McDonald's free McNuggets deal for one day only

ST. LOUIS (KTVI) – More meal deals are coming to fast food restaurants as rising prices have proven tough for customers to swallow.

This week, burger giant McDonald's is giving away Chicken McNuggets.

This Wednesday, May 22, McDonald's is giving away free 6-piece Chicken McNuggets when you order through the McDonald's app. This offer is valid for one day only at participating restaurants across the US. To get the free nuggets, download the app and join MyMcDonald’s Rewards. No purchase is necessary, and you can add your favorite dipping sauce to your order.

This free nugget offer is just the beginning of many deals McDonald's has planned for the summer. The company aims to provide more special offers alongside its everyday affordable prices. A spokesperson for the company says that currently, 90% of McDonald’s franchisees in the US offer meal bundles for $4 or less.

Next month, McDonald's plans to introduce a $5 meal deal in the US to address slowing sales and customer concerns about high prices. The deal includes a four-piece McNugget, small fries, a small drink, and either a McDouble burger or a McChicken sandwich.

The deals come in the wake of several viral stories decrying the price of a burger, including one purportedly showing a Five Guys customer's $24 receipt for a single meal.

The latest consumer inflation data show that "limited-service meals + snacks," the spending category covering fast food, jumped 4.8 percent in April, year over year. The average increase of all items combined was only 3.4%.

“Consumers continue to be even more discriminating with every dollar that they spend as they faced elevated prices in their day-to-day spending, which is putting pressure on the [quick-service restaurant] industry,” McDonald’s President and CEO Chris Kempczinski said during an investor call last month, adding that McDonald’s needs a “nationwide value message.”

Fast food prices (69.5%) have outpaced the inflation rate of common consumer goods (46.9%) between Jan. 2009 and Feb. 2024, according to fact-checking site Verify.

In states like California where the minimum wage was recently hiked to $20, one report found that some fast food restaurants had raised their prices by as much as 8% in response to the April law change.