If you’re looking for more reasons to cool it on the greasy dishes and or at least get some insight into what some of these meals contain, then keep reading our second installment on what fast food restaurant employees say are their biggest no-nos.
Panera: Salads
With Panera's huge menu of soups, salads, sandwiches, and more it might be too much to expect that every dish is perfect? These former employees warn that customers should stay away from the salads.
One dishes, "When I worked there doing prep, I was made to cut moldy tomatoes to use in salads." And another says, "Be careful when you order a salad. Chances are that lettuce has been in there for a few days. Same with the avocados, which they usually just threw into a cold dish."
Burger King: Bacon King Sandwich
When their slogan for this sandwich is "There's no such thing as too much bacon," if that doesn't sound like it's on the healthy side, it's definitely not and you know you're getting a wallop of artery-clogging saturated and trans fats.
Fast-food consumers clearly love a hearty sandwich, but apparently, this one should have been sold with a defibrillator on the side.
Einstein Bros. Crispy Chicken Sandwich
If you plan to start your day off with this sandwich, you’ll for sure find yourself feeling sluggish a few hours later, and once that slump hits, not much can defeat it.
The bagels served at Einstein Bros. are decidedly not New York style. One Reddit user found this sandwich disappointing, with a "taste [that] was okay but too high of a price."
Auntie Anne's: Mini Pretzel Dogs
The smell of Auntie Anne’s can lure in just about everyone, who among us has not gravitated toward the irresistible smell of freshly baked Auntie Anne's pretzels emanating from the food court of the local shopping mall?
But if you’re feeling snacky, just make sure it’s not this order!
Cinnabon: Caramel Pecanbon
Cinnabon typically has no trouble enticing people to pop in and buy a roll, if you happen to be one of their victims, in need of extra gooey comfort, we can't blame you!
But whatever you do, be sure to skip the cinnamon-infused, caramel, pecan-topped bun when wafting in.
Bojangles': Chicken Rice Bowl
We wanted to like this chicken rice bowl but, alas, it wasn't meant to be. The chain prides itself on its high-quality ingredients, which isn't always common when it comes to fast food joints.
But Bojangles' chicken is beyond greasy and while the flavor of the chicken might be good, you'll be so distracted by the amount of cheese and grease that you would never know it.
Five Guys: Bacon Cheeseburger
Do not order this, unless you don't plan on eating anything else for the rest of the day. Besides the fact that the two beef patties are topped with bacon strips making it a massive pile of meat, this burger is loaded with calories, fat, and sodium.
This Bacon cheeseburger also has its share of infamy as it has been named one of the 'Unhealthiest Fast-Food Burgers!'
Jimmy John's: the Gargantuan
This is basically a piled of cured meats, like salami, sliced smoked ham, roast beef, turkey, and then even some provolone. Jimmy claims that their sandwich is "huge enough to feed the hungriest of all humans!"
Instead of eating a thousand-calorie lunch, go with one of their healthier options.
Pizza Hut: Meat Lover's Pizza
With pepperoni, beef, bacon, mozzarella, and two different types of chorizo sausage furnishing this meaty pie, you should be thinking twice before placing your order.
Even before you put it your order, the reasonable part of your brain recognizes that all this meat from a pizza place is a bad idea. Pizza Hut's meat-centric pizza might be a dream for carnivores, but there might be a good reason this road is less-traveled.
Dairy Queen: Cheese Curds
It's no secret there are some strange ingredients in a lot of the foods we eat, while milkfat top the list for cheese curds, there are also things like carrageenan and guar gum there, along with artificial flavors.
If you're looking for a savory snack to go along with that Dairy Queen Blizzard, you'll want to dodge these cheese curds, that's for sure!
Chick-fil-A: Cobb Salad
Their Cobb salad might seem like an innocent meal, but that’s not the case! You'd think that bun-free, veggie-packed salads would be healthier than their battered and fried counterparts, but that assumption would be wrong, with the main culprit here being the ranch-spiked dressing.
If you combine all the ingredients that come with this "healthy" menu item, it contains 740 calories, and 1,890 milligrams of sodium!
Domino's: Cali Chicken Bacon Ranch
"But it's pizza," you might say, "why shouldn't I get it?" First of all, let's not insult pizza here. This is nothing more than a mess of foods laid on top of pizza dough with dressing slathered over it.
Just one slice of this will cost you about half a day's worth of sodium and that's if you can stop yourself from eating the rest of the pizza.
Checkers Garlic Parmesan Chicken Wings
To much acclaim and ballyhoo, Checker's Garlic Parmesan Chicken wings packs in over a thousand calories and 27 grams of saturated fat.
