I know. There are some days you’re tired and you’re hungry. And the thought of one more rice and bean dish makes you queasy. I’ve been there too. Now while I don’t endorse making a habit of hitting the drive thru for every meal or every craving or even every bad day, I can get behind a scheduled treat to break up the monotony of the same budget meals all the time. My caution here is planned for. It’s a splurge, yes, but a planned splurge.
And if you’re gonna splurge, why not get a deal? Or even better, something for free?
I really like free.
There’s a surprising number of free or deep discounted offers out there at some of your favorite fast food joints. Now, this does come with the caveat that most of them do require you to use their app to order, join their rewards program, or sign up for their emails. This should not surprise. However, there’s nothing wrong with making use of these offers to inject some small and affordable treats into your life.
So below, I’ve listed 8 of the best fast food freebies and deals that I could find, plus what I got and how much I was out in actual cost. Mind you, these are not an in depth review of any particular rewards programs. I’m working on those right now and should have a solid report on them later,
1. McDonald’s: Free Big Mac with $1 order.
There was multiple great offers listed including some BOGO sandwiches and nuggets. Also a bonus of 1500 rewards points for the first order placed via the app. The offer I used was the free Big Mac with $1 purchase. I selected the cookies and cream baked pie for $1.59. Those 1500 are enough to redeem for a free McChicken, cheeseburger, hash brown, or vanilla cone.
In case you’re wondering about how this shakes out for breakfast instead, I went back for a little test-a-roo. The primary deals available were a BOGO on breakfast sandwiches, or a $2 breakfast sandwich. The caveat being, any of the sammies under $2 in price did not qualify for the BOGO, nor the $2 for obvious reasons. So no sausage biscuits or plain McGriddles. However, most of the other breakfast sandwiches have rocketed up to $3.49 in this area. Which makes me cringe. I remember the days of the $2.99 Value Meal. But yeah, went ahead and snagged a Bacon Egg and Cheese McGriddle for that $2.
2. Burger King: Free fries with any 1cent purchase per week.
Part of their Royal Rewards is one free fry a week. You do have to spend $.01 to redeem it, however. I chose a Whopper Jr. without cheese. Because I had cheese at home. Total with tax came up to $3.26. I could have gotten some less expensive items like a chicken wrap or a jr. cheeseburger, but to be honest with you? I really was in the mood for a Whopper.
3. Krispy Kreme: Free donut with email signup.
If you sign up for emails, they also periodically send specials like the recent 2 dozen for $16.99 or the code for free coffee on this most recent National Coffee Day. In fact, they’re running a special right now, buy a dozen donuts, get a dozen glazed for $2. But notice, there’s no purchase necessary for that first free pillow of yumminess…
4. Dunkin’: Free hashbrowns with breakfast sandwich purchase.
For signing up for their rewards program, they have special deals for members. This month, one was a free hashbrowns with purchase of a breakfast sandwich, including their current seasonal Maple Bacon Sandwich. The sandwich itself was $3.49, so something to be aware of. I also earned points for the purchase with their rewards program. They also tout a free coffee with purchase of a breakfast sandwich on Mondays.
5. Taco Bell: Free item for rewards sign up.
For signing up, there’s a choice of which item you’d like for free: a soft taco, a Dorito’s taco, or a beefy five layer. No purchase necessary. But I felt weird just snagging a totally free item and went ahead and bought a lunch for Hubs.
6. Wendy’s: Free 10pc nuggets via the app with purchase.
The free nuggets are part of their rewards sign up, but the stipulation was that you had to order using their app. Which is fine. I’m not running out of storage on my phone from fast food apps and blog pictures. Nah. Ordered a cheese fries for my purchase. With tax it came to $2.82. Not bad for a quick and easy lunch.
7. Zaxby’s: Free 5 piece chicken fingers with $5 purchase.
Win win win!! A free 5-piece chicken fingers off the a la carte menu. It does require a minimum $5 purchase, but that can easily be gotten with a $2 Nibbler, a cup of coleslaw, and an order of fries. Makes for a full meal for the $5. They also have a free funnel cake with $5 purchase when ordering online. I went for the more filling meal-esque order instead. (In retrospect, it was a lot of food and the better option to reach the $5 would be to buy one a la carte chicken finger, two cups of slaw, and the order of fries. Then make two meals out of it all.)
8. Arby’s: Free roast beef sandwich with email sign up.
There is a time limit on this one. The free roast beef sandwich offer expires two weeks after your email sign up. The sandwich is free, yes, but you gotta get there to snag it. And by this juncture in the fast food freebies research, I was fast fooded out. So it managed to expire before I could pick it up.
So there we have it. Some of the best freebies and deals I could find for you without too much hassle or bother. It is worth a reminder that most of these do have rewards programs that offer additional freebies or discounts for ongoing purchases. It’s not really a deal if you weren’t going to make the purchase anyway, but if you do find yourself frequenting your favs on the regular, it’s absolutely worth getting into those programs and get rewarded for your loyalty.
