- The McDonald'smenu has tons of options for customers.
- And McDonald's crew members themselves have their own frequent picks— as well as orders they tend to avoid.
- Business Insider spoke with numerous current and former McDonald's employees about the menu items they were not crazy about and why.
The McDonald's menu has plenty of offerings for fast-food fans and casual customers alike.
But, when it comes to consuming McDonald's food, the restaurant's crew members are probably the most insightful of the bunch. They don't just cook the meals; many of them take advantage of their employee discounts and chow down on the food while on break, according to Quora users who previously worked at the chain.
But that doesn't mean they'll just eat anything at McDonald's.
Business Insider spoke with several current and former crew members to find out what orders they tended to pass on and why. Numerous people claiming to be McDonald's employees have also shared on Reddit the menu items they'd never order. Most of the preferences came down to nutrition and personal taste.
Here's a look at some of McDonald's employees' least favorite orders:
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A famous, fishy sandwich
The McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich has a storied history. It was the first new non-hamburger item added to the fast-food giant's nation-wide menu in 1965.
But that doesn't matter much to two crew members who spoke with Business Insider.
One former crew member from Virginia described viewing the Filet-O-Fish as a meal popular with older customers "because I assume it's easy for them to chew," but the crew member personally didn't like the taste of the sandwich.
Some of the greener options on the menu
A crew member from Minnesota told Business Insider that they steered clear of a batch of the chain's ostensibly healthier options: the salads.
"I'm not a fan of tons of vegetables, and the caloric count in the items is astronomical," the crew member told Business Insider.
The Southwest buttermilk crispy chicken salad comes in at 520 calories, the bacon ranch salad with buttermilk crispy chicken boasts 490 calories, and the bacon ranch grilled chicken salad has 320 calories.
For comparison, a Big Mac sandwich is 540 calories.
The chain's side salad is only 15 calories, however, for customers looking for a leaner, leafy option.
A particularly sugary beverage
One Reddit commenter said the chain's sweet tea was a bit too sweet for his or her taste.
"Pound. Of. Sugar. Per gallon," the person wrote in a 2013 Reddit thread.
A pound of sugar per gallon of McDonald's sweet tea would translate to a quarter pound — or about 113 grams — of sugar in a large, 32-ounce serving. That is much larger than the still-formidable 38 grams of sugar that McDonald's reports is in a large, 32-ounce McDonald's sweet tea.
A large Coca-Cola contains 77 grams of sugar.
The American Heart Association recommends that men should take in no more than 36 grams of added sugar a day — and that women should consume no more than 25 grams.
The smallest sweet-tea option at McDonald's, the extra-small cup, has 15 grams of sugar.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider