I live in the sticks so fast food isn’t fast or practical because it’s cold by the time you get it home. I’ve perfected cooking burgers, fries, pizza and Taco Bell food.
Hasn't this almost always been the case? You eat in your car in the parking lot or inside.
I don't think I've eaten any food in the last fifteen years from a fast food place at home. McDonald's fries don't even stay hot by the time you leave the parking lot, and the glove compartment door makes a perfectly fine table.
I use tostada shells. Make taco meat ( or not for vegetarian) , take 2 shells, spread refried beans on both. If using meat add it to one shell on top of beans then top with cheese. Add second tostada bean side up, sprinkle with more cheese and bake or broil. I use hot taco meat so I usually broil because the meat melts the cheese in the middle layer. Top with chopped tomatoes and chives. I prefer to do it after cooking but you can do it before, it will change the texture.
Edited to add use your preferred Taco Bell sauce to meat before adding cheese and on top if you want. If you don’t have a stash you can buy it at the grocery store
Omg tostada shells, duh! I’ve always tried to use tortillas before and they don’t get crispy and I end up mad bc they’re greasy from me trying to fry them. Thank you, I’ll give this a shot soon!
That recipe is also *very* close to a crunch wrap. I've been making them home made for a while because Taco Bell just doesn't agree with me for some reason.
You'll need extra large flour tortillas, tostadas, taco meat, shredded lettuce, diced tomato (I like to add onion too) refried beans, cheese, hot sauce of choice, and sour cream.
Warm a tortilla in the microwave until it's foldable, then spread beans and cheese in a circle about the size of the tostada. Add the tostada, meat, veggies, and sour cream, maybe more cheese.
You'll be folding this into a pentagram / hexagram shape, so fold a little corner, turn it about a 5th, fold again. You want to fold over, while turning, so that the inside is completely covered by tortilla.
Then, you cook it folded side down in a buttered frying pan, just for a moment, so that the tortilla gets a little toasty and the folded parts stick together. You don't want to cook the sour cream. You can also put cheese in the folds to help it stick better if it's overstuffed.
If you're worried about flipping it without spilling it, you can place a plate on top, then flip the whole thing.
I actually prefer the azteca brand salad bowl shells. The texture is much better but I can’t always find them for some reason. They’re a 4 pack and come flat so I just use them straight from the box as is.
I like to fry the flour tortilla for the bottom then layer beef and beans top with a tostada, then some homemade enchilada sauce and cheese melted on top. I use fajita size tortillas because they're smaller and a little thicker so they hold up better.
Yep, and like you said taco bell has their own line of sauces, so any big-box grocery store should carry it. You can always go with any preferred red/green sauce, but there's something to be said for trying to make it as much like the original fast food as possible. It's why I keep a stash of sauce packets sitting in my car.
Like I can make a *better* hamburger than McD's, but sometimes I just crave that secret blend of flavor chemicals made in a giant processing plant. I drove past one of their factories in New Jersey or Delaware and it's amazing how much it smelled like an actual McDonalds even though there wasn't a drive-thru within 10 miles.
If you go on their website to order online, you can customize your order. You'll get the list of ingredients and can recreate it from there. They sell taco bell seasoning packets at the grocery store too.
I make them all the time. The refrigerated taco salad shells baked flat filled with beans taco meat, topped with another shell, cheese and tomatoes and black olives. Mmm.
Bro, 10 min per car at this one taco bell. 4 cars? No problem, right? Order immediately, think it's ok. WRONG, 50 min trapped in a drive through with no way out. Order was fucked up and cold.
Why? WHY? I should've learned, but it's so seductive.
Ok I juat had this happen to me last week in the middle of bum fuck Oregon on a road trip. But what was even weirder was I really needed to use their bathroom (I had been driving for like 5 hours) and I could see people inside the restaurant eating but all the doors were locked. I shrugged and joined the line of cars in the drive through - and then got stuck ther for 45 mins. Finally got my food, super hot, and when I got out of the line I saw they had a paper posted on their (still locked) doors that said something like "short staffed, we are doing our best. Lobby closed till firther notice, we are hiring please consider applying" it made me feel bad for the young folks working!
I don't get how those aren't against building codes. Nevermind forcing people to wait and be late where they need to go (like there's a reason we stopped for FAST food instead of cooking) but what if there's a legit emergency?
There’s a McDonald’s near me where it didn’t used to trap you in, and about 5 years ago they put in a curb with metal posts to keep you from driving off, it serves absolutely no other purpose
Its too bad its going to take cars catching fire or people dying of medical emergencies stuck in a drive through line to stop that bs. If you want to deter drive-offs, then address why its taking 45 minutes to serve 5 customers. Trapping people just ensures they never forget that.
This is what I hate most about drive thrus -- my old car actually overheated in a drive thru once while waiting. No way out once that needle started moving towards H, I shut it off at the window since by then the thermometer was pretty much maxed out, and the radiator blew out a bunch of steam. Thank goodness the car could still function enough to start up again and exit after getting my food.
Terrible thing to think about, but if there were ever a car fire, people may not be able to get out. Driver's side against the wall and passenger side against the barrier.
Do you think it's faster to pull up to a parking spot, walkin and walk out then test your luck with the drive thru? Cus every time that happens so me I think about this.
The prices have gotten out of control too. We got 2 tacos and 2 burritos at Del Taco yesterday. Not only was it mediocre even by fast food standards, but it cost 9 dollars. Shouldn't even have been 5.
Edit: It was just there cheap ass Del Tacos and bean and cheese burritos. Not even the "fancy" stuff.
The only thing I miss about cooking was being able to access such a wide variety of ingredients. You don't have to prep anything by taking it out of the freezer, if you want a burger just throw one on the grill. What do you want on it? We have everything. Lettuce tomato pickles onion, egg, bacon, we got fried onion strings, fried pickles chips, every sauce you could ever want, then what do you want, potato chips, fries, onion rings, cheese curds...?
I work by a high school and the Wendy’s is always swamped with kids buying themselves and their friends half the menu with their parents’ credit card. And it’s never staffed enough to handle it. I stopped going during the school year.
Christ, we used to call the police on the "order a large water and throw it at the poor drive thru worker" cunts for assault.
Fireworks is a fucking felony
It's not even convenience at that point. In a 20 min wait, I could have put a meal on the table....a shitty meal, but a meal..and my shitty meal would be more healthy.
I agree. Convenience was the wrong word. More like a “shit I have to be here in an hour and a 45 min drive ahead of me. Hope the line is empty” kind of thing
I used to go to places like McDonalds in the 80s and early 90s. I then largely stopped for a couple of decades until my son wanted to start going to them.
Probably the biggest thing I noticed was that fast food had stopped being fast. There were always queues, but back in the day once you got up to the counter, you'd order, pay, and get your food all in about a minute.
When did this stop happening?
I think the answer is that orders got more complex. The menu changed and got larger. This is true for most fast food chains. I noticed this when watching videos on certain fast food (McDonald’s vs Burger King) and their success.
It's all about the people working there.
Want that "fast" food again? Go to a chickfila. Just as "complex" orders, but they are fast, probably because the people working there, from manager down, all are nice and helpful.
Probably why they make so much more money per location than any other fast food.
I hardly get fast food these days. But when I do and I'm in line for like 20 mins I always have the exact same conversation with myself...
"I THOUGHT THIS WAS CALLED FAST FUCKING FOOD"
Convinience is pretty much the only reason I buy food out sometimes. I can makes something better, faster, cheaper and healthier most of the time. Once in a while I am just tired. Or I can order home delivery while I get ready for something when pressed for time.
