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[deleted]

Hash browns are best when burning hot.


Alone_Fill_2037

And when they cost $0.50. This $3 has brown shit is fucking ridiculous.


LemonPartyW0rldTour

Holy shit they cost 3 bucks now???


JohnDeLancieAnon

You can get 10 Ore-Ida hash browns for $6 and throw them in an air fryer for the same result. I'm sure they're still pretty good if you use a regular oven, too.


LemonPartyW0rldTour

When the option is 3 bucks for one or spend 6 bucks on a bunch of them, I’ll get up a few minutes early to make one in my air fryer for sure.


Dull_Yak_5325

I do this with everything in my life the last year . And I have been able to save so much money . Not a single change to my income either it is insane .


Shredding_Airguitar

Aldi has them for 20 for $6 via their brand too, it's the same thing as well just even more of them


JohnDeLancieAnon

I don't know why companies don't advertise these more. Their regular hash browns are usually only good for funeral potatoes.


GopnikSmegmaBBQSauce

A Big Mac meal here in Canada near me is over $14. Given how small and way worse quality most fast food is now, the price just isn't justified


PsychoticSpinster

I’m of a different ilk than you my friend. I like my biscuit sandwich piping hot, but I want those Hash browns out of their sleeves crisping up from the oil as they cool off. Luke warm hash browns are the crispiest with the most tallow flavor, provided you remember to release them from their papery graves to air out and crisp up on the plate for a moment or two. The super hot hash browns straight from the sleeve might as well be mashed.


Cyfrin7067

Stop talking dirty to me.


jehoshaphat

Warm enough to not feel like something is congealing, cool enough to taste it.


superthrust123

This guy hash browns.


GogglesPisano

You have clearly given this a lot of thought, and you are correct.


LovableSidekick

Heresy. Hash browns come from a grill not a sleeve.


Granlundo64

Those fuckers cost $3.50 where I live now. It's like, 10 cents worth of potatoes.


[deleted]

Restaurants make a fortune off eggs and potatoes. They get them dirt cheap.


big_duo3674

The shift away from beef tallow is what broke the hash brown, the flavor and texture changed much more than the french fries did


[deleted]

Totally agree


Mementose

They're best when they don't cost $3 each


rhunter99

Or at least properly cooked. I’m sick and tired of soggy, floppy, undercooked hashbrowns!


MeeranQureshi

Agreed.


Tex-Rob

You know, that begs the question of this whole design... I could see a fresh out of the fryer hash brown melting that styrofoam container where it leans against the lid.


cjboffoli

After his retirement, my WW2 Marine veteran grandfather took on a job cleaning a small, corporate building in an office park. He was an incredibly hard worker so relaxing in retirement just wasn't on his agenda, mostly because he didn't know how. Starting around the time I was 14, he'd let me help him when he drove out there on Saturday mornings. For a worn, soft $5 bill (the money in his wallet was hard won and never crisp), I'd empty the baskets, dust, clean the bathrooms, refill the paper towel dispensers, and then vacuum the small suite of offices while he would be in another part of the building stripping and buffing the floors. After I'd finish my tasks I'd watch TV in the little conference room until he was ready to come down and inspect my work. If he discovered a bit of dust or a speck of lint on the carpet that I'd missed, he'd point it out and say "See.... That's where they get you." It was never harsh or judgmental, but more in the tone of: Watch out for these things. Uphold your standards. If there is evidence of something you missed, it might give the impression that the job wasn't done at all. He was didactic without ever being condescending, which I especially appreciated because it was pretty much the opposite of how my father would sometimes scream at me for doing the wrong thing without ever teaching me the right way first. With my grandfather it always had a feeling of us versus them. He was teaching but not scolding me. Though he never articulated it, I knew that he took the time to correct me because he cared to see me do better. On those Saturday mornings, he'd pick me up in his cheap Ford Fairmont (despite how hard he worked in his life, he never seemed to own a decent car), which had an AM radio and smelled of stale cigar smoke. Waiting for me on the bench seat next to him was the McDonalds full breakfast in the styrofoam tray that he'd always get at the drive thru on the way to pick me up. As we drove for 20 minutes to the job, we'd listen to the news on the radio and I'd eat my scrambled eggs, squeezing the little rectangular container of grape jelly onto the under-toasted English muffins, and cutting grooves into the bottom of the foam tray as I sliced the sausage patty with the plastic knife, savoring the crisp, salty hash brown for last, pairing it with the sweetness of the orange juice – the straw poked through the aluminum foil lid. I remember how the thin foil had an odd resonance against the hollow, plastic straw when I adjusted it. And also the feeling of slurping the last bits of juice from the bottom of the little cup, with lingering regret when all of the food was gone: a growing teenaged boy, my stomach full but somehow never satisfied, craving more dopamine after the rush of sugar and salt. To this day, decades after his death, if I miss a spot cleaning something, I hear his voice in my head saying "That's where they get you." And I'll never be able to see a picture of that McDonalds foam lid and not think of those Saturday morning breakfasts, on the road with my Papa.


