Weather 
When the dollar menu was actually a dollar.
Inflation-ravaged fast food fans grew nosh-talgic after seeing a McDonald’s menu from 2009 — when a meal could cost half of what it does today.
The Golden Arches so-called golden age came to light via a Reddit post, which showed the entire selection 17 years ago, from the dollar menu to the Big Mac meal.
During this halcyon age, a standard six-piece chicken nugget Happy Meal ran customers just $4.39, including a drink, a side, and a toy. Today, that same meal costs $5.99 in Midtown Manhattan.
Reddit/XavierMarvin
Other casualties of McFlation include the small fry, whose price soared from $1 to $3.49 between 2009 and now, and the Big Mac, which jumped from $3.89 to around $5.79.
The McFlurry was among the hardest hit, supersizing from $2.39 to about $5.69 — more than double the price.
Perhaps the biggest discrepancy was among the apple pies, which cost $1 for two in 2009. Now they’re priced at $3.39 for two in Midtown Manhattan.
Meanwhile, the Golden Arches has swapped out the beloved dollar menu with the McValue Menu, which offers deals such as $5 combos and “Buy One, Add One for $1.”
McDonald’s fans waxed poetic about the time when prices weren’t allegedly fry-way robbery.
“When life was worth living,” lamented one fry fan, while another wrote, “Anyone else getting this engraved on their tombstone?”
“Never forget what they took from us,” rued a third.
One Golden Arches die-hard pointed out another perk not evident on the menu. “Adding an extra hash brown to a breakfast meal was $0.39,” they wrote. “We called it ‘Hash Up.’ Now, it’s about $2.89 for a single hash brown.”
Another critic accused the chain of shrinkflation, venting, “Prices are double today and items are smaller.”
In 2024, a report found that McDonald’s had hiked its menu prices by more than 100% over the course of the last decade — more than three times the rate of US inflation.
Some of the most egregiously inflated items included $18 for a Big Mac meal in Connecticut as well as $7.29 for an Egg McMuffin and $5.69 for a side of hash browns.
