4 ms·

> An average person in the US spends $2,641 per year on food. If you're a dev making 100k per year, that's less than 3% of your income. Increase that by 25% to

by abcmer 5y ago

> An average person in the US spends $2,641 per year on food. If you're a dev making 100k per year, that's less than 3% of your income. Increase that by 25% to $3,301 and it's still just a little over 3%. $2,641 per year is just over 7 bucks a day. If a $100k salaried dev is able to pull that off, it’s only because they are milking the free office food.

jandrewrogers 5y ago
It simply isn’t that hard to live on $7/day in most of the US. Been there and done that. Loads of cheap, good food has always been available. Even in tech country (where I live). Eggs are $0.75/dozen here right now. Tuna is $0.79/can. Legumes round to free. Meals aren’t free but they aren’t expensive. You can live damn well on $7/day if you are remotely competent and have even basic cooking skills available to everyone. Food in the US is very inexpensive.
- poopypoopington 5y ago
  Where the heck are eggs 75 cents for a dozen? Even buying directly from farms in the rural south eggs were at least $2 per dozen and that was a steal.
  - losvedir 5y ago
    They're $1.60/dozen at my local Walmart.
- emodendroket 5y ago
  Food in the US is indeed inexpensive but it's only technically true that someone can live on nothing but eggs, beans, and canned tuna.
- belorn 5y ago
  $7 is not even hard with some cooking skills. One don't even need those legumes, but rather any dish that have rice or pasta. Dishes with potatoes work also when they are in season. As an example, red curry doesn't cost a lot per person. The most expensive part is the chicken and there isn't that much considering the rice, the sauce, and the vegetables. Curry dishes are a stable in fast food because they are easy to prepare, cheap and quite tasty. The bigger question is if a $100k salaried dev is willing to spend time cooking. Personally I practice the once-a-week cooking model where I buy in bulk and focusing my cooking on a single day in order to make finished portions that I freeze. This saves both time and money. The more expensive aspect here is actually breakfast, which is hard to make cheap since bread, butter and cheese are all things that is hard to save money on by buying in bulk.
adrianN 5y ago
Or they cook at home and bring food to the office.

by abcmer 5y ago

jandrewrogers 5y ago

It simply isn’t that hard to live on $7/day in most of the US. Been there and done that. Loads of cheap, good food has always been available. Even in tech country (where I live). Eggs are $0.75/dozen here right now. Tuna is $0.79/can. Legumes round to free. Meals aren’t free but they aren’t expensive. You can live damn well on $7/day if you are remotely competent and have even basic cooking skills available to everyone. Food in the US is very inexpensive.

poopypoopington 5y ago
Where the heck are eggs 75 cents for a dozen? Even buying directly from farms in the rural south eggs were at least $2 per dozen and that was a steal.
- losvedir 5y ago
  They're $1.60/dozen at my local Walmart.
emodendroket 5y ago
Food in the US is indeed inexpensive but it's only technically true that someone can live on nothing but eggs, beans, and canned tuna.
belorn 5y ago
$7 is not even hard with some cooking skills. One don't even need those legumes, but rather any dish that have rice or pasta. Dishes with potatoes work also when they are in season. As an example, red curry doesn't cost a lot per person. The most expensive part is the chicken and there isn't that much considering the rice, the sauce, and the vegetables. Curry dishes are a stable in fast food because they are easy to prepare, cheap and quite tasty. The bigger question is if a $100k salaried dev is willing to spend time cooking. Personally I practice the once-a-week cooking model where I buy in bulk and focusing my cooking on a single day in order to make finished portions that I freeze. This saves both time and money. The more expensive aspect here is actually breakfast, which is hard to make cheap since bread, butter and cheese are all things that is hard to save money on by buying in bulk.

adrianN 5y ago

Or they cook at home and bring food to the office.