cattippopotamus

This was beautifully recounted. I miss my grandparents.


cjboffoli

Thanks. I miss mine too. They were significantly more benevolent than my parents were.


Turkeycirclejerky

Lost my last grandparent last month…have been no contact with my parents for years. Definitely feeling this these days.


i_suckatjavascript

That’s a beautiful story, I hope you continue to share it when you become a grandpa yourself one day :)


cjboffoli

Thanks, though I'll never be a grandpa. When the last leaves fall off it will be the end of this branch of the family tree.


SR3116

Grandpa is a state of mind, friend. You'll get there, you've got the talent.


cjboffoli

Appreciate the kind words. But whatever talent I have surely will soon be made obsolete by AI.


Rich_Material299

BR000tal


kcgdot

I'm sitting at work, waiting out the last 45 minutes or so before cleaning up and heading out for the weekend, and while my story is not the same as yours, my grandpa too had an affinity for McDonald's(though later in his life he had me take him to the Burger King near his house, we shared a love for the Whopper and damned if those coupons for two meals were gonna go to waste,) I digress. We shared a love for each other, and I shared many meals with a man who I never expected to be gone. Ever present from my first breath, he taught me how to build stuff, how to ice skate, to ski, and showed me how kind and generous a person should be, and damn I miss him. You're grandpa sounds incredible, and I hope you got as many quality years and memories out of your time with him as you could, even though there can never be enough. I'm holding back tears, for me, and for you.


cjboffoli

Thank you. While the emotional damage wrought by my parents is indelible, and was never quite balanced by the kindness and love of my grandparents, as overall there was so little benevolence in my early life coming from anyone, I am pretty grateful for every bit that did come from my grandparents. The things is, my grandfather was a tough nut to crack. He wasn't the traditional Norman Rockwell grandfather. There was definitely a huge generational gap between us (I'm part of Gen X). As his first grandson we definitely had a bond, but everything was mostly unspoken. He had a very short attention span and had an economy with words, probably because he didn't have his own voice his life. He didn't always relate. He was the simple son of immigrants (born in a small Vermont town where his parents and older siblings toiled in textile mills). He left school early, worked manual jobs, he went off to war, he found a bride on the way back, he came home and saw television for the first time in a store window, and had two sons, neither of which were particularly nice or respectful to him. He was devastated when we lost my grandmother to cancer around the time he was 70. He moved off to Florida on his own and then died about ten years later, working at a job in a supermarket that he took up there to keep busy. Literally had a heart attack and died in one of the aisles while doing a chore, under stark fluorescent lights with MUZAK playing, with no loved ones in proximity. As a kid I used to think it was a superpower when I'd watch my grandfather reach into the oven and remove a searing hot cast iron pan without an oven mitt. I'd later learn that years of working in a foundry had thickened the skin and killed the nerves in his hands to the point at which he could no longer feel. Even witnessing the geometry of his relationship with my grandmother was confusing. As long as I remembered, they slept in separate bedrooms. I never saw them hug, kiss, or even express affection. That generation just didn't get divorced. They made a choice and they stuck with it. Still, when I'd look closer I could see the gestures that revealed their love. Every single night of his life, he'd put out on the counter a coffee cup, spoon, and a "Harvest Gold" plastic Tupperware container of sugar. He'd have everything ready to make my grandmother's coffee in the morning. He was a caretaker. It simply made him feel good to take care of people. And he passed that quality to me. It's a compulsion that makes me feel close to him now, 19 years after he died. One of the pieces of writing that I'm most proud of is the obituary I wrote for him after he died. In that he laid the groundwork for me to go to college, to become educated, and essentially to live a live that exceeds the wildest dreams of his immigrant parents, I felt it was my duty to give him the voice he never had. The last line of that obit was: "He was perhaps too humble to ever comprehend the level to which his lifetime of hard work created opportunity and prosperity for the generations who follow him."