That's basically half your daily calorie intake in one sitting, so we have to give it a hard pass! Worse yet, that cheesy garlic smell will stay with you long after you've finished your meal.
KFC Famous Bowl
This order brings together some of your favorite comfort foods, what could possibly make it worthy of this list? Well, this dish made up of mash, corn, crispy chicken, gravy, and cheese, is actually just a recipe for sodium overload.
Sure it might be delicious but like many of the items on this list, this is not worth it.
White Castle: Oatmeal
If you're standing in line at White Castle and thinking "I guess I'll get the oatmeal." Then maybe it's time to reflect on your priorities.
We reckon the reason they even have this on the menu is to look like they're making an effort to offer something healthy, but who goes to a fast-food restaurant to eat healthily?
Whataburger: Green Chile Double
Few things spell heartburn quite like roasted green chiles from a fast-food drive-thru, even if that drive-thru happens to be Whataburger.
Even with two slices of cheese and some slivers of bacon we still wouldn't advise it, you've been warned.
Wendy's: 3/4 Pound Triple
While Wendy's has a reliable menu, with Dave's Double as one of their best items, they also have their 3/4 Pound Triple burger at the other end of the spectrum.
This burger manages to source an incredible 69 grams of protein, but it's still a travesty and should not be eaten when there are also many other great options.
Popeyes: Green beans
We sure like that chicken from Popeyes, but don't care much for their green beans. Of all the beans, green beans are least likely to belong at a fast-food joint and these don't break the mold.
They have a mushy texture and come along with these mystery mini pieces of meat, this must be one of the worst sides in the world of fast food.
Taco Bell: Black Bean Burrito
When it comes to Taco Bell, this order it's just OK enough to be forgettable and that's saying a lot for Taco Bell. It's the Mexican fast-food equivalent of mediocrity.
We honestly can't imagine why anyone would go to a Taco Bell and order a plain black bean-filled burrito...
Sonic: Jr. Burger
The Jr. burger is just meat, mustard, ketchup, and pickles. It is completely and utterly cheeseless yet it packs a staggering amount of fat, with 17g of saturated fat, this burger has the most out of any burger we looked at.
Sonic also leads the pack in total fat (43g) and cholesterol (120mg)... We're thinking this might be something they should look into.
Culver's: Green Beans
Culver’s has been consistently doing this one thing: churning out high-quality fast food from a surprisingly expansive menu with a dairy-craving Midwestern flair, in other words, their cheese curds are great.
But while we admire your reasoning that ordering a cup of green beans can counteract the nasty effects of devouring down a Butter Burger and those cheesy treats, you're not fooling anybody.
Jack in the Box: Egg rolls
Named for the most terrifying toy from our childhood, Jack in the Box also has egg rolls that scare us. It's just a fried pastry filled with cabbage, carrots, celery, and pork but it might as well be the stuff of nightmares.
Do yourself a favor and dodge their egg rolls for something a little more appealing, after all, they have great burgers.
Church's Chicken: Corn
Let's be honest - the only reason anybody is showing up to Church's Chicken is that they need their fried chicken fix. Yes, corn may be delicious but it shouldn't be your first choice when ordering at Church's Chicken.
We would guess that it's simply there for show as this dish holds little to no flavor and would only serve as a palate cleanser.
Arby's: Roast Turkey Farmhouse Salad
We have a lot of respect for Arby's, while they ignored the trend of being flashier, louder, bigger, and wilder and instead quietly toiled away. Without a lot of fuss, Arby’s slowly became great, but we're not so sure about their roast turkey farmhouse salad.
Still, Arby's keeps trying, and mostly succeeding, despite their reputation as the grandpa of the fast-food world.
In-N-Out: French fries
Texturally speaking, In-N-Out's french fries just taste like bland starchy sticks of cardboard, they're either too soft and floppy or overly done, to the point of being crushingly disappointing.
We'd recommend you skip them and rather go to Arby's, their curly fries are exponentially better.
A&W: Corn Dog Nuggets
It’s slim-picking for those looking for a decent snack on the A&W menu. This is not a snub to corn dogs or to nuggets, but at the end of the day, when we see a coney dog on any menu, all other hot dog-based snacks soon become irrelevant.
Why they decided to merge these two foods into one weird combination, we will never know.
Dunkin' Donuts: Tuna Two Ways
There are two ways you can mess up an order at Dunkin' Donuts and they both begin with a bagel and croissant. The croissant's soft flakiness is great, but with all that puffiness soaking up all tuna fluids, it's not great.
