw everything in a pot” recipe takes me north of an hour when all is said and done
sdfhjlaks;fjlk;asfjkl;sfjakl;
This is what I do - make a big pot of chili or soup for the week. But I recognize that this might not work for everyone. At my work there’s a conveniently located fridge and microwave, and I can eat in my office with the door shut for a quiet meal. If any of those things weren’t there it might not be worth it.
I also enjoy cooking, and don’t mind spending time making my meal for the week. If the prep work was a real chore then it’d be much more tempting to buy something premade every day.
I tend to do it by cooking extra portions for dinner each night and taking in that portion/leftovers the next day, that way there is no meaningful extra work.
And if we have time to plan on a weekend i like to do a meal that i can cook a big batch on a sunday that will reheat well, ie: chili (as you said), lasagna, spaghetti bolognese, thai curry, stir fry with rice, etc.
Edit: also wanted to note that yes buying lunch occasionally is super tasty but i feel much worse afterwards that afternoon, and it has also pushed me to step up my cooking skills and think i am quite good for a home cook now.
Well, you see, the combination of mayonnaise and melted cheese creates a chemical chain reaction in my brain that makes me feel good.
Before the pandemic I was on the road sometimes and it surprised me how many towns / tiny cities would have 1 grocery store and then a couple fast food chains as the only (obvious) to-go food options.
Many seem to have one particular mini-mart or gas station that has surprisingly good food, but you tend to need some local knowledge to find that.
Lack of time, lack of energy, or both. Cooking is exhausting and difficult when you’re already tired from working.
Air fryer and sous vide has made it easy for me to do quick cooking when I don’t have time.
I love the idea of sous vide but I associate hot water and plastic with leeched chemicals and microplastics.
You can use silicone sous vide bags. Which are re-useable, so no plastic waste at all.
I’ll check that out! Thanks!
It seems like way more work to go out to get fast food than to pop something in the microwave, instant pot, air frier, or to pull something out of the fridge.
You can put together some pretty cheap, easy, healthy meals with maybe 1-2 minutes of actual prep work. It may not be obvious, but search and you will find. 👌
Lovers of asparagus, how and why do you eat it? No matter how it is cooked, I don’t enjoy it. There’s something about the taste I do not like. I had some again recently, and it was just as bad as I remembered it.
Why do you eat a food I don’t like?
To increase the area of effect when I piss on something to claim territory
asparagus
Bake in oven with: Olive oil, 1 lemon’s juice and zest, and salt.
Or BBQ. A lot of veggies get a bad rap because the older generations just boiled everything.
Yes! In that case, let the asparagus marinate in what I wrote for a few hours, then grill over charcoal. I have a grill basket I use a lot in the summer for the above and other veggies.
If you’ve never done this with parmesan…you really, truly should. 😙🤌
I have trained myself to enjoy a wide range of foods. Only thing I can’t get behind is mango
I keep it simple: steamed in a microwave + lemon juice.
C’mon, you can’t say no matter how its cooked. You sure I can’t interest you in some fried asparagus with a cheese-based sauce? Yeah, any nutritional value you’re getting out of them is pretty much ruined, but who cares.
I visit some fast food chains but I avoid Burger King at all costs. Some of the worst burgers I have ever seen and eaten in my entire life have come from that dump.
Prices are getting out of hand, though. Fast Food is quickly reaching price parity with actual quality restaurants which is insane.
All the answers will be the same:
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I have limited choices and this is all I got.
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It comfort food. I have fond memories.
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Don’t yuck on people’s yum.
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The King is holding my family hostage unless I order two whoppers a week please send help
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I like tasty gourmet food. But I also like junk.
I genuinely like a big Mac or a domino pizza. Are they as good as a gourmet burger or a wood oven pizza? Not even close. Can I enjoy them regularly? Absolutely.
Same. I’ve had Michelin star meals, meals from world famous chefs, and everything in between. And sometimes the only thing I want is a McDs double cheese burger.
Tastes are funny. Sometimes I want a steak and salad, sometimes I want a shitty greasy burger with a pile of fries.
Same. There’s a strange allure to cheap fast food. Ig it’s a childhood thing for me, forbidden fruit and all, but I really love cooking all kinds of meals myself too.
Some people like the taste and don’t mind paying for the convenience - full stop.
Also the vegetarian option at most fast food places is generally more expensive and worse tasting
Fast food is pretty gross if you don’t eat it regularly. I think a lot of it is how addictive it can be. A hit of caffeine, sugar, salt, and fat when you are hungry and tired hits the spot.
People get stuck in these routines, and the companies have apps and reward programs to gamify people into coming back.
Yeah I remember being in my twenties and absolutely salivating over a $2 Tuesday lunch special near my work, which is not something I could stomach now that I’ve got some years of home cooking in me.
I think this is the only answer that I can understand
Yeah I was just reading through these comments totally confused what was going on, I might get a KFC once a year and that’s it. All the rest of them make me feel slightly ill just from the smell.
I do have a great Indian place locally I use fairly often and a couple others, just can’t imagine buying the chain stuff.
