Hm… here’s yet another week where I’m taking the easy way out and using someone else’s pics instead of my own. In fact, I grabbed the above straight from a company’s press release. The company? Jack In The Balpha. Longtime readers will remember why we call them that.

Actually, there’s a legitimate excuse for not using my own pictures for this review of The Big Deal, their new “combo” meal. And this goes for pretty much a whole range of fast and prepared food. Usually, I only pick up fast food when I’m so hungry that I can’t wait to make something at home or go to a sit-down restaurant. As such, I don’t really feel like messing around with camera angles while the meatpaste in my 2 tacos for 99 cents is quickly congealing.

This is actually one of the reasons I haven’t really featured Subway on here yet – most of the time I’d just make a sandwich at home. Whenever I get Subway, it’s because I’m too hungry to wait. So the sandwich gets inhaled without the usual pretty photos being taken.

But back to The Big Deal. In theory, it fits in with Cheap Eats. Here’s what the press release says:

“Thanks to rising gas prices, penny pinching has become a necessity for many Americans. To help consumers fill up for less (their stomachs, not their gas tanks), Jack in the Box® restaurants offer The Big Deal, a combo meal that features a chicken sandwich, two beef tacos and a 20-ounce beverage for the bargain-basement price of … drum roll, please … $2.59!”

Sounded OK to me. I went through the drive-through. In my gas-guzzlin’ Toyota 4Runner. Before that, though, I looked all over the pre-drive-thru menu to try and find the “Big Deal” on the menu. Boy, they sure like to hide the deals and the 99 cent menu well. The rip-off Combo meals are prominently displayed, however. Hello, Marketing!

The reason I wanted to find it on the drive-thru menu is that I’d forgotten what they were called. I guess I’m just a bit self-conscious when it comes to ordering things. The drivethru makes me nervous. I get performance anxiety. I couldn’t remember if it was called “Great Deal”, “Good Deal”, “Meal Deal” or “Big Combo Deal”. Luckily, the kind drive-thru waitress knew what I was talking about when I said “I’d like one of your great deals.” Haha. She could have easily been an ass (sorry gals, I mean an ass-ette) and said something like “Well, all of our items are great deals.”

Anyhow, I got the food and ate it in the car. Here’s the thing: I’m used to the deep fried meat paste taco shells they sell (fun tongue twister – she sells swell taco shells by the seashore). And in fact, I often pick up 2 tacos for 99 cents when my garbage-food intake is feeling a little low. Interestingly, the quality seems to vary. They’re best when they’re fried crispy and almost burnt. This particular batch was excellent. Although, if you believe they look like the picture, I’ve got a lock of Britney Spears’ hair to sell you. They should also put the word “beef” in quotes in their ads. Maybe also put the word “taco” in quotes.

You also get to choose between a 99 cent cheeseburger and a 99 cent chicken sandwich. I’m actually familiar with the latter dollar item, so I got that. It’s just a breaded formed ‘n fried chicken patty on a bun with iceberg lettuce and 5 million billion gallons of mayo. It’s actually not too bad except for the mayo. If I’m not driving, I wipe it off. I guess I could ask for less mayo – but then it’s much too easy to camouflage disgruntled fast food worker loogies inside mayo. I’d rather not antagonize them.

If you’ve been keeping up with their 99 cent menu, you know you can ALWAYS get 2 tacos for 99 cents as well as the chicken sandwich or cheeseburger for 99 cents. So, we’re up to $1.98 – and all that’s left is the drink. And that drink is – just a soda. So breaking it down, Jack In The Box’s The Big Deal equals the opportunity to buy a soda for 61 cents. Is that a good deal? I don’t know – because when I buy dollar items I never get a drink. But it’s probably cheaper than if you were to buy it separately in addition to the 99 cent items.

What they should have done instead was offer ANY combination of 2 items off the dollar menu plus a drink. Or even just add more items to their dollar menu. Or offer a $4 for 5 dollar items special. Because otherwise the only thing different about the Big Deal is a 61 cent drink. Think of all the marketing dollars that went into getting you to pitch in 61 cents more for sugar water. But hey, I bought a Big Deal just from watching their commercials. So, wow, advertising Workzzz!11!

Price: $2.59
Found At: Jack In The Box
Cheap Eats Score: 4/10