Avoid Ordering From Fast Food Restaurants On This Specific Day Of The Week

If you don't work in the restaurant industry, it can be easy to lose sight of the hundreds of moving parts that go into making every day consistent, while providing a feeling of effortlessness for those enjoying the dining experience. As tirelessly as people work to maintain those standards, there are inevitable weak points in the chain, which is why it's helpful to know the worst day to place an order at a fast food joint. According to Shalvi Singh, founder of Healthengine.us and senior product manager at Amazon AI, Mondays are a notoriously bad day to stop at a fast food chain for several reasons. The first is due to staffing gaps. "Weekends attract this chain's top performers, so Mondays tend to be manned by novice staff who do not prepare food the same way every time, so there are many order mistakes," Singh said. 

There's also the question of ingredient freshness, as Anthony Bourdain made famous with his rule about skipping the Monday fish special (though he later repented, to an extent). "[Many perishable foods] also have a delivery schedule on Tuesday, which means that items like buns and fries that are kept under heat lamps used during Monday service are out of date and stored for over a week," Singh warned. You also want to avoid eating anything that could have potentially come into contact with stagnant cooking oil that has been sitting around all weekend long. The expert elaborated, "This creates off-flavors and poses a risk to food safety due to FIFO (first-in, first-out) protocols failing to be performed."

In general, it is best to avoid indulging in fast food on a Monday, but sometimes our stomach (or empty fridge) has other plans. Luckily, there are some places to eat that are better and safer than others. In these circumstances, Shalvi Singh recommends prioritizing chains known for high food quality, not just low prices. 

"In-N-Out Burger Only brings in local sponge-dough buns. Beef is never frozen and is ground each day, while hand-cut fries are made on-site," the expert offered by way of example. "All items are made to order — there are no freezers, microwaves, or heat lamps on the premises. Every burger is indeed made to order." In fact, the beloved California burger chain doesn't even have freezers, ensuring that food is always prepared fresh daily. This is one of the many valued things that has provided the chain with such a high reputation nationwide — although there is little chance that In-N-Out will ever expand beyond the West Coast.

Singh also recommended Raising Canes as a chain that keeps things relatively fresh, and of course, there's the golden standard of fresh ingredients made to order: Chipotle. "They embrace the open concept, where customers can watch ingredients being prepped fresh daily. You can build your meal to your liking, avoiding any heat-lamp stagnation," Singh shared. Shake Shack and Wendy's are just two more fast food chains who serve fresh burgers, not frozen – so there is a higher likelihood your food will still taste fresh, even on a Monday.