6 ms·

You can remove "fast-" from the headline and the first sentence is still true, but it's hard not to justify the expense of eating at all. I tend to go multiple

• dns_snek 2y ago
  > it will help some but less than you might hope That sounds odd, do you buy particularly expensive ingredients? I'm not in the US, but I prep my own meals with average quality ingredients. Not accounting for the extra time that it takes (which amortizes well with meal prep), I probably spend between 1/4th and 1/3rd as much as I would spend if I were to eat a similar meal at a restaurant.
  • delichon 2y ago
    > That sounds odd, do you buy particularly expensive ingredients? Yes. Far more expensive than the cheap ingredients like the flours and oils of fast food. I focus on making my food as nutritionally dense as possible, which ain't cheap. But I ate a lot more than my share of fast-food first and did a lot of damage with it. I'm positive I'd be dead if I didn't change. That would certainly be a lot cheaper.
  • JKCalhoun 2y ago
    Agree. I don't tip myself. And abundant portions at home are easy left-overs. And often the ingredients are not completely consumed by one meal and so amortize across a number of meals. I think if you run the real numbers, eating at home is still a huge savings. And this allowing that you are probably using higher quality ingredients.
• jmclnx 2y ago
  >So when you abandon fast food and change to preparing your own, it will help some but less than you might hope. While true, there are many people who cannot do this because they work 16+ hours per day. And if they have children it is even more difficult. To me, this points to the fact people in the US are not being paid a "living" wage. I even heard Walmart will help new employees apply for food stamps, that is sick because we are subsidizing the owners of Walmart and their stockholders.
  • Almondsetat 2y ago
    1. who are these people working 16+ hours a day? 2. let's say these 16+ hours workers were the only ones justified eating ready meals, would the industry survive?
    • bitwize 2y ago
      [flagged]
      • AlexandrB 2y ago
        I'm very liberal, but you have to admit that democrats held power at least as long as republicans over the last 30 years. There's plenty of ratfucking from both parties.
        • lotsofpulp 2y ago
          That is not true. Democrats have only had enough votes (60 in the Senate) to pass legislation for 6 months in the latter half of 2009 (which is when they got Affordable Care Act passed, with heavy compromises). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_divisions_of_United_States_Congresses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_divisions_of_United_Stat... Also, Republicans have held the House for 22 out of the last 30 years. Hence why Republicans were able to hold up more Supreme Court judges from Obama, and obtain a Republican majority on the SC.
          • 2y ago
• visualphoenix 2y ago
  I agree with your assessment of walking out of a grocery store with two bags costing ~$200. I went to Canada to see the eclipse and was absolutely shocked how cheap it was to go to the grocery store. Not only was the currency conversion in my favor, the prices were reasonable and aligned to what I remember from pre-pandemic times. $200 Canadian had a completely full cart. Americans are absolutely being price-gouged.
  • Aurornis 2y ago
    > $200 Canadian had a completely full cart. Americans are absolutely being price-gouged. This is baffling for two reasons: 1. Canada currently has massive inflation problems. Housing prices are out of control. Groceries are expensive. Maybe you went to a small town somewhere and shopped as cheaply as possible, but your experience isn’t common. 1. I go to Costco in the US every week and fill the massive cart (bigger than your grocery store cart) for around $200. If you can’t fill a normal grocery store cart for $200 then you’re either in an extremely HCOL area or you’re shopping for expensive things.
    • randomdata 2y ago
      > Canada currently has massive inflation problems. When you break down CPI, the inflation is almost entirely on the back of rising mortgage interest costs. Canada has been within the inflation target for at least a year now if you exclude mortgage interest. That said, even including mortgage interest, the current rate is 2.9%. That's not exactly a massive problem. That's pretty close to what the BoC is looking for > Housing prices are out of control. Price of rent, maybe. For buyers, the housing market crashed in 2022. Affording a home for the Average Joe hasn't gotten any easier due to higher interest rates (see the part about CPI), of course, but that's not the price of housing. > Maybe you went to a small town somewhere Groceries in small town Canada tend to be more expensive.
