Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

431–440 of 440 posts

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#431

Post by nommm-nommm »

Pxtl wrote: post #422
nommm-nommm wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh wow. Those options are not available in the US, I wish they were. However, all day breakfast is available now and egg McMuffin sans ham is a good option for me.

Yeah, the all-day breakfast thing isn't being done here. The grilled cheese they have is just another option for kids' meals like mcnuggets and burgers - they don't really advertise it but it's good for my family. Did they have that brief experiment with the Santa Fe wrap and the Mediterranean Vegetable vegetarian wraps? The latter involved feta cheese, and you can imagine how wonderous McDonald's feta cheese was. In…

They didn't experiment with those wraps in my area if at all.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#432

Post by lorenzhs »

niftich wrote: post #391
_Codemonkeyism wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no problem for cooking for two people. But perhaps this is specific to Germany. "throwing away 1/2 a loaf of bread" I buy 1/2 not a whole bread then. About the milk: Not sure if you buy fresh milk from the farm, otherwise milk in the fridge does not go bad for days. Today we had a delicious lentil salad with feta and rucola and a vinaigrette of lemon and tomatoes. The base salad can easily be used 2 days in a…

In the US bread comes pre-sliced in a plastic bag. You can pick up this kind of bread nearly anywhere, from a convenience store to a fill-up station or a pharmacy. Bakeries which put out product that Europeans would consider bread are almost exclusively found inside grocery stores. This bread is slightly more expensive per weight. Grocery stores, like most commercial establishments in the US, can be hard to get to wi…

I don't think the OP was referring to UHT, but rather ESL milk (also known as HTST). Most milk sold in Germany is now ESL, and you can keep it in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. It's also sold in units of 1 litre (a little over a quart) and if you want more, you just buy more than one.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#433

Post by lorenzhs »

boodm wrote: post #420
refurb wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it depends on your standards. Back in college I cooked a ton of meals in just one pot. Cook some ground pork, drain, cook rice, add pork and frozen veggies. Probably costs $10 to make 5 or 6 meals.

You're correct. It's sad there are people voting you down with no explanation. I cook every meal I eat (4 a day) in a single frying pan, a single cooking sheet, microwave, and a rice cooker. For seasoning, I have salt, pepper, and some Ms Dash. I don't know much that I can't cook with those items alone.

I think those of us with fancy kitchens don't really consider how much of that is just convenience (and which percentage of the equipment just sits there, unused, 99% of the time), and how much you can achieve with very simple tools.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#434

Post by maxerickson »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #427
boodm wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue the up front cost is much less than $50. However, using the numbers as provided, the break-even is still less than a single week. In the breakfast example, you can buy a single McD meal or buy a dozen eggs with a container of quick oats - both are ~$6. The latter is much better for liquidity. Not to mention, the eggs and oats is easy to cook, requires little 'ingredients and tools', is healthier, and will l…

Go ahead and try to plan out a week's worth of meals while building up the list of staples and cookware that you would need to support it. I've done it. I think $50 is pretty conservative actually. It would be easy just to spend $50 on some fats and spices.

If you are talking about avoiding McDonald's to save money, it starts to get easier.

Plain pasta. Plain potatoes. Rice-A-Roni. Hamburger Helper.

Now, should someone stick to that diet for years? No. Will the savings compound at a fantastic rate using that diet? Yeah.

If it is sufficiently horrifying, a person could even limit themselves to the above for ~1/2 of meals.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#435

Post by Naritai »

_Codemonkeyism wrote: post #390
Nadya wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even with 2 people - most ingredients I purchase are assuming 3-4 eaters the "large sizes" assume 6-8. If you don't eat leftovers it can get pricey or you end up eating more than you probably should... The other issue I run into is that most of my food goes bad before I even finish it coupled with the fact I refuse to even have "leftovers". I either buy too little of what I need (smaller amounts/sizes) and end up spe…

I have no problem for cooking for two people. But perhaps this is specific to Germany. "throwing away 1/2 a loaf of bread" I buy 1/2 not a whole bread then. About the milk: Not sure if you buy fresh milk from the farm, otherwise milk in the fridge does not go bad for days. Today we had a delicious lentil salad with feta and rucola and a vinaigrette of lemon and tomatoes. The base salad can easily be used 2 days in a…

The 1/2 loaf probably costs 3/4 of what a full loaf does. That addition 25% is pure margin for the retailer - they thank you for your willingness to pay more for the same product.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#436

Post by Nadya »

Naritai wrote: post #435
_Codemonkeyism wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no problem for cooking for two people. But perhaps this is specific to Germany. "throwing away 1/2 a loaf of bread" I buy 1/2 not a whole bread then. About the milk: Not sure if you buy fresh milk from the farm, otherwise milk in the fridge does not go bad for days. Today we had a delicious lentil salad with feta and rucola and a vinaigrette of lemon and tomatoes. The base salad can easily be used 2 days in a…

The 1/2 loaf probably costs 3/4 of what a full loaf does. That addition 25% is pure margin for the retailer - they thank you for your willingness to pay more for the same product.