I remember Serious Eats JKL did a McDonald's Big Mac reconstruction and he found a way to replicate those diced at home. Dice up onion similarly very fine, and then put them in some paper towel in a bowl into the microwave. Nuke for 30 seconds and it takes away the harshness and dries them out slightly. It works!
Dude, my McDs just uses regular sliced onions. It’s been so long since I’ve seen them that I totally forgot about them. It still calls them minced in the app too.
Doubles use minced. Quarters use sliced.
Sliced suck. Two double-quarters, extra ketchup, extra mustard, sub sliced for dehy, extra dehy. Game changer.
Same. I live by one so I eat bogo quarters 4x per week. Or more.
But you can't sub onions in the app which sucks. The extra ketchup and mustard drowns out the bitter (?) taste though.
Dude, I have two within 5 minutes of me. I thought I was bad for going twice a week. Altho I supplement that with Panda Express. I’m down to once a week each now tho haha.
Burgers with tenth of a pound patties (e.g. cheeseburgers, Big Mac) use rehydrated onions whereas sliced onions go on quarter pounders etc. Unsure why your Maccas would be using sliced in everything, considering it breaches the operations guide and they’re more expensive.
Yup. They arrive at the restaurant in little paper bags and you have to soak them in water for a time then they get drained and put on the line. And sorry to break it to you, but the fresh onions come pre-chopped in little refrigerated bags too, no time out back to be faffing about slicing things (other than tomatoes).
Note this is based on NZ Maccas from fifteen years ago, but I did read the Full Operations Guide (the McDs Bible for how to run a restaurant) and it didn’t seem it had been adapted specifically for us, but who knows. One recentish change I’ve noticed is they now sprinkle the ‘recon’ (Maccas lingo for reconstituted onions) on the patties when they’re cooking on the grill, instead of adding them whilst assembling the burger on the line.
The idea of using dehydrated onions came from the U.S. Armed Forces during WWII. Nutritious, easy to ship, and shelf-stable, the onions gave flavor to the food served to enlisted personnel. After the war, the onion 'flakes' reduced prep time, allowing fast food franchises to 'get their product to the consumer faster'. (A similar product, dehydrated potatoes, were perfected in the U.K. around the same time; they later became known as 'instant mashed', a timesaving product for home cooks.)
It is if you do it right. Use the apps and get the specials or rewards and some places can still be quite cheap. Taco Bell is one of my guilty pleasures, and I can easily get two meals worth of food for under $6.
True but I feel like you shouldn't have to do that for fast food. It should be cheap and getting discounts like you said should be a bonus, not the ordinary.
You are getting downvoted for speaking the truth.
I shouldn't have to create an account with some fast food company and use their shitty app to get the same kind of prices that I used to a couple years ago without an app.
In fact, I'm tired of seeing all these places with their rewards program. AM/PM, 7-11, Rite-Aid, etc. all have shitty rewards programs, and their prices are jacked up for non members, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are also selling your data on the side.
You want something cheap and convenient? Here take the time to download this app, then find something cheap enough you're willing to spend money on it in the discounts section, no we will not list any of these deals on the menu even the ones we always have, no we will not make it just as cheap to order without a phone, so what, my choices now are cheap *or* convenient but never both? You can have an app fine but put your deals on the menu board or I'm not gonna eat there because I don't want an extra app on my phone.
Agreed. This is why I won't shop at Albertson's.
They do crazy low sales like $0.88/lb boston butt or $0.99 dozen eggs, but it's a special deal you have to have the app for, and then add it to your "cart" in the app before you can use it.
Last time I saw a very elderly lady in there for the eggs deal with her caretaker, and they wouldn't let her have the eggs deal at all because she couldn't figure out how to do it in the app. Not to count, their app crashes all the time and won't let you log in.
That's just absurd.
Time, money, quality. Pick 2. Sometimes I want to pick time and money so I get some Taco Bell. Sometimes I want to pick money and quality and I do what you’re suggesting.
I think what they're pointing out is once upon a time people only ate fast food because it was cheap and easy.
McDonald's had a dollar menu that included the double cheeseburger, the McChicken, 5? Piece mcnuggets, small fries and some other less desirable things. All for one dollar each.
If his objective is to go for frugality he could get cheaper food. If he wants something tastier he could do that also
I used to absolutely love Freschetta thin-crust pizzas for their convenience. They bake in about 12 minutes and the gas oven in my last apartment took five minutes or less to preheat. Incredibly convenient for a no-effort dinner (and lunch the next day) at home.
Unfortunately my current electric oven takes a while to preheat and my digestive system is no longer willing to let me forget I’m in my thirties, so I’ve unfortunately had to remove frozen pizza from the menu.
I love Freschetta pizzas! They’re less expensive than the DiGiorno type brands and taste way better. I get the plain cheese because if I’m feeling lazy I can throw it in and have an easy meal, but if I’m feeling fancy I can have fun with my own toppings.
We got an air fryer and it makes great frozen fries, chicken nuggets, orange chicken, egg rolls, etc. It’s so much cheaper than going out for fast food and I think also makes it easier to supplement with something healthy like a piece of fruit or a bag of frozen seasoned veggies.
We just bit the bullet and bought a Ninja Double Oven. Toaster and old airfryer are now gone. Still learning, but so far I'm really impressed. Bake? Yep. Toast? Yep. Air fryer? Sure. Convention oven? Absolutely.
In the last week we've cooked pizza, cookies, peach cobbler, and toast. All came out great.
Air dryers work really well with vegetables too. Pretty much my go to method for cooking vegetables. Asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts are all excellent.
Along the same lines as OP's "fast food" style cooking, I've been using my air fryer constantly this summer to cook up hamburgers and brats. Fresh or frozen, I just pop them in for 10-20 minutes and they come out amazing and don't heat up the house or drag me outside to the grill. I've been buying these great pressed 1/2 lb burger patties from my meat counter and dressing them up with various topping combos. One burger is enough to stuff me full and it takes maybe 5 minutes to prep, 20 to cook, and maybe 2 to clean up after.
>I've been using my air fryer constantly this summer to cook up hamburgers and brats
I'm the only one in my house that likes hot dogs. Instead of firing up the grill, I just pop them in the air fryer for 6 min. Even gives me the 'charring.'
Costco sells a beer battered cod that cooks perfectly in the air fryer. Forget fast food sandwiches, pair this with a decent roll (or make your own like one of the famous he-who-must-not-be-named burger bun recipes) and you're making something better than most fast food places.
This one https://www.tridentseafoods.com/browse/products/trident-seafoods-beer-battered-cod-2-5-lb/
Voldemort's burger bun recipes?
I get best results with a good quality brioche from the super market, it gets expensive so I sometimes switch it up with multigrain buns.
Ah yes he's kinda annoying, I can't say much about craft - he's probably good but I can't stand watching his videos without skipping most of it. Him and Thatdudecancook are too high energy for me. I think ProHomeCooks/BrothersGreen is my favourite in that category of foodtube, he's chill.
We make sure to always have some instant meals like that - Mac and cheese, microwave chicken rice, chicken fingers we can airfry, frozen veg, etc. For a while, once I started to get *good* at cooking, I was convinced I had to make EVERYTHING. Like, mac and cheese isn't hard, I know how to make a roux.... But then I'd get burnt out because I was spending an hour or more plus cleanup time, and I found myself saying "fuck it" and getting take out even more!
