Fast food is a popular choice for a quick and easy meal, but it can also be cheaper. You can get the most out of $5 at your favourite fast food places if you know how to spend it.
There are ways to save money and still have a good meal, whether you want a burger, a sandwich, or pizza.
In this article, we’ll talk about how to get the most out of your money at fast food chains.
From value menus to making your own order, we’ll show you how to get the most out of your money and still have a great meal without going broke.
So, if you want to know how to get the most out of $5 at your favourite fast-food restaurants, keep reading!
Taco Bell
Taco Bell is the promised land, a beautiful urban mecca where you can actually order six Doritos Locos Tacos at 1 a.m. God bless our country.
Taco Bell is the most versatile of the big fast food chains, and it also has the best food. You can get a lot for $5 here, and I’m not just talking about tacos.
Make sure to get the app first to see if there are any deals inside.
The prices on the breakfast menu here are pretty low. You can build your breakfast from a few packages that cost less than $5 or from menu items that cost only $1.
You could get two breakfast sandwiches for $4 and an extra breakfast soft taco for $1 with your $5.
Even if you don’t get there before 11 a.m., there’s still a lot to love. First up are the $5 Crispy Chicken Quesadilla Box and the $5 Cravings Deal Box.
Both give you a lot of food, but the quesadilla box gives you a drink instead of an extra item.
Also, there’s a wonderful $1 meal. The burritos are the most filling thing on the menu, so getting five of them (I recommend the Beefy Fritos Burrito, grilled) would be sure to keep you full and happy all night.
If you want to try something different, you can add potato to any taco for an extra 50 cents, add guacamole for 30 cents, or switch out the refried beans for black beans.
Wendy’s
When you look at the menu, it’s easy to see that there aren’t many combos that cost less than $5, so we have to think outside the box.
The four meals for $4 deal at Wendy’s seems to be the best value for your money so far.
You get fries, four chicken nuggets, a drink, and your pick of a Jr. Cheeseburger, Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, Double Stack (with a 1/4-pound patty), Crispy Chicken BLT, Crispy Chicken Sandwich, a Grilled, Spicy, or Homestyle Wrap, or a small chilli.
You now have an extra $1 to spend on…I don’t know, maybe a nice Frosty? Or maybe you want four more chicken bits, which is also fine. You do you.
The current special combo is another choice on the menu. For $5, you can get a three-piece chicken tender, small fries, and a drink. Hmm.
Instead, you might want to use the Everyday Value Menu in a friendly way. I found the following best combinations:
- Combo #1: Two Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers with junior-sized fries or four-piece nuggets for $5.
- Combo #2: One Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, one Jr. fries, and eight pieces of chicken wings
- Combo #3: Crispy Chicken Sandwich or Jr. Cheeseburger, six-piece nuggets or sour cream and chive potato, four-piece chicken nuggets, and junior fries.
Jack in the Box
Let’s start with what’s clear. Even though Jack in the Box is a little more expensive than its competitors, its cheap tacos are legendary.
Two tacos cost $1.19, which makes them the best deal on the menu, but be warned: these tacos aren’t what you’d call particularly tasty. But what do you expect when eight tacos can be had for less than $5?
There is also a part on the website called “Offers & Stuff” that asks you to sign up for the newsletter and says that doing so will help you get all kinds of deals.
So, that’s that. Downloading the app can also be helpful: at the time I wrote this, I found a deal for $10 off my order and another for two free tacos when I bought something.
So that’s 10 tacos for less than $5, which is crazy.
The price of breakfast is a lot less than the price of lunch. You can get a Ham & Egg or Sausage & Egg Breakfast Pocket for $2.
Two of them will cost you $4, which is a pretty good breakfast. Mini pancakes cost $1.19, so if you have a few cents left over, you can add a little sugar to make the meal complete.
Burger King
Breakfast is two items for $4 for people who get up early. Get two of the Sausage Egg & Cheese Croissan’wiches, which have 18 grams of protein each and would make Arnold Schwarzenegger happy.
Add a small amount of coffee to give your body the energy it needs, and you’re done.
BK gave us a great answer when we asked how to get the best deals in-house: download the app.
You can get coupons and find out about the changing offers, which are by far the best deal in the place.
