You can’t always get what you want, but if you try you can get a fast-food meal for $10 — sometimes.
But it isn’t easy. That’s why major fast food chains have turned to value pricing this summer as a way of prop up slumping sales.
McDonald’s led the way with its $5 and $6 meal deals, which were matched by Burger King.
These combos are put together with the lowest priced items on the menu and small portions that resemble kids meals.
We challenged ourselves to see if we could do better working on a budget of $10 per meal.
We chose five chains that serve burgers and are either based in Southern California or got their start here: Carl’s Jr., Del Taco, In-N-Out Burger, Jack in the Box, and McDonald’s.
The ground rules were to try to get four items — burger, side, drink and dessert — without resorting to member’s rewards, digital deals or kids meals.
Our results were mixed. Here’s what we came up with, from easiest to failure.
Del Taco
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This Lake Forest chain is known for its Mexican food, but burgers and fries have been on the menu from its start.
Del Taco has a value menu, Real Deal$, with several sides priced between $1 and $2, making for an interesting selection.
We went with the cheapest burger, the Del Cheeseburger at $3.29, which left us with more than $6 to play with.
We got a snack taco for $1.49, an order of Mini Churros for 1.99 and an iced coffee for $2.19.
The total came to $8.68 for four items.
Information: deltaco.com
In-N-Out Burger
This chain only serves burgers, fries and drinks, which simplified the ordering process.
We went with Combo No. 3, which includes a hamburger with no cheese, medium fries and medium soft drink.
In-N-Out doesn’t serve desserts, so to meet that challenge we turned the soft drink into a root beer float, which is on the chain’s secret menu. It’s half Barq’s Root Beer and half vanilla shake. We were charged for the price of a shake, $3, rather than for a medium soft drink, $2.45.
The bill came to $9.56 for three items.
Information: in-n-out.com
Carl’s Jr.
We came in under $10, but had to resort to the chain’s Double Take mix-and-match menu, which will only be around until Aug. 13. It offers the choice of two items for $6. We used it to get a Spicy Lil’ Cheeseburger and small fries.
We couldn’t afford a dessert but got 1% chocolate milk as a substitute.
The total was $9.45 for three items.
Information: carlsjr.com
McDonald’s
Thanks to a limited time offer that makes every fountain drink $1.49, we were able to get four items but not quite for $10.
We ordered a cheese burger, small fries, apple pie and a fountain drink. Sales tax pushed the total to $10.29 for four items.
Information: mcdonalds.com
Jack in the Box
Despite the chain’s Munchies Under $4 menu, we weren’t able to find a path to four items for $10.
We estimated we could get four items for $9.99 based on the prices listed on the Jack in the Box website, but in the stores we visited prices were slightly higher. For instance, the chain’s signature two tacos for 99 cents were $1.99 in stores.
We wound up buying a Jr. Jumbo Jack, two tacos, Mini Churros and a small fountain drink for $11.81.
Information: https://www.jackinthebox.com/