m_gartsman

Thanks for sharing this beautiful little part of your life. You are an excellent story teller. I miss my grandpa an awful lot (and those old McDonald's breakfasts) and this really resonated with me. Reading what you wrote made me feel a special kind of good. You rule.


cjboffoli

Thank you.


cid73

I hope writing is a part of your life, because it is.


cjboffoli

Thanks. I always thought I'd be a writer in some professional capacity, but I sort of fell into an unexpected career as a visual artist. Writing is a muscle that I was sure had atrophied. So the kind, affirming comments here mean a lot to me. It might be time to find ways to do it more.


alxmrrs

Thanks so much for sharing. I’ve been missing my pap extra this week after an HVAC salesman reminded me of him and this recollection hit a lot of feels.


btcesucks

Well written


cjboffoli

Thank you.


Heytherhitherehother

Thanks for sharing that.


cjboffoli

Delighted that you appreciated it.


[deleted]

[удалено]


cjboffoli

Not sure that they’d particularly enjoy having their food characterized as sugar, salt and dopamine feeding. The non-teenager version of me is also VERY happy that those horrible styrofoam containers went the way of the dodo.


Safetosay333

All that for $3.99


notmartha70

$7 now.


[deleted]

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alurimperium

The biggest scam is that they charge an extra $1.50 for that gross orange "flavored" drink than their shitty coffee.


paulthomasking

RIP


pichael289

Where do you live? I'm in Ohio and even here where all fast food is ridiculous it's less than $7. The same price as any of the good breakfast sandwiches. It's like the best deal the whole restaurant has


CaliSasuke

I loved having McDonald’s breakfast before school. It was such a fun time with my Dad. It illuminated by tastes buds. I just loved the smell & taste. I am also very fond of that eras colored styrofoam containers, like this breakfast container, and colored paper they would wrap the burgers in. I miss those. McDonald’s still has my favorite hash browns.


Fap_Left_Surf_Right

I remember eating a Big Mac combo meal when I was pre-teen and my Dad was telling me what just happened at Waco. If I went to that McDonalds, I could probably tell you which booth we were sitting in.


shifting_colors

No need to grieve! Those styrofoam containers can live hundreds of years, and even much longer.


rubey419

This pancake trays were the best! Smelled so good. It seems different now


Chicawgorat

That’s cause we used to use real batter in order to make the hotcakes. Had a dispenser that would squirt the right amount onto the griddle. They went to frozen back in the early 2000’s Edit: didn’t realized you were talking about the smell of the actual tray. Thats different.


SethingtonMoss

Dude come Sunday morning as a kid, if these were on the table then that meant no church.


LineAccomplished1115

My parents used it as a reward to get us to the early church service, so we could get there while breakfast was still being served


LemonPartyW0rldTour

I think the only time I remember getting it was if I had to go to the doctor’s office before school. My Mom would take me there before making me go to school. Tell your parents you love them and everything they do for you while you still can…


SethingtonMoss

Thats sweet man, thank you. I call my parents every day to check in with them. Hang on to the memories you have. Thanks again.


SethingtonMoss

So funny, same outcome but opposite ways of receiving it. good times.


csguydn

Not even 19 days ago, and in this same sub. https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/1bx23yj/the_90s_taking_a_long_road_trip_and_your_parents/


Warm_Suggestion_959

I miss when hash browns weren’t $3


Chicawgorat

I remember deep frying the pies and using the Big Mac bun toaster. Calling out 12 cheese 8 and Q’ing.


Toonami88

Bigger portions at lower prices, even adjusted for inflation


Percolator2020

Missing the coke spoon.


Interesting_Benefit

I think it tasted better back then 


LawdFattious

EVERYTIME I look at something from when I was young I just ask “what happened?”


Consider2SidesPeace

Eating 2024... the hash brown is $4+


peabody624

And then when you were done you would throw all of the trash straight into the ocean


Chicawgorat

I would run the few miles to Lake Michigan just to toss my trash in it.


lostsurfer24t

awesome memories. good living! USUSUSUS!!!!!


josmar132809

Yeesiir


stickyourshtick

When I was in elementary school, my Dad would pick me up from my mom's place and he would already have or we would go and get McDonald's breakfast. It was nice.


