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> Her brother, who works as a cashier, can’t afford meals out at all, she said. The cost of his diabetes medication has increased greatly, to about $200 a month
by delichon 11mo ago
> Her brother, who works as a cashier, can’t afford meals out at all, she said. The cost of his diabetes medication has increased greatly, to about $200 a month, which she helps him cover.
This is an often unacknowledged part of the cost of fast food. It turns susceptible people into diabetics. As a diabetic there is little I can eat there, since I manage it with food not drugs. When I do I get a burger and throw out the bun, which isn't very thrifty.
If you just go with the flow and eat what this culture makes easiest, it's an unusual specimen who can be healthy and happy in late life. And it's not at all unusual to turn young people into patients.
- lotsofpulp 11mo agoIt is unusual to see young people make the choices to not turn into patients. It costs very little to eat mostly lentils/legumes/nuts/yogurt/vegetables, and drink mostly water without carbs dissolved in it, but no business is going to survive selling those things.
- _heimdall 11mo agoIts worth noting that you don't need to avoid meat if the goal is to avoid being a pharmaceutical patient.
- graemep 11mo agoMeat is more expensive though and GP was talking about a low cost healthy diet.
- kingstnap 11mo agoI don't think animal products are all that expensive tbh. Chicken, milk, yogurt, eggs are all really cheap if you consider the protien content. Completely unbeatable value especially factoring in time and convenience and heartiness is picking up a rotisserie chicken and a bag of frozen veggies. Liver is also very affordable and extremely nutritious.
- graemep 11mo agoOf the four animal products you list there, only one is meat, and its a cheap meat... Meat is not all that expensive for protein and comparatively quick and easy to cook, agreed, but the cheapest option is still veg. Liver, and offal in general, is much underrated for both taste and health. A lot of people in the UK just do not eat it and its becoming hard to find (liver the common, but other things are not).
- _heimdall 11mo agoAt least in my area, good quality meat isn't any more expensive than good quality produce. By "good meat" I mean at least pasture raised, and by "good produce" I mean at least organic.
- _heimdall 11mo agoI'd be curious for a silent down vote to actually comment here. Do you take issue with the prices of meat and produce in my area?
- ac29 11mo agoI didnt vote one way or another but its odd to compare the cost of meat to the cost of produce. Far different calorie density and nutritional profile. Maybe your point is that you spend about as much on meat as you do on produce, but that depends on your specific diet since they are not equivalent food groups.
- _heimdall 11mo agoThe prior comments were discussing the cost of healthy meals. Calories aren't a good measure of anything beyond burning your food. Unless your body works similar to a steam engine, it really doesn't matter how much energy you can put into water by setting your food on fire. My point was simply that I spend roughly the cost of quality meat in my area is on par with or cheaper than quality produce given what I need to put into a meal to feel full and satiated. My point isn't that I eat only meat, I don't know the last time I had a meal that didn't also include vegetables or bread, for example. I was only calling out that one doesn't need to stick to vegetables for a reasonably priced healthy meal, at least where I live.
- kelipso 11mo agoAlso, no offense to anyone, but hearing that you should eat lentils and beans as the main for a healthy meal is as appealing as hearing you should eat only cardboard for a healthy meal.
- whateveracct 11mo agoI can often get whole free range chickens for 99c/lb. So a 6lb chicken for $6.
- nielsbot 11mo agoWhere is that?
- whateveracct 11mo agoWestern Washington state
- gyomu 11mo agoInsert classic Michael Pollan “if you see it being advertised, it’s likely something you shouldn’t be eating”. No one’s advertising spinach or beans.
- AstroJetson 11mo agoPopeye the Sailor has entered the chat. /s Weirdly, I do get ads for veggies, but it could be driven by my recent research spree on vegetarian recipes to have great food across the holidays for my mostly vegetarian family. I may have skewed “the algorithm “
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- toast0 11mo agoI recall advertisements for veggies from the Green Giant. And fresh veg always has a slot on the grocery flyers.
- anon291 11mo agoYour local grocery store almost certainly is. Zucchini was $1 at Safeway last mknth
- xg15 11mo agoWhere is the next cheap lentils/legumes/nuts/yogurt/vegetables fast food restaurant? I think it's a weird concept of a society where all the parts of it with money are directing people to do one thing - but at the same time, the people are expected to do the exact opposite and it's their own fault if they follow the coercion...
- lurker223 11mo ago[dead]
- johnisgood 11mo agoThere are such restaurants around here in Europe but they are super expensive, so you are better off doing it on your own at home. Cooking a stew of lentils or any other legumes is very easy and does not consume that much time either, and you can cook for 3 days easily. Why are people not doing this?
- andyjensen 11mo agoI think you are having a too black and white opinion on the issue. As a founder it is actually cheaper for me to spend 1000$ on restaurant and take-out food per week than wasting time cooking for myself. Plus you support local businesses by eating out
- johnisgood 11mo agoIt is cheaper to spend 1000$ on a restaurant than to take an hour or two to cook a very low-effort food that takes max 2 hours to cook and lasts for 3 days? I'm genuinely baffled. Personally I would not call it a waste of 2 hours. Either way, if you can afford it, then Godspeed. :D I definitely do not have 1000 USD per week for food. I do not even have 100 USD per week for food.
- owenversteeg 11mo agoI personally don’t get takeout or eat at restaurants but there are certainly many cases in the US where it would be (far) cheaper. You say 2 hours for 3 days (so 40 mins/day or about 5h/week) which I think is on the low side. If you spend an average of 90 minutes a day on everything related to food (grocery shopping, recipes, cooking, cleanup, dishes) that’s 10.5 hr/week. In any case, that’s between 5-10h/week or $75-150/week at $15/hr, enough to pay the extra over groceries for cheap fast food. At $100/hr you could easily buy nicer food with the time savings, much like the GP comment. But of course the math is different for everyone. Some people love to cook and some hate it. Some people like things that are fairly hard to cook (Korean, Japanese, Indian.) Some people need a different dinner each night and some are happy eating a giant pot of one bulk-cooked thing across days or weeks. Personally, I occasionally cook elaborate dinners, but for weeknights I find that a rice cooker plus frozen vegetables is a nice middle ground. Variety, hot fresh food, nutritious, and also very little time required. That, and eating with friends and family and trading off cooking.
- bastawhiz 11mo agoI went to the grocery store and bought six meals worth of whole foods for two people two weeks ago. Rice, veggies, two fish meals, two meals based on eggs (I already had the eggs), one meal based on chicken. Thirty grams of protein for each meal. I had staples in my pantry already. I aimed for 2200 calories per person per day. I didn't buy organic because it's more expensive. This wasn't Whole Foods or some bougie store. I didn't buy ANY beverages. It was $170 with my loyalty card. Six meals at McDonald's is... Just about $35. Chipotle? $110, maybe less. Chick-fil-A? Under $50. And none of them need to be cooked or taste like wet cardboard.
- hyperpower 11mo ago$35 for 6 meals for two people at McDonalds? What? Where I live, one meal at McDonalds is about $12. So 6 * 2 * 12 = $144. Not that much of a difference. Also, if you aimed for 2200 calories per person per day with that $170, then it isn't really fair comparing to a single McDonald's meal, is it? It sounds like buying whole foods is cheaper.
- bastawhiz 11mo agoSorry, I didn't multiply by two; it would have been $70. I checked the nutrition facts on the menu, it was a mix of meal deals and had nearly the same calorie counts that I was aiming for. Still less than half the cost of groceries (minus all the food I already had). But if we're talking about the balance of macronutrients, I'd love to hear how you manage to beat the cost of fast food with legumes/nuts/yogurt and don't have a huge percentage of your calories from fat. 40g of protein from almonds is nearly a thousand calories and 90g of fat. 40g of protein from black beans is five Chipotle bowl orders worth of beans or four cups of fava beans. 35g of protein from nonfat Greek yogurt is nearly 3/4 of a pound of yogurt. If you can't stand to eat nearly a pound of nonfat yogurt in one sitting like most of the population, you'll only get 30g of protein from a 32oz tub and spend as much as a McDonald's sandwich (and get the same amount of fat).
- ac29 11mo ago> I'd love to hear how you manage to beat the cost of fast food with legumes/nuts/yogurt and don't have a huge percentage of your calories from fat Lentils are $2/lb and a pound has approx 100g of protein. They've a little less than 1g of fat per 10g of protein.
- wkat4242 11mo agoThere's a lot of quirky vegan restaurants doing really well at least here in Barcelona. And health/eco shops too. But it's not quite as tasty as a greasy burger
- JumpCrisscross 11mo ago> It costs very little to eat mostly lentils/legumes/nuts/yogurt/vegetables, and drink mostly water without carbs dissolved in it, but no business is going to survive selling those things This is like every new fast casual business in Manhattan in the last decade.
- nlawalker 11mo agoYeah, and they're not doing so hot: https://www.businessinsider.com/chipotle-cava-sweetgreen-genz-millennials-eating-out-less-sales-earnings-2025-11 https://www.businessinsider.com/chipotle-cava-sweetgreen-gen... > Chipotle, Cava, and Sweetgreen reported earnings in the last two weeks, and all three reported the same problem: Diners age 25 to 35 are visiting their stores less frequently as they pinch pennies.
- jalapenos 11mo agoAs usual on HN I have to scroll to some grayed out text to hear the intelligent positions.
- mrgoldenbrown 11mo agoIt actually costs a lot to do those things. Money is not the only important cost. Social cost and time cost are also important. If you eat all your meals at home alone, while your friends go out to restaurants, that's a cost. If you spend time cooking from scratch instead of using processed food, that's a cost.
- nielsbot 11mo agoCurious if you do that... Eat mostly lentils/legumes/nuts/yogurt/vegetables. Do you avoid drinking soda?
- vivzkestrel 11mo agovery stupid question, why dont we have a startup say from india that ships container full of diabetes meds directly to people that need them and a person in the USA who handles the distribution. Even with shipping cost included, I dont think it ll be more expensive
- phyzix5761 11mo agoRegulations make this very difficult. Take a look at FDA Section 804. Startup cost is in the low tens or hundreds of thousands just to get the application accepted and then the ongoing yearly cost is in the millions. Currently, the FDA makes it very difficult for new competitors to enter the market because of these really high fees. This is part of, but not the whole, reason why drugs cost so much in the US.
- thatfrenchguy 11mo agoBecause of the FDA. Lots of meds already come from India, but if you buy them in France or the US, the price difference is 5x.
- HillRat 11mo agoThat’s not because of the FDA, that’s because of CEPS. If the USG negotiated drug prices the way France does, there’d be far less disparity in average pricing. (Given the continual litany of safety, efficacy, and dosage control issues with imported drugs, FDA isn’t regulating them enough, largely because the inspection budget just isn’t there.)
- lazyant 11mo agoPatients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) account for over 7% of Medicare spending, or approximately $46.6 billion annually.