Cheap Eats

[Dirkdiggler41]

As prices has skyrocketed this past year and potential for them to increase in beginning of next year with annual cost of living increases that a lot of business take in Jan, there are fewer places where deals can be had. Wheres the 5 dollar footlong, there no 99 cent value menu at MCD anymore and you see fewer promo meal ads offered. I thought I’d share the few I found that I frequent in no particular order.
1. 5 dollar biggie bag at Wendy’s. Burger, 4 nuggets (ask for spicy) with small fries and drink.
2. McDonald’s app. One of the few apps that offers really good deals. Buy Big Mac get 10 nuggets free. Free fries on Friday, 1.50 breakfast sandwich. It’s worth the download.
3. McDonald’s again with the breakfast 2.50 bundle. That sausage McMuffin (no egg but cheese) plus hash brown. Sausage biscuit is also an option but no cheese. I love the sausage McMuffin. Add in the 1:50 app biscuit above your pick you got good breakfast to fill you up for 4 bucks. Grab the drink from the fridge before you leave the house and don’t pay 2 bucks for a soda.
4. Popeyes deal of the day. Use to be 4.99 but now 5.99. They have different one each day but Tues is the day I prefer. You basically get the #1 2 piece meal for reduced price. I’ve noticed not all Popeyes offer it. Also not listed anywhere on the menu on Tues is 2 piece of chicken for 1.50. I’ve actually heard this may gone away, not sure.
5. Jack in the box use to offer a monthly combo meal all the time thst varied that was 4.99. Now it’s 5.99 but I have also seen these offered less frequently. You will see signage posted on the window and drive thru if they offering. Example might be bacon cheeseburger with curly fry and drink for 6.99.
6. Subway use to offer sub of the day that rotated on consistent basis, (ex wed was always the cold cut combo) and was 3 bucks for 6 inch but I think this went away. Have not been to subway in a long time.
7. Whataburger trick my fav. When you get your receipt when you order at the bottom says free Whataburger with purchase of med fry and drink. Say needs to be in 3 days and you have to do survey and write down number. Ignore the 3 days, it’s not enforced, and just write down any 5 digit number on the receipt you want. They can’t validate it. Use to be under 5 bucks but now if you add cheese it’s crept up to just over 6 but still good deal especially for Whataburger. Understand that the coupon is not on every receipt. It’s like playing Russian roulette when you order. As the receipt is getting printed I watch and get happy when I see I got the “long receipt”. Haha I know I’m set up for next visit.

That’s all I got. Anybody got any cheap eats recommendations please share.

[Vanilla Gorilla]

That's not real food...That's SAD. Standard American Diet.

If you think real food is expensive just deduct that from your doctor visits, health insurance premiums and medications you'll be taking for life for metabolic syndrome diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks, cancer, dementia, alzheimers, poor quality of life and early death. You'll also be fat and obese like over 70% of the population is today.

I'll stick to expensive real food that's a bargain in comparison such as meat, eggs and dairy and not destroy my body and mind with toxic poisons thanks. Go Carnivore, Paleo, Keto and exercise daily. That's how you become wealthy and rich.

Health is Wealth.

[2balls75]

Dirk you must be single, sounds like my diet lol. A cheap pizza buffet is always good too from anywhere

[Dirkdiggler41]

Yeah you got it. Single and I don’t cook so what you going to do. When/if I get there like vanilla suggests I will have to adjust. Maybe by then I’ll have a cute little thing to cook for me, who knows. Some here choose to suck on tar sticks and thinks thats a good idea and a lot on here stick their man meat bare in diseased holes so we all have or vices. Women and bad eating habits I guess are mine.
And Pizza Hut buffet or even the cheap cici does sound like a good idea, haven’t been in awhile but I’m guessing with drink you still north of 10 bucks. All you can eat is really bad idea for waistline but I think I’m overdue for one.

[BLM69]

Nothing cheaper and better than Costco Hot dog and drink for $1.50 I hear they might have bumped it up to $2.00, still a killer deal

[CG2014]

@Dirk:


Cicis hasn't been cheap in a long time. They are $8.99 now and does not come with a soda, that's extra. I remember when they were $2.99.


