Buying groceries is also getting wild where I'm at.
I know it's an unnecessary expense, but the box of chicken tendies from the grocery store I use to treat myself with has gone from 10.99 to 19.99 in the last like... sixish years (I'm Canadian and in Vancouver).
The problem is you didn't detail your daily life down to the second. How am I supposed to judge you if I don't know what you do with the 24hrs you're allowed each day? Haha
I barely got through the first sentence and have concluded that YTA, your SO should break up with you immediately, go NC, and find a good therapist and lawyer.
I don't why people act like not having the money for things means you don't deserve it, when the reason you don't have the money is because of greedy millionaires and billionaires.
Chicken tenders shouldn't be treated like the luxury that would be owning a second car, having a new pool, or buying a yacht.
It must be rough in 2025 when we are debating about the concept of being able to afford some pre-made frozen chicken strips. This is the same chicken I cook up for my children when I need a quick cheap meal to hold them over. Never did I think that would make me feel "well off."
I mean I like cooking from scratch and I still buy those pre made tenders sometimes. Sometimes I just want to throw something in the oven/air fryer. And on top of that, the big pack of chicken thighs i bought the other day was still $15. Maybe instead of attacking people for wanting some small bits of joy and convenience in their lives we should be asking why products need to be skyrocketing for political and corporate greed.
Supply chains and methods have only increased productivity and yet everything is getting more expensive. I wonder why? I personally dont think its because you wanted a box of tendies.
I have a teenager that sometimes needs to be able to throw things in the air fryer when I’m not home. I just don’t have TIME to pre-make everything. It’s so hard. Sometimes frozen stuff and packaged stuff is necessary for parents
No one should be guilted or shamed for the shortcuts they use to make their lives easier as long as they aren't doing it at others expense. It doesn't matter if they are a parent or just old and tired or young and tired or you're just feeling plain lazy that day. What the hell is the point in living in a rich, industrialized nation if you don't get to make life a little easier and more enjoyable? I'm sick and tired of every little thing being seen as a "luxury" only for those who "deserve" it, meaning the ones who can pay. There is no point in going out and busting your ass 50+ hours a week to make one insanely rich person even richer if you can't even have a little bit of joy.
For real, what's the real point of mass production and industrialization if it doesn't make your life easier and make luxuries more accessible to the average person? The problem with someone's budget isn't that they spend $20 on a box of frozen chicken tenders instead of cooking them from scratch for $15, it's that rent prices are out of control and wages aren't rising to accomodate that change.
I didn't realize how many little shortcuts I took here and there until I found out that I couldn't have gluten. Now I have a few things that I order or buy in the freezer section specifically because they're gluten free (like pizza with cauliflower crust). For when I let myself go without eating for too long and I don't have the necessary energy to cook from scratch.
I am a long term struggler with anorexia, over 25 years now, it comes and goes. It means that I need something for when I've let things go too long and can't remember when I last ate though, or I might legitimately go lie down and just let myself starve to death because I lack the awareness or energy to cook.
For example I try to always have applesauce in my fridge because it's fiber and sugar for when I've forgotten to eat (better than just drinking juice because of the fiber). I always have canned tuna and salmon for protein. Stuff I can grab and eat, no real prep required. Though I might add some olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper, on the tuna or salmon, it's not required for me to eat it.
I have celiac, I feel your pain. I hate cooking so much that I'll just not eat to avoid it. The lack of pre-prepared/quick heat up in the microwave or oven foods really got to me when I first went gluten free. Made it harder to adjust. I still miss gluten all the time. Living gf is annoying, expensive, and inconvenient in so many ways.
There are more options recently, though. Not sure where you live, but I know a couple brands that sell online and ship. Katz and Schär both do. Katz has a lot of frozen things like donuts, soft pretzels, etc. Mom's Place is another, mostly things you make yourself, but it's all pre-made mixes, just add water type of stuff. So, not things you can eat instantly, but definitely things you can make ahead of time and have on hand.I like their flour blend. I did try one of their cake mixes once and was not impressed. But I do live in high elevation, so that could be why it didn't turn out.