>The 1/2 loaf probably costs 3/4 of what a full loaf does.

Correct. I'm not going to pay more for less which is why I end up throwing away surplus. I hate being wasteful of food - but I hate being wasteful of my money (and my time) even more.

In addition to that, in the U.S your size options are "buy a whole loaf" or "buy a different brand of whole loaf". Bread comes pre-packaged in a twist-tied (or clip-on) bag as a whole loaf. Unless you visit a bakery or the grocery store you visit has a bakery section.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#437

Post by infinite8s »

nikdaheratik wrote: post #425
chiaro wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The LDP are a bit of a joke party in Australia, did you just mean the Coalition?

Probably. Still figuring some of these parties out. All I know here is that many of the issues like healthcare, gun control, smoking regulations, etc. are mostly supported by both the left-leaning and right-leaning parties here. But support for any one of these issues would be enough to get you kicked out of the Republicans in the U.S. The point being, you could likely make a party in the U.S. that kept most of the s…

That's exactly what Trump has tapped into (ie anti-free trade like the left; anti-immigration, pro-life, pro-guns like the right). It's the same populism underlying early 20th century European movements.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#438

Post by khattam »

noobermin wrote: post #300
khattam wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>terrible and unhealthy food It is neither terrible nor unhealthy. >the cheapest food is the absolutely worst food. First, that would totally make sense. Second, it is not the case. Most McDonald foods are better than gluten-free ass-shit, both in taste and health. >A country priding itself in diversity is drowning in homogeneity. Breathing oxygen is homogenous. Let's create something else to breathe. Fucking brainle…

>Most McDonald foods are better than gluten-free ass-shit, both in taste and health Alright, at least in terms of calories, many things are leaner than the typical McDonald's meal. Merely contradicting is not a convincing argument.

You want leaner meals? Have you tried eating less of it?

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#439

Post by khattam »

m00n wrote: post #399
khattam wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>terrible and unhealthy food It is neither terrible nor unhealthy. >the cheapest food is the absolutely worst food. First, that would totally make sense. Second, it is not the case. Most McDonald foods are better than gluten-free ass-shit, both in taste and health. >A country priding itself in diversity is drowning in homogeneity. Breathing oxygen is homogenous. Let's create something else to breathe. Fucking brainle…

Your style of writing doesn't warrant a reply, but anyway: Your "argument" seems to be: Who calls McD unhealthy or bland must be "fucking brainless", also if McD food were as cheap as it is, because it's of the worst quality, that would totally make sense. But for some reason this isn't the case. Indeed, it is "better than shit." If you enjoy tasty food, by all means, eat it. But if you think deep-frying or pickling…

>Your style of writing doesn't warrant a reply,

Then fuck off! I am not asking for one.

>Who calls McD unhealthy or bland must be "fucking brainless"

Yes because it is healthier than most other "foods" that are available and tastier than most other foods in the world. The existence of healthier or tastier food proves nothing. Is spending the time and money to eat those food instead worth it? NOPE! You know how I know? Because if there was, McDonalds would make it and sell it... or their competitors would and McDonalds would go out of business.

>McD food were as cheap as it is, because it's of the worst quality, that would totally make sense

Yep, if there was excess of it and nobody wanted it, it would be cheap... which is not the case. It's cheap because they have optimized the processes in several ways and sell enough to justify doing it at scale.

Re: In poor neighborhoods, McDonald’s have become de-facto community centers

#440

Post by jrnichols »

stcredzero wrote: post #164
jrnichols wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

""Redneck Liberals" comes to mind. " I don't think people realize just what a late group this really is. Often times they're more under the Libertarian umbrella, though, but still... there's more shades of purple than there are red or blue.

Actually, one of my best friends in Texas is a "Redneck Liberal" but he's more of the "slightly to the left of Mao" sort than he is a Libertarian.

there's more of those here than people think... :)
Post reply on HN