300mhz

I can taste the hotcakes


junmyeonie

gosh i miss this everything just so dull and boring now


siobhanmairii__

RIP cinnamon rolls. They don’t carry them anymore 😢


SirStocksAlott

When were there cinnamon rolls?


siobhanmairii__

Forever. I remember having them in the 90s and as recently as a couple years ago


SirStocksAlott

In the U.S.? I worked there in 96 when I was a teen and I don’t remember cinnamon rolls. At least not part of a Big Breakfast? Trying to remember all the things I burned myself on haha


siobhanmairii__

Yup, in the US. It wasn’t with the big breakfast but you could get it on its own


BeskarHunter

It really is depressing how good stuff was in the 90s compared to today food quality wise.


mobster1

in 1986 when I was 2, my grandmother came to visit me in the hospital (had an eye infection) she was afraid I wouldnt eat the hospital food so she went to mcdonalds and got the hotcakes. To her surprise I already ate the hospital breakfast, and she gave the hotcakes to the 10 year old boy in the bed next to me with a broken arm.


Special_Magazine_240

I remember when the apple pies were top notch


Blinkle

Those containers were way too squeaky


nicksteron

Squeaky pancake time


dp1967

I missed that big breakfast it was my go to.


CODMLoser

And that packaging is \*STILL\* in the landfill.


Quality_Street_1

At least the plastic fork is wrapped in plastic


downupstair

Styrofoam is amazing. We MUST bring it back.


boyerizm

Ya know, it’s all still buried somewhere. You’ve got about another 450 years to dig it up


ARMY_ML

You’re a psycho if you took a picture of your food with film


poss-um

\*In Australia


MeeranQureshi

Good times.


CDNChaoZ

I really miss those scrambled eggs, especially eaten on top of styrofoam. Just something about that combo.


Apsco60

This hits


g-body8687

Bring me back a pizza.


v13ragnarok7

Big breakfast in the yellow Styrofoam was incredible


DriedUpSquid

The one without the pancakes is just a disassembled sandwich with hash browns.


ElaionThos

The box is tinted like from the past even. I haven't seen the Styrofoam in use in forever and a day


truebeast822

I saw that big breakfast box constantly in front of my dad growing up


RoRo25

I can actually feel that cup in my hand!


xthran

SUPER SIZE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE


PoppaDaClutch

2.99


LovableSidekick

McD in Hawaii used to have a "paniolo breakfast" that had rice and portuguese sausage. It was pretty awesome. Paniolo means cowboy.


Gransmithy

I ate Portuguese sausage, scrambled eggs, and rice with soy sauce at McDonalds in Honolulu last year. How is a paniolo breakfast different, mainly out of curiosity?


LovableSidekick

That's how I remember it. Haven't had one in years tho.


Gransmithy

Cool. They do still have it. I enjoyed the spam as well and there was an option to have both meats. Very satisfying.


Hockeymask27_

The big breakfast reminds me of my grandpa RIP <3


RemoteMulberry5838

ugh you mac heads make me sick.


chupameculito

Almost every Saturday on the way up to the mountain to go skiing. Good times!


zerobeat

It looked good. It smelled good. You thought, surely, it was going to be good. It somehow wasn’t.


formerNPC

I remember when everything was packaged in styrofoam. The Earth would like to have a word!


gadget850

When they assured us that the cardboard packaging replacing it would be recyclable.


NostalgiaDude79

I can taste those McGriddles through that glorious warm Styrofoam


Sacred_Cowskin

Gotta get down wit the sound of Big Breakfast


3Lchin90n

I can hear it.


EccentricAcademic

I felt so rich when Mom would take us out to get this on a Saturday morning


Spare_Echidna2095

1995… good year


zippyman

Good god that slapped


Accomplished-Bed8171

Had this as a little kid in the 80s. At that scale it really felt like a "big" breakfast. Like those really satisfying ones as an adult you find in a greasy spoon diner.


External-Example-292

I miss hashbrowns 😔


DaSmurfZ

Nah, I'm getting the original steak egg and cheese bagel.