The bagel might be a better vessel, but texturally, it's able to sink a ship. Choose wisely if you want their Boston Cremes to smell like Boston Harbor.
Dairy Queen: Hawaiian Blizzard
When Dairy Queen first introduced the Blizzard back in 1985, it was a huge step forward in ice cream shop innovation. But with that, they also made a couple of missteps.
Banana, pineapple, and toasted coconut are all fine and dandy, but they belong nowhere near Dairy Queen's Blizzard. It might sound like light-hearted fun, but trust us, this tropical storm concoction will be fun for no one.
Chick-fil-A's Chicken Salad Sandwich
It's an exceedingly difficult task to go wrong at Chick-fil-A, but if you insist, this is exactly how. Why would anyone want a piece of cold chicken and eggs?
We could also ask why they serve this on wheatberry bread, which could be the most miserable carb in the fast-food canon.
Carl's Jr.: Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich
Mastering Asian cuisine may not be an easy task, but it's certainly not the strong suit of people named Carl. It might sound appetizing but even Ina Garten couldn't make this taste good.
It appears that Carl's Jr is embracing their new stance as a destination for diners looking to shed dietary inhibitions and delve into the guilty pleasures of fast food without any authenticity.
Chipotle Tacos
We wanted to let you know ahead of time that this entry isn't going to be about anything gross. It's actually a cool way for you to save money and get a lot more food. If you're a fan of Chipotle, there's a good chance that you like to eat their legendary tacos.
One cool thing we've learned on Reddit from a current employee there is that you can actually get a lot more tacos for basically the same price if you just order a taco bowl instead of the regular portion. Just order a side dish of tortillas and you've basically just saved 60% in terms of price to food ratio.
Burger King Chicken Fries
Another food item from the King which you might want to skip the next time you get a meal is Burger King’s chicken fries. According to one Reddit user who used to work at the fast-food chain, these only get made once every six to eight hours, meaning the ones you're getting are very likely not fresh.
Besides, as tasty as they may be, you have to remember that you're not actually paying for chicken, as about 80% of these fries are just low quality breading dipped in deep oil. Yeah, not exactly a healthy snack. Might as well just get chicken for roughly the same price.
Steak ‘N Shake Wisconsin Butter Burger
If you really don't care about heart health and don't mind potentially dying of a stroke or a heart attack sometime in the next few decades, you can safely skip this one. However, if having a healthy heart is at least in your top 10 concerns for this year, you might want to know that the Wisconsin Butter Burger served at Steak ‘N Shake allegedly has a quarter stick of butter in it.
If you're on the fast lane towards heart failure, eating one of these just might be exactly what you need to tip the scales in favor of those pesky arteries finally stopping all that blood flow to your brain. Hopefully, you now know that it's in your best interest to take some extra caution and stay away from these killers.
Panera Pastries
Strike two for Panera. As we've learned that their pastas aren't exactly fresh, it should come as no surprise that their pastries aren't quite as fresh as they'd like you to believe as well. We've recently heard that the fast food chains various doughy delights are actually frozen and heated via microwave either right before being served or after being heated and reheated for hours at a time.
Again, we really hope these allegations aren't true, because if they are, that means both the pasta and pastries are literally worse than anything you could just get at your average supermarket for about one-fifth of the price or less.
Burger King Chicken Sandwiches
One of the cooks at Burger King testified on Reddit that you should probably skip this popular treat. Why would you avoid this delicious meal? Because according to him, these meals are so popular that they are made in excess to keep up with the demand.
The many chicken prices might end up just lying around for hours at a time. Leaving the chicken sandwiches out causes them to get a bit stale and feel rubbery when you eat them. Not quite the royal treatment you would like from the king of burgers. So you might want to skip this one and just go for a regular burger.
Dunkin' Donuts Donuts
Everyone's favorite guilty pleasure, Dunkin’ Donuts, is the place you go to after a really good marathon, a really bad breakup, or whenever you want to if you just don't believe in the whole obesity myth that medical professionals and misinformed health advocates are always attempting to spread. It's a wonderful place filled with sugar and fresh-baked donuts… well, except that they're really not that fresh.
We've been shocked and appalled to learn that the donuts you're seeing displayed on the counters at Dunkin donuts, the beautiful, round, and delicious-looking things, are actually frozen when they first arrive in the morning via truck from the factory. What a shame. We wonder what freshly baked ones would taste like.
Steak n Shake BLT
We've been informed by an alleged former employee of the popular fast food chain, Steak n Shake, that their popular BLT is very light on ingredients specifically for the sake of saving some of the expenses required for making it.