At the time I wrote this, the special was a mix of two cheeseburgers, small fries, and a drink for $3.49, which is more than enough to bring hungry bellies to the BK yard.
It goes well with the 10-piece spicy chicken nuggets, which cost $1.49 and make a pretty filling meal. Don’t forget to mention the Value Menu.
You could get five simple burgers for $1 each (a cheeseburger, a Crispy Chicken Jr. hamburger, or a Rodeo Crispy Chicken burger), or you could get two double cheeseburgers and four-piece chicken nuggets for $4.87 before taxes.
Looking for more? If you fill out the poll on the back of the receipt, you can get a free Whopper.
Just answer a few questions on your phone and get back in line to get that good patty.
Popeye’s
On their website, the people who make the famous Louisiana-style fried chicken have a tab for coupons that lets you look for places near you and see if there are any coupons available.
Since my coupon was for a free large side and six biscuits when I bought a box of 12 or more, it was definitely more than $5 and not very helpful.
My local shop had a deal where you could get six boneless wings, a biscuit, and a side for $5, which is a pretty good deal compared to what Pop Eye charges.
There are no other $5 pairs, but you could get two thighs for a little less than $5, which seems like a pittance in comparison.
Short version: $5 won’t get you a lot of love here, but it will get you a good combination.
McDonald’s
If you sign up for McDonald’s email, you can get a few deals and special offers. With the McDonald’s app, you can get weekly deals that are only offered through the app and, surprisingly, are pretty good.
When you buy a breakfast meal, you get free hash browns. If you spend $10 or more, you get $2 off.
With the app, you can also get deals like “buy five McCafe drinks and get one free.” This is worth it if you go to Mickey Dee’s a lot.
With a little bit of planning, your $5 can go a long way. Since there are so many things here that cost less than $2, I chose to build your $5 meal in a cheap way.
After reading FiveThirtyEight’s analysis of McDonald’s menu items, I chose to look at the official nutritional menu and compare the nutritional values (item weight) with the prices of the cheapest items.
For $5, you can get four sausage biscuits for breakfast, which is more than enough to fill even the hungriest stomach.
On the standard menu, you can get two McChicken sandwiches for just $2, which is the best deal.
Get four McChicken burgers, which are the heaviest thing on the value menu, for a total weight of 572 grams. Two Big Macs, for example, are 422 grams of food.
You’ll still have a dollar left over, so you could get a biscuit from the all-day breakfast menu or a drink to wash down all that chicken.
Chick-fil-A
The Chick-fil-A app has a built-in loyalty program that says that every time you use the app to buy, you’ll “make progress toward getting free treats.”
Here are the best things you can order for breakfast:
- For $4.15, you can get a Hash Brown Scramble Bowl. You can pick a bowl with chicken pieces, sausage, or a grilled filet.
- Buy a sunflower multigrain bagel for $1.49, add cream cheese for 60 cents and lots of egg (egg whites for 80 cents and egg for 60 cents) for a total of $3.49, which is just enough to add an English muffin.
On the regular menu, you won’t be able to get any lunch packages for less than $5, which is a shame.
You can definitely make a sandwich, though. The Deluxe, which costs $4.55, looks like the best of all the meals.
You can add free pickles and extra butter to your bun and pay 15 cents each for tomato and lettuce to make a sandwich that costs just under $5.
You can also get eight chicken nuggets for $3.99 or three chicken strips for $4.25.
Sonic
You can start by signing up to get text messages with deals and changes to the menu, if that’s your thing.
You can also, as you might expect, sign up for an email list or download the app to get extra goodies.
“Sonic Pay” is a feature in the app that lets you pay for your order with the app and earn rewards at the same time.
There are also the deals that are being promoted on the site: Even though they may be different from state to state, this is the best place to look for a deal.
Right now, you can get a “Carhop Classic” for $2.99 and choose between a hamburger or a footlong quarter-pound coney with medium onion rings. Not bad.
Sonic isn’t cheap, but there are a lot of corn dogs to choose from. For less than $5, you can get two Jr.
Deluxe Burgers and a corn dog, or you can swap out one of the burgers for more corn dogs. You have a choice.
Dairy Queen
Here are the facts about DQ. You can join the Blizzard Fan Club by signing up for their email.
This gives you six “buy one, get one free” coupons and access to “insider deals.”
