A new study by branding agency Branding By Garden has revealed which fast food favourites offer Brits the best nutritional value for money, comparing hundreds of menu items from some of the country’s biggest chains.
The research looked at prices and nutritional information from restaurants including McDonald’s, Burger King, Greggs, KFC, Subway and Taco Bell. Each item received a Nutrition Score out of 100, based on factors such as protein, sugar, saturated fat and salt. This was then compared against its price to find out which products offer the most nutritional value for every £1 spent.
For McDonald’s and Subway, prices were collected from Just Eat and adjusted to estimate in-store costs, so their positions in the combined ranking are indicative. Prices for the other chains were based on takeaway or collection menus.
The UK’s top 15 best-value fast food mains
| Rank | Fast food chain | Menu item | Price | Calories | Protein (g) | Sugar (g) | Saturates (g) | Salt (g) | Nutrition Score (/100) | Value per £1 |
| 1 | McDonald’s | Mayo Chicken | £2.07* | 282 | 12.0 | 5.1 | 1.0 | 0.92 | 98.8 | 47.70 |
| 2 | Burger King | Hamburger | £1.79 | 247 | 14.0 | 5.3 | 3.7 | 1.10 | 80.9 | 45.19 |
| 3 | Taco Bell | Beefy Nacho Cravings Burrito | £1.99 | 392 | 13.0 | 2.3 | 5.0 | 1.60 | 86.6 | 43.50 |
| 4 | Taco Bell | Double Cheesy Black Bean Cravings Burrito | £1.99 | 389 | 11.0 | 2.2 | 4.2 | 2.20 | 85.0 | 42.69 |
| 5 | Taco Bell | Spicy Chicken Cravings Burrito | £1.99 | 277 | 15.0 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 1.80 | 83.1 | 41.75 |
| 6 | Greggs | Free Range Egg Mayo Sandwich | £2.45 | 358 | 16.0 | 6.0 | 2.1 | 1.30 | 97.1 | 39.65 |
| 7 | Greggs | Tuna Mayonnaise & Cucumber Sandwich | £2.45 | 333 | 21.0 | 4.2 | 0.9 | 1.20 | 97.1 | 39.64 |
| 8 | Taco Bell | Baby Quesadilla | £1.99 | 185 | 9.7 | 1.4 | 2.7 | 0.88 | 78.8 | 39.59 |
| 9 | McDonald’s | Snack Wrap | £2.39* | 282 | 11.0 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 1.10 | 93.0 | 38.88 |
| 10 | Taco Bell | Crunchy Taco – Beef | £1.79 | 174 | 8.7 | 0.7 | 3.7 | 0.64 | 63.0 | 35.20 |
| 11 | Taco Bell | Soft Taco – Beef | £1.79 | 189 | 10.0 | 1.0 | 3.8 | 0.99 | 63.0 | 35.18 |
| 12 | Taco Bell | Crispy Chicken Soft Taco | £2.49 | 312 | 13.0 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 1.30 | 87.1 | 34.98 |
| 13 | Greggs | Roast Chicken Salad Sandwich | £2.85 | 349 | 19.0 | 6.9 | 1.0 | 1.10 | 99.3 | 34.85 |
| 14 | KFC | Mini Burger | £2.59 | 277 | 18.0 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 1.40 | 90.2 | 34.84 |
| 15 | McDonald’s | Cheeseburger | £2.23* | 303 | 16.0 | 7.5 | 5.8 | 1.40 | 68.8 | 30.82 |
McDonald’s Mayo Chicken takes first place in the combined ranking, costing an estimated £2.07 and offering 47.70 nutritional value points per £1 spent. It received a Nutrition Score of 98.8 out of 100 and contains 282 calories and 12g of protein, or 24% of an adult’s daily Reference Intake. The burger also has just 1g of saturated fat and 0.92g of salt. Its first-place position is indicative, however, as the price was estimated using delivery data rather than collected directly in-store.
Burger King’s Hamburger follows in second, and it’s actually cheaper, at £1.79. The burger offers 45.19 nutritional value points per £1 spent, putting it just behind McDonald’s. It contains 247 calories and 14g of protein, which works out at 7.82g per pound spent, more than the Mayo Chicken. Its Nutrition Score is lower, though, at 80.9, and it contains 3.7g of saturated fat compared with just 1g in the McDonald’s burger.
Taco Bell takes the next three places, all with burritos costing £1.99. Its Beefy Nacho Cravings Burritocomes third, offering 43.50 nutritional value points per £1 spent, followed by the Double Cheesy Black Bean Cravings Burrito in fourth with 42.69 points per £1. The beef version contains 13g of protein and has a Nutrition Score of 86.6, while the black bean option has 11g of protein and scores 85.0. Both contain close to 400 calories.
The Spicy Chicken Cravings Burrito ranks fifth, offering 41.75 nutritional value points per £1 spent. It has the most protein of the three Taco Bell burritos, at 15g, despite containing considerably fewer calories. Salt is something to watch across these options, though. The black bean burrito contains 2.2g, more than a third of the recommended daily maximum, while the spicy chicken version has 1.8g.
Greggs enters the ranking in sixth place with its Free Range Egg Mayo Sandwich, priced at £2.45 and offering 39.65 nutritional value points per £1 spent. It received a Nutrition Score of 97.1 out of 100, considerably higher than the Burger King hamburger in second place, but its higher price means it offers slightly less nutritional value for money. The sandwich contains 16g of protein and 358 calories.
