The views expressed in this Opinion article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
Fast food is a delicious option for when you need a quick meal, but times are also tough and the cost of food is super high, so we decided to test out the cheapest burgers you can get at some of Canada's fast food chains to see which sandwiches are worth it.
After doing some research, I settled on comparing burgers from Wendy's, A&W, Harvey's, McDonald's, Dairy Queen and Burger King and the difference between the quality of the sandwiches is pretty vast.
While all of the restaurants offer much fancier options like their signature sandwiches that'll cost you upwards of $5, for this comparison, I looked up the sandwich that cost the least out of all of their offerings, with almost all of them coming in at under $3 other than Dairy Queen.
In terms of ranking, I'll be giving each burger a rating out of 5 in terms of how much I enjoyed it, and there's one I'm going to start picking up much more often!
McDonald's Hamburger
Sarah holding a hamburger from McDonald's.
McDonald's is by far my favourite fast food place to grab a sandwich (and their breakfast wraps are amongst my favourite out of all the options out there), but the McDonald's hamburger is kind of rough.
It's kind of just a sad little dry puck of a burger with very little substance to it, and quite frankly, it's not worth the money — there are much better options on their menu, but if you're trying to spend as little as possible, you'll want to hit up a different fast food joint's value picks.
Rating: 0.5/5
Price: $2.61
Wendy's Jr. Hamburger Deluxe
Sarah holding Wendy's Jr. Hamburger Deluxe.
Out of all the burgers I tried, Wendy's Jr. Hamburger Deluxe is the only one that had fresh veg, which I found to be a pleasant surprise, but unfortunately, it overwhelms the burgers.
The patty itself isn't quite as dry as McDonald's offering, but it lacks any kind of flavour, so all you're really getting is the sharpness of the onion and the tartness of the tomato.
I also found the bread to be a little too much for such a small patty, but that can be solved by taking the top bun off, if you'd like.
Rating: 1/5
Price: $2.19
Harvey's Jr. Burger
Sarah holding a Harvey's Jr. Burger.
Harvey's Jr. Burger falls quite solidly into "eh, it's okay" territory, but I did really like their bun which seems to have been toasted a bit, unlike the others which were just soft.
The patty itself tastes like a proper hamburger should, but it does kind of taste like a frozen burger that you buy from the grocery store to grill at your cottage.
As well, the condiments sort of took over the flavour for the most part, but it's not the worst problem to have for this particular sandwich.
Rating: 2/5
Price: $2.93
A&W's Buddy Burger
Sarah holding A&W's Buddy Burger.
A&W's Buddy Burger was definitely the most unique out of all of the burgers I tried and it threw some curveballs at me that I truly did not anticipate as I'd never had one of them before.
In my first bite, I was surprised to find cooked onions, which were delicious but somewhat overpowering. As well, I didn't expect there to be mayonnaise, but when I looked it up later, it turned out what I thought was mayo was, in fact, "Teen sauce," a condiment whose ingredients continue to elude me.
Like some of the others, there was too much bun for this burger, so while I do think this sandwich is pretty nice, the bread situation combined with the overwhelming onions gives it just above a passing grade.
Rating: 3/5
Price: $2.93
Dairy Queen's Original Cheeseburger Signature Stackburger
Dairy Queen's Original Cheeseburger Signature Stackburger
I don't often think of Dairy Queen when I think of burgers, but during my research I discovered that the brand does make sandwiches (and poutine!) so I added it to my list.
The cheapest option they have on their menu is a cheeseburger, which was a welcome departure from all the hamburgers I had, and while the individual sandwich came in at the highest price point of the day, you can actually get two of them for $6 (without tax) which is a pretty good deal.
This burger was quite a bit more substantial than the others and could work as a meal, whereas the others I would classify more as a snack.
It tasted freshly grilled, the cheese added some nice richness and the pickles, mustard and ketchup were all nicely balanced.
A solid option, particularly if you're hungry and want to grab two!
Rating: 4/5
Price: $5.30
Burger King's Hamburger
Sarah holding Burger King's Hamburger.
And taking the gold medal among cheap fast food sandwiches is Burger King's Hamburger!
I don't usually stop at Burger King when I'm out, so I'm very grateful this taste test reintroduced the brand to me.
The flavour of the patty is what makes Burger King's offering really stand out. It has a nice and smokey flavour like it's been grilled over some kind of flame and the pickles add the perfect amount of acidity to the flavour.
I was also kind of tickled by the presence of the poppy seeds on the bun, which none of the others had — sometimes it's the little details that make the difference!
Overall, this is a no-nonsense, yummy hamburger, and at $2.61, it's also at a pretty good price point.
Rating: 5/5
Price: $2.61
If you're looking to add some poutine to your fast food takeout order, I also recently tested out poutines from popular Canadian chains, and the winner of the experiment tuned out to be a restaurant that I didn't actually know sold the dish prior to my research!
These prices are confirmed at the time of publishing, but they can change at any time. Taxes and fees may not be included.
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