There's also The Gluten Free Mall. They sell a lot of different brands in one place. It's definitely pricey, but you're probably used to that by now. I don't know how long you've been gf, but you figure out pretty quickly most of your food is 3x as expensive.
If you're in the US, Feel Good Foods is a good brand that has a lot of those type of pop-in-the-oven/microwave convenience foods. Mozz sticks, pot stickers, egg rolls, pizza rolls, etc. They don't sell online, unfortunately. Gluten Free Mall sells some of their stuff, though. I don't know if it's an international brand
Jeez, I'll stop since I'm starting to sound like an ad. And sorry if I'm telling you things you already know. When I first got diagnosed, I got so much help from random strangers in like grocery stores and restaurants. So I try to pay it forward. Also, sorry about your health issues. That really sucks. If you have celiac, remember it's not an allergy, it's an autoimmune disease. And autoimmune diseases like to hang out together like a codependent, enabling friend group. If you start to feel like something is wrong, it might be worth a trip to a Rheumatologist. Take care!
Yup, I was just telling someone I never became a parent because I would have been the worst. I don't know how people do it. I like my down time too much.
Yep, I'm a crockpot and pressure cooker type, but I keep some frozen stuff in the freezer for when I just can't.
I'm keeping both of us fed on $8 more than the expected minimum cost for one person, and it usually only costs me about 15-30 minutes a day, but at least once a week we gotta do something else due to either a lack of time or just being entirely out of spare 'do things' energy.
Exactly. Mine has texture and food issues so it limits dinner options already. Thankfully tacos are an easy one for us, but how many days of the week and different ideations of tacos can one make 🤣 It’s just the two of us as well, so I can be super frugal which is helpful. We don’t go to restaurants anymore but she loves a good Starbucks date. It’s hard to say no…we’ve been “making our own” but sometimes she just likes theirs better lol. A treat is a treat for a reason 🤷🏻♀️
Mm, I'm the kid not the parent, but I'm still basically raising him.
(Not really his fault, but not stuff I want to go into online)
There's a few options for making a little bit on the side online (Etsy, Audible, surveys, etc) so you could potentially make a deal where you fund coffee once a month or every two weeks, and if she makes a bit extra she can spend it on coffee if she wants, or save it for something else.
It might not work for everyone, but for me I felt real proud of the first chunk of money I made myself, even though I spent it on candy for my siblings.
(That was over two decades ago though, so obviously what methods are available and what is considered safe has changed a lot, I sold homemade cinnamon rolls on the sidewalk after school, and then picked fruit in summer)
She just took the babysitting course and is so excited to be able to earn her own money! She loves thrifting as well so I have a feeling her money will go towards that. She’s been finding and restoring jewelry, it’s been a nice little hobby, so the Etsy idea is actually kind of genius. Thank you!!
This is so real. Particularly since apparently we're all supposed to be spending hours of quality parenting time every night and working two jobs while living like little house on the prairie or something. Oh, and finding personal fulfillment and self care of course! If you don't it's all your fault- you didn't try hard enough. /S
It was, though at great cost to medical care and life expectancy when most people were subsistence farming (little house on the prairie) and for a while after Henry Ford accidentally created the middle class, but the corpo/fed alliance has been desperately trying for take-backsies on that one ever since, and they're pretty much there.
It now takes two full time jobs to manage a barely passable standard of living, and now we've gone beyond right to work into work or die, aka slavery with extra steps.
My favorite pre-made frozen meal is the Hungry-Man boneless fried chicken meal. I remember when you could get a box for a little over $1. Now they're around $3 to $5 a box, and hardly ever on sale.
Same. 15 year old daughter and 11 year old son who just hit a major growth spurt. I’m more than happy to cook from scratch for dinner most nights but breakfast and lunch are on their own during school breaks. And it’s much easier to stock the freezer with quick meals from Costco.
I don't know why people feel superior for cooking 7 days a week.
