Another who rarely eats fast food and if I do, it will be something like Arby's, Chick Filet, etc. where you can find something half-way healthy. There are very few places where I will eat a burger, and they are not fast food restaurants. There are 2 things I do like at McDonalds, their oatmeal with the fruit and an iced caramel latte.

Anderson doesn't cook and eats junk food all the time.

Couldn't tell you the last time I had fast food. Easily decades.

When did they install 2 drive thru windows? That was the last time I went through McDonald's with my niece. She had to tell me why there were 2 windows.

Oakley I'll see your Coney dog and raise you a Superdawg! ;-) but I will say the school desks are cute. Superdawg all beef dogs are a proprietary recipe, size, seasoned and with a natural casing that 'snaps' when you bite into it. The older couple in the video, Flo & Maurie, were my cousins (RIP dear ones) but the family still owns and operates both locations although the newer one doesn't have the feel or the memories of the original.

I have no idea how you embedded a vido so the link will h ave to do.

https://youtu.be/XO4xl_Ehc28

Waving at my fellow Filet-O-Fish folks (no cheese, please.) I can't remember the last time I had McDonald's. Growing up I would have my mother go to the drive through after tennis practice and I would order six of the tiny hamburgers. I could never eat their regular ones. Fish or the tiny ones. I do occasional go to In-and-Out.

I will fess up that there are times when fast food really hits the spot but rarely McDonald's. When the sausage McMuffin's are fresh or the McGriddles, I do enjoy those. Once in a while I step out of the grocery store and McD's smells good and I consider it but there is always such a line for the drive-thru that I say forget it.

However, I would much rather have a bacon guacamole burger from Carl's jr (wrapped in lettuce if I am feeling virtuous instead of a bun) or the sweet and spicy burger at Whataburger. Fortunately, neither option is available in my small town and I can only get those when going to the larger town. I will say too, that it probably helps me that the prices on fast food have increased enough that most of the time I tell myself I can get a better burger for just a couple of dollars more at a diner or whatever.

McDonald's Southwest salad with their Newman's southwest dressing is pretty darned good, with or without grilled chicken.

Well, count me in. Once or twice a year I'll treat myself to a Big Mac, fries and a chocolate shake. I simply adore it...can't tell you why. Also will dip my fries into the shake....(sorry 'bout that.)

I used to love the fish, too, but it has to be one or the other for me so naturally I go for the largest amount of indigestion I can get...

I am deeply in love with Anderson Cooper :)

Rita, I'm mystified-you wrote:

"I would order six of the tiny hamburgers. I could never eat their regular ones."

I don't think McDonalds ever sold tiny hamburgers, are you maybe thinking about White Castle or (in the south) Krystal's? Both of those chains offered very small, square burgers that were griddle fried, with fried onions and mustard as the condiment. But McDonalds has always had regular burgers with the only large variation being either single 1/4 pound versions (Quarterpounder) or a double club sandwich style burger (Big Mac).

I grew up eating Krystal's and they were my absolute pinnacle of fast food delight. As an adult I've never lived anywhere they were convenient although for awhile there was a Krystal near my sister's place in Ft Lauderdale and we'd occasionally takhomasak--say it fast LOL. Actually, one time when we had to get my sister to detox we stopped at Krystal first to get fueled up before we went to the ER...good times!

It was definitely McDonald's at the drive through in Plano, Texas. My mother would marvel and ask me what exactly she thought McDo was selling for that price- something like 65 cents each hamburger and they were sold in pairs. The picture below is a bit deceiving. The meat did not reach the edge of the bun, the flavor of the sandwich was dominated by ketchup, pickle and onion. I added the nutrition facts to prove how small the burger was ;-)

McDonald's Hamburger

Nutrition Facts McDonald's Hamburger Amount Per 1 sandwich (95 g)100 grams1 sandwich (95 g)Calories 250 % Daily Value*Total Fat 10 g15%Saturated fat 3.3 g16%Polyunsaturated fat 1.3 gMonounsaturated fat 3.6 gTrans fat 0.4 gCholesterol 26 mg8%Sodium 469 mg19%Potassium 182 mg5%Total Carbohydrate 29 g9%Dietary fiber 1.2 g4%Sugar 6 gProtein 12 g24%Vitamin A1%Vitamin C1%Calcium12%Iron15%Cobalamin13%Magnesium5%*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

running, I think she means the kids hamburgers as opposed to the Big Mac or 1/4 pounder. That's what I like, too (only make mine cheeseburgers, please).