We don't mind buying an overpriced BLT sandwich, but at least don't give us a slimmed-down version just to save a few pennies on ingredients. That's just plain wrong and insulting, even for a fast food chain.
Panera Soups
It seems that just about everything you can get in Panera is some from of frozen food or another. You'd think that at this point they'll just change the brand's name to “Thawed” or Microwaved” and have a big image of a frozen bag sitting inside a microwave as their official logo.
Why the mean comments? Because apparently even their soups are frozen, as one employee claimed. The soups apparently get “re-thermalized” by being put in a sink with boiling water, which would often cause the plastic bag to burst open, allowing for a quick exchange of fluids with unclean water. At least you know that boiling water kills bacteria, we'll that's that.
McDonald's Milkshakes
As we've mentioned before, one of the dirtiest and most contaminated pieces of equipment in any restaurant is the ice cream machine and iced coffee machines. The blenders are no different and are often quite filthy. This is due to employees often having little to no knowledge of how to clean them and sometimes not even being asked to do so at all. This leads to mold building up over weeks and even months at a time inside the machines, which means you probably want to keep your kids away from them.
If that's not bad enough, one former employee claimed that sometimes their milkshake machines would stop working altogether for hours at a time, causing the milk inside them to go bad. The machine is only cleaned once every few days or weeks, meaning that your milkshake is coming from a container that had spoiled milk in it. Ewwww.
McDonald’s Dipped Ice Cream Cones
In our fourth entry on the prominent real estate and fast food brand, we examine another claim from an alleged former employee, who stated that dipped ice cream cones aren't nearly as yummy as you think they are once you get to know some of the behind the scenes information on how they are made and served.
Apparently, the chocolate that you eventually see on the ice cream is usually left out all day long, with the top layer congealing and collecting pieces of who-knows-what from around the kitchen. It also gets more stale and let tasty as the hours go by. Employees are then told to mix the chocolate again, making the stale chocolate blend with the lowest layer and giving out the impression that it's brand new. We warned you that there were going to be some barf-worthy entries in this list.
Firehouse Subs Steak or Chicken
In case you’re not aware of Firehouse Subs, they’re a fast-food chain restaurant with over 1,000 restaurants all across America. Firehouse Subs was never known as the best restaurant and maintains its reputation mostly on their cheap sandwiches.
According to a Reddit user who alleged to have worked with the company as a manager, there’s really no type of meat that’s worth your money except the sliced meat or meatballs. He claims that both the steak and chicken come frozen. We’d tell you to just go to Subway instead, but after some of the things that came out in this list, it’d probably be best to just try and cook something at home.
Taco Bell Beans
You'd think that a restaurant chain that mostly prides itself on serving Mexican cuisine would at least have some fresh beans on their popular menu. According to some Reddit users, there's an ugly truth to one of the most popular side dishes in this popular chain.
It's alleged that the beans in Taco Bell aren't fresh at all, rather they come in a bag in a weird frozen state that has nothing to do with the way regular beans look like. They are then placed in water and turned into proper bean looking things… kind of like Gremlins.
Domino's Sandwiches
Domino's is one of the world's most popular pizza chains and has dominated the market for the last few decades due to its excellent pizza and efficient delivery services. What most people don't know if that the chain also has sandwiches on its large menu.
While nobody is tempted to order these, as 99% of the calls they get are for pizza deliveries, it's important to know that most of their sandwiches contain unique ingredients that are much less common on pizzas such as the Philly steak and American cheese. You'd be better off avoiding these as they are usually kept frozen for much longer than most other ingredients.
Sheetz Burgers
If you’re not a current customer of Sheetz, or just never bought a burger from the company, this entry might not directly relate to you, but it’s still funny so you should read all the way through.
According to a former employee for Sheetz, not only are the grill marks on their burgers fake, but they're also microwaved instead of grilled. One might even argue that their burgers are actually sheet(z).
Little Caesars Chicken Wings
This one may be put down to how much you love combining chicken wings and pizza, because apparently Little Caesars, the third leading pizza chain in the United States, likes to cook their chicken wings on the same pan that's used for making pizzas.
This might not be an issue to you because you love both and don't mind combining the two, but to most people who like to eat their food separately, this might end up being a big issue.
Dunkin Donuts Hot Chocolate
We don't expect much care or knowledge about health related topics from someone who regularly visits and eats at Dunkin Donuts, but just in case you need another reason not to eat at the popular fast food chain which is arguably indirectly responsible for more cardiovascular deaths than almost any other fast food chain, here's another one for you…
We've heard from an alleged former employee of the company, that the hot chocolate served in Dunkin Donuts' cup of hot chocolate contains various thickening agents, including Cellulose Gum and Xanthan Gum. All the more reasons to skip this one and buy a salad instead.
