I just had Arby’s, and it was absolutely amazing. I got a small Beef N’ Cheddar combo with a Coke Zero and a side of mozzarella sticks. It cost me less than $10, and I was fed for the night.
Fast food is something I eat quite often, usually two or three times a week. Some of my favorite restaurants are Arby’s, Taco Bell and Wendy’s. However, I’ll be the first to admit that fast food is the furthest thing from healthy. It’s high in calories, sodium, trans fats and pretty much anything else that’s bad for you.
So, why do I and many other college students eat it? Well, there’s a few reasons why:
It’s convenient
Cooking a full meal takes time, let alone making it balanced. Turning on the oven, taking foods out of packages and making sure nothing gets burnt is a process that I just don’t have the energy for. Driving down the road to the various restaurants in town and placing my order at the drive-thru takes significantly less time. And, the food is made for you!
If you don’t want to drive yourself to a restaurant, you can have the food come to you. With the rise of apps like DoorDash and Grubhub, you don’t have to peel your body off your couch; you can just have deep-fried deliciousness delivered right to your doorstep.
It’s cheap
The 4 for $4 meal at Wendy’s is one of the greatest trade deals in history. You get your choice of sandwich, a small french fry, a four-piece nugget and small drink all for $4. Other restaurants often have similar deals, so you can have an entire meal for a relatively low price.
Physical coupons or downloading apps that give you free digital coupons can lower the price even further. Realistically, you can feed yourself for an entire day at Wendy’s for under $15. If that’s not eating on a budget I don’t know what is.
It tastes great
Nothing can quench your thirst quite like a large Baja Blast from Taco Bell. Nothing can fill that empty void in your stomach like three or four chicken sandwiches from Chick-fil-A. While I will admit that constantly eating the same things from the same restaurants can get old, that’s where the wide variety on menus and choices of restaurants can help.
Also, let’s be honest with ourselves here, a large #1 from any fast food restaurant tastes a lot better than some sort of homemade quinoa.
