McDonald's Quietly Took Happy Meals Off Its Value Menu

Perhaps you parents out there noticed your regular McDonald's order suddenly cost a couple extra bucks. QSR Magazine reports the fast-food chain quietly removed Happy Meals from its $1, $2, $3 value menu, making a $3 Happy Meal a thing of the past. A Happy Meal now costs, on average, about 25 percent more.

As with all value deals, though, McDonald's says that individual locations are free to set their own standards, so a few scattered locations could presumably still include the kids' meals on their value menus. The $1, $2, $3 deals were a relatively new addition for McDonald's, which debuted the lineup in January as a replacement for its previous McPick 2 menu.

It'll be an unwelcome change for parents used to the flat $3 price tag, but it was actually unusual that Happy Meals were included in that value menu at all. The debut of the $1, $2, $3 menu marked the first time Happy Meals were ever a part of a nationwide deal menu, period.

Happy Meals have been a canvas for change lately, as McDonald's announced in February it would remove cheeseburgers from Happy Meals to reduce the meal's overall calories, saturated fat, and sodium. Options now include a hamburger, 4-piece, and 6-piece Chicken McNuggets—and not for $3.