Things are expensive

[FLips]

Some fast food now is either too expensive or the quality is so bad (or both) that I just don’t or won’t buy it. The front runners in that are KFC which is insultingly bad quality and Subway which used to be £5 for a footlong meal deal and is now over double that for just the sandwich. I haven’t used either of them in years.

McDonalds, which used to be champion of affordability now costs a fortune and the quality has nosedived, with my local one seemingly only hiring the thickest of the thick who are so swamped by the dozen delivery cyclists lounging around the counter that nobody eats inside the store anymore and they forget at least one major item off every order in the drive-thru. 

Ordering online with your run of the mill high street takeaway is getting harder too because all of them now have to have their own app to download or you pay a huge markup tarriff on Just-Eat because they’re making you cover their fees.

Just isn’t really worth the time, money or effort these days, which is probably a good thing I suppose because we’ve certainly eaten healthier due to it.

[TheBurningRed]

Yeah, McDonald’s prices now are ridiculous. I think it’s almost £9 for a large chicken selects meal these days.

KFC is the worst though. Whenever it’s brought up to get as a takeaway I say no. It’s far too expensive for what you get.

We had a Slim Chickens open up near us recently. Went to order on Just Eat and it was around £60 for three meals

[SuperBacon]

1 hour ago, FLips said:

Subway which used to be £5 for a footlong meal deal

The best was when they'd do a foot long sub of the day for £1.99, that got me through my first office job.

Wednesday was BMT I think, and the only duffer was Friday which was Tuna, but it was still better than anywhere else.

[Merzbow]

1 hour ago, FLips said:

Ordering online with your run of the mill high street takeaway is getting harder too because all of them now have to have their own app to download or you pay a huge markup tarriff on Just-Eat because they’re making you cover their fees.

I find that Chinese takeaways are still the ones fighting back against this, you can just phone up like always and all my locals still have their own delivery drivers.

[FLips]

10 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

I find that Chinese takeaways are still the ones fighting back against this, you can just phone up like always and all my locals still have their own delivery drivers.

Yeah our local Chinese is still going strong with their cash only on collection or phone for delivery approach. No website, no outsourced deliveries. The quality is better than any we’ve tried through Just-Eat too.

[SuperBacon]

27 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

I find that Chinese takeaways are still the ones fighting back against this, you can just phone up like always and all my locals still have their own delivery drivers.

Yeah our Chinese used its own drivers before they were unjustly shut down for their 1 star hygiene rating. 

There was one driver who every time he knocked the door, would be nose to the door as I opened it.

It was fairly unnerving and I can't even work out how he knocked the door and was that close to it at the same time, unless he knocked and then got closer. 

And when I say nose to the door, I mean it. If he'd been leaning on it, he'd have gone through as I opened it.

[westlondonmist]

A couple of our local takeaways shared drivers. The Chinese shut down recently apparently due to rent hikes and being replaced with a dog grooming place. It was dirt cheap too as they were cash only and obviously at the fiddle. 

[Callum1993]

I was in Wetherspoons the other day (aware the owner is a prick) and that used to be the go to for a cheap burger and a pint like £7/£8 for it. They now do ‘Gourmet’ Burgers which appear to be their regular burgers with either pulled pork or fancy cheese on top…£18 with a pint! Outrageous. 

[Merzbow]

5 minutes ago, Callum1993 said:

I was in Wetherspoons the other day (aware the owner is a prick) and that used to be the go to for a cheap burger and a pint like £7/£8 for it. They now do ‘Gourmet’ Burgers which appear to be their regular burgers with either pulled pork or fancy cheese on top…£18 with a pint! Outrageous. 

Ouch, that might be a local thing to you as £13 is the most expensive at my local but still it's creeping up and I've noticed they skimp even on the portions of frozen chips now.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

I'm guessing that the snappy title of this thread indicates a Mr Chest Rockwell Esq split out has occurred. 

All this price of things stuff got me to reminiscing last night, when I first owned my own car petrol was 50p per litre and I swore if it ever got to £1 per litre I'd stop driving. That like so many of my promised turned out to be hollow. 

Also diesel used to be cheaper than petrol. Now its at least 8p per litre dearer. Robbing bastards. 

[LCJ]

15 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

Also diesel used to be cheaper than petrol. Now its at least 8p per litre dearer. Robbing bastards. 

Yep. In some European countries (Republic of Ireland included), diesel is still cheaper than petrol. Those countries appear to be in the minority, though.

[SuperBacon]

Yeah diesel was always the cheaper alternative wasn't it?

Don't you get more for your mileage on it though? Isn't that the benefit?

[Carbomb]

There was a whole narrative about how diesel was actually better for the environment than petrol, but a few years ago, this was declared to have been not only bollocks, but the actual opposite. Perhaps there's been some sort of tax slapped on to discourage usage, or just that the market has massively decreased and the oil companies have had to put up the price to compensate.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

New car diesel sales have fallen off a cliff but there are still a lot of second hand ones. There was all that emissions scandal malarkey in 2018ish and that seems to have spelled the end of them. 

For reasons that I can't work out my 2 litre diesel Mondeo has very cheap road tax. The logbook says it is an eco version but I can't work out why. I don't use special design and there is nothing I add to it. 

[LCJ]

Guessing some diesel engines just produce lower CO2 emissions than others. Hence why some diesels are labelled “eco friendly”. My 13 year old Ford Focus is a 1.6 Econetic diesel and only costs £20 a year in road tax to this day. Miles to gallon is also reasonably good. It’s just a shame that the rest of the car is starting to fall apart and it’s a matter of time before I’m forced to change it.

If anyone has a CostCo membership, that can be a good way to get cheaper premium fuel (which usually gives you more miles per gallon). However, beware of huge crowds because a lot of other people seemingly have the same idea. I sometimes go to the Manchester branch which is busy enough but the Chester branch (which is actually in Ellesmere Port) was a nightmare to get out of two weeks ago. Way too much traffic. Took me around 90 minutes in total to queue to get off the car park and fill up with fuel. Some people go around 7am when it opens to get around the crowding problem.

Edited June 22, 2025 by LCJ