Ordering takeout seems to get more and more expensive, and fast food is included in that. For a family of four or six, it can cost more than $40 at somewhere like McDonald’s. It might also depend on where you live, as you could see a slight shift in the cost of things like Happy Meals between different locations. That might be why one mom on TikTok came up with a way to split inexpensive McDonald’s menu items between her four kids.
Unfortunately, other users in the comments under the TikTok were unimpressed with her hack. One pointed out that there are larger menu items that could be spread out between kids. Another said that the mom shouldn’t have more kids if she isn’t able to properly order food for them from McDonald’s. As with most things parents do on social media, it drew lots of criticism.
@luckynlilly 1 HAPPY MEAL for 4 kids
♬ original sound – ❌️MRP2K
She has a way of making her own Happy Meal and other parents aren’t, well, happy.
The mom shares in her video that she takes the McDonald’s $5 meal of a cheeseburger, four-piece nuggets, and two small orders of fries and splits it between her four kids. The sandwich is cut in four equal pieces, so each child can have a quarter, and the nuggets are divided in a similar way. The fries are also divided evenly.
According to the mom, she never buys each kid their own meal, because her hack of dividing one meal this way offers enough food for everyone.
“Why buy them all a meal when you could split it up?” She says, as she demonstrates splitting up the $5 meal in her car. “I always split my kids’ meals, I never buy them their own, because at the end of the day, it’s just so wasteful.”
The amount of food each kid gets seems to make them happy. Who knows, she might just have a better grasp on how much each of her kids will eat and how much they might toss out a lot better than other TikTok users do since they don’t know her. But that didn’t stop them from coming for her in the comments.
“So you are giving them simples?!?” One user joked.
Another user shared their own similar experience. “My mom would make us share one plate of Panda Express and I remember everyone staring at us,” they wrote. “Please don’t do this to kids or don’t have kids if you can’t afford them.”
That last bit is a bit strong, but others commented to point out some discrepancies in the mom’s hack. Her whole idea is saving money and having less waste. But, multiple people pointed out in the comments, she appears to be using expensive Meta Glasses to record the video.
Given the little bit of food split between four kids, some see it as just not enough for kids to eat unless it’s a snack. But again, it’s entirely possible that the mom knows how little her kids might eat of fast food and plans accordingly.
Still, let’s not ignore this nugget (no pun intended) from another person under the video: “Is this a snack until y’all get home from school???”