ETA: sorry rita - posting at same time as you.

I probably eat “fast food” about 4-5 times per year. And typically when I do, it is Chick Fil A. I honestly haven’t eaten anything from McD’s in 25 years and when I did, it was always chicken though I shudder at the thought now. I never eat burgers out except at a sit-down non fast food restaurant. As someone else pointed out, the smell of MCDs grosses me out. When I did eat McDs when I was younger, it went right through me so I stopped eating it back in my college years. My whole family knows that if we need to stop for fast food and I’m eating too, we will never stop at MCDs. If that is the only option, I don’t get anything and wherever we do stop, I never get burgers. For some reason, they just gross me out (don’t seem like real meat to me).

When I was in college, there was a 24 hr White Castle on the way home from the bars - my roommates loved stopping for their burgers. I couldn’t set foot inside because of the smell - instead, I stopped and got a slice of pizza at the 24 hr pizza place across the street LOL. There was a real divide in our group - those with the pizza munchies and those with the greasy burger munchies. The perks of going to college in NYC - plenty of late night options!

I don't mind Micky D's fish sandwiches, I remove half the bun and I do like their McFlurry's. If I'm heading somewhere and don't have time to sit down and eat then I might breeze through Burger King and get a Jr. Whopper or an Arby's.

McDonalds is not at the top of my fast food lists. Top places go to local eateries. Of the national chains, I prefer Burger King, but normally go for a chicken sandwich over hamburger. I'd choose Carl's Jr. over Burger King (Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich).

I agree about the little tiny McD burgers. At McD, you don't want a lot of meat, because it is, in fact, pink slime. That's why those thin little ones are best. They taste nothing like a "burger" per se. The bun is surprisingly sweet, as is the ketchup. Those are the two overriding flavors, with the hit of pickle. You don't really taste beef at all.

Whoa now!

McDonalds started with 15 cent hamburgers. The same size they are now. Never tiny burgers. One pickle. A squirt of mustard, ketchup and about 15 tiny pieces of onion.

When I was in high school (late 60s) the price had gone up to 25-30cents. I had a friend who would go every afternoon and buy one burger. She only ate the part that included the pickle. The rest she would throw out to the sea gulls.

I vote with DLM for the Chicago Superdawg. They are great hot dogs! I stand corrected and thanks.

They still are great, Westsider!

I haven't eaten at McDs in about 15 years. DH has eaten there twice in his lifetime and got sick both times so he refuses to go. After seeing a commercial recently, I tried to talk him into going for the hot apple pies since he's never had them. Don't know if they still make them.

Oakley, have you seen the HBO documentary where Anderson interviews his mom Gloria Vanderbilt?

I remember paying 15 cents. Haven't eaten fast food in years, but now I am craving some! Yikes!

Mtn, McDonald's does not use the finely processed beef trimmings called "pink slime" in past years.

When I want a fast food burger I go to In N Out.

My order is a cheeseburger, small fries and a mango smoothie at McDs. I also order a plain hamburger for Leo (the non human that lives with me). We only go through the drive thru maybe once every few months. When my kids were growing up Taco Bell was their and sometimes my go to. When there are seven teenagers eating and they are all athletes you find the cheapest way to feed all of them (and their friends) on those days when they are wandering in and out with their various workouts/practices. Their first choice was always In&Out, from their secret menu. And La Vic, a Mexican place with the secret sauce. They would go there on their visits home to San Jose from all over the country and bring that secret sauce back to their current home/dorm. As a teenager I would travel to Dublin, by train, to get McDs. It was my first stop when I moved to America, order never changes, cheeseburger and fries.