I know this is a bad reason, but I’m lazy and don’t feel like cooking, so it’s convenient.
Honest question, have you tried other places that were not fast food (ie. Chilli’s) or cooking quick meals that didn’t work out for you? If so, what?
I always find it humorous that people treat places like Chili’s or Applebee’s as if they are somehow better than fast food in value for money.
I only do real fast food, or a more serious sit down restaurant of better quality. Not this overpriced garbage in between.
Oh for sure, fuck those places. I rather order from a small mom & pop restaurant than from some corpo chain. I just mentioned Chili’s because OP sounded like convenience was important and ordering from an app and just going to pick up seems universally convinient. I rather cook for myself, but when I feel lazy I treat myself at a restaurant, but then again I’m not the audience this post is targeting
A lot of areas don’t have other restaurants. It’s a sea of fast food that can only be driven to.
City is different, but before I had the savings to move, I u didn’t have much choice
I find it fascinating that places like that exist. Where I grew up I had to take the bus for like 20min for my closest fast food joint. Where I live the go to food is döner (I’m from germany). That’s usully faster, healthier and in my opinion tastes a lot better than fast food. Most other countries in europe I’ve been to have some kind of similar food. So in my opinion it’s crazy that there are still places that haven’t developed some kind of quick good tasting food and that fast food has such a tight grip around a whole community
Oh, that is a fair point. We did have a donor kebab place, Which definitely blow Burger King and McDonald’s out of the water.
But variety is nice and in the absence of that there was nothing other than KFC and Burger King.
I don’t really bother with the middle of the restaurant industry (and it’s not just me, as chains like Chili’s and Applebee’s have complained about the trends hollowing out the middle). It’s just not enough of an improvement over fast food or fast casual to be worth the higher cost, slower service, etc.
If I’m hungry and don’t want to cook/clean, I’ll grab fast food.
If I want to sit down at a full service restaurant, it’ll probably be an expensive trendy place with recognition from James Beard or Michelin.
Not the same person but fast food is way faster and cheaper than some place like Chili’s as long as you stick to the more value focused options. I can get a full meal with leftovers for $5-6 bucks usually
It’s also cheaper than a lot of home cooking unless you plan very well, make large batches, and are cool with eating the same leftovers all week.
We have not gone to a fast food in the last fifteen or twenty years, if not more. Why would we? It’s not welcoming, the food taste like… cardboard, it’s rarely a pleasant place to eat, and people are often noisy. When we want to eat a burger, we cook it ourselves with fresh food. Yep, when we want to have some, even the fries are handmade. There is just no comparison.
There’s always a local restaurant that can do an even better job.
Most certainly, but I would also not call that a fast food, not one that serves handmade burgers. Those are true restaurants.
We had one a few block block from us, it was real excellent. When they bring the plates to our table (we don’t have to queue, and the place was nice and quiet, and comfy) it’s almost like looking at a wonderful mix of poetry and painting that’s made out of bread, with those little sesame seeds, overflowing salad, the pickles, onions, juicy and thick meat (they have true vegan alternatives) and fries that don’t look like fat squishy toothpicks. Their burgers tasted good just by looking at them, and they’re even better when you would take a bite :)
But they’re also not that fast to prepare the burger, and a tad more expensive than the nearby McDo or whatever.
Preparing food at home isn’t “fast food,” either. It’s likely slower, assuming you don’t have a professional fry station in your kitchen.
Preparing food at home isn’t “fast food,” either.
It certainly is not, and that’s my whole point. You don’t need to go to a fast food to eat a burger. That said, it’s not that long and it can also be a lot of fun doing it with your spouse, like we do, our with friends. A lot more fun ;)
And if’s because of time constraints one goes fast food, one can easily prepare something (much better) at home for their next day lunch. My mom used to that for me when I was a kid, like most moms would do back then, and I have done that countless times when I used to work normal office hours and had a very busy job.
Same. I’ve only had fast food once since 2020, and the experience was like yours: gross and expensive.
Before I went WFH, I ate FF pretty regularly. Mostly because it was, well, fast and offered a variety (there’s at least 8 or 9 places within walking distance of my office).
My job only gives a half hour for lunch. I used to pack a lunch, but that gets tedious after a while and takes extra time out of my morning to prepare. Then if I want to heat it up, there’s always a line to use the microwaves or to get to the refrigerator in the break room. By the time my packed lunch is prepared, I’ve got just enough time to wolf it down and head back to my desk.
Going out for FF at least let me take a walk, get some fresh air, and gave me a variety over the handful of things (or leftovers) I would pack from home.
If I ever have to RTO, that’s the aspect I’d be most upset about.
Is “FF” just slang for Fat Fuck?
Nah. I just chow down on Firefox 3-4 times a week lol
Ford Focus
Foreign Farts
Sometimes a Culver’s cold custard just hits different.
Especially hits your wallet that shit makes burger king look like it’s still the 70s.
in the 1970s, bk didn’t suck nearly as much as they do now. but yea, culver’s is the good stuff–although they have dipped a bit lately. i think they’re expanding too fast in their quest for more dollars.
