Spending less than you make is a big part of being frugal. Now some people will say you should never dine out but I personally don’t believe in that. In our budget there is money set aside for dining out because some times we don’t have time to cook and other times we just don’t want to cook. Once in a while that dining out budget goes towards the McDonald’s Big Mac. The Big Mac has been the signature sandwich at McDonalds for over 50 41 years. I love it and so do a lot of other people.
For the last 3 months I’ve been taking an alternate path to getting that great taste. I order a double cheeseburger and ask that they “dress it like a Mac”. The only difference, other than the price, is you get an extra slice of cheese and you don’t get the middle slice of bread (word on the street is they put that in if you ask for it). A Big Mac costs in the range of about $3.50 while the double cheeseburger costs $1.39 and an extra $0.30 for dressing it like a Mac. My fiancé and I order 2 double cheeseburgers like a Mac and 2 medium fries for $7.64. Even with coupons we were hard pressed to find a deal just as good.
Good luck and enjoy but be warned, the first week we did this we had Mcdonalds three times because now it was not only convenient but it was even cheaper.
-mfd-
No offense, but this is getting on the borderline of cheap. I worked in retail before (Starbucks) and I hate it when customers do stuff like this to get a cheaper price. For example, they would order small coffee in a medium cup. After adding milk they get a medium cup. Also the kid’s hot chocolate is 99 cents. Two kid’s hot chocolate is the same as a grade hot chocolate which cost $3
@Daveking – so is there a particular dollar value that’s not considered cheap? I’m not taking advantage of a courtesy . Its not like ordering a burger and asking for 15 slices of tomatoes and 20 pieces of pickles to make it more filling. There is an explicit button for “dressing like a mac” that they charge for so why can’t I have my cheese burger dressed like a mac?
The logic of paying more money simply to pay more money is just crazy. Take something you do to save money and I’m sure there is someone out there that will consider that cheap. Where does it end?
The best was when McDonalds had a different special on each day of the week, so on some days, I’d order the McChicken “made like a Big Mac”.
Though I thought a couple years ago they stopped letting you do this (at all), maybe that’s changed? Maybe it was just the franchisor in our area…
I liked it when my local McDonalds, also around the same time, had horridly incorrect US$ exchange rates. For several times in a 1 month period, I converted a good chunk of US$ currency and it worked out to a lot of free meals.
My friend said the cash registers had a US$ button, so you could just pay with a US$50 bill, and get all your change in Canadian.
@daveking- i currently work at starbucks and the main reason that people get a small coffee in a medium cup is not becuase they’re cheap but because they like extra cream. or the extra room. less spillage.
and kids hot chocolate is not 99 cents. maybe you worked at mcdonalds or something.
Hey Maddy,
I guess the debate is what is the company (starbucks in this case) charging for. Is starbucks charging for a full cup of coffee or are they charging for a cup of coffee and milk. I suspect its that latter.
As for the 99 cent hot chocolate, well Daveking never mentioned when he worked there so is it possible the price changed?
The Big Mac is only 41 years old.