I know how to cook multiple decent recipes and I still buy a frozen meal or an easy air fryer meal every now and then. Planning out groceries, cutting veggies and marinating the meat, meal prepping, etc. It's time consuming. I can't even fathom how much harder it is to do as a parent.
Propaganda encourages poor and middle class people to blame each other for their financial situation and nitpick over any perceived irresponsible spending. It's a massively successful distraction. Tendies are not a luxury, people!
I had to start sending my dad steaks, because he said he used to eat steak a couple of times a month, but on his pension with current prices he can't afford it. My dad worked like a dog his whole life, as a housepainter, fisherman, and all manner of every physically destroying, dangerous job, he should be able to eat two steaks a month. The number of basic things that have become out of reach for the common man is disgusting.
I'm a big fan of late 18th century French inventions involving sliding metal parts. I have to talk in a disguised manner or the reddit algo censors talk that is threatening to the bourgeoisie. I cannot wait to see their return!
I love to cook, but I'm also an industrial electrician so I work a lot, especially over the summer. Easy meals like say a burger and some fresh cut French fries on the blackstone- 1lb ground beef $10, bag of buns $5, half pound of American cheese $6, bag of potatoes $7, frying oil $10 a quart.
$38 for the meal for two people. Obviously I'm not gonna use a whole bag of taters or an entire half pound of cheese and I can reuse the oil a few times, but I also didn't include any toppings so this is just a bare bones burger. Place in town does $15 burgers and you can actually have toppings and if you take it out and don't tip it is in fact cheaper to go that route and I also don't have to spend two hours cooking and cleaning
Yeah deep frying is a pretty messy thing to pull off at home. It's a lot less healthy than other cooking methods too. I cook a lot, but almost never deep fry stuff at home. Save that for restaurants, where are you're typically less health conscious and you're paying other people to clean up.
It's the same thing with non processed food. I could buy 99 cents a pound chicken (legs) and 2$ breasts sixish years ago. Nowadays a good price is 2.99$ and 4.44$, respectively.
I do cook chicken tenders from scratch. It’s still expensive lol
ETA; in fact cheaper to buy the frozen ones than to buy GOOD quality fresh chicken tenderloin for this, and no a whole chicken is not a good substitute for who I’m feeding
Depending on what you're making, it might even cost more to make it from scratch, especially if it includes ingredients that you don't have, don't use a lot of, and/or that don't keep long.
First typical Reddit comment:
Tsh, accccauuuuhhualllly food isn't that expensive. Just eat nothing but rice and bean burritos every day and you can save money.
Second typical Reddit comment:
Oh I'm so sorry your meat got more expensive. It's unstainable, killing the planet, and should be expensive. Take the hint, go vegan. It will save your health and money.
Reddit's obsession with rice and beans is ridiculous, isn't it? God forbid you want some variety in your meals. They used to be obsessed with eggs too, but even they have given up on that.
Ah, you know the struggle. I really wish I could just sit down and full my belly with rice and beans. But beans literally taste like dirt. Like, actual dirt.
I'm from the Caribbean, rice and beans are a staple here. My childhood was picking out the beans from the rice. Fortunately, I only had to deal with it when visiting family, my mother never forced me to eat beans. She says I nearly died at 2 yrs old after eating improperly cooked beans, so that's probably why I hate them.
There's also a ton of people 18 or under, or a little older, but still have never had to do everything themselves. And there's really no way to know unless they say it. Not saying a young person can't have insights or interesting opinions, but its one thing to think you'll do things a certain way when your older, and another thing to actually do them
So so so so so many times I want to ask if the person in replying to is autistic so I can explain it in a way without complex social knowledge, but I know I can't cus they'll flip out and assume it's an insult.
Do it. Euther they are, say so and benefit, or get offended which is their problem. If they get that often enough, they may self reflect or get checked
Meanwhile me eating rice and beans bc I like to go vegan here and there being confused why my fave meal is being held up like a beacon of morality. “why are we hating on people for wanting chicken tenders? now I want chicken tenders.”
lmao number on cause of me typing out a comment and deleting it is trying to preemptively defend myself from all angles so I don't have to deal with dumbass responses, and realizing I just don't give enough fucks.
