The Ten Best Cheap Eats In New York City by All Boy/All Girl

Although it may seem glamorous to be an indie band in New York in 2016, the truth is I haven’t had money in my savings account since I started this band four years ago.

The key I've found to balancing band finances and staying fed is to embrace the value menu. Danielle [lead vocalist] and I lived off of $5 a day each for 3 months during an extended tour, and in that time we learned a thing or two about stretching a dollar at you local neighborhood corporate conglomerate.

1. Checkers

When it comes to fast food, few places can hold a flame to Checkers in terms of flavor and value. They regularly have deals and coupons that offer insane amounts of food for less than $5.

Get the 2 for $4 deal with the spicy chicken sandwich and the fry lover burger. Here you get chicken, beef, AND fries for one low low price. It's important when visiting Checkers to get the fries which are famously seasoned and advertised excessively with close up glimpses of the "seasoned" crispy texture which turns out to be some sort of dark-colored, tasteless (edible?) flecks that I'd have to guess were engineered to mimic black pepper.

My location of choice is the location at Broadway and Marcy in Williamsburg. Open all night, you can regularly find folks nodding off as they try to order a late night ice cream cone, or indigent regulars locking themselves up in the bathroom for lengthy periods to freshen up. There's always plenty of seating, and the TV is always on. The staff are usually very happy to serve a less-than-belligerent customer. An excellent stop after a night of Indie Rockin' at the Baby's All Right.

2. Popeyes

As you drunkenly stumble out of the Silent Barn after a night of lo-fi pop punk on your way to the train to Ridgewood where you now live after getting priced out of Bushwick, it may be tempting to stroll into the old go-to; Checkers. However if you can make it a few steps further you'll find yourself faced with the intoxicating notion of Popeye's fried chicken. This location is particularly "lit" or as I like to call it “newly renovated”.

Spring for the $5 bonafide box and bring a friend. With this, you'll get two pieces of chicken a biscuit and choice of 2 sides. My choice? Cajun fries and mac & cheese, but that's me. Personally I pass on the dipping sauces and go straight to the condiment counter for a custom hot sauce and honey mixture.

3. Taco Bell

My personal favorite for budget eating. There aren't all that many locations to chose from in the city unfortunately, and I can't in good faith recommend the Union Square location. Maybe the combination Taco Bell/Pizza Hut Express on Flushing off by the JMZ stop is the best option that I have been to. At Taco Bell there are always plenty of great, cheap options. Although Taco Bell gets a bad rap for an outbreak of salmonella back in 2010, this was contained to a batch of lettuce, and if you are worried about it, don't get lettuce. I like to live dangerously and always get at least one crunchy taco supreme.

For the most part, Taco Bell food items are comprised of vacuum sealed sacks of liquid meat, cheese, and condiments which will never see the light of day until it is squirted directly onto your delicious 5 layer burrito. So dig in with the peace of mind that your food has been carefully packed and heavily processed with antibiotics to keep you happy and healthy!

4. Punjabi Grocery/Deli

After a long night of watching your coworker's band who's trying to do a John Legend thing (but just doesn't have the charisma to pull it off) at Mercury Lounge you may find yourself outside smoking a cigarette, gazing across the wide expanse of Houston to an alluring green awning with the strange words Punjabi Grocery & Deli on it. Sure, it doesn't have the comforts of familiar corporate branding, and the staff don't bark the stale cadence of a focus group studied greeting at you, but maybe you're feeling bold, looking for adventure.

Wander down the stairs into this basement food vendor to find a refrigerated case full of homemade, completely vegetarian foods. Microwaved fresh to order! That's right folks they microwave their food! But lucky for you, microwaving is a perfectly safe and healthy way to heat food! Choose 2 different vegetable items over a bowl of basmati rice and you're good to go for $4. Throw in a samosa for a buck, heck maybe grab a honey ball for dessert, after all you deserve it. You supported a local business.

