fast food french fry prices are the most absurd out of all the price hikes

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Poll of the Day » fast food french fry prices are the most absurd out of all the price hikes
like $6 for not even one potato worth of fries fuck you fast food places
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Generally speaking, fast food places use higher margins on fries to compensate for lower margins on their meat. The gold standard for food service is to have food costs make up ~30% of the final price of the item (the rest covering labour, overhead, and profit margins), but fast food burgers typically have food costs of 50-55%. Fries, on the other hand, come in at 5-10%, and drinks are like 1%. This is why they push combos so hard.

Air fryers are pretty great for making frozen fries at home, if you find a brand you like well enough to substitute for fast food fries. You can get even cheaper by just making your own, but that tends to be much more time-consuming and often doesn't turn out as well. Neither help for when you're on the road, but it's an opportunity to save some money at home.
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You can get a 22 oz. bag of McCain's frozen fries for 3.50-3.99.
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App overload is annoying, but mcdonalds has a daily $1 any size fries on their app.

But generally speaking, yeah fast food has gotten so insane that I just go to sit down restaurants and really only spend another $5 for exponentially better food.
Cupcake
Cupcake2006 posted...
App overload is annoying, but mcdonalds has a daily $1 any size fries on their app.

there are two better coupons on their app that you should be using over the fry one, and you get put on an hour lockout after using one so you can't exactly double dip
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ConfusedTorchic posted...
there are two better coupons on their app that you should be using over the fry one
Which ones?
Cupcake
25% off $5 or more

29 cent double cheese/nugs with purchase of either
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The 25% off ultimately doesn't end up adding up to much unless you're buying for a lot of people

The 29 cent one would work for me though because I don't like getting a soda and sometimes want nugs instead of fries
Cupcake
Cupcake2006 posted...
The 25% off ultimately doesn't end up adding up to much unless you're buying for a lot of people

If fries are normally $6, 25% off becomes better than $1 fries if you spend more than $20 total, which is actually pretty easy to do these days. You might not do it solo, but if you're buying for even one other person there's a good chance you'll break $20.
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I wish that fast food places would offer like a bucket of fries. Sometimes I don't want a burger or anything, I just want an absurd amount of fries.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/e2981c0d.jpg
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captpackrat posted...
I wish that fast food places would offer like a bucket of fries. Sometimes I don't want a burger or anything, I just want an absurd amount of fries.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/e2981c0d.jpg

buy a frozen bag and toss them in the oven if you need that many
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frozen fries are trash
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dude same agree

frozen fries are NOT the same even if you fry them

idk wtf
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dragon504 posted...
frozen fries are trash
Really? They turn out just fine in the oven or air fryer. For me at least.
Currently playing: F-Zero 99
It depends a lot on the brand. Some frozen fries are pretty good, others not so much.

As an alternative, you can get a fry press/cutter for less than $50 and just make your own straight from potatoes, but that's more work, especially if you par-cook them first to mirror how they're usually made in restaurants.
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The only good frozen fries are curly fries.
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Frozen fries in the oven are garbage, I want those suckers greasy.
shadowsword87 posted...
Frozen fries in the oven are garbage, I want those suckers greasy.

That's why you dip them in melted butter. Duh.
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shadowsword87 posted...
Frozen fries in the oven are garbage, I want those suckers greasy.


I'll throw them in the microwave if you want.
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Get a fryer, 2 bottles of oil and a $3 5lb bag of potatoes and you're set on fries
ConfusedTorchic posted...
dude same agree

frozen fries are NOT the same even if you fry them

idk wtf
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ConfusedTorchic posted...
dude same agree

frozen fries are NOT the same even if you fry them

idk wtf
I don't think anyone is saying they're the same. What is it about frozen fries that make them so inferior to you?
Currently playing: F-Zero 99
I make my own in my air fryer now. Haven't had fast food in over half a year.
speedpunk posted...
I don't think anyone is saying they're the same. What is it about frozen fries that make them so inferior to you?