Einstein Bagels Eggs
The American bagels and coffee chain Einstein Bros was founded in 1995 and still operates to this day. They have an assortment of delicious meals and some good coffee options. However, we've recently learned from the popular Reddit thread that their food might not be as fresh as you'd expect.
One of the former worker commenters stated that the eggs that you get inside the bread there aren't fresh at all. Instead, they are microwaved and kept in heating until they are used in a sandwich. We can't confirm if this is true or not, but it would suck to learn that your eggs could have potentially been out there for a few days or so before being served.
Burger King Shakes
Burger King is another chain that probably fails to maintain the cleanliness of it's cold-beverage and ice cream serving machines, as one alleged former employee wrote in the Reddit thread. He claimed that these machines were rarely cleaned and thus have obviously contained a substantial amount of mold by default.
Let's just call it a wrap on shakes, ice creams and iced coffee machines and promptly summarize: do not eat anything out of these machines unless you don't mind eating or drinking a potentially mold filed beverage that came out of a device which has not been cleaned in many, many days or weeks.
McDonald's Filet-O-Fish
McDonald's is known as a solid fast-food chain. You probably didn't know that they have an appetite for some very expensive real-estate....the chain actually makes most of its money through franchising and real estate, not through pure food sales.
Anyway, McDonald's is mostly a burger joint, not a fish restaurant. This means that the fish filet not only looks worse in real-life than the ad stock pictures (as they all do), but it was also probably made a few hours (if you're lucky) or days ago due to its lower demand.
McDonald's McCafe
When McDonald's initially opened their McCafé branch of operations, customers were quite excited and interested about the possibility of getting both a great fast food meal, usually a burger with French fries with the option of a fresh cup o' Joe on the side. However, many were quick to discover that having a young, pimple faced, untrained workforce handle delicate coffee equipment doesn't tend to turn out well.
Many people have claimed that the coffee equipment used by the McCafé staff is horribly under cleaned, since the staff doesn't have the experience nor the training to properly keep it maintained. Next time you order a meal from McDonald's and are really interested in a good coffee, you might want to skip the McCafe station and just hop over to a nearby coffee shop which can likely be found within a minutes' walking distance.
Burger King Decaf Coffee
We've read that a former employee of the popular king of entries in this article, Burger King, specifically claimed that his branch didn't actually have decaf coffee, and would just sell watered-down regular coffee under the name of decaf.
If this is true than we hope next time anyone who took part in this buys a bottle of lemonade, they'll be drinking a nice and tasty juice that is diluted with just a tad of you know what.
KFC Barbecue Chicken
Kentucky Fried Chicken is widely known for its iconic Captain Sander, who conquered America for a while with his black and white logo, a stylish large mustache and beard combination, and a smile that gives out only the best of intentions. The company also became famous for its popular slogan, the famous “finger licking good” phrase which used to appear in every commercial. The captain is alleged to have gone through quite an amazing journey on his way to founding the chain at an old age, but many of the details are disputed to this day.
One of the posts we've seen on Reddit, which was made by a girl claiming to work at the company, stated that their barbecue sandwiches are often terribly stale. She also claimed that the chicken is usually soaked and heated for up to a full month before actually getting served. We have to admit, that is one of the most disgusting things we've heard in a long time.
Tim Hortons Soups
You might want to skip this entry if you have a sensitive stomach. Apparently, an alleged former employee of the popular Canadian fast food chain called Tim Hortons wrote in the Reddit thread that the soups served by the brand actually come frozen.
You may be thinking to yourself, “What's so disgusting about that?” Well (this is the part where you hopefully don't have food in your mouth), he also stated that they found a couple of maggots in there. The post didn't state whether they actually served the creepy crawler filed soup or not, but we can only hope for humanity’s sake that the answer was a unanimous “NO!”
Sonic Chili
Sonic has also gotten a lot of flack in the popular Reddit thread from former employees of the drive-in burger joint. These former employees have alleged that the company's chili comes pre-packaged in a bag and is heated at the start of the day. The ingredients are then left outside for god knows how long before they are put back in the fridge at the end of the day.
Another allegation that surfaced in the Reddit thread is that people with allergies should stay away from eating at Sonic’s, due to the company's sloppy and irresponsible mixing of various foods and equipment, leading to a high chance of your food being contaminated with an ingredient that you didn't actually order.
Panera Pasta
One of the most insulting things that any restaurant can do is to charge you full price for what is essentially a microwaved meal. Most of these joints at-least have the decency to add some fresh ingredients and a false sense of effort to make you feel better about buying something that you could have made in two minutes at home for about a fifth of the price.