On the Promos page, there’s also an interesting clause that says, “Get your famously flippable Blizzard® treat served upside down or the next one’s free,” so, you know, keep an eye out for that.
DQ is a good place to go for lunch because it has a couple of $5 Buck Lunch combos for people with big stomachs but small wallets.
For $5, you can get a main dish (a luxury cheeseburger, chicken strips, or a BBQ bacon cheeseburger), fries, a drink, and a sundae. This is a great deal, especially since dessert is included.
But, my goodness, there are so many good deals:
- Two corn dogs cost $2.
- Two chilli-cheese dogs cost $4.
- Two dogs cost $3.
- Two chicken wraps cost $3.
- Two cheeseburgers cost $4.
The best choice is to buy four corn dogs for $4 and use the extra $1 to buy a tasty kids’ cone to satisfy your sweet tooth.
For $3, you could get either two hot dogs or two chicken wraps, and you could add on corn dogs as well. Happy eating!
Carl’s Jr.
Carl’s Jr. has gone modern, like many other fast food chains. You can sign up for their newsletter on their website to get deals and news about sales.
This is by far the best deal to sign up for because you get a coupon for free small fries and a small drink when you buy a Six Dollar Burger.
This is like getting a combo for free when you buy a burger. But since that’s more than $5, we can put it in our back pocket and save it for a bad day.
We can get a buy one get one free coupon for a 1/3-pound original Six Dollar Thickburger by going to the site’s Current Offers page and clicking on the Coupons & Deals tab. Alas.
But, hey, all is not lost! There are a lot of $5 All-Star Meals to choose from. To be exact, there are four options.
Hand-breaded chicken tenders, a charbroiled double cheeseburger and spicy chicken sandwich, a charbroiled double cheeseburger and a jumbo hot dog, and a charbroiled double cheeseburger and onion rings.
The charbroiled double cheeseburger and spicy chicken sandwich is definitely the most stacked box.
You get both of those sandwiches, plus fries, a chocolate chip cookie, and a 20-ounce drink. This is one of the best fast-food deals out there right now.
Subway
If you sign up for the email, you’ll get coupons every week and know about sales in the store.
You should also sign up for the Subway Rewards Program so that you can earn reward points that you can trade in for cool stuff.
For every dollar you spend, you get one point, which you can use to buy things like cookies, soda, or even extra sandwiches.
So, which meal fills you up the most? Since you can put almost any topping on a sub, the most satisfying sub comes down to the meat you choose.
In an interview with The Mirror, a former Subway employee said, “The best value is in the meatball marinara, chipotle chicken, tikka chicken, spicy Italian, and BMT subs.”
Now things start to get more interesting. The Subway website says that a six-inch meatball sauce will only cost you $2.99.
Here’s where the cash is. There are also black forest ham and steak and cheese six-inch subs that cost $2.99 each.
This gives you an extra $2 that you can spend on cookies or chips. You can also pay an extra $1 for the cold cut mix and hope that all the different meats on the sub will fill you up.
Lastly, you can always get an extra free cookie by filling out the poll on the back of the receipt.
Conclusion
Fast food can be a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to eat. By using the tips above and choosing things from the value menu or smaller portions, you can get a filling meal for $5 or less. Make sure to change your order,
FAQs – How To Get The Most Out Of $5 At Your Favorite Fast Food Chains
How much you pay varies on the restaurant and what you order. But if you stick to the value menu, choose smaller amounts, and use coupons and deals, you can make a meal that will fill you up and not break the bank.
Meals from fast food places can have a lot of calories, fat, and salt. But many fast food places have healthier choices, like salads, grilled chicken, and sides of vegetables. By choosing these choices and watching how much you eat, you can get a fast food meal that is both tasty and good for you.
Yes, many fast-food restaurants have options for people who can’t eat meat or who can’t eat gluten. It’s important to look at the restaurant’s website or ask a member of staff about choices that fit your diet.
Not every fast food chain is open all the time. Before going to a place, it’s important to find out when it’s open.
Yes, a lot of fast food places let you buy online or through their app. This is a good way to order and avoid waiting in long lines.
It depends on the rules of the place. Some places may let you bring your own drink or condiments, while others may not. Before you bring your own things to a place, it’s best to ask.