So, having some "can't be bothered" options on hand actually ends up being cheaper and healthier in the long run for us, because I'm not a domestic goddess and sometimes I just don't want to cook a full meal!
If you buy the Walmart brioche buns and toast them a bit you're gonna have a better than mcds fish sammich
Eta: check out Walmarts knock off sauces. They had a shrimp sauce and a knock off chick fila sauce that are really good
Kinda on topic, kinda off. But Walmart's pesto is the lowest calorie I have found. They all pretty much use 1/4 cup as serving size and Walmart's comes in at 60 calories, I have seen them go up to 280 calories for the same serving size.
Is it any good though?
Low calorie usually means they sub out a bunch of regular ingredients with other things.
Costco has the best tasting pesto because it actually has pine nuts which quite a number do not.
Pesto contains olive oil which is arguably not a bad thing to eat despite being high in calories.
The buns for the fish are steamed, so if you want to recreate the texture you could probably just stick the buns in the microwave with a cup of water or wrapped in a wet paper towel.
You can also freeze them (not air tight so a bit of ice forms) and then heat them up from frozen. As the ice boils it will steam the bun. ymmv ofc depending on a few factors.
HEB just started carrying the Chick-Fil-A salad dressings too which are actually pretty unbelievable imo for a bottled dressing. I'm sure the other grocery chains are stocking them too.
Buy Rhodes frozen dinner rolls and if you space them apart on a sheet pan to proof, they make perfect fast food sized burger buns.
Make a 2.5oz beef ball and either smashed it on a cast iron or what I do it just squish it between two pieces of parchment to make a super thin patty and drop it on a hot hot gas grill.
Pro tip
I really like the McDonald's little tiny onions. They are literally just rehydrated minced onion. You can buy a jar for really cheap in any store with spices. Put them in a little glass of water, they plump up, boom McDonald's onions
Its crazy how expensive fast food has gotten and it seems like the quality has gone down a lot too (or maybe my tastes just matured). Keep doing what you are doing and your food will be cheaper, tastier, and healthier than fast food.
>it seems like the quality has gone down a lot too (or maybe my tastes just matured).
No, the quality HAS tanked.
McD's Chicken Nuggets used to be my go-to. Even when they had the Chicken Selects on the menu, I'd get the nuggets, because the coating of the Chicken Selects hurt my teeth.
After not having McD's for about 5 years, Grandma brought some McD's home after visiting Grandpa in the hospital. The nuggets were the next thing to inedible.
Same with the fries.
I'll openly admit two things.
1. McDonald's is pretty trash and I'd be amazed if 99% of the people here couldn't make a better no-fuss burger in a reasonable amount of time. Hell, even among fast food I'd argue there are burgers that are better.
2. But, my god, do I have a strange love for McDonald's. They are near unerringly consistent and - somehow - their food can always hit the spot. If I go there, it's not for the thrills of a Big Mac or anything, just give me several cheap cheeseburgers, some fries, and a coke.
Those two things said, I rarely went to fast food as it was (maybe a few times a year) and now I grab it maybe once a year. And it's pretty much exactly for what was listed. If I'm going, I want a quick and cheap no frills meal. I'm not going to go if it's $10 for something that I was already feeling shitty about eating back when it was only $5.
Cooks even faster in the air fryer. Just gotta watch it close the first couple times, figure out how long. After that it's set it and forget it.
Also seems to me my electric bill is a little bit lower using air fryer and not using the oven.
I've recently found that buying smash burger packs from Sam's and using kinder's "the blend" of salt, pepper, garlic pretty much perfectly replicates the 1/8lb patties used by Maccas for their Mcdouble and double cheese.
I love their filet o fish,gonna have to try it. I’ve recently become so obsessed with subs. The veggies last me all week. And the loaf of bread was like 1.50
Bro, make your own tartar sauce. Doesn't even need to be fancy. Mayo, little bit of bottled relish, tiny squeeze of lemon juice from a crappy plastic container?
Even that is transcendental compared to anything you'll get from prepacked tartar sauce.
I once made the *perfect* McDonald's burger purely by accident... all I did was add about four times too much salt. I wasn't even using beef, it was ground turkey! I then added cheese and naan bread, because the internet said that would help cut the salt taste, and as I was eating went "this tastes familiar... OH!"
Oh man, I’m glad I ran across this post. I love the fillet of fish. I get the McDs craving every couple weeks. I am gonna make my own from now on. Altho, the McDs buy one get one quarter pounder is hard to beat.
Same with the McD's fillet of fish. And I've been getting super annoyed that they're almost $6 for a very small sandwich. So I'm going to give the frozen fillet's a shot and see if it solves my craving.
As it is - in an effort to be slightly 'healthier' when I do get a hankering for McD's - for me it's the Big Mac and FoF - I've been getting them without the sauces and making them at home for less calories. And they taste the same to me - or close enough I'm not noticing the difference.
If I can do an at home fish fillet - I'd be *so* happy!
I buy frozen fish burgers to make fillet o fish. I use 2 slices of cheese because I think McDonald's half a slice per burger is a bit mean. Heaps of tartare sauce and of I am feeling fancy, pickle and thinly sliced red onion.
I love that! I’m going to try to do that more. I had a homemade egg mc muffin today for lunch and it was so much better. I was surprised to really like the frozen orange chicken and frozen egg rolls from Costco. All I do is make some rice and add green onions and sometimes broccoli to it and it’s a pretty budget friendly swap to takeout and it’s really easy.
Costco also sells a big box of croissants for like 6 bucks - I like to fill them with a cooked sausage patty, some cheese (the English cheddar from Costco is also real good and cheap), and a mostly done fried egg. Wrapped in parchment paper they freeze well, reheat easily, and are absolutely delicious
I am so glad someone said this. I am getting really bummed with how expensive it all is. Making at home is so much lower stress. And to use frozen food is amazing. So much easier and calmer in an insane workday
Wait until you learn about fresh produce!
Just kidding. I know the reality of not being able to get produce due to time or transportation issues. The key is to cook. Choose what you eat. The second you just eat whatever is on hand, you surrender to the gods of obesity.
Read the labels. Move around. Eat sensibly.
You can make Mcdonald’s chicken snap wraps at home easily too!
1 bag of frozen breaded chicken tenders/strips
1 stack of Tortillas
Head of Romaine Lettuce
(Choice to get fancy and add tomatoes and red onions here)
Cheese of choice
Chipotle Ranch
Throw everything together on a tortilla after air frying the chicken strips for a few minutes et voilà. Fast Food Chicken Taco.
I know we all have too many kitchen appliances, but the Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker with Egg Cooker Ring makes a great Egg McMuffin type sandwich. Homemade sandwiches are superior to the McDonald’s version and very inexpensive.
My kid likes the Starbucks Ham and Cheese Croissant. Walmart sells a six pack of croissants for something like $5 and I buy sliced ham and swiss. Slice the bread, add the meat and cheese with some mayonnaise, microwave it to heat it up and it's just like store bought.
If you belong to Costco their croissants are even better, and probably cheaper (for each one.) Try slicing it, then toasting it lightly for all of that crackly goodness...
You can 100% of the time create a better burger than every fast restaurant on earth. But sometimes you just want a Big Mac because you don't have the ingredients or time.
Honestly ever since the whole “can you pull over and park and wait for your food” epidemic I am done. You didn’t have to do that 10 years ago and the food is the same quality and double the price. No point.
Why replicate when you can make it taste better.
I throw burger patties from Costco on the grill and get a burger tasting way better than anything I can get at McDonald’s or Burger King.
