I tried $5 value meals from McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's. They're the perfect way for chains to lure customers. (2024)

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I tried the Your Way Meal from Burger King, the $5 Meal Deal from McDonald's, and the Biggie Bag from Wendy's.

Both Burger King and McDonald's released their $5 meal deals in June. Wendy's, meanwhile, has been offering the Biggie Bag for five years, Today reported.

A street in my hometown on Long Island, New York, has all three chains within two blocks of each other, so I made my way there.

Each meal is priced at $5, but with tax, they ended up costing a little more — though they all came in under $6.

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The Burger King drink was visibly smaller than the others.

This was a genuine surprise to me. If I hadn't been trying the meals all at once — and therefore, didn't have another two drinks to quench my thirst — I would've been slightly annoyed at the size of Burger King's drink.

Each chain's meal comes with your choice of soft drink, but their sizes vary: 16 ounces at Burger King, 21 ounces at McDonald's, 20 ounces at Wendy's.

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The Burger King meal also came with fries, four chicken nuggets, and a choice of sandwich.

My sandwich options were a Whopper Jr, a bacon cheeseburger, or a Chicken Jr. As a burger-lover, I went for the Whopper Jr.

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I've always been a fan of Burger King's chicken nuggets.

For a chain known for its burgers, Burger King certainly knows its way around a chicken nugget. These were spiced perfectly, not too salty, and paired well with the honey mustard. They also had a nice crunch.

My one complaint is that they were a bit dense.

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My Whopper Jr was delicious.

I'm not sure if I'd ever actually had a Whopper Jr before, but I was very pleased with my experience.

My burger came on a sesame-seed bun and was topped with lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, mayonnaise, and cheese. The sandwich was juicy and tasted about as good as any fast-food burger I've had.

The only difference between a Whopper and a Whopper Jr. is the size of the patty, which means that if I were to go back for just a burger, I'd order the normal Whopper.

The meal deal from McDonald's came with a McDouble, four Chicken McNuggets, small fries, and a drink.

McDonald's has two $5 Meal Deal options, and they're only available for a month: the McChicken or the McDouble. Since I went with the burger at Burger King, I stuck to burgers at McDonald's, too.

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I wasn't impressed with the McNuggets.

I'm typically a lover of the McNugget —you can see I had already eaten one before I remembered to take a photo.

But I don't think these McNuggets were as good as the nuggets from Burger King and Wendy's. I thought these were bland with a somewhat rubbery texture, but perhaps I just got a mediocre batch. I'll be paying close attention the next time I go to McDonald's.

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My McDouble was, frankly, not enjoyable.

I usually like McDonald's burgers, especially a Big Mac or Quarter Pounder. But I was disappointed with my McDouble, which was just two patties smushed together with ketchup, pickles, and onions.

I can't overstate how dry this was. I needed a huge gulp of my Diet co*ke to help it go down.

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The meal from Wendy’s came with a choice of sandwich, four chicken nuggets, fries, and a drink.

Wendy's has always prioritized discount meals on its menu. The Biggie Bag just celebrated its fifth anniversary, and the "4 for $4" has also been around for years.

The difference between the 4 for $4 and the Biggie Bag is sandwich selection. For $4, you can only get a Jr. Cheeseburger. For an additional dollar, you can choose from a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, a crispy-chicken sandwich, or a Double Stack.

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Wendy's had the best chicken nuggets by far.

These were not oversalted or bland. I found the subtle spice to be just right.

They also had the perfect texture — not too dense with the perfect amount of crunch.

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I was slightly overwhelmed by the bacon cheeseburger.

A good fast-food burger is an art. You don't want it to be too busy since you're most likely eating it on the go.

While this was a solid burger, I thought it was a bit much. The lettuce was too big, and I didn't love the bacon — I actually ended up removing it. The burger also had tomato, cheese, ketchup, and mayonnaise on top, which made it messy.

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I saved all the fries for last — and McDonald’s always wins.

I thought the fries from Wendy's and Burger King suffered from the same problem: Both were a bit soggy and mushy, and neither had enough salt.

The fries from McDonald's, on the other hand, were thin, crunchy, and salty. This might come down to personal preference, but I'm crowning McDonald's the winner.

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I ranked each chain by its meal components.

The rankings broke down like this:

• Burgers:

  1. Burger King
  2. Wendy's
  3. McDonald's

• Nuggets:

  1. Wendy's
  2. Burger King
  3. McDonald's

• Fries:

  1. McDonald's
  2. Wendy's
  3. Burger King

• Drinks:

  1. McDonald's and Wendy's
  2. Burger King

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I'd recommend the $5 Biggie Bag from Wendy's.

Wendy's has the best overall selection. The meal came with a large drink, the best nuggets, the second-best burger, and the second-best fries. It was also the cheapest, at $5.43. For me, Wendy's put the "value" in value meal.

If you have $5 and some change to spare and are near any of these chains, you can't go wrong. There's probably nowhere else you can get a sandwich, nuggets, fries, and a drink — which was more than enough food for me — for less than $6.