Taste, texture, and moisture content.
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they're gritty
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captpackrat posted...
I wish that fast food places would offer like a bucket of fries. Sometimes I don't want a burger or anything, I just want an absurd amount of fries.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/e2981c0d.jpg

Dairy Queen used to offer this, and it came with a cute little red fork
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weirdly, the French fry coupon at McDonald's says this

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c072ec6a.jpg

where does McDonald's have a basket option
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ConfusedTorchic posted...
weirdly, the French fry coupon at McDonald's says this

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c072ec6a.jpg

where does McDonald's have a basket option


Canada maybe.
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One thing I have noticed over the years is the size of the fries is shrinking and the size of the drinks is increasing.

A 'small' fry at Wendys now is the size of a kid size fry 20 years ago.
A 'Medium' drink now is the size of the Biggie size 20 years ago.
ConfusedTorchic posted...
dude same agree

frozen fries are NOT the same even if you fry them

idk wtf

yeah wtf is up with people suggesting them in any capacity, there's few things more depressing than a bag of frozen fries.

Anyway I just make my own French fries now.
Cruddy_horse posted...
yeah wtf is up with people suggesting them in any capacity, there's few things more depressing than a bag of frozen fries.

Anyway I just make my own French fries now.

I was able to get some good frozen fries using a pizza oven... the 900 degrees really helps
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The frozen curly fries are fine but nowhere near the quality of fresh ones.
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fettster777 posted...
One thing I have noticed over the years is the size of the fries is shrinking and the size of the drinks is increasing.

A 'small' fry at Wendys now is the size of a kid size fry 20 years ago.
A 'Medium' drink now is the size of the Biggie size 20 years ago.
Soda is dirt cheap. Wouldn't surprise me if there was something behind the psychology of "let's make their cheap soda massive so it distracts from how tiny their fries are"
Cupcake
fries are also dirt cheap
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Not as dirt cheap as pop.
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Cupcake2006 posted...

Soda is dirt cheap. Wouldn't surprise me if there was something behind the psychology of "let's make their cheap soda massive so it distracts from how tiny their fries are"


No it fucking isn't.
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Revelation34 posted...
No it fucking isn't.

Pop is only marginally more expensive than water, at least to produce. They then charge several dollars for 3 cents worth of product because that's a very attractive margin.
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adjl posted...


Pop is only marginally more expensive than water, at least to produce. They then charge several dollars for 3 cents worth of product because that's a very attractive margin.


Water at Walmart is almost $5 for 24 bottles. It's like $9 for a 12 pack of soda.
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adjl posted...
at least to produce.

Key words. Fast food chains aren't buying pop at Walmart. They're buying syrup wholesale for a small fraction of what they sell the finished product for.
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lmao rev, soda is dirt cheap for businesses.

they buy a 5 gallon box of syrup for $30, that turns into 30 gallons of soda since it's a 5:1 ratio of syrup to carbonated water.

a 12 pack of soda contains roughly 1.2 gallons of soda. for like $8, so do 8 times 30. $240 for the same volume of soda if you just bought it in cans.

they pay $30.

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Not a fan of Mc D's but.

They have a buy 1 get one for $1 for their old dollar meal items (Mc double, chicken etc). They are 3$ now base, so you get 2 for $1.50 each and that stacks with any coupon (so 1$ large fries).

Lets you get 2 mc doubles and a large fry for a bit over $5 total.

It's a pretty cheap and filling meal in a pinch. Not as good as the old days but honestly even when Mc Doubles where $1, fries were 2-3$ for a large, so you still paid what you do now back then (for that combo).

Other things have gone way up in price, but. not many places you can get a pretty full/filling meal for $5 left sadly.