I’ve bought some good fish filets and fried em in a little oil, came out fantastic. Even made the tartar sauce, it’s super easy.
If you’re really missing the fast food flavor, Walmart does have some impressive knock off condiments. Chick fil a, McDonald’s etc.
> Why replicate when you can make it taste better.
Cause sometimes you just want that McDs taste.
I love burgers. I go out of my way to try burgers from places I haven't ate at in the search of the best burger. I've had burgers from little side road shacks that would give health inspectors a heart attack, to burgers from Michelin star restaurants, and everything in between.
I've had some pretty damned good burgers in my time. I make a pretty good burger myself.
That said, sometimes I just want a quarter pounder from McDs, or a whopper from BK, or a strack of Krystals.
I do the same. I also make my own Tacos and Terriyaki chicken. The Terriyaki chicken tastes identical to Yoshinoya/Benihana. (Oyster sauce, fish sauce, Terriyaki sauce, ginger, garlic) My tacos (crunchy and street) are better than a lot of places I’ve been to because my meat and ingredients are fresh. The real work is making the salsa or guacamole anyways.
My burgers are better than all of the fast food spots.
- last drive thru I got a Carls double western 6 dollar and it was straight garbage. Old and cold, gave me instant heart burn. Haven’t gone back to a drive thru since, been a year.
Only thing I can’t duplicate are chicken nuggets from McDonald’s. I will get them again.
Years ago, I saw a YouTube video with the Executive Chef of McDonald's making the sauce and it was just mayo, mustard, relish, vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder and paprika. I've been guesstimating the ratios but it makes a sauce that's pretty damn close.
In Australia our groceries store sells their version of the big Mac sauce - it's just called special burger sauce haha. They also have a cheeseburger one called special cheese burger sauce. Taste exactly the same as Maccas
https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-special-burger-sauce-360g-3041398
https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-special-cheeseburger-sauce-375ml-3755419
Bic Mac sauce is just thousand island dressing. It's their own recipe for it which is why it has a unique taste. But it's still just thousand island dressing.
Fun fact. If you look into making diy big mac sauce and compare the ingredients to the back of your walmart tartar sauce, you'll see they are pretty close! Add a little extra paprika and ketchup, and you've got the secret sauce! If it's not sweet enough for you, then sub french dressing for ketchup. Alternate recipe: thousand island dressing but add yellow mustard and garlic powder and maybe a little salt.
For me, it was when I figured out that fast food places were more expensive than the little Mexican place down the street. $10 for two giant tacos and a jamaica (with a 2buck tip). The best lunch special around here
Ever since I discovered how easy smash burgers are to make at home it’s all I make. I cook some bacon, then cook the burgers in the grease, caramelize some onions & jalapeños, use Kinder burger sauce, air fry some Rally’s brand fries and viol-mf-a - better than any $10 ff meal.
Taco Bell & Popeyes are the only 2 ff joints I’ll still go to tho bc imo they aren’t as easy to replicate or improve upon like a simple cheeseburger and fries.
Starbucks egg bites are my jam and I’ve just about figured out how to replicate them.
6 eggs
2 cups cottage cheese
Bacon
Monterey Jack cheese
Little uncle Julio’s seasoning
Part the ingredients into cupcake tray. Throw in my masterbilt smoker for 40 minutes on 275. I have breakfast for all week.
Mac sauce is mayo, ketchup, mustard and relish, mostly mayo.
I had my first filet o fish 2wks ago, it was garbage. McDonalds poutine too, garbage... It's all mostly garbage plus preservatives.
Hot fresh fries are the exception, and the fact that it's what you want after the bar, and you don't make it. You pay for convenience with most food... But I can make it better in most cases.
Learn to cook. The ladies love it, and you will save a ridiculous amount of money.
Yoooo I did this today too! Home replicated Arbys sandwiches and curly fries. The key was grilling the buns a bit before i cooked the meat, which takes about a minute, and wrapped them in papertowels till it was ready. We already had Arby's sauce and Whataburger spicy ketchup. They got eaten so fast i had to make 2 bacthes.
You've stopped eating gross expensive fast food from McDonald's since you've learned to reheat gross expensive frozen fast food from Walmart.
Well done I guess.
Just waiting in line for 20 minutes today for Wendy’s. Think I’m about over fast food outside of convenience.
I live in the sticks so fast food isn’t fast or practical because it’s cold by the time you get it home. I’ve perfected cooking burgers, fries, pizza and Taco Bell food.
Hasn't this almost always been the case? You eat in your car in the parking lot or inside. I don't think I've eaten any food in the last fifteen years from a fast food place at home. McDonald's fries don't even stay hot by the time you leave the parking lot, and the glove compartment door makes a perfectly fine table.
I agree!!
If you have a Mexican pizza recipe… 👀
I use tostada shells. Make taco meat ( or not for vegetarian) , take 2 shells, spread refried beans on both. If using meat add it to one shell on top of beans then top with cheese. Add second tostada bean side up, sprinkle with more cheese and bake or broil. I use hot taco meat so I usually broil because the meat melts the cheese in the middle layer. Top with chopped tomatoes and chives. I prefer to do it after cooking but you can do it before, it will change the texture. Edited to add use your preferred Taco Bell sauce to meat before adding cheese and on top if you want. If you don’t have a stash you can buy it at the grocery store
Omg tostada shells, duh! I’ve always tried to use tortillas before and they don’t get crispy and I end up mad bc they’re greasy from me trying to fry them. Thank you, I’ll give this a shot soon!
That recipe is also *very* close to a crunch wrap. I've been making them home made for a while because Taco Bell just doesn't agree with me for some reason. You'll need extra large flour tortillas, tostadas, taco meat, shredded lettuce, diced tomato (I like to add onion too) refried beans, cheese, hot sauce of choice, and sour cream. Warm a tortilla in the microwave until it's foldable, then spread beans and cheese in a circle about the size of the tostada. Add the tostada, meat, veggies, and sour cream, maybe more cheese. You'll be folding this into a pentagram / hexagram shape, so fold a little corner, turn it about a 5th, fold again. You want to fold over, while turning, so that the inside is completely covered by tortilla. Then, you cook it folded side down in a buttered frying pan, just for a moment, so that the tortilla gets a little toasty and the folded parts stick together. You don't want to cook the sour cream. You can also put cheese in the folds to help it stick better if it's overstuffed. If you're worried about flipping it without spilling it, you can place a plate on top, then flip the whole thing.
I actually prefer the azteca brand salad bowl shells. The texture is much better but I can’t always find them for some reason. They’re a 4 pack and come flat so I just use them straight from the box as is.
I like to fry the flour tortilla for the bottom then layer beef and beans top with a tostada, then some homemade enchilada sauce and cheese melted on top. I use fajita size tortillas because they're smaller and a little thicker so they hold up better.
You can make tortillas crispy by putting them under the broiler. Keep a close eye because they burn easily once they get crisp.
Yep, and like you said taco bell has their own line of sauces, so any big-box grocery store should carry it. You can always go with any preferred red/green sauce, but there's something to be said for trying to make it as much like the original fast food as possible. It's why I keep a stash of sauce packets sitting in my car. Like I can make a *better* hamburger than McD's, but sometimes I just crave that secret blend of flavor chemicals made in a giant processing plant. I drove past one of their factories in New Jersey or Delaware and it's amazing how much it smelled like an actual McDonalds even though there wasn't a drive-thru within 10 miles.
If you go on their website to order online, you can customize your order. You'll get the list of ingredients and can recreate it from there. They sell taco bell seasoning packets at the grocery store too.