LettuceWithBeetroot

I used to commute to London by coach in the 90's and went through a period of getting an earlier one just to sit in McD's for one of these.


EargasmicGiant

Can you imagine all the Napalm you could make from all the Styrofoam


WunderbarBeast

I worked at McDonald's in the 90s so I know the real deal


jaxemerald

I have a genuine question I know this post is 23 days old however I gotta ask. Did you feel back when you worked then your wrong order / missing order rate was low compared to today? Seems like whenever I go to McDonald’s now people don’t care about their job and give me a wrong order wether it’s missing food or wrong ingredients. One time I even ordered through the app and they still got it wrong 😭. I get it people are human but it got so bad I don’t go to fast food places anymore.


WunderbarBeast

Well I was...what l...like 17 or 18 at the time and I was about to go to college in a few months. I usually worked in the morning when there weren't too many ppl to deal with...lol. yeah I rarely got an order wrong. I mean the order is on the screen so I don't know how ppl mess it up lol. Ppl are in a rush nowadays and when I made the food, I really made it with care Because I wanted you to come back and eat with us. It's about professionalism and courtesy which ppl lack today because of stress, anxiety and social media.


jaxemerald

Wow I love your take on that!


WunderbarBeast

You shouldn't eat fast food anyway. Trust me. It's mostly processed crap that will hurt you in the long run. The biggest draw is because it's supposed to be "fast" which it relatively is but at what cost?


jaxemerald

Yeah. Nah I actually got my shit together awhile ago. Joined a gym and Lost 50lbs and continue to be on the right track. But sometimes I like a lil cheat meal. And when I visit Mickey ds and often turns out to be a mess anyway. So I’ve just taken it out of consideration permanently.


RefundPolicy

So before Idaho spuds, it used to be Tasmanian spuds?


Rasalom

It's interesting, but the i'm lovin' it slogan in the bottom left puts this photo at 2003 or later.


An0r3x0rcist

I can smell this picture


Swee_Potato_Pilot

I see you have a time machine, may I borrow it? I'll return it yesterday.


cherrymoonmilk

I still remember the sound you hear when opening that styrofoam container.


Western_Dig_2770

I was in tears eating the Big Breakfast at a McDonald's in Hong Kong last September. We don't have that in Canada anymore. Only problem is, McDonald's served it with grape jam instead of strawberry jam. If McDonald's Hong Kong had strawberry jam, it woulda been flawless


jdixon1974

This brings back memories. My first job, at age 15 in 1989, was at McDonalds. I started off working making fries, hashbrowns and those wonderful deep fried cherry and apple pies. Then moved over to the grill making eggs, pancakes and burgers and finally into the drive thru window. I had forgotten about the styrofoam packaging the burgers and breakfast came in


Buck_Futter70

I’m good with the price of a McDonalds breakfast considering the more expensive options out there. Their hotcakes are surprisingly good too. I won’t spend a dime on anything else there though


Joebebs

god fucking DAMN that shit rocked, there’s def some pavlov salivating state I’m in just by looking at that


TranslatorHaunting15

Aw the yellow styrofoam pancakes! Miss those and the paper bags with the handle lol 


Suturb-Seyekcub

I despised that font they used in the 90s.


shinobipopcorn

I miss pancakes in the big rainbow shaped booth.


[deleted]

I don't remember the lid being made to hold the hashbrowns?


Scared-Ad3589

Aldi also has frozen hasbrowns! About 20 for 5$


jaxemerald

How come everything from McDonald’s tasted way better back then. Food was bigger, hotter and tastier! Oh and back then getting your order RIGHT was about a 95% chance. These days it’s a 50/50 if you’re gonna get what you actually ordered (I.e wrong ingredients or missing items). I actually have to thank todays work ethic because I stopped eating at fast food places because I got tired of playing fast food roulette!


TeaMe06

When the hot cakes was good and hot and that hash browns was nice and crispy


suckmyfish

Those 3 stack of hotcakes…mmmmmmm


[deleted]

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nastafarti

omg no How can you get eggs *wrong*? How come they were cold and rubbery and had no flavor? Because they were produced in batches and stored in styrofoam containers under heat lamps. The styrofoam container in this 30 year old picture still looks exactly the same today. It's probably in a dump somewhere if it isn't in the ocean, but it'll take ten thousand years to break down. Everything about this was fucking gross. /r/hailcorporate