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Tell HN: Food is too expensive now

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Re: Tell HN: Food is too expensive now

#11

Post by bruce511 »

So clearly there's a range of restaurants, and I suspect most fees a family for under $170,so I'm going to assume you are thinking more high-end places here, not necessarily day to day eating.

It's worth noting that food costs in restaurants is only a part of the puzzle. Rent is a huge part (especially in SF/SV) then there's labour, decor etc. And I'm guessing you are not eating "local" so assume some serious transport and energy cost.

It's interesting that in a money-driven culture like the US you see it as the role of govt to reduce prices. Surely pricing isn't govt responsibility? That's just the free market in action.

Also, be careful about wanting deflation - that's much worse than inflation (see Japan in the 80s and 90s). Inflation promotes spending, which increases "the economy". Deflation encourages not-spending, so you'll end up going out even less.

Of course nothing compares to home-cooked, using quality local ingredients. That's ultimately the solution to cheaper, better, healthier food. There are some restaurant dishes I can no longer order out because it's always a disappointment, I make better at home.

Looking to the govt to somehow change pricing for, well everything, that goes into determining restaurant pricing seems to be "unamerican" (in the culture sense, not patriotic sense.) Restaurants are just part of a free-market economy, just like everything else.

So I'm not really sure what govt policy you are assuming is to blame for high prices? Or what policy they should take? Maybe raise taxes to reduce consumer spending to lower demand?

Re: Tell HN: Food is too expensive now

#12

Post by markus_zhang »

techsin101 wrote: post #8
armchairhacker wrote: post #5

Learn to cook. Seriously though. With only a bit of practice you can cook restaurant-quality food at home. And you can buy high-quality ingredients, but they are actually cheap because you’re buying them unprepared and in bulk. There are many high quality recipes and tutorials online. Look up Ethan Chlebowski, Adam Ragusea, and Joshua Weissman. These are videos for basic recipes with grocery-store ingredients, not fa…

Cooking can easily take up 2-4 hours a day. 1 hour for prep, 1 hour for cooking, 1 hour for cleaning up afterwards (stove, utensils, dishes, table, kitchen floor, sink, etc)

Cook in bulk and eventually can also be more efficient.

Re: Tell HN: Food is too expensive now

#13

Post by duped »

techsin101 wrote: post #8
armchairhacker wrote: post #5

Learn to cook. Seriously though. With only a bit of practice you can cook restaurant-quality food at home. And you can buy high-quality ingredients, but they are actually cheap because you’re buying them unprepared and in bulk. There are many high quality recipes and tutorials online. Look up Ethan Chlebowski, Adam Ragusea, and Joshua Weissman. These are videos for basic recipes with grocery-store ingredients, not fa…

Cooking can easily take up 2-4 hours a day. 1 hour for prep, 1 hour for cooking, 1 hour for cleaning up afterwards (stove, utensils, dishes, table, kitchen floor, sink, etc)

What are you cooking that it takes 2 hours of prep and cleanup?

Re: Tell HN: Food is too expensive now

#14

Post by phi-y »

armchairhacker wrote: post #5

Learn to cook. Seriously though. With only a bit of practice you can cook restaurant-quality food at home. And you can buy high-quality ingredients, but they are actually cheap because you’re buying them unprepared and in bulk. There are many high quality recipes and tutorials online. Look up Ethan Chlebowski, Adam Ragusea, and Joshua Weissman. These are videos for basic recipes with grocery-store ingredients, not fa…

This is so true. I can eat steak everyday if I buy it from costco

I also notice that restaurants make food "better" tasting by adding more salt and oil. More "profitable" by reducing healthy components for cheaper, ie more carbs and less meats and veggies. Its so much healthier to cook for yourself, and you can learn so much about your body when you are able to control what is going in.

Re: Tell HN: Food is too expensive now

#15

Post by eddy_chan »

Too much of what you pay goes to the rentier that owns the premises. Inflation of ingredients, inflation of wages, inflation of utilities. It all adds up. Something gets squeezed, either the experience or your wallet. As other posters have said, climate change, war adds to it too. And the world has just about reached peak-population outside of Africa. The developed world including all the industralial powerhouses of Asia definitely have. You are already ahead of the curve with your enjoyment of 'free' experiences.

What you've noted is the beginning of the secular decline in consumptive/material living standards for at least the next 60-80 years after which earths population would have declined to 5-6 billion and the population pyramid is more balanced and all the current 'humps' in it have died off.

