Our family of four enjoyed Chick-fil-A's meal deal enough, but I'm not sure about the value.
Cindy Ord/Getty Images
I ordered a family-style meal deal at Chick-fil-A for myself, my wife, and two kids.
We spent about $50 for 10 chicken tenders, four sides, and four desserts. The tenders were great.
Overall, the food wasn't bad, but I wouldn't say this was that great of a value for my family.
Recently, while running errands on a weeknight in Midtown Manhattan, my family of four stopped at Chick-fil-A.
Raising two kids on a fairly tight budget in New York City means making sacrifices. For us, that's cooking most of our meals at home and being choosy about where and when we dine out.
If I'm ordering my family dinner — especially from a fast-food chain in one of the culinary capitals of the world — it ought to at least be a decent value.
So, we tried one of the chain's family-style meal deals.
The meal was a bit harder to get than I expected.
I placed my order on the Chick-fil-A app.
Ted Berg
Chick-fil-A's family-style meals include items and prices that vary by location, but they usually include a combination of mains, sides, and desserts.
The meals were prominently displayed on Chick-fil-A's online menu when I checked, but when I tried to order one at the counter, I was told I could not.
Instead, I had to download the app to order the 10-count Chick-fil-A Chick-n-Strips family-style meal, which was a little annoying. I already have plenty of apps on my phone, and this step felt unnecessary since I was prepared to order in person.
Our food was ready in a few minutes.
My family-style meal came with two different sides and two different desserts.
Ted Berg
The meal I ordered cost $47.99 and came with 10 chicken strips, two orders of waffle fries, two orders of mac and cheese, two chocolate chip cookies, and two brownies.
It was ready in just a few minutes. We were dining in, but because I ordered on the app, it came packed up to go, sturdily packaged in a manageable-sized bag.
The chicken strips impressed us right away.
Our order came with 10 Chick-N-Strips.
Ted Berg
When you've got little kids, you can wind up eating a lot of stray chicken tenders.
In many cases, the breading is caked on and the chicken is overcooked to the point of chewiness. That was not the case at Chick-fil-A.
The strips were nicely salty and mildly seasoned, with a hint of crispiness in the breading and moist meat that tasted freshly cooked.
By the standards of fast-food chicken tenders, Chick-fil-A's get five out of five stars. My wife and I both thought the chicken strips were the best part of the meal.
One of our sides was waffle fries, which my kids liked more than I did.
I thought the waffle fries at Chick-fil-A were a little underwhelming.
Ted Berg
Family meals at Chick-fil-A are available with sides in multiple configurations. We chose two orders of waffle fries and two orders of mac and cheese, but we could've switched up those ratios or swapped in a fruit cup.
The waffle fries were a hit with my kids, probably because they tend to like the saltiest part of any meal.
I was underwhelmed. I didn't think they had much flavor besides salt, and they weren't really crispy at all.
We were impressed by the mac and cheese.
Chick-fil-A's mac and cheese had a nice flavor.
Ted Berg
The mac and cheese was a pleasant surprise.
It looked and tasted like it had been baked as a casserole — a homestyle mac and cheese with nice texture and flavor from the creamy sauce and chunks of browned baked cheese.
We had two different desserts to round out our meal.
My kids loved the Chick-fil-A brownie.
Ted Berg
All Chick-fil-A family meals available on the app come with two brownies and two chocolate chip cookies.
There's a nostalgic appeal to the desserts at Chick-fil-A, especially when you compare them to the garish, enormous sweets sold at popular cookie chains.
These treats seemed like something you might find at a school bake sale: Moderate portions and classic flavors.
My kids loved the fudgy gooeyness of the brownie, but my wife thought it just seemed a little underdone.
Our kids loved both of them.
The cookie from Chick-fil-A was pretty tasty.
Ted Berg
The cookies had big chunks of melty chocolate and a nice combination of outer crunch and interior softness.
I didn't detect any of the artificial chewiness you can sometimes find in mass-produced cookies. Both desserts were huge hits with my kids.
Overall, I can't say I was particularly impressed by the meal's value.
Next time, we'd probably just order what we really want.
Ted Berg
I didn't think this meal was an especially good value.
Adding up the individual components — $23.49 for a 10-piece Chick-n-Strips, $3.85 each for medium waffle fries, $5.35 each for mac and cheese, $2.19 each for the cookies, $2.99 each for the brownies — comes to $52.25.
So, I saved less than $5 by going with a family meal.
Plus, this choice locks everyone in the family into the same meal (I would've preferred a spicy chicken sandwich).
After we added in two drinks (iced tea/lemonades) and a fruit cup (for our 7-year-old dabbling in vegetarianism), we spent about $65 on our dinner.
