I tried $5 value meals from McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's. They're the perfect way for chains to lure customers.

• Fast-food chains are competing for customers by offering value meals.

• Three of the biggest chains, McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King, each have a version of a $5 meal.

• I compared them all and thought Wendy's $5 Biggie Bag was the best deal.

As inflation continues to affect consumers and restaurants are struggling to keep prices down and make a profit, fast-food chains are rolling out value meals and discounts across the board.

I tried the $5 meals from Burger King, Wendy's, and McDonald's to see which chain offered the best meal in terms of taste, quality, and size for the least amount of money.

While each meal had its strengths and weaknesses, the $5 Biggie Bag from Wendy's emerged as my pick for the best value.

Here's what I loved and hated about each chain's meals.

I tried the $5 Your Way meal from Burger King, the $5 Meal Deal from McDonald's, and the $5 Biggie Bag from Wendy's.

Both Burger King and McDonald's released their $5 meal deals in June. Wendy's, meanwhile, has been offering the Biggie Bag for five years, Today.com reported.

A street in my hometown on Long Island, New York, has all three chains within two blocks of each other, so I made my way over there.

Each meal is priced at $5, though they all ended up costing slightly different amounts at the locations I visited due to tax.

My Burger King meal was $5.81; my McDonald's meal was $5.54; and my Wendy's meal was $5.43.

The standard Burger King drink that comes with the $5 meal was visibly smaller than the drinks from the other chains.

This was a genuine surprise to me. If I hadn't been trying these all at once — and therefore, didn't have two other drinks to quench my thirst — I would've been slightly annoyed at the size of Burger King's soda.

Each chain's meal comes with your choice of soft drink, but their sizes vary: Burger King's is 16 ounces, McDonald's is 21 ounces, and Wendy's is 20 ounces.

The $5 Your Way meal from Burger King also came with fries, four chicken nuggets, and a choice of sandwich. I went for the Whopper Jr.

My sandwich options were a Whopper Jr., a bacon cheeseburger, or a Chicken Jr. As a burger-lover, I went for the Whopper Jr.

I've always been a fan of the chicken nuggets at Burger King.

For a chain known for its burgers, BK certainly knows its way around a chicken nugget. These were spiced perfectly, not too salty, and paired well with the honey mustard. They also had a nice crunch.

My one complaint is that they were a bit dense.

My Whopper Jr. was delicious.

I'm not sure if I've ever actually had a Whopper Jr. before, but I was very pleased with my experience.

My burger came on a sesame-seed bun and was topped with lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, mayonnaise, and cheese. The sandwich was juicy and tasted about as good as any fast-food burger I've had.

The only difference between a Whopper and a Whopper Jr. is the size of the patty, which means that if I were to go back for just a burger, I'd order the normal Whopper.

Next up, I tried the $5 Meal Deal from McDonald's. It came with a McDouble, four chicken McNuggets, small fries, and a drink.

There are two $5 meal deals available at McDonald's and they're only available for a month: the McChicken or the McDouble. Since I went with the burger at Burger King, I stuck to burgers at Mickey D's, too.

I have to say, I wasn't impressed with the McNuggets.

I'm typically a lover of the McNugget — you can see I had already eaten one before I remembered to take a photo.

But I don't think these McNuggets were as good as the nuggets from Burger King and Wendy's. I thought these were bland with a somewhat rubbery texture, but perhaps I just got a mediocre batch. I'll be paying close attention the next time I get McDonald's.

My McDouble was, frankly, not enjoyable.

I usually liked a McDonald's burger, especially a Big Mac or a Quarter Pounder. But I was disappointed with my McDouble, which was just two patties smushed together with ketchup, pickles, and onions.

I can't overstate how dry this was. I needed a huge gulp of my Diet Coke to help it go down.

Then I tried the Wendy’s $5 Biggie Bag. I got a Jr. bacon cheeseburger, four chicken nuggets, fries, and a drink.

Wendy's has always prioritized discount meals on its menu. The Biggie Bag has been around for five years, and the equally cost-effective "4 for $4" has been around for years as well.

The difference between the 4 for $4 and the Biggie Bag is selection. For $4, you can only get a Jr. Cheeseburger. With an additional dollar, you can choose from a Jr. bacon cheeseburger, a crispy chicken sandwich, a crispy chicken BLT, or a Double Stack.

These were by far the best chicken nuggets.

These were not over-salted, nor were they bland. I found the subtle spice to be just right.

They also had the perfect texture — not too dense with the perfect amount of crunch.

I was slightly overwhelmed by the bacon cheeseburger.

In my opinion, a good fast-food burger is an art. You don't want it to be too busy since you're most likely eating it on the go.

While this was a solid burger, I thought it was a bit much. The lettuce was too big, and I didn't love the bacon on top — I actually ended up removing it. The burger also had tomato, cheese, ketchup, and mayonnaise on top, which made it messy.

I saved all the fries for last. To me, McDonald’s will never be beaten in this department.

I thought the Wendy's and Burger King fries suffered from the same problem: Both were a bit soggy and mushy, and neither had enough salt.

The McDonald's fries, on the other hand, were thin, crunchy, and salty. This might come down to personal preference, but I'm crowning McDonald's the winner.

To help me decide on my favorite meal, I ranked each chain by its meal components.

The rankings broke down like this:

• Burgers:

  1. Burger King

  2. Wendy's

  3. McDonald's

• Nuggets:

  1. Wendy's

  2. Burger King

  3. McDonald's

• Fries:

  1. McDonald's

  2. Wendy's

  3. Burger King

• Drinks:

  1. McDonald's and Wendy's

  2. Burger King

Ultimately, the deal I'd recommend to anyone is the $5 Biggie Bag from Wendy's.

Wendy's has the best overall selection. It had a large drink, the best nuggets, the second-best burger, and the second-best fries. It was also the cheapest, at $5.43. For me, it puts the "value" in value meal.

However, if you have $5 to spare and are near any of these places, you can't go wrong. You'll find nowhere else where you can get a sandwich, nuggets, fries, and a drink — which was more than enough food for me — for less than $6.

Read the original article on Business Insider