      • voisin 2y ago
        > When you break down CPI, the inflation is almost entirely on the back of rising mortgage interest costs. This is only true recently as the interest rate hikes took a while to filter down to actual mortgages and then make it into the CPI numbers. Prior to that, groceries were a huge component of inflation.
• danielvaughn 2y ago
  > I tend to go multiple years between eating at a restaurant of any kind Man, not to derail from the topic, but it never ceases to amaze me how varied our lifestyles can be. My wife and I have always loved going out to eat at restaurants, it would be a strange week where we didn't go out at least once.
  • deleted 2y ago
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  • ghaff 2y ago
    Going years between restaurants, including fast food, is pretty extreme. But if I leave out travel, eating even takeout is a maybe a twice a month sort of thing. I could certainly afford to do so more often but I mostly can’t be bothered and there aren’t a lot of great options around where I live and plenty of options to prepare a 20 minute meal at home.
    • ryandrake 2y ago
      When I grew up in the 80s in a typical middle class suburban family, restaurants were a real rare treat. Like something you did maybe once a year or so on birthdays or very special occasions. I've got to believe this whole "restaurant for lunch every day and for dinner twice a week" practice is relatively recent, and maybe limited to cities, at least in the USA (not sure about other countries). As for my family, we've basically stopped going. It's just gotten ridiculous. The various hidden service charges, and tipping which has gotten way out of control (like really? you expect 25% for bringing me a microwaved Sysco meal?). $100 used to get you an amazing meal/experience for two, like something worthy of an Anniversary. Today, after all the taxes, tips, and fees, you can easily drop that for a mediocre Olive Garden "experience".
  • ravenstine 2y ago
    I've gone years without watching a movie. The mainstream just hasn't caught up to the varied choices the world offers to individuals now, and that makes the bell curve seem a lot more flat than it actually is.
• underlogic 2y ago
  Long term it will help. Those bypass surgeries aren't cheap
• oldpersonintx 2y ago
  [dead]
• bachmeier 2y ago
  > the large price increases are everywhere That was the case for a while, but hasn't been for quite a while in the US. Food at home has been one of the factors bringing down the inflation rate for more than a year. The most recent data release shows only a 1.2% increase in the last year. It's true that food at home has risen by 25% since the start of the pandemic, but that was driven by what happened in 2021 and 2022. Inflation on food away from home has come down quite a bit as well, but its inflation rate is still above 4%. At "limited service" food establishments (fast food), the inflation rate is well above 5%.
• jajko 2y ago
  Inflation, plus a pinch of good old corporate greed. In europe most money since first covid came lost at least 20% of its value (so if somebody claims their property gained cca same amount of worth, it just kept its value). Holding money really seems to be most stupid thing to do with them. Big retail chains were making record profits, raised prices, offloaded most of risk elsewhere, and didnt correct once covid became another meh. You can add travel cost there, folks went mental with traveling after restrictions were dropped, and so far dont seem to slow down.
• Aurornis 2y ago
  > but when I'm walking out of the store with two small bags for $200+, I notice. I do all of the shopping and cooking for my family. I understand your general point, but I’m having a very difficult time understanding how you could get to a $200 bill with “two small bags”. I don’t think I could get there without loading up on expensive steaks and seafood. I normally purchase a lot of vegetables and fruits and some meat. There’s no way I could get to $200 total with a number of bags I could carry in my hands, even in a HCOL area.
  • delichon 2y ago
    I'm carnivore. Medium priced meats: chuck roasts, beef shank, salmon, chicken thighs. Butter, eggs. Huge supermarket chain in a small town. That market basket has particularly inflated. I buy most meat in bulk and I'm back to buying at the grocery after half a year of eating a single cow and a lamb, so a lot of it hit me at once.
    • deleted 2y ago
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    • sotix 2y ago
      > I'm carnivore This is your issue. You’re an omnivore, and it sounds like you’re overemphasizing meat. Buying primarily plant-based items will greatly cut down your grocery bill, and hopefully introduce you to some delicious new recipes on the process. I’d recommend checking out Greek, Italian, Indian, Japanese, and Ethiopian recipes for some extraordinarily flavorful and filling vegetable-heavy meals that are relatively cheap. With Japanese, focus on buying tofu rather than meat since its cost should be generally cheaper.
