The best nationwide fast food joint is Subway.
For $5, you get a foot worth of sandwich that has meat, lots of veggies, sauce, cheese, and tasty bread. If you stretch yourself, that’s two meals worth of food. It feels healthy and tastes great. I’m not big on fast food, but this is one chain that’s perfected the new cheap/fast/healthy paradigm of eating. Usually you can only get two of those traits.
So on the road, Subway was my food of choice. If I felt like saving more money, I would stop in grocery stores and buy cold cuts, lettuce, and bread. For $10, I could eat for several days just making sandwiches on the trunk of my car.
And if I really wanted to save money, I’d buy off-brand instant oatmeal. I’d drink a packet down dry, chewing and gulching it in my mouth, and wash the dust down with water from a gallon jug. After two packets, the oatmeal would expand in my stomach and I’d feel full.
Needless to say, after two months of eating these things, it’s nice to be able to cook again.
My favorite west coast fast food joint was In-N-Out Burger, which is a stunning model of Fordism. For $2, you get an awesome cheeseburger. But you also get to watch an army of teenagers prepare your burger just like every other burger they produce at rapid, American speed. They even shred and fry their french fries in front of you. If you’re like me, it’s entertaining to watch.
