Nothing quite like getting the "free thing w/ $5 purchase" and buying only a Dave's single.

A burger and fries for $7 ain't bad. But unfortunately the quality of Wendy's has been plummeting.

I buy 60 lbs of 00 pizza flour every 6 months.

I make pizzas starting on the range in a ripping hot cast iron pan, finish them under the broiler for in a couple minutes.

Pizza is INCREDIBLY cheap to make from raw ingredients, you can even use really good cheese and pep and come out less than $10 a pie.

My partner still has functional socks and underwear from the 90's. Last pair of the sturdiest pants in the store ripped irreparably after three washes. To say things are 'just' a bit lower quality is quite the understatement.

We're pivoting to buying fabric, and making our own fucking clothes. cheaper now, time included

Yeah i got a 7 topping large from them for 14 cad (10 usd) yesterday

There are pricier pizzas that are better, but its hard to compete with how decent they are for the money

I feel dirty glazing them, but mostly im frustrated that other places are so expensive now

For that quick fix or really any kind of fix, that pizza chain is all I'm trying to afford right now. Do miss the local spots but can't stomach the tag. She prefers a simple cheese pizza and there's no reason those should cost so much.

It astounds me how drastic prices vary in the US.

Like sure, we (Australia) also have higher and lower cost areas, but the difference is not this staggering.

$40 USD for a large pizza? You've got to be kidding me.

And I'm betting there will be places in the US where the same is like $12-15 for the same quality/quality, right?

That's nuts.

What makes it soggy and disgusting?

https://youtu.be/AQNg1dPKUFU?is=6drDN5x2dy2iEWtg

Try this recipe some day. You won't regret it and after doing it once or twice you'll be able to whip these up without much prep at all.

Which is why I don't have fried chicken anymore. It's not the end of the world, turns out.

Almost every issue you're describing can be addressed with proper mise en place. Unfortunately, it's a skill that requires practice and can be improved by training. Teaching mise en place as a core skill in schools could help everyone with anything from cooking to home repair, but we apparently don't want people to know diy skills...

Anyway, here's a few tips:

• For burgers: Find some frozen patties that you like. I really like Birchwood Beef Burgers (not beef patties, different products). I go with frozen so that I didn't feel pressured to eat more beef in a week than I want to, just because I bought it.
• Also for burgers, but great for home cooking: Buy frozen, diced onions. An entire bag usually costs less than two onions. When you're about to flip your frozen burger patties, lay a small bed of frozen onions, sprinkle on salt and pepper, and flip the burger directly on them. This trick also works great with Morningstar veggie burgers.
• Fried chicken marinating: Use a bag and insert a straw to create a small opening before you close the bag. Then, slowly submerge the bag in water while you seal it. Once your marinade starts going above the top of your seal, pull the straw out and seal your bag. This will substantially save on the volume necessary to marinate the chicken.
• Fried chicken dredge 1: Add a little corn starch to your eggs. You can put the corn starch directly on your raw chicken, but that tends to lead to waste. The corn starch helps the eggs and batter stick. Don't worry about lumps. Chopsticks are great for mixing.
• Fried chicken dredge 2: Use the chopsticks or a fork to dribble your dredge into your breading, then give it a slight mix. This will give your chicken a crispy texture.
• Fried chicken breading 1: Mix your spices first. Keep it relatively simple. My favorite mix is plenty of salt, a little msg,, lots of garlic powder, little onion powder, white chili powder, black and white pepper, freeze dried chives. Add your flour to your spice blend, and taste it. Add flour until the spices give you just the right kick. The floury flavor will go away when it cooks, but it'll still dilute the spices, so the flavor profile shouldn't change much while the chicken cooks.
• Fried chicken breading 2: Use a container that is deeper than you think you'd need; it's easier to conserve breading when you stack the chicken instead of spreading them out. Place all or as much of the chicken into the breading, coating and covering one piece at a time. Let them sit in there for a while before you start frying them. Fry in batches, you'll have to re-coat the chicken in the breading before frying the later batches. These will be extra crispy.
• Fried chicken breading 2: Don't make too much. Make more if you need more and then dump it on top of the chicken laying in the breading, but you'll need far less than cooking videos will make you believe.
• Fried chicken frying 1: Use a high temp oil, and don't let it get too hot. You can use a thermometer if you want, but sprinkling in some of your breading will let you know if you're at the right temperature. Instant bubbles that swell then subside, and then slowly turning brown is exactly what you want. If it bubbles slowly start and you don't notice a color change after 10-30 seconds, your oil isn't hot enough. If it bubbles rapidly and changes colors immediately, your oil is too hot. Give your oil a few minutes to reach temp, 3-10 should be good.
• Fried chicken frying 2: I favor wider pans over deeper pans. You want the pan about 1 or 2 inches taller than the halfway point of your thickest piece of chicken. That extra 1-2 inches is to prevent your oil from spilling over. Even if your oil level doesn't quite reach halfway up your thickest piece of chicken, the oil will bubble and climb its way up your fried chicken. So, you'll likely be fine if you're under by as much as a quarter of an inch. I've used cake or pie pans and tongs on a hot plate to fry chicken, and it comes out great. My preferred pan is a deep saute pan.
• Fried chicken frying 3: Keep a plate or something with a wire rack over it to drain your chicken after they're done. Sprinkle salt over the pieces immediately once the next round of chicken comes out of the fryer, you can move the chicken from the rack to a plate. Add soon as the last batch of chicken goes into the fryer, dump what little breading you have left into the trash, and then at least rinse the container. When you're done, allow the oil to cool completely, and then filter it through some coffee filters. If you kept the oil at a good temperature, you should get one or two more uses after it.

If you follow the fried chicken tips correctly, you should have used:

• 1 ziplock bag
• 1 straw
• 1 pair of chopsticks
• 1 bowl
• 1 container
• 1 oil frying thing
• 1 funnel
• A few coffee filters
• 2 plates
• 1 wire rack

If you clean as you go, your kitchen should be clean (except for the still-hot oil in the pan or fryer or whatever) before you bring the chicken to the table. That'll give it enough time to rest and be juicy as fuck instead of drying out the instant you bite into a steam bomb.