Good Food for a Low Price

Anyone been to Arby's lately?

I'm not a fast food sort of guy (I LOVE the taste, but nutritionally it usually offers nothing, so I skip it), but last night after a basketball game we needed a quick bite to eat. Logan's was full and we wanted to make it quick, so we picked Arby's since (in our opinion) they offered the best nutritional option of the McD's, BK, etc. crowd.

Man, were we right. My wife got a Martha Vineyard's salad (which she loved) and my daughter got a fruit cup with her sandwich. When was the last time you saw a fast food place offer a fruit cup?

My son, on the other hand, went all "bad." Chicken tenders and fries. Though he did have a 100% juice drink, so I guess that makes it ok. ;-)

But I made the score of the night. Arby's has a "5 for $6.95" deal going. You get to pick any five of a number of items for $6.95. I was going to get a sandwich combo (for $6.99), but then I saw the $6.95 deal and thought, "Wait, this is a TON more food for the same price of what I'm considering. And it's stuff I like! Why not go that way?" And that's what I did. Two roast beef sandwiches, two ham sandwiches, and a fry. I ate the fry and two of the sandwiches and have two sandwiches left over for lunch today. Not a bad deal at all!

Comments

[Kevin]

Ha! It's 5 for $5.95 here in St. Louis.

[Jeremy]

5 for $5.95 here in Indy too. Recently, I've found Arby's to be one of the more expensive fast-food places to eat at. Get a couple of their toasted sandwich combos and you're pushing more that $15.

[Jeremy]

Did you make a change to your blog recently? Why do I have to have Javascript turned on to post a comment now?

[Skeptical Consumer]

Subscriber here. Did Arby's pay you to write this? That pay for post stuff creeps me out.

[The Saving Freak]

Arby's is expenseive but the 5 for $5.95 deal is usually available in some form. This is the only way that I will consider them due to the amazing price difference with the other fast food joints.

[FMF]

Ok, maybe it was a better deal than I thought -- maybe I paid $5.95. ;-)

Jeremy -- I don't make those sorts of changes, Typepad manages them. Not sure what they've done recently.

[Robert]

Aside from the 5 for $5.95, pretty much everything else at Arby's is ungodly expensive. I like it better than the others, but it bugs me to pay so much more.

[Dave]

Arby's has great coupons too - monthly I get buy a drink/fries and get a free sandwich ($3.50 for a meal) or combo meals for $4. That's almost half price!

[FMF]

Skeptical --

No, no one from Arby's paid me to write this. Can't someone have a good experience and write about it? Heaven knows I blast companies when they don't get it right -- seems like I should praise those when I see something I like as well.

[thisisbeth]

I think McD's also offers apple slices and milk with their kids' meals. I know they did for a wihle, and I assume they still do.

At any rate, I love fast food, which is why I avoid eating there--extra calories and extra money are just not worth it unless I have to.

[Dave]

This was even a better deal when it used to be 5 for $5 a couple years ago. Still a great deal for lots of bad-for-you food. Wish they had a 5 for $5 healthy-meal-deal too.

[Toby]

All I can think of is the scene in the Simpsons where the kids are stranded on a desert island and one of the twin girls declares, "I'm so hungry I could eat at Arby's," to horrified gasps from her classmates.

[Tracee F.]

@thisisbeth - yes, they do still offer apple slices and milk with kids' meals. In fact, on the rare occasions I eat at McD's, I order a Mighty Kids' meal - chicken nuggets with milk and apple slices. It's not a great meal, but it's better than anything else I can get there. They will tend to forget the apple slices and give fries, though, so I always double check the order before pulling away from the window!

[FMF]

Tracee --

Funny you should say that. Last night, they gave my daughter fries instead of the fruit cup. We realized it when we got to our table and I took the fries back. The manager told us to keep them and gave us the fruit cup as well. So my son had double fries. ;-)

[Margo]

Chick-Fil-A has had a fruit cup on the menu for quite a long time. McD's has both the fruit & yogurt parfait, as well as the fruit & walnut salad. However, both used to be a bigger size, but were downsized to get in the $1-$2 price point - likely to encourage more people to order that in lieu of fries, but still upsell by 25cents or so. The old fruit & walnut salad was in a nice sized bowl for about $3.50.

I think the best fast-healthy stuff available is at WaWa. Grapes, cheese & crackers in a container, fruit cups, etc. I'll be stopping at a WaWa on my way up to the MidAtlantic!

[PT]

You should have got the cherry turnover. Awesome!