Since going organic quite a few years ago, I avoid fast food places, but made exceptions during the long drawn out time when I bought this house and the kitchen was gutted, and stopped cooking in the old house to begin the process to sell: there were quite a number of McD's and Wendy's pit stops. That was a few years ago. Now I just can't. But then, I've only been out to dinner once since as there aren't any organic restaurants in my area and so I'd rather eat at home..

But I remember 15 cent burgers! My bf would eat a pile of them. Then, early in our marriage, we used to love going to Arthur Treacher's for the fried fish which we loaded up with piles of cheese sauce. At the time, we thought we eating better but not likely!

DLM, how funny that someone said Coney Island was better! LOL The dogs looks similar to each other....BUT.... I will NEVER EVER EVER eat the casing! lol

Great video, btw!

Burgers and dogs, I can eat them every day. Ironically, when I was a kid around 5 or so, I got violently sick one evening and I'd had a hot dog that day. It wasn't until I was about 16 when I started eating them again. We'd either go to Coney Island in downtown Tulsa or go to Der Wienerschnitzel.

I make dogs about once a month. Yum.

Can't stand restaurant burgers. If they're not drippy and messy it's not a burger.

Mayflowers, I remember watching portions of the interview. When I was in high school I read, "Little Gloria, Happy at Last." I think that's the name, about the big custody battle. Great book.

My parents would always take us to restaurants and I'd always order a burger and my dad would give me a dirty look. lol One of the best burger joints in Tusa was Lotta Burger. It was such a treat when my parents would take us there on a weekend night. Probably to shut me up.

McDs smells better than it tastes and that’s how you get lured in. I only eat their food when I am ravenous and their is no other choice, like in the rest stops along the highway. I’d rather have Burger King if I have a choice. Once I ordered a McDs salad at the drive throuch and they couldn’t understand what i was saying, as if they had never heard the word salad before, which maybe they hadn’t.

i used to see a long line at the drive through every morning as I drove past on my way to work.

For road trips with kids, it's a good place for coffee and smoothies and maybe a rest room. The fruit smoothies aren't nutritionally terrible for kids compared to other travel snacks and the coffee is reliably okay and sometimes even good. The kids usually want fries and we usually "forget". They won't eat anything else there. Sometimes we will get the dog a hamburger.

I don't recall ever going there for a meal as an adult except for perhaps breakfast at an airport. I do remember how horrible airport food was before the chain restaurants got in. Fast food was an upgrade at LAX.

So, who else has fond memories of Astroburger at Kramer Junction?

Thanks so much you guys - I gave in to a craving for a iced caramel latte (McD's) yesterday!!!

I agree with the thoughts about smells in some of the fast food places. I think it is the oil they fry in at McD's. I don't like fish, but I can't imagine eating that piece of frozen, what-kind-of-fish-is-it, that they serve. And a burger from a restaurant can be delish - and messy/drippy too. Especially if it's good beef (and you don't have to wonder what it is LOL). Mayflowers, I can understand your husband getting sick. It has happened to my husband, and somewhat to me too. I think it is because much of it is so greasy, and we're just not used to eating that. UGG!!

Oakley, you probably crave the burgers and dogs now because your husband can't eat that way now. I'm assuming you have had to change your way of cooking.

And now I will be wanting a nice juicy, home grilled - BURGER!!

I have never been to a McDonalds and have never eaten any of their food. When I was growing up in central Texas, there were no McDonalds in my area, and we went to locally owned drive-ins instead that had carhops. My favorite one was call The Chuck Wagon and had old wagon wheels for decoration. The only chain we had was Dairy Queen, but where my grandparents lived, there was a Frigid Queen (not related). In Houston, I used to go to a restaurant called Hamburgers by Gourmet, and they had antique telephones at each table that you used to order your food. I almost never eat hamburgers anymore, but if I do, it has to be a good one. I've always preferred fish and seafood.

I will now proceed to blow up this discussion by pointing out that I am utterly amazed that people consider a McDonald's hamburger to be a 'tiny' version of what seems to be the accepted normal size, the quarter pounder.

It never dawned on me to think of the tiny version as anything but a normal serving size and when I used to eat meat long ago one McD's hamburger was and would be still a completely normal portion for a meal.