This egregious behavior is taken to a new level at Pantera, where we've reportedly learned that the pastas (all of them) are basically just microwaved meals without any actual cooking taking place. If this is true then this is beyond absurd and we'd prefer to stay home with our own familiar microwave.
Dairy Queen Salads
Apparently the salads at Dairy Queen aren't quite as majestic as the brand's name would have you think. The company has been facing quite a few challenges when it comes to their profits and revenue, and decided that it would be a proper solution to just downsize some existing bowl sizes for the sake of saving money.
While we understand that paychecks need to be made and customers waiting to be served, if you've reached the point of having to hurt the quality of what you serve to your clients (rather than just raise prices), it might be a good time to take a serious look at who's running the show and whether it would be best to replace the Queen’s executive staff with a different kind of “royalty”.
Jack-in-the-box Smoothies or Milkshakes
We've already explained twice in detail just how unsanitary and bacteria-infested smoothies and milkshake machines tend to be. This turns out to be twice as bad when you're talking about a company like Jack-in-the-box since a former employee wrote on Reddit that they often don't clean their machines at all.
This means that there's a high chance you're actually getting some bits and pieces from someone else's half spoiled smoothie ingredients along with your own drink. Hopefully, the ingredients will mix along well, or else the shake might lose some of its tasty features.
Friendly's Tuna Salad
Would you eat a tuna salad that was made almost one week ago? We certainly wouldn't. Well, according to a nice gentleman who used to work at the Friendly food chain, it seems that their policy is to only re-stock the tuna salad once a week.
On what specific day these are made every week? We don't know. So next time you go to Friendly, make sure to ask the staff ahead of time, maybe you'll get lucky and get to enjoy a freshly made batch — or you might just have saved yourself the experience of eating an almost week-old tuna salad. Yikes!
Subway Oven-Roasted Chicken Sandwich
Usually, when you add specific adjectives and verbs into the name of a meal, it would only stand to reason that the meal would contain or be made in the way that the name explicitly states. If, for example, we were to open a restaurant called “The Vegan Express”, customers would be wise to believe that the joint serves exclusively or almost entirely vegan meals.
Since Subway serves a sandwich named the “Oven-Roasted Chicken Sandwich”, we thought that meant the sandwich was actually roasted in the oven. Apparently, an employee of the chain recently claimed in the aforementioned Reddit post that the sandwich is not roasted in the oven, rather it's simply microwaved and put in a bun. If this is true then it would only be appropriate for Subway to change the meal’s name to “Microwave-Heated Chicken Sandwich”, although that might impact sales to a dramatic degree, so perhaps just ditch the “oven baked” part.
Subway Roast Beef
We've recently heard from a guy claiming to have worked at the fast-food sandwich chain, Subway, that their roast beef sandwiches are so full of preservatives, there's a good chance that if left alone, they will last a lot longer than the human population.
Perhaps one of the items we should leave for the aliens, many millions of years from now as they come to visit earth and see the humanoid relics from those that have lived here, is the Subway roast beef sandwich. Based on the former employee’s claim, these roasted sandwiches might just be the only thing left.
Sonic Iced Coffee and Ice Cream
One thing that most people don't know about fast food chains and bars, is that the most disgusting and bacteria-filled object in the kitchen isn't the floor, it's either the ice cream machine or the iced coffee machine. These machines are almost never cleaned and gather up bacteria over a long period of time.
Next time you're up for an ice cream or some sweet iced coffee, make sure to ask the staff if and when it was last cleaned. According to a Reddit user, most companies just don't clean it, their employees don't even know how to do it in the first place. This causes a lot of molds to start growing inside, which is never a good thing to digest in your body.
Jersey Mike’s Chicken Parmesan
One Redditor posted quite a severe comment on the Reddit thread, starting that he stopped going to eat at Jersey Mike’s, the American sub sandwich chain, after learning that their chicken parmesan sandwich is actually just a frozen piece of breaded chicken patty with some cheese.
Obviously we assume that the end result is nothing like shown in the promotional picture, but unfortunately, you can say that about just any fast food restaurant that ever promoted any of its products. At-least it's not as bad as downsizing the serving size of an existing meal, as our next entry will shamelessly feature.
Jimmy Johns Tea
We have no idea why anyone would order tea at a fast-food restaurant. It's kind of like going to Whole Foods to buy yourself a bottle of Coca-Cola. Anyway, if you're one of the five people in the United States that likes to get a cup of coffee at the fast food chain, there's an important thing we need to tell you that would likely affect your decision to do so.