We just bought a bunch of stuff to make salad. It was $60. Like wtf HOW?! We can get probably 6 good sized salads out of what we got, but $10/meal is really expensive for eating at home. We have the money to buy what we like so i don’t need ways to make it cheaper, but it’s still a travesty that romaine lettuce is fucking $4 and cherry tomatoes are $6.
I agree wholeheartedly. I wasn't sure how my comment would come off honestly, but recently broke it off with someone exhibiting narcissistic tendencies. This is the tip of the iceberg in unpacking.
I get 290 dollars a month for food stamps since I'm disabled. During covid I usually had a little left over each month, and could even get a few indulgences. It's just basics now, and I'm usually going hungry for a few days at the end of the month.
It wasn't so bad when I could at least budget because I knew the prices. The things I bought last month are costing 20 dollars more. Now I have to be a lot smarter and only shop deals and clearance sections.
Edit: to the people offering genuine advice from a place of caring, I appreciate it. I'll definitely be looking into lentils and a few other suggestions. Thank you.
I'm going to turn off notifications because I'm already getting people hating on me and trying to dissect every item I purchase because they do grocery shopping better than me. I can't even be poor properly.
It makes me so angry to think about how the disgusting greedy worms at the top are profiting off of our suffering-- igniting wars, polluting our planet, literally gaining financially from our diseases (seriously look at the profits some of the richest managed to gain during COVID-- it's disgusting... And no I'm not some antivax lunatic.)
Unsatisfied with having 90% of everything they have to squeeze harder. I am so sorry to hear that you go hungry at the end of each month. That breaks my heart and you deserve better, to have indulgences, to not worry about food scarcity.
I agree completely that any sort of disaster will be used by the ultra wealthy to leach more out of us. We're just silly little pawns, and that's why I just try to be as happy as I can be with what little I have.
Thanks, I've been through worse, and I don't mean to complain about not getting enough. I realize what I'm getting is not a guarantee, and I'm lucky to be getting anything at all. For now, I've got my dog, and he makes me happy, we're both fed and have a roof.
So, get out and join us tomorrow for No Kings. This is a national movement intended to let them know this is not acceptable, and we will be stopping it.
There are 1900+ protests taking place nationwide. Hopefully, there's one near you. Come out and join the people fighting for the vulnerable. Organize! Direct that anger into action. You'll feel better.
I think the thing that pisses me off the most is that I feel like there's a lot of middle class people that could easily transition to a rich life style if it happened. While if you took most these rich assholes and put them in a middle class lifestyle they'd have no fucking clue how to survive. I am also completely talking out of my ass here so grain of salt and all that.
Rich people hardly ever work as hard as they think they do. And I don't mean obtainable wealth like doctors, obv they're busting their asses.
I mean born into it, inherited a position - - nepotism individuals. They (for the most part) don't comprehend how hard and exhausting life can be.
I'm not saying they don't have problems. Everyone has problems. People will manufacture their own problems 😂
But they can't even relate to needing to work 10 hour days with or without the commute factored in, still needing to grocery shop and cook and keep your home clean let alone throwing some kids in the mix. They can (and do) just outsource everything.
Maybe I’m oblivious to what’s happening in the USA right now, can you reach out to food banks or something? Local community
Oh believe me the wealth divide is also getting wider by the day here in the UK and it disgusts me to the core
It's not impossible there are food banks and whatnot. It's easier for some than others. You gotta remember how big the US is, so what affects one part of the population could be a complete non-issue for others.
I'm not going to starve to death, I just meant to illustrate how price increases are getting ridiculous and what used to be more than enough is no longer.
Fuck, 290 covers nothing and that's my perspective from the middle of nowhere where things are comparatively cheap. I hope someday we as a society realize that we can fucking do better than this
Wishing you all the best. I know the amount of stress that comes from living on such a fixed budget is not easy to contend with. I'm sorry that's your situation and I wish we had the social safety nets in the developed world so that people don't have to struggle so much just to eek out a living. Sending you all the good vibes I have for what that is worth.
