The $5 meal concept has been more of a KFC aka Kentucky Fried Chicken concept some time back. There wasn't much nutrition in their "meals."
Taco Bell, a sibling company to KFC, has a $5 Build Your Own Cravings Box that is now available to those who have downloaded the Taco Bell app.
Regular readers have wondered why, even if I don't eat too much fast food anymore, I am obsessed with what fast food establishments do.
In the case of the Build Your Own Cravings Box, this isn't about fast food but choice.
The power of exponential math tells us of the hundreds of potential combinations. Most people won't have to go to that extreme unless they love everything on the Taco Bell menu.
"The Taco Bell I'm proud to lead does it differently — we put fans in the driver's seat and allow them to eat how they want to eat, not how someone, irrespective of how famous they may be, tells them to." said Taco Bell brand chief Nikki Lawson in a press release.
Despite that notion, there are rules. There are only 4 items in a box, technically the drink is one of the 4 items so that is likely not literally in the box.
Each box will then have 3 items: a specialty, starter, and side (definitions to come).
The specialties are Chalupa Supreme, Cheesy Gordita Crunch, Crunchwrap Supreme, Black Bean Chalupa Supreme, and the Black Bean Crunchwrap Supreme. There are 5 of them yet 2 of them are just black beans instead of seasoned meat versions of 2 other items.
The starters are Crunchy Taco, Beefy 5-Layer Burrito, and Bean and Cheese Burrito. Difficult to turn down a burrito over a taco since you will get much more food. You can't choose 2 burritos: that would violate the rules.
The sides are Chips & Nacho Cheese Sauce and Cinnamon Twists. You want the chips and dessert yet you can't have both. Rules are rules.
You have a lot of choices for drinks. They aren't new choices so you have given great thought already to high-fructose corn syrup or the artificial sweeteners you want.
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The Build Your Own Cravings Box would be more fun if the goal was how much food could you cram in the box for $5. The Crunchy Taco takes up less room than a burrito. You might worry about chips getting crushed but the Cinnamon Twists can get squished. Rules are rules.
The Build Your Own Cravings Box has limitations and rules. The incentive does offer more choice than major fast food options will give you.
A local chicken place offers 2 sides with an entree. You can, for an extra $1, trade one of those sides for a slice of peach cobbler. My local barbecue place offers 2 sides with an entree. They have 5 sides but I always get the same 2 sides.
Choices are great when there are choices you want. The sides at these 2 restaurants are all very good. They don't have the advertising budget of a large national fast food chain.
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What would your humble narrator do with a $5 box of Taco Bell food? Following the rules, I would pick a Crunchwrap Supreme (because of the nacho cheese sauce), Crunchy Taco (5 layers is too much for me), and Cinnamon Twists. I would pick orange juice for my drink, barely beating out unsweetened tea.
If fast food rules your life, the Build Your Own Cravings Box offers more choices than usual. Then again, you could think outside the box … literally.
photo credit: Taco Bell
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