We've learned that you should probably avoid buying tea from Jimmy John’s if it's after morning hours and especially if it's past the afternoon. The reason is that they allegedly brew the tea early at the opening hour, and then use the same tea for the entire day. Yikes.
Wendy's Fries
Rumor has it that employees of the popular fast-food chain Wendy’s have a saying about the French fries they love selling that goes: “They aren’t old until they’re sold.”
It would be hard to tell the approximate age of a bag of French fries, since they age quite well and don't lose too much flavor and smell, even after days of freezing. Either way, think twice about that before eating them.
McDonald’s Sweet Tea
If you think you're being a health advocate by buying a sweet tea at McDonald's, it might be time to sit you down and ask you politely to return to elementary school and you know… Redo the whole thing just for good measure.
Apparently, McDonald's sweet tea (which even has a green font in its name, just to imply what a healthy customer you are), has over one pound of sugar for every gallon of tea. Yup, you read that right. Literally 38 grams of sugar. How's that diet thing going for your buck?
Jimmy John's Gourmet Veggie Club
One of the things that often comes with the territory of being vegan or vegetarian is an obsession with healthy living and organic foods. Even vegans who occasionally eat at fast-food restaurants will look at the nutrients behind every meal just to make sure it doesn't have any ungodly ingredients in it.
One restaurant that offers what seems to be a healthy vegan meal is Jimmy John’s, but once you look under the hood of this sandwich you might be horrified. Apparently, their 16-inch on 9-grain wheat contains a whopping 2,000 or more calories, which is almost a full day's worth of energy for an average person. The meal also contains a large amount of sodium, fat, and sugar. You're literally better off eating four Big Macs than this unhealthy abomination.
Sonic Chicken Sandwich
Another claim regarding Sonic, the drive-in burger fast food chain, came from an alleged former employee who said that the chicken served in their classic chicken sandwich isn't actually made of real chicken. He did not go into details as to the actual source or content of the meat.
The user also expanded on the freshness of the meat, claiming that their chicken was often put outside for several hours before being put back in the fridge due to being less popular than the beef. Personally we would stay away from all things chicken related here.
Panda Express Orange Chicken
If you've ever been a fan of Panda Express or know anyone who likes going there, chances are that your favorite dish there is the orange chicken. No, we're not psychic, it's a well-known fact that this is their most popular dish, so it only makes sense that you'd like it very much too.
Despite the meal's popularity, rush hour eventually ends and the branch is then left with a lot of unused orange chicken. We've heard from one Reddit user who works at the chain that the way they freeze the chicken is by putting some gravy on the leftovers and keeping it in the freezer until it's opening time again. If that indeed grosses you out then it might be best to only go there during peak demand times. Or just avoid the orange chicken at all other times.
Burger King Whopper Junior
If you're wondering how is it that almost 30% of the citizens of the United States are considered by the department of health to be obese, check no further than your nearest fast-food chain like Burger King.
You might want to know that their whopper junior meal isn't quite popular with anyone who's past the age where you can stay at home alone, which means that there's a strong chance that what you just ordered little Bobbie has been lying under the heating lights for a few hours now. We hope you keep that in mind next time you place your child's order.
McDonald’s McRib
As we've mentioned a few entries ago, when you name a good item on your menu, it would be quite decent if you to make sure that whatever adjective or ingredient you use to describe the item is actually found or is a part of the meal you purchase. There is actually a legal count for not following this basic law called ‘fraudulent marketing’.
This is just the case with McDonald's McRib, which you'd expect to be made out of ribs, but is actually made from a combination of pig tripe, hearts, and stomach parts, all combined into a meal that's tasty in practice but absolutely disgusting in theory. We hope that at least the beef is made out of actual beef.
Culver's Veggie Burger
Going to a fast-food chain with a vegan friend is never an easy ordeal. Even if the conversation somehow doesn't revolve around the unethical treatment of animals, you still have to deal with them griping about not having anything to eat except the side salad.
Certain restaurants and fast food chains adopted a more vegan-friendly menu in the last few years, and the popular Culver chain is no different. However, one Reddit user who works at Culver's told us that it's a bad idea to order their veggie burger, as these are often kept stored in freezers until an order comes in. They then get cooked in a microwave and fried on the same grill which is used for all the other meaty foods. Maybe that's why your vegan friends keep asking to go there!
Starbucks' Secret Menu
Some people have recently gotten the impression that Starbucks keeps a secret menu for a special and a select group of its customers. We just wanted to let you know that after a brief investigation of this rumor, we found it to be less than plausible and most likely false.