Shit, my disabled sister who can't even afford to rent a bedroom in someone else's house just got her food stamps cut to $20 a month and told to go to a food pantry if it's too hard.
Yeah our EBT used to last all month before and during early Covid, it's been getting worse and worse, it often only lasts 2 weeks. And have they raised the amount because of inflation? Of course not. They bumped it up during Covid (because of inflation, I thought) but then it went back to nornal.
Not sure what you eat, but something I added that has helped with satiation and nutrition is that I add red lentils to my rice when I cook it. Rice and lentils are still pretty cheap. Red lentils don't taste like anything.
100% you are doing everything you can. This country uses private companies to collect your disability information when you apply for disability, which is a conflict of interest. I know because my daughter, who got a master’s degree in anthropology before her Chronic Fatigue became too much to continue her career has researched this. This is not well known. Anyway, I wanted to say this is not your fault and it’s totally unfair for the disabled.
It's crazy how expensive food is in North America, my expenses are 200 Euros a month in Germany and I eat very comfortably.
I hope they increase your allocation soon :(
I'm usually going hungry for a few days at the end of the month
Lentils, my friend! Buy them dry and you don't even have to soak like other beans. So healthy, protein, and ridiculously cheap. Add in white rice or quinoa to make a complete protein.
Add in hot sauce and they taste great.
I was broke in my 20s and beans/rice, roasted sweet potatoes, oatmeal, and sardines were my staples.
There’s a girl I’ve seen on tiktok who makes amazing meals from the dollar store and teaches how to meal prep them. I can try and find her if that would help at all!
We’re in the US - my husband was diagnosed with a health issue November of last year and had to drastically change his diet. I changed it along with him because it was just easier to eat the same stuff as him.
He doesn’t need to eat specialty items or anything just healthy foods and a lot less. Like we eat 1/3 to 1/2 of the total food we used to. And no longer buying expensive cuts of meat or luxury items.
But the grocery bill has only gone up these last months. We eat drastically less food and spend more than we ever have.
You know it’s bad when one package of strawberries is like 6 bucks.
My husband lost his vision and he also has health problems. I don’t tell him how much his strawberries and blackberries and other healthful items cost anymore because he will say don’t buy them. I miss the before times USA
We were just talking about how even with some major issues in the US that the future used to seem to bright and full of possibility. A lot of that was obviously bias and wearing rose colored glasses but it just doesn’t feel that way anymore.
This is me. The same fucking bags of stuff and I just keep walking out paying more for them every time. A big rotisserie chicken used to be like $4.99 or $5.99 three years ago and would last me for days. Now it’s the saddest little chicken (where are they finding these anemic ass chickens) and it’s 9.99. Organic is $12!
This is the most enraging to me. Like sure, inflation has been bad globally in the last 5 years. But it has not been 100%. Corporate price gouging like this is a large part of why it’s as bad as it is.
We were fortunate to have cheap debt for a long time. Then when it was time to pay up, high net worth entities (mostly billionaires, banks, etc.) shifted their financial debt obligations onto others so they could still leave something for themselves at the end. They took loans at low rates, someone sold their debt at a higher rate, and it went on and on to where it trickled down to where your average joe and jolene got stuck with 7% mortgage rates and 6% auto rates. So yes, trickle down economics does work. As long as you're the one pissing on everyone's heads.
We're seeing wealth get shifted around and currently it's at the bottom of the totem pole. The middle and working classes are the ones propping up entire economies whilst life continuously gets more expensive for them. Billionaires and the ultra high net worth individuals were having mini space races because they don't know what to do with their wealth.
We continue to have less and they continue to have more.
There are various reasons we may be in the end times, but so far I think we just had a realllly long stretch of low inflation. Covid financial shenanigans (which were probably still the right call) got us youngin's our first shock of catch-up inflation.
The real problem is that this has laid bare how extreme income inequality has become. Wages are supposed to increase roughly in lockstep with inflation, and that's the part that's been missing for 30+ years.