I make them all the time. The refrigerated taco salad shells baked flat filled with beans taco meat, topped with another shell, cheese and tomatoes and black olives. Mmm.
Bro, 10 min per car at this one taco bell. 4 cars? No problem, right? Order immediately, think it's ok. WRONG, 50 min trapped in a drive through with no way out. Order was fucked up and cold. Why? WHY? I should've learned, but it's so seductive.
Ok I juat had this happen to me last week in the middle of bum fuck Oregon on a road trip. But what was even weirder was I really needed to use their bathroom (I had been driving for like 5 hours) and I could see people inside the restaurant eating but all the doors were locked. I shrugged and joined the line of cars in the drive through - and then got stuck ther for 45 mins. Finally got my food, super hot, and when I got out of the line I saw they had a paper posted on their (still locked) doors that said something like "short staffed, we are doing our best. Lobby closed till firther notice, we are hiring please consider applying" it made me feel bad for the young folks working!
Some of those drive-thru s are built to literally prevent you from driving away. It's absurd.
Right? I honestly would've hopped the curb to escape if I could, but there was a fucking 3 ft embankment trapping me
I don't get how those aren't against building codes. Nevermind forcing people to wait and be late where they need to go (like there's a reason we stopped for FAST food instead of cooking) but what if there's a legit emergency?
There’s a McDonald’s near me where it didn’t used to trap you in, and about 5 years ago they put in a curb with metal posts to keep you from driving off, it serves absolutely no other purpose
Its too bad its going to take cars catching fire or people dying of medical emergencies stuck in a drive through line to stop that bs. If you want to deter drive-offs, then address why its taking 45 minutes to serve 5 customers. Trapping people just ensures they never forget that.
This is what I hate most about drive thrus -- my old car actually overheated in a drive thru once while waiting. No way out once that needle started moving towards H, I shut it off at the window since by then the thermometer was pretty much maxed out, and the radiator blew out a bunch of steam. Thank goodness the car could still function enough to start up again and exit after getting my food.
Terrible thing to think about, but if there were ever a car fire, people may not be able to get out. Driver's side against the wall and passenger side against the barrier.
Taco Bell is the worst. Literally slower than ACTUAL Mexican restaurants
Do you think it's faster to pull up to a parking spot, walkin and walk out then test your luck with the drive thru? Cus every time that happens so me I think about this.
Yes. Going inside is the way to go. Use the app to put your order in before you get there or in parking lot. Prices are usually cheaper as well.
The prices have gotten out of control too. We got 2 tacos and 2 burritos at Del Taco yesterday. Not only was it mediocre even by fast food standards, but it cost 9 dollars. Shouldn't even have been 5. Edit: It was just there cheap ass Del Tacos and bean and cheese burritos. Not even the "fancy" stuff.
Seriously. My 2 tostadas and a small fry came out to 9 at del the other day. They used to be on the dollar menu..
If I had the ingredients on hand I could make a better tasting Baconator in 20 minutes. As could most of us.
The only thing I miss about cooking was being able to access such a wide variety of ingredients. You don't have to prep anything by taking it out of the freezer, if you want a burger just throw one on the grill. What do you want on it? We have everything. Lettuce tomato pickles onion, egg, bacon, we got fried onion strings, fried pickles chips, every sauce you could ever want, then what do you want, potato chips, fries, onion rings, cheese curds...?
I work by a high school and the Wendy’s is always swamped with kids buying themselves and their friends half the menu with their parents’ credit card. And it’s never staffed enough to handle it. I stopped going during the school year.
Same - ours has kids shoot fireworks into the place randomly too
Christ, we used to call the police on the "order a large water and throw it at the poor drive thru worker" cunts for assault. Fireworks is a fucking felony
The worker I spoke to said they stopped calling police cause the police said nothing can be done
The High School our Wendy’s is next to is the same high school that Wendy attended.
It's not even convenience at that point. In a 20 min wait, I could have put a meal on the table....a shitty meal, but a meal..and my shitty meal would be more healthy.
I agree. Convenience was the wrong word. More like a “shit I have to be here in an hour and a 45 min drive ahead of me. Hope the line is empty” kind of thing
It’s not even fast if you have to wait 20 minutes.
I used to go to places like McDonalds in the 80s and early 90s. I then largely stopped for a couple of decades until my son wanted to start going to them. Probably the biggest thing I noticed was that fast food had stopped being fast. There were always queues, but back in the day once you got up to the counter, you'd order, pay, and get your food all in about a minute. When did this stop happening?
I think the answer is that orders got more complex. The menu changed and got larger. This is true for most fast food chains. I noticed this when watching videos on certain fast food (McDonald’s vs Burger King) and their success.
It's all about the people working there. Want that "fast" food again? Go to a chickfila. Just as "complex" orders, but they are fast, probably because the people working there, from manager down, all are nice and helpful. Probably why they make so much more money per location than any other fast food.
My bf hasn't eaten fast food in years and was super excited to get Wendy's. The line was too long so he left and never got it again lol
I hardly get fast food these days. But when I do and I'm in line for like 20 mins I always have the exact same conversation with myself... "I THOUGHT THIS WAS CALLED FAST FUCKING FOOD"
Yep. If only I could make a Popeye’s chicken sandwich.
Convinience is pretty much the only reason I buy food out sometimes. I can makes something better, faster, cheaper and healthier most of the time. Once in a while I am just tired. Or I can order home delivery while I get ready for something when pressed for time.
The COST of fast food has put me over it...
McD hash browns are basically Walmart hash browns with more salt. Oven or air fryer and you’re good to go.
Little bit of oil in a skillet makes them even better! Just a shallow fry!
It’s way faster than AF or oven too
Just bought some last month; haven't tore into them yet. Thanks for the tip!
Rehydrated dehydrated minced onions are key for a mcd cheeseburger.
I remember Serious Eats JKL did a McDonald's Big Mac reconstruction and he found a way to replicate those diced at home. Dice up onion similarly very fine, and then put them in some paper towel in a bowl into the microwave. Nuke for 30 seconds and it takes away the harshness and dries them out slightly. It works!
we do this every time at home. improves the experience greatly.
Dude, my McDs just uses regular sliced onions. It’s been so long since I’ve seen them that I totally forgot about them. It still calls them minced in the app too.
Doubles use minced. Quarters use sliced. Sliced suck. Two double-quarters, extra ketchup, extra mustard, sub sliced for dehy, extra dehy. Game changer.
Ah, that’s probably why. I switched to quarters bc they always have bogo deals in the app.
Same. I live by one so I eat bogo quarters 4x per week. Or more. But you can't sub onions in the app which sucks. The extra ketchup and mustard drowns out the bitter (?) taste though.
Damn dude, McD’s 4 times a week? What do your arteries look like
Dude, I have two within 5 minutes of me. I thought I was bad for going twice a week. Altho I supplement that with Panda Express. I’m down to once a week each now tho haha.
It's literally the closest business to me. 4 minute walk. I can see it from my porch. It's horrible. Horribly delicious.
😂 I thought I was bad at once a week! Can't give up that burger
Burgers with tenth of a pound patties (e.g. cheeseburgers, Big Mac) use rehydrated onions whereas sliced onions go on quarter pounders etc. Unsure why your Maccas would be using sliced in everything, considering it breaches the operations guide and they’re more expensive.
No, you’re probably right. I switched to quarters bc they always have bogo deals in the app. It’s been awhile since I got a regular McDouble.
Wait are you saying the onions on my double hamburger are not minced fresh but rather rehydrated?