I think this is YA example of portion creep--tiny?! It's just a regular hamburger IMO ;)

DH eats his burgers at a&w and usually gets the meat free version. He drinks his coffee from Mickey D's and we just went there last night to get a cup up coffee for him. I can't eat or drink any of it so I totally have fast food envy.

I serve 4oz per person of meat/chicken/fish for my family. Most people feel that is small.

I agree that portions are absurd almost everywhere in our country.

However, a beef patty at McDonald's has a weight of 1.8 ounces. It is very very thin. That is, even to me, tiny.

My dad made a good living flipping burgers, so I am a bit fussy about my burgers, including what goes on top. Once or twice a week I cook a burger at home, so I don't particularly need to go anywhere else for one. I never order them in restaurants, but occasionally when I'm running errands and have missed lunch, I will do a BK drive-through.

Lars....what can I say except that I spewed my tea at the idea of a "Frigid Queen"!!! I have a strange sense of humor for sure...

I totally agree that this food is...less than desirable. But if we all only did that which is optimal, then life would leave much to be desired imho....

To me, a fast food guilty pleasure is no worse than buying non-necessities or having a glass of wine or staying in bed all day marathoning Game of Thrones or going out to lunch.

I would no more tell you that you're wasting your money on that new purse, than I would tell you what garbage your food is.

in re sizes again ...

You can see from this chart that the regular burger hasn't much changed ... in fact, oddly, it is smaller. Note the weight here includes the whole thing not just the meat. Look at how thin it is. I seriously doubt the average home cook makes any burger that thin.

Even the quarter pounder is not really a big burger. Outside of fast food, a lot of burger places serve gargantuan things, like this one below. Courtesy Jackson Hole NYC, which does make fab burgers if you can stomach it!

A quarter pound of beef (before it's cooked) is the perfect size.

Bunny, I agree. I make burgers in the summer during tomato harvest. Get 4 to a pound of ground chuck.

Oh, Mtn, I am going to think of your four ounce meat/fish servings and feel guilty every time I serve dinner. I guess I'll have to do better in order to quell the guilt. Be proud of yourself :-)

PS For those who want the burger without the meat, I am told the vegan Impossible burger is great. It is even pink inside (which kinda grosses me out.) This Impossible burger is from Gott's. I love their regular burger.

They carry the Vegan Impossible burger at our local Bareburger. IIRC it is not any caloric savings, I am not sure of the other NI, or if it is simply geared toward people who don't eat meat on ethical grounds.

Rita, 4oz is what the guidelines suggest and at first I thought it was skimpy; i probably usually ate at least 6oz,and then think of the typical steakhouse!? It's like anything, you get used to it. We prob just eat more of everything else, which I think is the real point.

But don't ask me, ask RunninginPlace, who, says, of a 1.8 oz (!) hamburger...

It never dawned on me to think of the tiny version as anything but a normal serving size and when I used to eat meat long ago one McD's hamburger was and would be still a completely normal portion for a meal.

We have virtually every fast food chain within 3 miles of my house. I don't think there is White Castle here-and in my town we don't have Chik-fil-a (I won't go there anyway personal reasons). We are rumored to be getting an In'n' out burger-which thrills me to no end.

I like the McD's cheeseburger-that little one is the perfect size. And I am addicted to their Diet Coke. Most mornings on my way to work I'll stop and get one-instead of coffee.

Have you heard of 5 guys? I'm really not a fan, their burgers are way too big and I do not like french fries. We have a local competitor of 5 guys called Nancy's and again-the sandwiches are too big for my taste. I really prefer the tiny chicken soft tacos from Taco Del Mar or Wendy's Pecan Apple Chicken Salad if I have fast food. But McD's for Diet Coke for the win.

There is a Jersey Mikes subs which is pretty good for sandwiches-much better than Subway or that nasty Jimmy Johns. Arbys did make a pretty good chicken salad but they no longer make that. Best of all, however is a local chain called Muchas Gracias. Great mexican street style food. Cheap and yummy.

