McDonald's Is Introducing A Limited-Time $5 Meal, So I Did The Math For You To See If It's Actually A Good Deal

As everyone knows, fast food prices have gone wayyyy up in the past few years. Like, I shed a little tear every time I pay at the drive-thru.

In response to customers struggling with rising prices, McDonald's is offering a $5 meal for a limited time starting June 25. The meal includes a 4-piece McNuggets, small fries, small drink, and choice of a McDouble or McChicken sandwich.

At first glance, that's a pretty good amount of food for $5. And since McDonald's is saying that this is a limited-time offer, that's also a signal that we're getting a good deal. But is it worth going out of your way for it?

Well, here's the math, compared to prices quoted in the McDonald's app in Los Angeles (of course, prices may vary regionally):

McDouble: $3.19 OR McChicken: $2.99

Small fries: $2.89 (with the app, you can get free fries on Fridays)

4-piece McNuggets: $2.99

Small drink: $1.49 (the location near me was doing $1.50 any size drinks)

Total: $10.56 ($10.36 with McChicken, $7.67 with free fries)

So, even if you were getting your food on a Friday and using the app to get a free medium fries, you would still be paying $2.67 more than the $5 deal — but, of course, you would be getting a medium fries instead of a small, and you could get a larger drink for the same price as well. If it's not Friday, you're paying as much as $5.56 more.

It appears that this is kind of a steal of a deal, which is probably why McDonald's isn't committing to offering it indefinitely. Hopefully this helps some families' wallets this summer.