As far as making fries at home, if you are gonna do it even semi often, invest in a deep fryer, they are cheap (like $30?) on amazon. Then you can also buy a large thing of peanut oil (enough to fill the fryer twice) on amazon as well. If you strain the oil back into a container and seal it, you can re-use it for a few weeks, if you just leave it in the deep fryer (and don't cook any meats etc, just fries), it's good for a week or so as well. 1 thing of Peanut oil lasts about a month that way, and you could have fries as often as you want.

Then it's down to if you want to cut them yourself, or buy frozen fries, but honestly the crinkle cut frozen fries are seriously better than cutting your own. You can get a bag for about $3 and that will make enough fries for 3 meals (For one person). It's still about $1 a meal of fries (Same as Mc D's) but they taste way better, and you don't have to go out for them.

If you like fries more than once a week, I strongly suggest just getting a fry only deep fryer, since they are super cheap, you can have 2, one for fish/meats etc, and one for just potatoes (also works great for tater tots and especially onion rings). You can eaisly make your own onion rings at home, but the ones sold in the store are about 5$ a bag and make enough for 2 meals of VERY yummy rings (without all the work). Totally worth it.

Air fryer is good for many things, but even if you coat your fries with oil before putting em in the air fryer, they are not as good as deep fried. Air fryer ftw for rehating foods (chicken and especially pizza) and a buncha other stuff, but not fries.
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Revelation34 posted...
No it fucking isn't.
Yeah sorry for the vague wording - it's not dirt cheap to us, the consumers. It's dirt cheap for restaurants to buy the syrup and then turn around and resell for several dollars. The actual soda costs less to purchase than the cups they come in. They get incredible margin on soda, so they have no problem making you think you're getting a good deal when the soda is bigger (like #30 observed).
Cupcake
wolfy42 posted...
Not a fan of Mc D's but.

They have a buy 1 get one for $1 for their old dollar meal items (Mc double, chicken etc). They are 3$ now base, so you get 2 for $1.50 each and that stacks with any coupon (so 1$ large fries).

Lets you get 2 mc doubles and a large fry for a bit over $5 total.

It's a pretty cheap and filling meal in a pinch. Not as good as the old days but honestly even when Mc Doubles where $1, fries were 2-3$ for a large, so you still paid what you do now back then (for that combo).

Other things have gone way up in price, but. not many places you can get a pretty full/filling meal for $5 left sadly.

As far as making fries at home, if you are gonna do it even semi often, invest in a deep fryer, they are cheap (like $30?) on amazon. Then you can also buy a large thing of peanut oil (enough to fill the fryer twice) on amazon as well. If you strain the oil back into a container and seal it, you can re-use it for a few weeks, if you just leave it in the deep fryer (and don't cook any meats etc, just fries), it's good for a week or so as well. 1 thing of Peanut oil lasts about a month that way, and you could have fries as often as you want.

Then it's down to if you want to cut them yourself, or buy frozen fries, but honestly the crinkle cut frozen fries are seriously better than cutting your own. You can get a bag for about $3 and that will make enough fries for 3 meals (For one person). It's still about $1 a meal of fries (Same as Mc D's) but they taste way better, and you don't have to go out for them.

If you like fries more than once a week, I strongly suggest just getting a fry only deep fryer, since they are super cheap, you can have 2, one for fish/meats etc, and one for just potatoes (also works great for tater tots and especially onion rings). You can eaisly make your own onion rings at home, but the ones sold in the store are about 5$ a bag and make enough for 2 meals of VERY yummy rings (without all the work). Totally worth it.

Air fryer is good for many things, but even if you coat your fries with oil before putting em in the air fryer, they are not as good as deep fried. Air fryer ftw for rehating foods (chicken and especially pizza) and a buncha other stuff, but not fries.


Air fryers are more for health. I also wouldn't want to deal with all the oil. I don't know what the price is now but it cost $50 for the really big jug.
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Poll of the Day » fast food french fry prices are the most absurd out of all the price hikes