McDonald’s Australia blows away US expat with lack of $1 items

A US expat who now lives in Sydney says she was surprised to find a certain bargain menu was seriously lacking when she moved to Australia.

While McDonald’s is famous for its consistency across every country, one US expat says she was shocked to discover an entire menu missing in restaurants around Australia.

American woman Kaymie Wuerfel, who is now living in Australia after moving Down Under from Florida, said she was surprised to find out that Australian McDonald’s restaurants don’t have her beloved ‘$1 menu’ permanently available.

In the US, Ms Wuerfel used to order off the $1 menu range, which typically includes a Cheeseburger, McChicken burger, coffee or soft drink.

Australian McDonald’s has some drink items or a soft service ice cream for $1, however if you want one of their burgers you’re looking at $2 minimum for a hamburger or $4 for a ‘Chick N Cheese’ on the restaurant’s ‘Loose Change’ menu.

Kaymie revealed her shock at the lack of Australia’s $1 McDonald's menu.

Kaymie said she was also shocked by the size of the drinks.

Another McDonald’s item that confused the teacher was the size of the servings – especially soft drink.

When she was given her ‘large’ coke, Ms Wuerfel said she was confused by the cup size which was almost the same size as America’s medium coke.

In Australia, a McDonald’s large soft drink is 650mL while in America, it’s 887mL.

The woman’s TikTok quickly stirred up comments, with many shocked that drink sizes in the US were so much bigger than what’s served in Australia.

“Our McDonald’s small is bigger than a large in America,” she explained, however others claimed that in fact a medium in Australia is the same as a small in the US.

It’s not the first time the US teacher has revealed her shock about Macca’s in Australia.

Earlier this year, Ms Wuerfel declared Australian McDonald’s to be superior over the American version as the “food quality” was so much better.

“I never ate it much in America because when you eat McDonald’s in America you genuinely feel like you are going to die,” she said.

“And I know here is probably not much better but it is so, so good.

“I’m eating those Chicken McPieces and downing my frozen Coke, the last thing on my mind is my health – which probably is a bad thing.”

An American expat has explained a certain menu that's not in Australia.

The woman also said she is surprised by the size difference in Australia.

In the comments, plenty of Aussies agreed, suggesting it could be because US McDonald’s used different oil to cook their food. Other customers have previously claimed the difference is down to Australia’s premium ingredients such as high-quality beef, or the lack of sugar in Aussie bread.

“I tried McDonald’s while I was in the US and I literally was sick a few hours later,” one person wrote.

“I tried the USA Macca’s too when I was there. It’s so bad I don’t know how it became so big,” another commented.

Earlier this month, Ms Wuerfel said she had “knocked Starbucks” but then “realised I haven’t actually tried it since I’ve been here”.

Kaymie revealed her shock at the lack of Australia's $1 McDonald's menu.

“So I ordered my old ‘go-to’ which is a venti iced caramel macchiato and I’m going to give it a try,” she said.

After taking a sip, Ms Wuerfel said she noticed a definite difference in the flavour of Aussie Starbucks.

“The sizing is a little bit different than the Starbucks in America,” she said.

“It’s still definitely stronger than the American Starbucks. That said, it’s still very sweet and more like a treat than a regular coffee.”

Since moving to Australia, Ms Wuerfel has gained more than 215,000 followers on TikTok where she shares the differences between the two countries in hilarious clips.

– With Hannah Paine