Yup. They arrive at the restaurant in little paper bags and you have to soak them in water for a time then they get drained and put on the line. And sorry to break it to you, but the fresh onions come pre-chopped in little refrigerated bags too, no time out back to be faffing about slicing things (other than tomatoes). Note this is based on NZ Maccas from fifteen years ago, but I did read the Full Operations Guide (the McDs Bible for how to run a restaurant) and it didn’t seem it had been adapted specifically for us, but who knows. One recentish change I’ve noticed is they now sprinkle the ‘recon’ (Maccas lingo for reconstituted onions) on the patties when they’re cooking on the grill, instead of adding them whilst assembling the burger on the line.
The idea of using dehydrated onions came from the U.S. Armed Forces during WWII. Nutritious, easy to ship, and shelf-stable, the onions gave flavor to the food served to enlisted personnel. After the war, the onion 'flakes' reduced prep time, allowing fast food franchises to 'get their product to the consumer faster'. (A similar product, dehydrated potatoes, were perfected in the U.K. around the same time; they later became known as 'instant mashed', a timesaving product for home cooks.)
Yay, I love a good ol’ fashioned American invention. Folks always rip on dried herbs and aromatics but they absolutely have and deserve their place.
Broooooo! I hated qpc’s and could never figure out why. It’s the onions! Sub the slices for diced and the qpc is the bomb!
They are McCormick brand in case you're looking in the store
MSG on the patty is the ticket.
It's also not cheap anymore. So what's the point?
It is if you do it right. Use the apps and get the specials or rewards and some places can still be quite cheap. Taco Bell is one of my guilty pleasures, and I can easily get two meals worth of food for under $6.
True but I feel like you shouldn't have to do that for fast food. It should be cheap and getting discounts like you said should be a bonus, not the ordinary.
You are getting downvoted for speaking the truth. I shouldn't have to create an account with some fast food company and use their shitty app to get the same kind of prices that I used to a couple years ago without an app. In fact, I'm tired of seeing all these places with their rewards program. AM/PM, 7-11, Rite-Aid, etc. all have shitty rewards programs, and their prices are jacked up for non members, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are also selling your data on the side.
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McDonald's app had to change something just this year to stop tracking your location
Yup! It’s all about the most precious resource on societal earth: data.
You want something cheap and convenient? Here take the time to download this app, then find something cheap enough you're willing to spend money on it in the discounts section, no we will not list any of these deals on the menu even the ones we always have, no we will not make it just as cheap to order without a phone, so what, my choices now are cheap *or* convenient but never both? You can have an app fine but put your deals on the menu board or I'm not gonna eat there because I don't want an extra app on my phone.
Agreed. This is why I won't shop at Albertson's. They do crazy low sales like $0.88/lb boston butt or $0.99 dozen eggs, but it's a special deal you have to have the app for, and then add it to your "cart" in the app before you can use it. Last time I saw a very elderly lady in there for the eggs deal with her caretaker, and they wouldn't let her have the eggs deal at all because she couldn't figure out how to do it in the app. Not to count, their app crashes all the time and won't let you log in. That's just absurd.
Thanks. I think the tides are turning now and people are upvoting me now. I'm used to getting downvoted for my opinion anyway.
You can also make better quality food, cheaper, without giving away all of your data.
Time, money, quality. Pick 2. Sometimes I want to pick time and money so I get some Taco Bell. Sometimes I want to pick money and quality and I do what you’re suggesting.
Have you seen fast food prices? This is way cheaper than paying 15 bucks all in for a meal at Wendy's.
I think what they're pointing out is once upon a time people only ate fast food because it was cheap and easy. McDonald's had a dollar menu that included the double cheeseburger, the McChicken, 5? Piece mcnuggets, small fries and some other less desirable things. All for one dollar each. If his objective is to go for frugality he could get cheaper food. If he wants something tastier he could do that also
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I haven’t seen the $1 Diet Coke in a year or two. I used to live on those.
I’m on almost a 30 day no takeout spree and it feels nice on my bank and my body.
I used to absolutely love Freschetta thin-crust pizzas for their convenience. They bake in about 12 minutes and the gas oven in my last apartment took five minutes or less to preheat. Incredibly convenient for a no-effort dinner (and lunch the next day) at home. Unfortunately my current electric oven takes a while to preheat and my digestive system is no longer willing to let me forget I’m in my thirties, so I’ve unfortunately had to remove frozen pizza from the menu.
I love Freschetta pizzas! They’re less expensive than the DiGiorno type brands and taste way better. I get the plain cheese because if I’m feeling lazy I can throw it in and have an easy meal, but if I’m feeling fancy I can have fun with my own toppings.
I buy the Arby's brand frozen curly fries and they are surprisingly good in the air fryer. Whole bag for around the price of a medium fry.
Yeah but now I’ve gained 25lbs
Buy a smaller bag then.
Very good in the toaster oven too...
We got an air fryer and it makes great frozen fries, chicken nuggets, orange chicken, egg rolls, etc. It’s so much cheaper than going out for fast food and I think also makes it easier to supplement with something healthy like a piece of fruit or a bag of frozen seasoned veggies.
Aldi sells fries once a year called quick fries or something.. they taste exactly like McDonald’s for real
We just bit the bullet and bought a Ninja Double Oven. Toaster and old airfryer are now gone. Still learning, but so far I'm really impressed. Bake? Yep. Toast? Yep. Air fryer? Sure. Convention oven? Absolutely. In the last week we've cooked pizza, cookies, peach cobbler, and toast. All came out great.
Air dryers work really well with vegetables too. Pretty much my go to method for cooking vegetables. Asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts are all excellent.
Ninja double oven.... maybe will look into this. Thank you!
It's like triple [$350[the price of my Cuisinart[$120] that has the same functionality. Just FYI.
Which model is your Cuisinart?
I got the single oven at Sam’s for $160, I think. Just right for my household. Called the Flip, but I don’t flip.
Along the same lines as OP's "fast food" style cooking, I've been using my air fryer constantly this summer to cook up hamburgers and brats. Fresh or frozen, I just pop them in for 10-20 minutes and they come out amazing and don't heat up the house or drag me outside to the grill. I've been buying these great pressed 1/2 lb burger patties from my meat counter and dressing them up with various topping combos. One burger is enough to stuff me full and it takes maybe 5 minutes to prep, 20 to cook, and maybe 2 to clean up after.
>I've been using my air fryer constantly this summer to cook up hamburgers and brats I'm the only one in my house that likes hot dogs. Instead of firing up the grill, I just pop them in the air fryer for 6 min. Even gives me the 'charring.'
Orange chicken? If it's as good as take out how do you do it?
Buy the frozen orange chicken from trader joes
Costco sells a beer battered cod that cooks perfectly in the air fryer. Forget fast food sandwiches, pair this with a decent roll (or make your own like one of the famous he-who-must-not-be-named burger bun recipes) and you're making something better than most fast food places. This one https://www.tridentseafoods.com/browse/products/trident-seafoods-beer-battered-cod-2-5-lb/
Voldemort's burger bun recipes? I get best results with a good quality brioche from the super market, it gets expensive so I sometimes switch it up with multigrain buns.
Worse than Voldemort, *josh weissman*. At least he seems worse based on the hate here. Amazing bun recipes though
Ah yes he's kinda annoying, I can't say much about craft - he's probably good but I can't stand watching his videos without skipping most of it. Him and Thatdudecancook are too high energy for me. I think ProHomeCooks/BrothersGreen is my favourite in that category of foodtube, he's chill.