The bakery chain also takes seventh place with its Tuna Mayonnaise & Cucumber Sandwich, which costs the same £2.45 and offers 39.64 nutritional value points per £1 spent. There’s almost nothing between the two Greggs sandwiches in the overall ranking, but the tuna option has more protein, at 21g per serving. That’s 42% of the daily Reference Intake and works out at 8.57g per pound spent, the highest of any item in the top 15.
Taco Bell returns in eighth place with its Baby Quesadilla, priced at £1.99 and offering 39.59 nutritional value points per £1 spent. Its Nutrition Score of 78.8 puts it below the two Greggs sandwiches, but the lower price helps it stay close in the overall value ranking. The portion contains just 185 calories, though, considerably less than most other mains near the top.
McDonald’s Snack Wrap comes ninth, with an estimated price of £2.39 and 38.88 nutritional value points per £1 spent. It received a Nutrition Score of 93.0 and contains 282 calories and 11g of protein. It’s the second McDonald’s item to reach the top ten, although its position is also based on an estimated in-store price.
The next three places all go to Taco Bell. Its Crunchy Taco – Beef comes tenth, offering 35.20 nutritional value points per £1 spent, while the Soft Taco – Beef ranks eleventh with 35.18 points per £1. Both cost £1.79 and received a Nutrition Score of 63.0, with almost nothing separating them. The soft taco contains slightly more protein, 10g compared with 8.7g, but it also has more salt.
The chain’s Crispy Chicken Soft Taco takes twelfth place, offering 34.98 nutritional value points per £1 spent. At £2.49, it’s one of the more expensive Taco Bell products in the top 15. It contains 312 calories and 13g of protein, with a Nutrition Score of 87.1. That’s higher than some of the tacos above it, but the extra cost pulls it further down the value ranking.
Greggs’ Roast Chicken Salad Sandwich is thirteenth, offering 34.85 nutritional value points per £1 spent, and this one is particularly interesting. At 99.3 out of 100, it has the highest Nutrition Score of anything in the top 15. It also contains 19g of protein and just 1g of saturated fat. But at £2.85, it’s more expensive than most of the other options, which is why it doesn’t rank as highly for value.
KFC makes its first appearance in fourteenth place with the Mini Burger, priced at £2.59 and offering 34.84 nutritional value points per £1 spent. It’s another relatively small item, at 277 calories, but contains 18g of protein, or 36% of the daily Reference Intake. It received a Nutrition Score of 90.2, offering almost the same value per pound as the Greggs sandwich above it.
Completing the top 15 is McDonald’s Cheeseburger, costing an estimated £2.23 and offering 30.82 nutritional value points per £1 spent. It contains 16g of protein, slightly more than the Mayo Chicken in first place, but its Nutrition Score is much lower, at 68.8. The cheeseburger also has 5.8g of saturated fat, compared with 1g in the Mayo Chicken, showing how two similarly priced burgers from the same chain can perform quite differently.
Further down the ranking, Greggs becomes the most common name. The bakery chain has 28 products in the top 50, including its Roast Chicken Salad Roll in sixteenth place with 28.93 nutritional value points per £1 spent, Margherita Pizza in seventeenth with 28.41 points per £1, and Tuna Crunch Roll in eighteenth with 28.27 points per £1.
The classic Greggs Sausage Roll also makes the list, coming 39th with 23.23 nutritional value points per £1 spent. At £1.35, it’s one of the cheapest items included, but its Nutrition Score is just 31.4 out of 100. It contains 347 calories, 9.1g of protein and 11g of saturated fat, which is more than half the adult daily Reference Intake.
There are some other interesting differences lower down the table. Greggs’ Spicy Chicken Pizza, for example, ranks 34th with 24.33 nutritional value points per £1 spent, but provides 8.31g of protein per pound. Its Vegan Roll Pork-Free, in 41st place, offers 22.80 nutritional value points per £1 spent and 8.15g of protein per pound.
Overall, Taco Bell has ten products in the top 50, followed by McDonald’s with six, while Burger King and KFC have three each. Subway, Domino’s, Five Guys and Papa John’s don’t feature in the first 50 places.
Joseph Hedges, CEO and Creative Director of Branding By Garden, commented on the findings: “People have a pretty good idea of which fast food chains they think are cheap, but that doesn’t always match what they’re actually getting for their money. A burger might only cost £2, which sounds great, but once someone adds chips and a drink, they’re often spending a lot more than they expected.
“Taco Bell having so many products in the top 15 is interesting from a branding point of view. It’s not just one cheap item being used to attract customers. There are several options at roughly the same low price, which can make a brand feel consistently affordable. People might not remember exactly what they paid last time, but they tend to remember whether they felt they’d got a decent deal.
“Greggs is a slightly different example because its reputation for value has been built up over a long time. It has a lot of products in the top 50, and that suggests affordability runs across a large part of its menu rather than being limited to a handful of products. That’s something customers come to expect, and it’s quite difficult for a competitor to replicate overnight.
“There’s also a difference between something being cheap and someone feeling they’ve got good value. The nutritional content matters, but so does the size of the portion and whether the food actually satisfies them. Brands need to be careful about relying too much on low headline prices if people end up having to spend considerably more to get the meal they wanted.”