      • delichon 2y ago
        I was omnivore for fifty years plus, vegetarian for several years, and even raw vegan for a while. But gastro issues made me go low residue and diabetes made me go low carb. Carnivore is what's left. Though I've been coerced into it, it has increased my healthspan a good bit. Tofu is on the low side of carbs and fiber for plant food, but I believe that the fat and protein profiles and nutrient availability are better from meat.
• bryanlarsen 2y ago
  Not all food. Bananas are the same price they've always been, for example. Store brands have inflated less than name brands. Mom and Pop restaurants have inflated a lot less than chains and can now be cheaper than McDonald's.
  • voisin 2y ago
    In Canada bananas were $0.33/lb for the longest time. In the last two years they have gone to $0.69 - $0.89/lb.
    • bryanlarsen 2y ago
      It's been at least a decade since I've seen 33 cent bananas.
• goosejuice 2y ago
  One can make nutritious under $4/meal on organic WholeFood prices when sticking to raw materials, i.e. not prepared foods. Those with access to a yard in the right climates can improve on that with some garden beds (herbs & leafy greens have a good return). So I think that really depends on what you're purchasing at the store. Fast food chains have the benefit of scale but they still have margins to make. That food is rarely healthy so you're also increasing your long term healthcare costs by going that route. I believe that a major issue here is that many of the younger people in the US haven't gained the skills to cook for themselves. With those skills comes efficiency and the ability to reduce waste. For those working low wage jobs (of which I was for about a decade), time spent on cooking has a higher value than say a knowledge worker who can pick up some contract work on upwork. I feel we've grown far too used to cheap food in the US. Particularly meat which relies on consolidation into large operations that require antibiotic use, cheap labor in poor conditions, and questionable practices in processing and livestock welfare. So yeah, perhaps that happy meal should cost more?
  • Aurornis 2y ago
    > One can make nutritious under $4/meal on organic WholeFood prices when sticking to raw materials, i.e. not prepared foods. Those with access to a yard in the right climates can improve on that with some garden beds (herbs & leafy greens have a good return) I agree that cooking can be done cheaply, but I never recommend gardening as a way to get cheaper food. I say this as someone who gardens a lot and enjoys it. Gardening is fun if you enjoy it, but it’s not a realistic option for lowering food prices. It’s definitely not a solution to high food prices. It’s a hobby. But you’re right: Even shopping at Whole Foods in a HCOL area it’s trivially easy to prepare reasonably priced meals. I don’t understand what some of these commenters are buying with claims of $200 for “two small bags” of groceries. I don’t think I could accomplish that without loading up on expensive beef, cheeses, and seafood.
    • goosejuice 2y ago
      > Gardening is fun if you enjoy it, but it’s not a realistic option for lowering food prices. It’s definitely not a solution to high food prices. It’s a hobby. Agreed, it's not a solution. But if one is buying rosemary, thyme, basil at the store those kinds of things are priced high and are very cost effective / low maintenance to grow. If one is really just getting by these aren't things to reach for but for a middle class family trying to save some money it's kind of a no brainer if they purchase them regularly. It's the same for food prep. For some items the time to prepare doesn't offset the cost of buying the prepared item so you really only gain better nutrition or flavor. Other things, say granola, stock, dressings/sauces almost always give you a tastier, healthier product for cheaper. As you mentioned in your other comment these kinds of things are skills that lower income families tend to have / gain. It just seems that it's becoming increasingly less common. I wonder if it's a recent phenomenon starting with the millennials growing up in higher standard of living households where those skills weren't really needed as much and now they've gone and moved out into an economy that's far less forgiving.
• HDThoreaun 2y ago
  Eggs are $2 a dozen near me and frequently go on sale, I dont understand the complaints. Meat went crazy though for sure.
  • delichon 2y ago
    I just checked at the egg section of my usual supermarket. The cheapest dozen was $4.50 with the loyalty card and $4.99 without.
• lamontcg 2y ago
  It isn't just food, it is everything. And the "excess savings" in the US economy due to the pandemic are gone, inflation has eaten them all up. Combine that with high interest rates and I don't see how we avoid a fairly severe recession.