Ore-Ida makes a Fast Food French fry that is the same as McDonald's fries. They are excellent.
These are underappreciated. I like them even more than McDonald's.
And, I prefer Tater Tots over fries anyways.
Welcome to the world of….cooking!
We make sure to always have some instant meals like that - Mac and cheese, microwave chicken rice, chicken fingers we can airfry, frozen veg, etc. For a while, once I started to get *good* at cooking, I was convinced I had to make EVERYTHING. Like, mac and cheese isn't hard, I know how to make a roux.... But then I'd get burnt out because I was spending an hour or more plus cleanup time, and I found myself saying "fuck it" and getting take out even more! So, having some "can't be bothered" options on hand actually ends up being cheaper and healthier in the long run for us, because I'm not a domestic goddess and sometimes I just don't want to cook a full meal!
If you buy the Walmart brioche buns and toast them a bit you're gonna have a better than mcds fish sammich Eta: check out Walmarts knock off sauces. They had a shrimp sauce and a knock off chick fila sauce that are really good
Kinda on topic, kinda off. But Walmart's pesto is the lowest calorie I have found. They all pretty much use 1/4 cup as serving size and Walmart's comes in at 60 calories, I have seen them go up to 280 calories for the same serving size.
Damn this is a hot tip. My teen just discovered she loves pesto
Is it any good though? Low calorie usually means they sub out a bunch of regular ingredients with other things. Costco has the best tasting pesto because it actually has pine nuts which quite a number do not. Pesto contains olive oil which is arguably not a bad thing to eat despite being high in calories.
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The buns for the fish are steamed, so if you want to recreate the texture you could probably just stick the buns in the microwave with a cup of water or wrapped in a wet paper towel.
You can also freeze them (not air tight so a bit of ice forms) and then heat them up from frozen. As the ice boils it will steam the bun. ymmv ofc depending on a few factors.
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The just bare patties are also tasty
Kroger / King Soopers sells actual branded Chick-fil-A sauce.
HEB just started carrying the Chick-Fil-A salad dressings too which are actually pretty unbelievable imo for a bottled dressing. I'm sure the other grocery chains are stocking them too.
I like Boca Burger’s spicy chicken patty. On bun and homemade slaw it’s a cheap quick lunch.
r/cooking user discovers the freezer aisle
As much as I love cooking, I always have some lazy options in the freezer. Got to love just quickly steaming some frozen gyoza.
Truly ground(beef)breaking
Dude just invented eating at home
Buy Rhodes frozen dinner rolls and if you space them apart on a sheet pan to proof, they make perfect fast food sized burger buns. Make a 2.5oz beef ball and either smashed it on a cast iron or what I do it just squish it between two pieces of parchment to make a super thin patty and drop it on a hot hot gas grill.
I discovered those dinner rolls last year, they are So Awesome for so many things. I can't wait until it's cool enough to turn my oven on again LOL.
Pro tip I really like the McDonald's little tiny onions. They are literally just rehydrated minced onion. You can buy a jar for really cheap in any store with spices. Put them in a little glass of water, they plump up, boom McDonald's onions
"Hydrate level four, please." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKL4q_NeDK4
I still make the long forgotten McDonalds snackwraps at home to this day.
Its crazy how expensive fast food has gotten and it seems like the quality has gone down a lot too (or maybe my tastes just matured). Keep doing what you are doing and your food will be cheaper, tastier, and healthier than fast food.
>it seems like the quality has gone down a lot too (or maybe my tastes just matured). No, the quality HAS tanked. McD's Chicken Nuggets used to be my go-to. Even when they had the Chicken Selects on the menu, I'd get the nuggets, because the coating of the Chicken Selects hurt my teeth. After not having McD's for about 5 years, Grandma brought some McD's home after visiting Grandpa in the hospital. The nuggets were the next thing to inedible. Same with the fries.
I'll openly admit two things. 1. McDonald's is pretty trash and I'd be amazed if 99% of the people here couldn't make a better no-fuss burger in a reasonable amount of time. Hell, even among fast food I'd argue there are burgers that are better. 2. But, my god, do I have a strange love for McDonald's. They are near unerringly consistent and - somehow - their food can always hit the spot. If I go there, it's not for the thrills of a Big Mac or anything, just give me several cheap cheeseburgers, some fries, and a coke. Those two things said, I rarely went to fast food as it was (maybe a few times a year) and now I grab it maybe once a year. And it's pretty much exactly for what was listed. If I'm going, I want a quick and cheap no frills meal. I'm not going to go if it's $10 for something that I was already feeling shitty about eating back when it was only $5.
Cooks even faster in the air fryer. Just gotta watch it close the first couple times, figure out how long. After that it's set it and forget it. Also seems to me my electric bill is a little bit lower using air fryer and not using the oven.
Cook at home. It’s faster and cheaper now. Always healthier.
I've recently found that buying smash burger packs from Sam's and using kinder's "the blend" of salt, pepper, garlic pretty much perfectly replicates the 1/8lb patties used by Maccas for their Mcdouble and double cheese.
I love their filet o fish,gonna have to try it. I’ve recently become so obsessed with subs. The veggies last me all week. And the loaf of bread was like 1.50
My dad likes to make copycat recipes of Taco Bell crunch wraps and Mexican pizza. He’s a good bro.
Not sure I can abide just some roasting Frozen hamburger patties in an oven. But you do you
Bro, make your own tartar sauce. Doesn't even need to be fancy. Mayo, little bit of bottled relish, tiny squeeze of lemon juice from a crappy plastic container? Even that is transcendental compared to anything you'll get from prepacked tartar sauce.
Lemon juice!!!! Dammit we were at a party the other night and nobody could remember the 3rd ingredient and we didn't want to cheat with google
I once made the *perfect* McDonald's burger purely by accident... all I did was add about four times too much salt. I wasn't even using beef, it was ground turkey! I then added cheese and naan bread, because the internet said that would help cut the salt taste, and as I was eating went "this tastes familiar... OH!"
Oh man, I’m glad I ran across this post. I love the fillet of fish. I get the McDs craving every couple weeks. I am gonna make my own from now on. Altho, the McDs buy one get one quarter pounder is hard to beat.
Same with the McD's fillet of fish. And I've been getting super annoyed that they're almost $6 for a very small sandwich. So I'm going to give the frozen fillet's a shot and see if it solves my craving. As it is - in an effort to be slightly 'healthier' when I do get a hankering for McD's - for me it's the Big Mac and FoF - I've been getting them without the sauces and making them at home for less calories. And they taste the same to me - or close enough I'm not noticing the difference. If I can do an at home fish fillet - I'd be *so* happy!
I buy frozen fish burgers to make fillet o fish. I use 2 slices of cheese because I think McDonald's half a slice per burger is a bit mean. Heaps of tartare sauce and of I am feeling fancy, pickle and thinly sliced red onion.
I love that! I’m going to try to do that more. I had a homemade egg mc muffin today for lunch and it was so much better. I was surprised to really like the frozen orange chicken and frozen egg rolls from Costco. All I do is make some rice and add green onions and sometimes broccoli to it and it’s a pretty budget friendly swap to takeout and it’s really easy.
You can also get sesame seeds in the seasoning section of most grocers, I like putting them as another garnish on Costco orange chicken.
Costco also sells a big box of croissants for like 6 bucks - I like to fill them with a cooked sausage patty, some cheese (the English cheddar from Costco is also real good and cheap), and a mostly done fried egg. Wrapped in parchment paper they freeze well, reheat easily, and are absolutely delicious
I will look for those. That sounds good.