I've thought for a long time that people like me would be excellent as study subjects about weight and people's appetite set points because naturally I simply cannot eat as much food as seems to be normal, never have. Husband is the same; even our kids make fun of us. My daughter says we eat like rabbits and she's probably not that far off.

So *for me* one of those tiny hamburgers and a half a bag of small fries from McDonalds is an ample meal. I usually can only handle a few swallows of soda too though I prefer to drink water. I actually strongly dislike even the feel of having a big mouthful of food in my mouth. So weight has never been a problem or even an issue--at 61 YO I currently weigh 3 pounds more than I did when I was 18. I am small boned but at 5'6" and weighing 120 lbs I"m not emaciated or tiny. I just never have had to worry about controlling how much I eat, and have never even been able to pack away a lot of food.

Why is that? I don't know, just the way my body functions. I really think if science could figure it out and bottle it a lot of people would have an incredibly easier and healthier life.

However, that said I'll ad one very negative consequence has been that I've always had a false sense that there was no need for me to exercise or be active since I was always thin...why bother? WRONG--and recently it's been a battle to start and maintain an exercise and weight training regimen so I don't end up the skinniest old lady on the orthopedic rehab floor!

Runninginplace, I'm not one to eat a lot of food, either. I understand splurges, but my splurges are flavors, and I've never enjoyed fast food. I've been cooking since childhood and now cook every day, all week long, for my family. This was for economical reasons when my children were young (and gawd, children's meal options at restaurants... yuck), and I grew to really love and enjoy the whole process of creating meals at home. It's time-consuming and underrated, but the upside is that my family just doesn't have a taste for restaurant food. My kids socialize with friends by eating out, but they are very in-tune with how fast food makes them feel.

We have every fast food restaurant imaginable within a few miles of us. None of it is appealing to me--the salt and fat and sugar content, artificial ingredients, mass preparation under conditions I don't know about. The waste, the marketing, the whole thing is just a turnoff. I don't begrudge anyone who indulges in McDonald's or any other fast food restaurant--we all have our splurges. My 100-year-old grandmother who recently passed never set food in a fast-food restaurant until she was in her 90s and then enjoyed often for the last years of her life. Good for her. Perhaps I'll take up smoking at some point!

Togos, the best sandwich place EVER. Only N. California I think.

When I lived in Upstate NY, the closest fast food was about 15 minutes away so I never went. But I was never much in the habit anyway. I think the last ff I had was Wendy's chicken sandwich between flights near my gate. Solved the hunger pangs, but not much more. My kids aren't into it much either, although my daughter loves Chick fil-A. She doesn't eat there much though, but she does say "it's not fast food." Lol. I can't give an opinion on that as I also avoid it for personal reasons.

I am also someone who doesn't eat much. Same with my mother. I don't think I've ever finished a meal in a restaurant and often order with leftovers in mind. Some of that has to do with outrageous portion sizes at restaurants and some of it may be old habits of not wanting to look like a competitive eater. Obviously exaggerating about competitive eating, but I think I still retain a bit of sexist influences on my eating habits. You know, that old bs about girls and their figures. Thankfully my kids have more healthy attitudes towards food.

Remember talking onto the clown's mouth to order food at Jack In The Box? Their food was revolting and the only time I actually got ill from fast food.

My DH and sons may request a drive through at McD's -- usually for fries as a snack or on a road trip, but the only food I generally get there is an occasional egg McMuffin or once or twice a year (maybe that road trip) an ice cream cone. McFlurrys are good, but larger portion plus add-ins, so more calories -- and now they post it. Killed it for me. LOL Not a fan of the burgers and such.

This is where we went when we visited my grandparents:

Too funny, Lars.

My first meal in Ireland:

A few years ago I was a last minute fill-in with a local group traveling to Ireland when my neighbor had to cancel due to a health issue. We had just landed in Dublin and were on a charter coach to Belfast when several people asked our tour guide if we could make a quick rest stop. I have to admit that it was much tastier than the food the airline served.

I can eat huge quantities of tasty food, fast or otherwise and find it delicious. But I don't. Healthy and thin is more important for me.