Spending two years of high school working part-time at McDonald’s, I’ve seen a lot of customers try to order items off of a “secret menu” using names like “Monster Big Mac” or “All American,” many terms that McDonald’s doesn’t use leaving me confused. After searching this so-called “secret menu,” many of the items are possible to order; customers just have to know how to order them. As a former McDonald’s employee, I specially ordered many items and know exactly what to say to order them just right.
Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich
There is no question that McDonald’s has one of the most diverse dessert menus out of the fast-food chains, forcing competitors to alter their menus by adding items like cheesecake or soft-serve ice cream, something that McDonald’s has been serving for years, to win over customers. Soft Baked Cookies are one of the items on McDonald’s assorted dessert menu.
Although their Soft Baked Cookies melts in your mouth when warm, ordering the cookies frozen is an interesting alternative. I took notice of customers ordering the set of cookies frozen, which sparked the idea of eating with ice cream, realizing that it was exactly like a Toll House cookie sandwich. When ordering the ice cream to go along with the frozen cookies, ordering a “plain” sundae gives you the most ice cream for a dollar. A three pack of will cost you about $1.25, and any sundae will cost you about a dollar. For a McDonald’s ice cream sandwich, it will cost a little more than $2.
Neapolitan McCafe Milkshake
To add to McDonald’s amazing dessert menu are their creamy old fashion milkshakes. Customers can order one milkshake with two different flavors like, “strawberry on bottom chocolate on top.” Then, realizing that the year-round flavors are vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, which are the exact flavors of Neapolitan ice cream, why wouldn’t McDonald’s advertise a Neapolitan flavored milkshake? To order a Neapolitan-flavored milkshake simply ask for all the flavors to be layered. There will be no extra cost, just the cost of whatever size milkshake that was ordered. Since McDonald’s are now serving the shakes in their clear McCafe cups, the layers will be clearly visible and would be a wonderful Instagram photo op.
Mini Chicken Salad
Going to McDonald’s can be quite shameful to your body. Ordering a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese will run you more than 700 calories not including the perfectly salted and cooked to excellence medium golden fries. When looking for a guilt free meal, many may turn to the Premium Salads. Although the Premium Salads may be surprisingly fresh and packet with a variety of salad toppings such as, baby tomatoes, grated cheese, bacon bits, corn, black beans and strips of tortilla chips, salads will run you more than $7 depending on the type of Premium Salad.
When seriously penny pinching, $7 is ridiculously over priced when a McDouble is on the Dollar Menu along with a side salad. Ordering the side salad alone may not fulfill your appetite, but asking for either a grilled or crispy chicken on the side adds much more to what was once a petite meal. Some employees will even ask if you want your chicken cut. The side salad will cost you about $1 and the grilled or crispy chicken on the side will cost about a dollar, as well. The mini chicken salad will cost you about $2 to $3. To spice things up, instead of ordering a grilled or crispy chicken, try asking for a McChicken “plain, no bread.”
Customizable Iced Coffee
Whether college students are forcing their eyes to stay open to finish a late night paper or kicking themselves out of bed because a party went too late the night before, coffee is a precious gift. Starbucks coffee is the typical coffee addict’s drink of choice. Starbucks gives many the option of personalizing coffee to the consumers’ preference. Whether a coffee drinker takes their coffee black or white, Starbucks fulfills their needs. For starving students, it is difficult to hunt for $4 worth of change to feed their Starbucks addition of a venti iced coffee.
Although McDonald’s is trying to compete with Starbucks by creating McCafe products that are comparable in price and quality, many of the McCafe items are made from a pre-set machine where employees can’t make many changes to those drinks. McDonald’s iced coffee is one of the only items where a coffee addict can go crazy for less than just $3 for a medium cup of coffee. Many believe that ordering an iced coffee from McDonald’s can be either too sweet or not strong enough, but ordering an iced coffee with no sugar or even plain black is very possible. McDonald’s iced coffees are usually flavored with hazelnut, vanilla and caramel liquid sugar. If you want to go crazy, try mixing flavors. For example, if you are ordering a medium iced coffee and want to mix hazelnut and vanilla, ask for “two shots of hazelnut and two shots of vanilla.”
