If you're a mother of 6 kids, you'll do what you can to make sure they eat delicious and healthy food without the cost of an arm and a leg. This is precisely what an Australian mom did when she thought of doing DIY fake happy meals for her kids! It's genuinely innovative if you ask me!
Elly Mae, the mother of 6 kids living in Queensland, spent only $10 for all the ingredients to make the fake happy meals. For the same cost, she would have only bought 2 Maccas.
Buying the ingredients and packaging them herself was indeed a bang for the buck. Instead of having only 2 Maccas, her DIY strategy allowed her to make up to 6 fake happy meals.
Her fake happy meals included chicken nuggets, french fries, apple juice, yogurt, along with the sweet and sour sauce. The fries were put inside individual paper bags and the yogurt into pouches. To achieve the happy meal look, she bought red boxes online for the yogurt pouches and wrapped the chips and chicken nuggets with baking paper.
When Elly posted the pictures online, several people applauded her for thinking outside the box while saving money and ensuring her kids eat something healthy and tasty!
Being in quarantine has made people ingenious in coming up with meals they can make from home, all the while satisfying their cravings for McDonald's. Moms doing fake happy meals seems to be a trend.
MoreFM shared a similar story with another mom who thought about tricking her kids to thinking they were getting Happy meals.
Besides Elly, MailOnline shared a story of another devoted wife in Western Australia who made her own version of McMuffin, which she called "fakeaway" breakfast. Her DIY recipe allowed her to save $2.85 for each homemade muffin.
She bought enough ingredients to make 12 muffins for only $22.90 when she would have spent $4.75 each if she ordered directly from the fast-food giant.
She bought English muffins, sausages, and cheese slices. The cooking method is relatively simple to follow. She started first with the muffins. She toasted them lightly and then took off the sausages' skin to make them into patties. As they're cooking, she placed slices of cheese on top. When they were ready, she assembled them into the muffins.
To preserve the flavor, she wrapped them in paper towels and aluminum foil before dumping them into the freezer overnight. The next day, her husband would either pop them into the microwave or use a sandwich press to toast. Clever, don't you think?
Moms are not the only ones trying on the DIY approach. Dad's are making headlines too.
The Sun published an article about a Dad from the other side of the world, recreating a fake happy meal. He ended up with the best turn out because her six-year-old liked his version way better than the original!
Andy Penn from Bedfordshire advised parents to ask for an extra packaging the next time they are in McDonald's. When going out is not possible because of Covid or other reasons, they can simply make the fake happy meals from home. He also added that the main point is not forgetting about the toy.