I haven't seen a Pizza Hut buffet in 20 years.

[Dirkdiggler41]

Costco hot dog still 1.50 with drink. Well known they lose money on the hot dog but if you took marketing in college you understand the concept of a loss leader and that damn hot dog has made them so much money over the years. That rotisserie chicken located in back of the store so you have to walk by it everything else in store to get there has made them even more money I bet. I don’t think they lose money on it but margins have to small on that. Both qualify for cheap eats yes as long as you don’t buy the 2.5 lb of tuxedo cake for $18 dollars like I did last time on my way out. That damn bakery for desert. Haha, it was good though.

[Dirkdiggler41]

And as far as cicis is concerned yes it was a good deal. 9 bucks sounds about what I would expect now. So so at that point, depending on how much you put away. I do like it includes dessert. Making me hungry now. Cici was great and I think they still do this but kids ate free. So a family of 4 can go all you eat pizza for under 20 bucks. Cheap night out. Bring quarters for the small arcade though.

[CG2014]

Costco sells 11 million roasted chicken a year. They only gross about 38 cents per chicken.


Every Costco roasted chicken must be the same average weight of over 3 lbs pre-cooked weight. To make sure of it, Costco have their own plants for raising chickens.



Costco actually loses $40 million a year on the 11 million roasted chickens they sell yearly but they make that money back from people buying other things.


Costco customers spend an average of $250 per shopping trip and more than 1/2 of the Costco customers who visit a Costco end up overspending (i.e. go in for milk and bread and come out with $250 or more worth of stuff they don't need).

[TexomaCowboy]

of stuff they don't need

I'm sorry but, that 5-lb jar of Snack Mix is truly something I needed. I just didn't know I needed it until I saw it.

[TexomaCowboy]

Maybe worth noting, almost 75% of Costco's annual profits are from membership fees. That's a key factor in keeping prices low.

Costco reported nearly $4.6 billion in revenue from membership fees last year, representing over 72% of the total annual profits of $6.3 billion.

https://www.businessinsider.com/cost...6.3%20billion.

(Maybe Studios & Amps should offer membership fees to lower their prices. LOL)

[Dirkdiggler41]

Damn. I will say they got a semi scam within their executive membership that costs 120 dollars instead of the normal 60 bucks. They sale you that you make up the extra 60 bucks by earning an additional 1% plus the additional rewards the cards gives you (x percent on gas, y percent on groceries, etc). What people don’t realize is you need to spend 6000 annually at Costco to break even with the additional 60 cost. The credit cards rewards you can get pretty much the same cash back with another no annual fee card. The other thing unless you tell them not to they put you on auto renewal, that way they don’t miss any monthly revenue. If not on auto renewal you would renew the first time you visit after your card expiration, which might be weeks or months you gain on your membership time period each year. Further, the rewards check from the credit card for rewards can only be used at Costco and comes in Feb of each year and you must have active membership at that time with active credit card to receive the check. So in effect, when you sign up for the executive membership, you are locked in essentially for 2 years to be able to reap the benefits from the credit card Rewards(unless you lucky enough to sign up in March so end of your cycle is still in Feb). I know all this cause I got talked into it once and thought yeah I’ll give it a try for one year. These corp aren’t making money hand over fist by accident. They got people right now sitting in board rooms trying to figure out how to squeeze more out of your wallet into theirs. Capitalism at its basic but some games and strats have gottton tricky. I think I heard that around 70% of households in America have an Amazon prime acct. do thst math, wow.

[TexomaCowboy]

their executive membership that costs 120 dollars instead of the normal 60 bucks.

The news articles even mentioned that they made a decision to "highlight" the Executive level to customers, before raising the basic membership cost. They also feel that that effort paid off, as a large number of members choose to to upgrade their existing standard account. So consider that because so many signed up for Executive, the basic level cost did not increase.

[dewmenow]

Extremely disappointing thread.
I opened it hoping to find suggestions for girls who like daty. Who the hell wants to go to McDs or Cicis? Not me.

[Dirkdiggler41]

Then try the other forums idiot. Plenty to choose from, this is the sandbox.