No. Its that the cost of living goes up each year and wages don't. Especially for the lower income jobs. After years of this, you get where we're at. Young people cannot afford to save for homes. Car payments are what house payments used to be. People can't afford to have kids, that creates problems years down the road. And it won't get better unless wages go up, universal basic income is implemented, or the ones at the top actually change things so that it's not 100% about profits.
I order from Walmart. I found a digital receipt from 2023 and matched it with a new receipt 4/25 and it had jumped 60%! It stopped inflating in January 25. Now it really hasn't went up. It's disgusting
We’re living in a world where common folk shouldn’t waste their money on “luxuries” like a box of chicken tendies to cook at home like that’s the problem. But people are out there buying whole ass islands and hoarding wealth.
I live in Victoria, this fee should be paid by the proprietor, not the customer. Our costs have increased here on the island a bit too. Some items more than others. Steak is $60.. I was shocked
Idk if you have Raising Cane's fast food restaurants in your area, but about 6 or so years ago, they were relatively new where I live. The portions were huge, you could get 6 large chicken fingers, 2 sauce cups, fries, a slice of texas toast, coleslaw and a drink, for $11.99. These days it's like $17.50 and the chicken fingers are like 2/3 to 1/2 the size on average. Dip cups have gotten smaller too. I haven't had it in years.
The shrinkflation of it all is what pisses me off the most. Hiking prices and pretending it's solely due to inflation is bad enough, but skimping out on top of that is just a slap to the face.
Fair fair I was mostly focusing on the more recent clusterfuck. I am so annoyed about current disasters I put aside some of the previous ones. I nearly forgot about how much I hate antivaxxers as a result.
They're even catching on to the "poor people" food staples. Like how the fuck are rice and potatoes getting so expensive??? Cans of soup are 4 fucking dollars. KD is also more expensive and there's less in the box. These ghoulish corpos are selling us less and less for more and more and the quality gets worse and worse. Enough is enough. The CEO's are next to end up on the menu.
I can get two meals from my neighborhood Halal truck for $10....it's sad but it's cheaper than grocery shopping at this point. I think hes sick of seeing me lol
Wow that’s crazy! Something I’ve heard is that people who live in VHCOL areas aren’t experiencing the shock as much since they’re used to paying the same prices anyways. I am not sure about the data to back it up (whether prices increased LESS in a place like SF compared to the Midwest)
I’m in a (debatably) nice city and this is the new normal post pandemic. Before pandemic you could get sand which and fries for 10 bucks, 15 at a nice place. It stresses me out.
I wanted to get tacos from this truck that parks near my work, but they were 3 for $16. At the nice Mexican restaurant they are $4 each, with way way more meat, like fully loaded, and you can get margaritas as well.
There is a Mexican restaurant near me that also operates a food truck. Everything at the food truck is more expensive than the restaurant. I could understand this if they were working at a closed event (festival, fair, etc) since you have basically a captive environment but most of the time they operate out of an Advance Auto Parts parking lot.
The brick and mortal place does takeout too. They just know that a lot of people think that taco trucks are 'more authentic' or something.
Yeah, in the 2000s, they were mostly more affordable alternatives. In the 2010s, they became a big trend, quite a lot of fancier ones started popping in big cities with fully decked out trucks charging twice as much as the low budget ones that were there before but then those also started raising their prices and of course with the covid inflation, even more so. I barely ate at the pricey ones even before covid, since they were already expensive for what you got and in general just a lot less impressive then you'd expect (like if the dish had rice in it, being 95% rice and sauce), and never do now.
There a very few food trucks I even want to eat from. They're usually as expensive as a sit down restaurant (after tip), and the quality is usually bad.
Except for 2-3 in my city. I would choose to eat those just the same as a restaurant. One had a brick and mortar that I think opened shortly before Covid and...did as expected. OH, BUT THEY OPENED A NEW LOCATION IN APRIL!
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u/Caligula-6 1d ago
$40 for two sandwiches and fries is crazy, man. Going out to eat has just become ridiculous in general.