51–60 of 132 posts
Everyone knows they are spending way more on food. The CPI inflation numbers feel like a lie.
But that's not what's happening in this article. The Food Away From Home share has hit an all-time high, and FAFH costs more (because it contains more internalized labor than groceries). Americans eat out a lot because they are unbelievably rich.
I think this has a lot to do with the under counting of inflation. If you go back to 80s methodology inflation has been much larger that what they've let on.
Yup. I think there's also an ongoing century long shift in "modern" culture that makes classical economics food "baskets" unrepresentative. Excepting wellness geeks, nobody who participates in "modern" culture lives on classical staples of grains, produce, dairy, and affordable cuts of meat. As a hardline economist in academia, you can say that those are what matter to poverty or starvation because people will eventu…
There's also that how we live has drastically changed since the 70s and 80s as well. These assumptions about how we eat were underpinned by the idea that there would be an adult at home, someone who had time to do the planning/thinking about, preparation, and implementation of eating with these "basic foods".
Now, with every adult in a household often working outside the house--and, as you get lower in income, spending more hours doing so--the processed foods and fast food offerings are the only way to get calories in a time-efficient way.
Your point about never-learned recipes is a good one because there are time-efficient ways to prepare food at home but that also implies needed equipment and skill, sometimes passed down from a previous generation, sometimes bought with money that people don't have. But there's little that can compare, timewise, with "just throw it in the microwave for 5 minutes" or "just grab something from a logo foodservice place on the way home". I think people intuitively understand this but there are trade-offs to be made in the moment.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup. I think there's also an ongoing century long shift in "modern" culture that makes classical economics food "baskets" unrepresentative. Excepting wellness geeks, nobody who participates in "modern" culture lives on classical staples of grains, produce, dairy, and affordable cuts of meat. As a hardline economist in academia, you can say that those are what matter to poverty or starvation because people will eventu…
> The cultural traditions that made simple foods practical have been lost from many families and those never-learned recipes and habits don't just restore themselves to people overnight when times get tough. That strikes a chord. How do you fix this piece though?
> Real total food spending increased 11.4 percent in 2021 and 3.4 percent in 2022, driven by higher FAFH spending (up 19 percent in 2021 and 8 percent in 2022). Real FAH spending increased by 4 percent in 2021 but decreased by 2 percent in 2022. FAH = food at home FAFH = food away from home So, eating out is killing our wallets. Not really a surprise considering "dollar menu" items at McDonalds now cost $6 and a half…
I don’t see how. Written and video recipes available for free online. Instant pot and a couple other items cost $100?
Time and effort are the remaining ingredients.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a byproduct of the US political polarization. The state of the economy (and every other attribute of the US) has become a football game, and you must agree with your team on the state of it per whatever the talking head coach says, lest you grant the opposing team a "win". This ruins honest discourse about the state of things.
The state of the economy is objectively good to great. 3.9% unemployment as of today. 5% GDP growth over the quarter.
I eat a lot of eggs and meat, and their prices are at least 50% higher than last year, not 6%. Inflation measures are such a joke.
> I eat a lot of eggs and meat, and their prices are at least 50% higher than last year, not 6%. But the average person doesn't eat only eggs and meat, which is what the 6% reflects.
"Ever before"? Those charts only go back to 1997, which is probably about when food was (inflation adjusted) at an all-time low price. The United States is almost 250 years old. "Ever" and you only looked at 30 years is some first-rate hand-wringing bullshit. What this article really says is that we are spending more money on food not prepared at home, and food not prepared at home is more expensive, duh.
> Real total food spending increased 11.4 percent in 2021 and 3.4 percent in 2022, driven by higher FAFH spending (up 19 percent in 2021 and 8 percent in 2022). Real FAH spending increased by 4 percent in 2021 but decreased by 2 percent in 2022. FAH = food at home FAFH = food away from home So, eating out is killing our wallets. Not really a surprise considering "dollar menu" items at McDonalds now cost $6 and a half…
Before the doomers run away with this thread, real spending on food prepared at home is down . This is more than off set by increased spending at restaurants. This returns to the pre-covid trends.
This is technically correct ("the best kind of correct!"), but the upward march of that inflation-adjusted trend graph is pretty clear. I'm not a doomer, just trying to be even-handed.
Edit: add data
Real personal income https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RPI
> Real total food spending increased 11.4 percent in 2021 and 3.4 percent in 2022, driven by higher FAFH spending (up 19 percent in 2021 and 8 percent in 2022). Real FAH spending increased by 4 percent in 2021 but decreased by 2 percent in 2022. FAH = food at home FAFH = food away from home So, eating out is killing our wallets. Not really a surprise considering "dollar menu" items at McDonalds now cost $6 and a half…
No need to exaggerate. It's called the "$1 $2 $3 Dollar Menu" now, and in my expensive urban area, the priciest item on it is $3.19 (McDouble).
It's definitely not an actual dollar like it was twenty years ago, but it's sure not $6 either.