mcd's!... good old McDonald's is holding another promotion, this time for their entree salads. Click on the picture above, print off the coupon above (expires June 13, 2001) and grab one of their entree salads for 50% off (comes out to about $3.50 after taxes, regular price is about $6.79 + tax each). You can print as many off as you want. They are running this promo for almost a month so its a great chance to grab a quick "healthy" meal (use less dressing for extra healthiness haha). When getting the salads make sure they give you all the extras that are supposed to come with each salad (ie dressing, extra packets of stuff) because they mess this up all the time or give you the wrong dressing for the salad you choose.
How do these salads taste/look?
Don't worry, I'm a big fan of Mickey D's, so once I heard the promo I went ahead and tried all 4 types of their salads yesterday. All of the salad are quite small, I wouldn't call them entree size, but they are a good deal for $3.50 (regular price not worth it) considering each salad comes with a respectable sized piece of chicken (either crispy or grilled chicken). Here's a quick review of each one...
1. Southwest Salad (Top Left)
The southwest salad is quite tasty as it is kinda like a mexican salad, with mixed greens, red onions and I also got quite bit of beans in mine as well. They also give you a pack of nacho chips mix in along with the shredded nacho cheese and spicy southwest dressing (the typical minimally spicy chipotle flavour sauce available at most fast food places). + your choice of crispy or grilled chicken!
2. Spicy Thai Salad (Top Right)
The spicy thai is McD's asian style salad as they use wonton style chips and an asian sesame dressing. When mixed together it tastes kinda sweet (not spicy at all). They also include the usual mixed greens along with some red peppers and carrots from what I remember. Not bad, especially if you like sweeter, honey garlic type asian flavours. + your choice of crispy or grilled chicken!
3. Mighty Caeser Salad (Bottom Left)
WTF McDonald's, there is nothing mighty about this salad at all. It is your typical ceaser salad that comes with caeser dressing and a pack of croutons. Nothing wrong with this salad, just that it's not mighty at all. It also comes with some small bacon pieces (not the bacon bits from street meat), cheese and your choice of crispy or grilled chicken. However, this salad is the most unoriginal and least satisfying of the 4. "WEAKSAUCE!" ..no pun intended lol
4. Tuscan Salad (Bottom Right)
The tuscan salad is in my opinion the best tasting salad that McD's has to offer. I was quite impressed by the salad that came with mixed greens, grape tomatoes and cheese. They also give you a pack of dried cranberries (aka craisins!) and pine nuts. All of this mixed together with the Yogurt creamy garlic dressing is bommmmb! + your choice of crispy or grilled chicken
McDonald's has done quite well with this salad promotion, so go get them before the coupon expires on June 13, cause regular price at $6.79 + tax is not worth getting ever for a fast food salad. In addition, until first week of September 2011, Mcdonald's also has $1 any size soft drinks (XL largest) and $1 any size Iced Coffees (L largest,flavours: regular, caramel, vanilla-best one!). The iced coffees are good for this price (don't waste your money at timmy's or starbucks if you just wanna get an iced coffee).
BONUS: how to eat a FAST FOOD SALAD the proper way!
tacos... On the same day that I had the poutine from New York Fries, I was still hungry and went across the foodcourt in Fairview Mall to grab some cheap tacos from Taco Bell. I know that there are better items at Taco Bell, but this entry is just about Taco Bell's value menu (every fast food restaurant seems to have a value menu these days). I wanted a little variety, so I grabbed one soft taco, one double decker taco and one bean burrito. If you haven't had Taco Bell before, the tacos have ground beef, shredded cheese and lettuce in them. Don't expect much as these are just fast food tacos (not authentic at all.lol), but for some reason, they are still so damn good. At $0.99 a soft or hard taco, you can order a ton of them to fill your Taco Bell cravings without breaking the bank. I would not recommend the Bean Burrito though, considering it is on the high end of the value menu at $1.29 and it is just a nasty tortilla filled only with nasty beans (unless you really like beans that is. haha).
The value menu has 3 categories of items for 3 different prices:
- $0.99: Hard Taco, Soft Taco, Cinnamon Twist
- $1.19: Nachos and Cheese, Caramel Apple Empanada
- $1.29: Double Decker Taco (with a hard and soft shell), Bean Burrito
Taco Bell's can be found in many food courts (ex. Fairview Mall) and also in stand alone locations (ex. at Yonge and Steeles). If you're really craving Taco Bell, you can find more locations here.
Update: Since writing about the value menu, I looked at Taco Bell's website and have some bad news... they raised the prices on their Val
ue Menu!...not cool. I've included the picture they have on their site for the value menu (which they call "Why Pay More!"). They have a new item though, which is the cheesy double beef burrito. I can't lie, I probably will go try this.lol... but it's not cool that they raised their prices.
Check out this article. I found this on yahoo finance. They went out to search for the best deal on food in terms of lowest cost per calories. They ranked the different fast food items in terms of how much it costs per 100 calories... haha, pretty interesting stuff if you eat a lot of fast food like me.
The number 1 value per 100 calories is...
32 oz coke from subway costs $0.38 /100 calories (32 oz coke= 330 calories). That is a giant coke for a bit over $1 u.s.!
wendys... After a long day and a serious nap, I woke up around 11 pm craving some burgers. I've been kind of tired of McDonald's so I headed out to my local Wendy's (Don Mills/York Mills). When people think Wendy's, they usually think of the Baconators because of all those damn commercials, but I gotta stick with the value menu cause that is where the real deal is at (you can get real food for Baconator prices!). My usual order and what I got last night was a Stack Attack Combo (basically same as a double cheeseburger) with sides of a Small Frosty and a Caesar Salad ($3.99 +tax). In addition to that I also got a Jr. Cheeseburger Deluxe which has lettuce/tomatoes($1.49 +tax). Wendy's does taste better than McDonald's and the variety of sides is what draws me there everytime (although I have to mix it up with different fast food joints). For a fast food place, Wendy's makes some good Caesar Salad. They give you a box of lettuce with a decent amount of Mozzarella/Bacon Bits with a pack of Caesar sauce and a pack of Croutons on the Side (instructions on how to eat below). It's a good change from fries. They also have baked potato, chili, garden salad, yogurt and mandarin oranges that you can choose from instead of fries as a side.
Quick Notes: If you are planning to order an extra burger/sandwich from the super value menu like I always do, make sure you order the expensive burger (ex. stack attack, which is $1.99) as a combo first since all the combos are $3.99, then add the cheaper burgers after (ex. Jr. Cheesburger Deluxe at $1.49). This way you will save about 50-60 cents. Trust me... it adds up! Gotta be thrifty! Also the drive through closes at 12 am (McDonald 24 hour locations wins here).
Instructions on how to eat the Caesar Salad:
- Open all Packages (Salad Box, Croutons, Caesar Sauce)
- Dump Croutons package into Salad Box, followed by Caesar Sauce (adjust amount to your liking... the more the tastier, the less the healthier... but hey you're eating at Wendy's already.lol)
- Close Box. Shake Vigourously!!! Shake Vigourously again. Open Box. Enjoy!