What you should probably do if you're looking for a custom drink is to figure out exactly what you're interested in ordering, read their menu of ingredients online and then just ask for exactly what you want. This will save both you and that non-communicative Starbucks cashier a lot of time and frustration.
Dunkin Donuts Coolattas
At least when you're talking about companies like McDonald's, there's a certain pretext or illusion of decency and health-consciousness that derives from the brand's appeal to a larger amount of consumers who actually care a bit about what they put in their body.
When you eat at a place like Dunkin Donuts, all of that pretext goes out the window as you're mostly dealing with a client base that cares more about what happened in the last episode of Meet The Kardashians than the stroke building up in their arteries. That's why it's not a surprise if some of the worst culinary offenses I of the unclean serving machines are done by the staff at Dunkin Donuts.
Arby's Roast Beef
Everyone loves to eat at the occasional fast food restaurant (well, except health nuts), even though it's well known at this point that the “behind the scenes” process of making some of these foods is less appetizing than watching a dog pee on your shoe.
One example of this, which was corroborated by multiple Reddit users who claim to work at the popular sandwich chain Arby's, is the company's famous roast beef sandwich. Apparently, the beef gets to the place in a liquid state of disgusting mush. It then gets put in the oven, solidified through heat, and cut into strips by the staff. There's no doubt that this is not what anyone would want of roast beef.
Starbucks Food
We'll never understand why some people choose to buy an overpriced sandwich or another food item here when they can get a similar or even better alternative for a lower price right around the corner. If it's not obvious yet, we're referencing Starbucks' foodie customers. If that's not enough to dissuade you from buying anything this company makes, you might be inclined to know that the food at Starbucks reportedly, isn't even fresh.
Yup, you read that right. Everything edible in Starbucks not only isn't fresh, it actually arrives frozen and gets heated throughout the day. In other words, if you're a Starbucks fan and tend to also eat there, just know that you're literally overpaying for frozen food. Not cool at all.
McDonald's Chicken Nuggets
One of the most popular and iconic menu items at McDonald's is the chicken nuggets, otherwise known as the McNuggets. These delicious pieces of chicken have been a staple of the McDonald's menu, to the point of being more popular than their burgers for quite a few customers.
One annoying thing about the McNuggets is that they are often made hours before you've actually ordered them and left on the heater until you do. Fortunately, these little half chicken half who-knows-what snacks are so freakin tasty that most of us are willing to overlook that fact and keep ordering these delicious things Anyway.
KFC Original Chicken
In our second attempt at explaining why some of Kentucky Fried Chicken's meals have a peculiar taste and feel, we'd like to present our second alleged former employee who claims that sometimes the employees will scoop up and serve chicken that had a short encounter with the dirty kitchen floor.
He also claimed that you should probably stay away from buying anything there near the end of the day, as many of these meals were made during the morning and left under the lights for many hours. While it's not necessarily a health hazard per se, we definitely think it's a serious bummer.
Little Caesar's Breadsticks
Everyone loves breadsticks. These cheesy delights are often highly dense in calories and artery-clogging materials, but it's hard to face these facts when they are so yummy to eat. These buttery delights often have some garlic and cheese laid on top, making them utterly addicting and very gratifying to munch on. Unless you're talking about the ones served in Little Caesar’s.
One of the allegations that we've seen on Reddit, this time from someone who claims to be a former manager in one of the company's branches, is that the butter on their breadsticks isn't real. According to the Reddit user, the fake butter is just an imitation of butter that comes in a large bag that's not even frozen. He didn't explain exactly what this stuff is, just that it's definitely not butter.
Subway Tuna Sandwiches
If Subway recent multiple commercial disasters weren't enough to sway you from eating at the popular sandwich fast food chain, you might change your mind after we tell you about a comment we've recently seen by a former employee who used to work at one of their New York branches.
According to the former employee, who posted his comment in the aforementioned Reddit thread, the tuna sandwiches in Subway are “literal poison in a container,” mostly because they are often served despite being a few days past their original expiration date. But also since these are often based in mayo, the chances of food poisoning are even greater than usual with Subway’s allegedly expired tuna sandwiches.
Wendy's Chili
Although Wendy’s isn't quite as popular as it used to be in previous years, the international fast food chain claims to use only “fresh and never frozen beef” in their various meals. Unfortunately, we've heard some contrary claims on Reddit from people who say they used to work at the chain.
One of the most damning allegations came from a former employee who said that the chili at Wendy's is just overcooked beef that's sometimes frozen for up to seven days before being thrown out. We obviously hope this claim turns out to be false, but be wary that there's a chance your next meal at Wendy's is not quite as fresh as the company likes to boast.