MORE Meat Please: FIVE Meat-Packed Burger Orders Under $5

Dining out while on keto can be a little difficult.

How do you get the best meat value on those burgers deals? Naturally (being a frugal keto site), we ran comparisons of the burgers typically advertised at restaurants vs. their value menu items to see which burgers produce the most beef for our buck!

Read on for conclusions to our tasty, meat-filled investigation.

McDonald’s

There are two main differences between the bigger burgers and your Dollar Menu options — the bun and the burger size. Since the bun doesn’t matter, we can eliminate that extra cost and choose from the cheaper sandwich options and combine the beef to get more for your money’s worth. A Triple Cheeseburger and a Bacon McDouble tie in the price per ounce, though the McDoubles really deserve the win #becausebacon.

For comparison:
Quarter pounder with cheese: 2.8 oz. of cooked beef* at $5.45 -or- $1.95 per ounce
Triple cheeseburger: 3.15 oz. of cooked beef* at $3 -or- $0.95 per ounce
That’s a difference of $1 per ounce!

What to order:
TWO Bacon McDoubles (no bun or ketchup, add 3 pieces of lettuce and mayo): $4.00 -or- $0.95 per ounce
This order has 4 (1.05oz) patties*, 4 slices of American cheese, and 4 strips of bacon.

*It’s important to note that the advertised weight of the burger is measured before it’s cooked, so the standard 1.5 oz. patty cooks down to around 1.05 oz. and the 4 oz. (quarter pounder) patty cooks down to 2.8 oz.

Burger King

You can definitely have it your way at Burger King — you just need to know what to order! The same goes for BK that you’re getting way more value from the value menu (go figure!) as opposed to ordering their signature burger. You’ll see a similar trend that we still like to opt for a bacon option even though it’s technically not the lowest price per ounce. What can we say… we really like bacon!

For comparison:
Whopper with cheese: 2.8 oz. of cooked beef at $5.79 -or- $2.06 per ounce
3 Cheeseburgers: 3.57 oz. of cooked beef* at $3 -or- $.84 per ounce

What to order:
TWO Double Bacon Cheeseburgers (no bun or ketchup, add lettuce and mayo) $4.48 -or- $.94 per ounce
This order has 4 (1.19oz) patties*, 4 slices of bacon, and 2 slices of American cheese.

*The Burger King standard patty size (as in the non-Whopper patties) is 1.7 oz., which is actually slightly larger than McDonald’s, though keep in mind they likely shrink to 1.19 oz. based on standard 30% cooking reduction.

Wendy’s

Wendy’s is yet another example of how stacking sandwiches from the value menu rather than ordering from the glamorized burger options is a better use of your money. By going with a combo of value menu Double Stacks, you’re looking to pay half of the per ounce beef cost of a Dave’s Single. If you’re feeling a little extra, you could add bacon to one of the burgers for an extra $.60 bringing the order total just over $5 — a $0.18 overage that we think is well worth it.

For comparison:
Dave’s Single: 2.8 oz. of cooked beef at $5.19 -or- $1.85 per ounce
Cheeseburger: 1.25 oz. of cooked beef* at $1.29 -or- $1.03 per ounce
Double Stack: 2.5 oz. of cooked beef* $2.29 -or- $0.92 per ounce

What to order:
TWO Double Stacks (no bun or ketchup, add extra lettuce, and mayo) $4.58 -or- $0.92 per ounce
– with bacon on one sandwich, the total comes to $5.18 –
This order has 4 (1.25 oz.) patties*, 2 slices of American cheese, and potential 2 strips of bacon

You could also add an extra patty to the cheeseburger for $1 more (making that cost the same as a double stack), which is good to keep in mind should Wendy’s feature a promotion for regular cheeseburgers.

*Assuming a similar 30% size reduction from cooking, the final cooked size of the 1.78 oz. Junior patty is 1.25 oz.

Carl’s Jr. / Hardee’s

You’re probably thinking, “alright, this is just another ‘order off the value menu’ scenario” but it’s surprisingly not the best value. We actually have two popular non-value menu items that are a better value than a typical cheeseburger order. That said, they’re all generally close in value so it mainly comes down to how hungry you are.

For comparison:
1/3lb Cheeseburger: 4.2 oz. of cooked beef at $4.19 -or- $1.00 per ounce
1/4 Little Thick Cheeseburger: 2.8 oz. of cooked beef at $2.79 -or- $1.00 per ounce
2 Double Cheeseburgers: 4.64 oz. of cooked beef* at $4.98 -or- $1.07 per ounce

What to order:
1/3lb Cheeseburger (no bun or ketchup, add lettuce and mayo) $4.19 -or- $1.00 per ounce
This order has 1 (4.2 oz.) patty and 1 slice of American cheese. 

*Since the beef weight information wasn’t available on the company’s website, we’re assuming an average cooked patty size of 1.16 oz. (based on the 3 previous patty sizes from McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s).

Jack in the Box

The Buttery Jack burgers are known for their buttery gourmet bun. But since you’ll be nixing that from the order, it’s kind of a waste of money. You’re much better off sticking with a cheaper burger option, loading up on extra patties, and getting your price per ounce much lower. You will go over the $5 slightly but you’re getting quite a bit of meat to make it worth your while.

For comparison:
Buttery Jack burger: 2.8 oz. of cooked beef at $5.39 -or- $1.93 per ounce
Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger (with extra patty): 2.32 oz. of cooked beef* at $2.58 -or- $1.11 per ounce

What to order:
TWO Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers (no bun or ketchup, add an extra patty, extra lettuce, and mayo) $5.16 -or- $1.11 per ounce
This order has 4 (1.16oz) patties*, 2 slices of American cheese, and 4 slices of bacon.

*Since the beef weight information wasn’t available on the company’s website, we’re assuming an average cooked patty size of 1.16 oz. (based on the 3 previous patty sizes from McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s).

Now, who’s hungry for some burgers!

Be sure to check out more of our fast food dining guides for McDonald’s, Carl’s Jr., Burger King, Chick-fil-A, & Jimmy John’s.