I do recall an article from a few years ago about how the basic McD burger was arguably the most bang-for-your-buck in terms of calories per cent, and I agree it's hard to beat (though not impossible, e.g. the costco hotdog combo costs a measly $1.50 and packs ~3-4 times more calories)

But yeah, a lot of the McD classics and new offerings that one might purchase for a "normal" meal are actually quite expensive nowadays. On a side note (pun intended), I suspect that there are some pricing structure shenanigans going on, because fries are clearly marked up way more than burgers.