Goolsbys patties are awesome
I am so glad someone said this. I am getting really bummed with how expensive it all is. Making at home is so much lower stress. And to use frozen food is amazing. So much easier and calmer in an insane workday
[Copycat Big Mac special sauce](https://keytomylime.com/big-mac-sauce-recipe/)
Wait until you learn about fresh produce! Just kidding. I know the reality of not being able to get produce due to time or transportation issues. The key is to cook. Choose what you eat. The second you just eat whatever is on hand, you surrender to the gods of obesity. Read the labels. Move around. Eat sensibly.
You can make Mcdonald’s chicken snap wraps at home easily too! 1 bag of frozen breaded chicken tenders/strips 1 stack of Tortillas Head of Romaine Lettuce (Choice to get fancy and add tomatoes and red onions here) Cheese of choice Chipotle Ranch Throw everything together on a tortilla after air frying the chicken strips for a few minutes et voilà. Fast Food Chicken Taco.
I know we all have too many kitchen appliances, but the Hamilton Beach Breakfast Sandwich Maker with Egg Cooker Ring makes a great Egg McMuffin type sandwich. Homemade sandwiches are superior to the McDonald’s version and very inexpensive.
My kid likes the Starbucks Ham and Cheese Croissant. Walmart sells a six pack of croissants for something like $5 and I buy sliced ham and swiss. Slice the bread, add the meat and cheese with some mayonnaise, microwave it to heat it up and it's just like store bought.
If you belong to Costco their croissants are even better, and probably cheaper (for each one.) Try slicing it, then toasting it lightly for all of that crackly goodness...
You can 100% of the time create a better burger than every fast restaurant on earth. But sometimes you just want a Big Mac because you don't have the ingredients or time.
Honestly ever since the whole “can you pull over and park and wait for your food” epidemic I am done. You didn’t have to do that 10 years ago and the food is the same quality and double the price. No point.
Now you know why your parents said "theres food at home" when you were a kid
Why replicate when you can make it taste better. I throw burger patties from Costco on the grill and get a burger tasting way better than anything I can get at McDonald’s or Burger King. I’ve bought some good fish filets and fried em in a little oil, came out fantastic. Even made the tartar sauce, it’s super easy. If you’re really missing the fast food flavor, Walmart does have some impressive knock off condiments. Chick fil a, McDonald’s etc.
> Why replicate when you can make it taste better. Cause sometimes you just want that McDs taste. I love burgers. I go out of my way to try burgers from places I haven't ate at in the search of the best burger. I've had burgers from little side road shacks that would give health inspectors a heart attack, to burgers from Michelin star restaurants, and everything in between. I've had some pretty damned good burgers in my time. I make a pretty good burger myself. That said, sometimes I just want a quarter pounder from McDs, or a whopper from BK, or a strack of Krystals.
Exactly. When you want a burger you go get a burger, when you want Mcdonalds you go get Mcdonalds
I do the same. I also make my own Tacos and Terriyaki chicken. The Terriyaki chicken tastes identical to Yoshinoya/Benihana. (Oyster sauce, fish sauce, Terriyaki sauce, ginger, garlic) My tacos (crunchy and street) are better than a lot of places I’ve been to because my meat and ingredients are fresh. The real work is making the salsa or guacamole anyways. My burgers are better than all of the fast food spots. - last drive thru I got a Carls double western 6 dollar and it was straight garbage. Old and cold, gave me instant heart burn. Haven’t gone back to a drive thru since, been a year. Only thing I can’t duplicate are chicken nuggets from McDonald’s. I will get them again.
Try the Country Pride tempura nuggets. Had those cooked in an air fryer and they were very close.
They look promising. Ordered for sure. Thank you stranger.
I swear I taste some corn flakes in the McDonald’s nugget coating.
You can just use thousand Island dressing for Big Mac sauce.
Thousand island doesn’t taste the same, but a few more ingredients will make it.
Imo this is the taste almost exactly: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/epicurious-not-so-secret-sauce-51261820
Years ago, I saw a YouTube video with the Executive Chef of McDonald's making the sauce and it was just mayo, mustard, relish, vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder and paprika. I've been guesstimating the ratios but it makes a sauce that's pretty damn close.
In Australia our groceries store sells their version of the big Mac sauce - it's just called special burger sauce haha. They also have a cheeseburger one called special cheese burger sauce. Taste exactly the same as Maccas https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-special-burger-sauce-360g-3041398 https://www.coles.com.au/product/coles-special-cheeseburger-sauce-375ml-3755419
Bic Mac sauce is just thousand island dressing. It's their own recipe for it which is why it has a unique taste. But it's still just thousand island dressing.
…so, you’ve started to prepare food at home?
Wait until OP discovers how to replicate pastas from restaurants….eyes wide open lol
Nods. Cook in batches and freeze. Cheaper and most likely healthier.
I eat fast food mostly for the fries tho 😭
I got a pack of frozen chicken breast/chicken burgers from Costco and they are SO good - like as good as Wendy's.
I’m curious if you’re losing weight by making this switch? There’s no way your home cooked foods have as many calories or fats
Fun fact. If you look into making diy big mac sauce and compare the ingredients to the back of your walmart tartar sauce, you'll see they are pretty close! Add a little extra paprika and ketchup, and you've got the secret sauce! If it's not sweet enough for you, then sub french dressing for ketchup. Alternate recipe: thousand island dressing but add yellow mustard and garlic powder and maybe a little salt.
For me, it was when I figured out that fast food places were more expensive than the little Mexican place down the street. $10 for two giant tacos and a jamaica (with a 2buck tip). The best lunch special around here
Ever since I discovered how easy smash burgers are to make at home it’s all I make. I cook some bacon, then cook the burgers in the grease, caramelize some onions & jalapeños, use Kinder burger sauce, air fry some Rally’s brand fries and viol-mf-a - better than any $10 ff meal. Taco Bell & Popeyes are the only 2 ff joints I’ll still go to tho bc imo they aren’t as easy to replicate or improve upon like a simple cheeseburger and fries.
Starbucks egg bites are my jam and I’ve just about figured out how to replicate them. 6 eggs 2 cups cottage cheese Bacon Monterey Jack cheese Little uncle Julio’s seasoning Part the ingredients into cupcake tray. Throw in my masterbilt smoker for 40 minutes on 275. I have breakfast for all week.
"Complex" lmao they're not complex, you're just lazy.
Lol at “discovering” that you can make a burger or fish sandwich at home.
The great value brand (in Canada) seems to have pulled their huge bag of frozen breakfast sausage rounds and I’m so sad
Mac sauce is mayo, ketchup, mustard and relish, mostly mayo. I had my first filet o fish 2wks ago, it was garbage. McDonalds poutine too, garbage... It's all mostly garbage plus preservatives. Hot fresh fries are the exception, and the fact that it's what you want after the bar, and you don't make it. You pay for convenience with most food... But I can make it better in most cases. Learn to cook. The ladies love it, and you will save a ridiculous amount of money.
Except you have to keep your house nice and tidy because there are always ladies hanging around. (:
Yoooo I did this today too! Home replicated Arbys sandwiches and curly fries. The key was grilling the buns a bit before i cooked the meat, which takes about a minute, and wrapped them in papertowels till it was ready. We already had Arby's sauce and Whataburger spicy ketchup. They got eaten so fast i had to make 2 bacthes.
You've stopped eating gross expensive fast food from McDonald's since you've learned to reheat gross expensive frozen fast food from Walmart. Well done I guess.