Kevin Roberts remembers when he could get a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a drink from Five Guys for $10. But that was years ago. When the Virginia high school teacher recently visited the fast-food chain, the food alone without a beverage cost double that amount.
Roberts, 38, now only gets fast food “as a rare treat,” he told CBS MoneyWatch. “Nothing has made me cook at home more than fast-food prices.”
Roberts is hardly alone. Many consumers are expressing frustration at the surge in fast-food prices, which are starting to scare off budget-conscious customers.
A January poll by consulting firm Revenue Management Solutions found that about 25% of people who make under $50,000 were cutting back on fast food, pointing to cost as a concern.
It’s worth noting that 200 to 250 of those calories are from the bread, and the other 300 are from the 3 different meats and the 2x cheese.
The turkey sandwich, the one I normally get, is a bit better at 310–360 or so, but I probably make up for that difference in mayo. That said, I don’t know… is the BMT an average, standard order? … Um. Commit to memory what bread, meat and cheese (and mayo) typically add to a dish and you can apply that anywhere you go; these are usual suspects and I doubt you can make an Ultimate BMT at home that’s much better.
Also, if anyone is not sure why processed meats are bad, the nitrate and nitrite found within can become carcinogenic (cancer) via processes somewhat unique to them (plants have nitrate, but they don’t typically form nitroso compounds)—raw meat, even red, is less likely to have this problem, though it is recommended you limit red meat for other reasons.