That's almost twice as much as it'd cost us to eat at a local pizzeria, and about exactly the same as we'd pay to eat our fill from a broader variety of options at a nearby Shake Shack, our usual go-to for quick, casual meals.
Even adjusting my expectations for the location in Midtown Manhattan (which tends to be expensive), the price felt high for what we got.
Israeli aircraft attacked Natanz, Iran's main enrichment facility, in strikes that began early Friday.
Maxar Technologies/via REUTERS
Israel launched a major operation on Friday targeting Iran's nuclear program.
Israeli officials said aircraft struck Iran's main enrichment facility at Natanz, among other sites.
It's hard for Israel to completely wipe out Iran's nuclear program, given that much is underground.
Israel launched an air assault against Iran early Friday morning that officials said is intended to damage Tehran's nuclear program.
Hundreds of Israeli warplanes participated in a series of widespread airstrikes targeting sites associated with Iran's nuclear and missile programs, as well as military leaders and air defense systems, in a major escalation that has already drawn a retaliatory attack from Tehran.
Specifically, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his forces "struck at the heart" of the country's nuclear enrichment and weaponization programs, and targeted its main enrichment facility at Natanz. The extent of the damage is unclear so far, but analysts said it appeared to be limited based on satellite imagery.
Netanyahu had long pushed for a military approach to Iran's nuclear program, as opposed to the deal that the Trump administration was hoping to settle to prevent Tehran from building nuclear weapons.
First responders react at the scene of an explosion in Tehran on Friday.
AP Photo/Vahid Salemi
Iran has said that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.
However, military and nuclear experts say firepower alone won't be enough to completely wipe out Iran's nuclear program. It has many scientists with nuclear expertise and has stored its most critical facilities in bunkers buried deep underground.
This makes the facilities particularly challenging targets that, from the air, can only be reached by the largest bunker busters, which Israel lacks, or repeated strikes in the same spots.
Natanz, home to Iran's largest uranium enrichment site, is located several floors underground in the center of the country. The Israel Defense Forces said its airstrikes damaged an underground area of the facility that contains an enrichment hall with centrifuges, electrical rooms, and additional infrastructure.
Satellite imagery captured on Friday revealed what appears to be significant damage at Natanz, but only on the surface.
Overnight, Israeli strikes reportedly targeted strategic Iranian sites, including the Natanz nuclear facility, Iran's primary center for uranium enrichment. High-resolution imagery from @AirbusDefence, captured on June 13, 2025, reveals significant damage to the facility. pic.twitter.com/L7y9V64NIq
Iran's other main enrichment site, Fordow, is buried even deeper in the side of a mountain and is the country's most "hardened" facility, said Darya Dolzikova, a senior research fellow for proliferation and nuclear policy at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute think tank.
In comments shared with Business Insider, Dolzikova said Fordow has not been affected by the Israeli strikes, nor have other locations. "Should Iran make a decision to produce a nuclear weapon, it would likely do that at hardened and potentially still secret sites," she said.
It's unclear what air-to-ground munitions Israel used to strike Natanz and the other targets affiliated with Iran's nuclear program. However, it would take a very large bunker-buster bomb to reach underground and destroy the more hardened sites.
The likely best weapon for the job is the US military's GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, one of the most powerful non-nuclear bombs and the largest bunker buster in America's arsenal at 15 tons. These munitions can only be carried by the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber and the B-21 Raider in development.
Israel doesn't have bomber aircraft capable of carrying the largest bunker-buster munitions. The IDF shared footage showing its fighter jets — F-35s, F-16s, and F-15s — taking off and landing during the strikes. Weapons experts pointed out that some of the aircraft appear to be carrying 2,000-pound guided bombs. Israel's F-15I, though, can carry 4,000-pound anti-bunker bombs.
An Israeli F-15I, armed with various munitions, is seen ahead of the operation.
Israel Defense Forces/screengrab
Military analysts with RUSI estimated in March that the Fordow site could be as deep as 260 feet underground, likely beyond the reach of even America's MOP. Damaging it would almost certainly require repeated strikes, likely over days or weeks.
US officials said Washington was not involved in the Israeli strikes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Iran not to retaliate against American forces in the region, something Tehran and its allies have done in the past.
The US Navy has one aircraft carrier and seven surface warships in the Middle East right now. These assets are capable of providing air defense in the event of a larger Iranian response. So far, Tehran has retaliated by launching dozens of drones at Israel.
Beyond the nuclear sites, Israeli officials said forces also went after other high-profile Iranian targets, including its top scientists, senior military commanders, air defenses, and ballistic missile program.
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