Re: Tell HN: Food is too expensive now

#16

Post by junofan »

bruce511 wrote: post #11

So clearly there's a range of restaurants, and I suspect most fees a family for under $170,so I'm going to assume you are thinking more high-end places here, not necessarily day to day eating. It's worth noting that food costs in restaurants is only a part of the puzzle. Rent is a huge part (especially in SF/SV) then there's labour, decor etc. And I'm guessing you are not eating "local" so assume some serious transpo…

> see Japan in the 80s and 90s

Japan’s CPI doesn’t include fresh food.

> Maybe raise taxes to reduce consumer spending to lower demand?

Come on. The poster is clearly talking about a supply-side solution.

> Rent is a huge part (especially in SF/SV) then there's labour, decor etc.

The government artificially restricts supply of the first two items you list. Relaxing those restrictions would be a decent place to start.

Re: Tell HN: Food is too expensive now

#17

Post by phi-y »

techsin101 wrote: post #8
armchairhacker wrote: post #5

Learn to cook. Seriously though. With only a bit of practice you can cook restaurant-quality food at home. And you can buy high-quality ingredients, but they are actually cheap because you’re buying them unprepared and in bulk. There are many high quality recipes and tutorials online. Look up Ethan Chlebowski, Adam Ragusea, and Joshua Weissman. These are videos for basic recipes with grocery-store ingredients, not fa…

Cooking can easily take up 2-4 hours a day. 1 hour for prep, 1 hour for cooking, 1 hour for cleaning up afterwards (stove, utensils, dishes, table, kitchen floor, sink, etc)

There is an economic side to cooking if you don't optimize and there is a lot of content out there that helps you optimize. Excluding eating, I spend 30 minutes cooking and washing each day

Re: Tell HN: Food is too expensive now

#18

Post by LeafItAlone »

mandeepj wrote: post #7

> Imagine your favorite food spot of 10+ years suddenly trash and expensive Did you try to talk about it with the food joint's owner/server/cook? I'm interested in their take. Maybe, they've a new chef who's not that good. Oil is expensive, which has cascading effects. Also, the increase in minimum wage has to come from somewhere, hint - customer. I understand: it may not be applicable here directly, but there are so…

Raising minimum wage wouldn’t have the exaggerated effect mentioned in the original post .[0] Especially since not all of those involved in the process are making just minimum wage. Labor is expensive, but there are certainly lots of other costs involved as well as markup for the business to make a profit.

0. https://fee.org/articles/what-the-minimum-wage-does-to-food-...

Re: Tell HN: Food is too expensive now

#19

Post by bergenty »

armchairhacker wrote: post #5

Learn to cook. Seriously though. With only a bit of practice you can cook restaurant-quality food at home. And you can buy high-quality ingredients, but they are actually cheap because you’re buying them unprepared and in bulk. There are many high quality recipes and tutorials online. Look up Ethan Chlebowski, Adam Ragusea, and Joshua Weissman. These are videos for basic recipes with grocery-store ingredients, not fa…

This is no longer the solution. I find it costs almost as much to make a meal at home compared to getting food from a restaurant unless you stick to the basics of chicken, beans/lentils, eggs and dairy.

Re: Tell HN: Food is too expensive now

#20

Post by jemfinch »

techsin101 wrote: post #8
armchairhacker wrote: post #5

Learn to cook. Seriously though. With only a bit of practice you can cook restaurant-quality food at home. And you can buy high-quality ingredients, but they are actually cheap because you’re buying them unprepared and in bulk. There are many high quality recipes and tutorials online. Look up Ethan Chlebowski, Adam Ragusea, and Joshua Weissman. These are videos for basic recipes with grocery-store ingredients, not fa…

Cooking can easily take up 2-4 hours a day. 1 hour for prep, 1 hour for cooking, 1 hour for cleaning up afterwards (stove, utensils, dishes, table, kitchen floor, sink, etc)

Frankly, it only takes that long if you're really bad or really inexperienced at cooking. I frequently have dinner on the table (spaghetti and meatballs, Japanese curry, flank steak or chicken tacos) for my family of six with 30-40 minutes of total time invested, prep to cleanup. Even my most elaborate recipes (bibimbap and baked ziti) require about an hour of total time investment. My simpler recipes (instant pot carnitas, slow cooker shaker steak) take less than 20 minutes, usually because a kitchen device is doing the hard or time consuming work.

There were times in my life when these meals would have required twice as much time to execute, but repetition and experience (and necessity, given the busy evening schedule during my kids' soccer season) have led to these timings.

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