5. Wendy’s

Another restaurant chain that seems to have a depleting number of locations in the city. The one on Broadway in Noho isn’t a bad option after an afternoon of perusing the clearance section at Urban Outfitters. Currently they’ve got a 4 for $4 deal, which is a fine choice, you're basically getting a free drink there but let’s face it, you don’t need to be consuming any more HFCS. Wendy’s also has some nice options on the “a la cart” value menu, such as the Jr Bacon Cheeseburger, or the Spicy Chicken wrap (two personal favorites of mine).

Let’s take a second to talk about Combo meals. Don’t do it. It’s expensive. Sure they look great on the animated screen with the ice cubes falling into the cup of overflowing cola, but you’re better than that. You’re an informed consumer. Also, don’t get a salad. It’s not gonna be very good, and although the shame levels may be reduced, the prices are not. You’ll just end drooling over your friends as they eat their hamburgers.

For some reason, Wendy’s seems to have a reputation for being “not as bad as the other fast food places”. We all deal with guilt and shame in different ways.

6. Champion Pizza

There are maybe 5 places in lower Manhattan with this same name. I’m talking about the good one. The one on Essex near Rivington. You know the one. This place is open all night, but as far as I am concerned they close at 10 when their “daytime special” expires and prices are doubled in an effort to capitalize on the careless spending habits of the LES bar crowd.

During the day though, this little pizza spot offers $1 cheese slices, which are leaps and bounds better quality than your 2 bros or similar dollar slice spots. They also have about 10 different pies with different toppings all available by the slice for $2. In the NYC dollar slice scene, the availability of condiments seems to be crucial for a lot of patrons, so be warned, although they do offer the classics (salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, and hot sauce) they don’t have parmesan cheese.

Stop in to Champion Pizza any day of the week before 10pm, and you are likely to see a member of all boy/all girl chowing down on a slice standing by the entrance surrounded by dozens of framed pictures of the shop’s owner posing with reluctant, and confused celebrities.

7. McDonald’s

If you are desperate as I often am, and it's after 10 so the good dollar slice place is charging $2 a slice, and the dollar slice place on Stanton is crawling with drunk “party” people. I often find myself at the McDonald’s location on Delancey and Essex.

The service at this location is nice and slow, so there is plenty of time to stand and think about your life choices, and decide if this is the right move for you. More often than not, I don't make it to the cashier before a wash of shame comes over me. Fortunately, there is a convenient side exit just to the right of the register that you can discretely slip out of without needing to make eye contact with any of the customers waiting behind you.

If you do make it to the counter though, it's hard to pass up the allure of the breakfast all day. I go for the sausage McMuffin which is much cheaper without the "egg product" however it is VERY dry so get Ketchup! Another good option is the McPick 2 for $3 deal where you can get things like nuggets, mcdouble, mcchicken, or fries and mix n match.

8. Domino’s

When it comes to fast food pizza, do yourself a favor and have some self control. Only do Domino's during the week, and always do take out. This is where the deals are. You can often get pizzas for half of their delivery/weekend price, plus you don't need to tip if you pick it up.

9. Burger King

I feel the need to comment here because they’ve been getting lots of buzz lately for their Mac and Cheeto(tm) product which has recently rather abruptly disappeared off of menus and window displays. The Mac and Cheeto(tm) is exactly what it claims to be. Look/taste/mouth feel is on target with cheetos but warm and with liquid fake cheese inside with some solids resembling pasta. A fun experience, but ultimately not a repeat item. Typically I stay away from Burger King. Especially the one on Delancey and Suffolk which always seems to be filled with smoke and simultaneously smells like a bathroom.

10. Arby's

Few things are sadder than the idea of eating at an Arby's restaurant. There are no deals here. No fun gross-out gimmick items, just heated up cold cuts and a whole bunch of arrogance. As far as I know, there is only one Arby's in the city, and it's in midtown so who gives a shit anyway?