• Alaskaball [comrade/them]M
    link
    fedilink
    English
    676 months ago

    54% of young Americans are splurging on luxuries such as groceries and need to learn how to cut back of frivolous expenses

  • ta00000 [none/use name]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    566 months ago

    I go to the grocery store and tomatoes will be randomly $7? And next week it’s something else. It’s like a rolling brownout for the economy.

    • Meh [comrade/them]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      586 months ago

      I heard a great point recently about how the Soviet Union was just willing to accept shortages and not try to obfuscate them. The current model of distribution will not permit shortages to be obvious, so the failures of the supply chain will just take the form of things randomly being obscenely expensive

      • @SSJ2Marx@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        42
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        The way we stock our grocery stores with the expectation that a third of the food will just go to waste is unbelievably unsustainable, but it’s a hell of a marketing gimmick. Feasts and cornucopias and all of that used to be special because they were rare - but in America we show you that image over and over until it becomes your expectation, and not surprisingly Americans wind up consuming way more than other cultures do as a result.

      • SuperZutsuki [they/them]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        376 months ago

        People need to stop expecting every fruit and vegetable to be available fresh year round. I shouldn’t be able to get fresh berries in the middle of winter.

        • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          19
          edit-2
          6 months ago

          Fresh fish too is such a killer. I’m sorry, but do not buy seafood if you live in the Midwestern United States, especially anything live or fresh. Frozen is slightly better, but even then think of what goes in to making that happen.

            • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              66 months ago

              Local is always going to be the best option, so it is a shame we absolutely devastated local environments to ship food halfway across the world

          • @ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
            link
            fedilink
            English
            66 months ago

            All of the seafood in the Midwest has been frozen and thawed back out at the grocery store. Fresh fish in the Midwest and even near the coast is a lie. 85% of all us fish consumed is imported, and it was frozen before it ever got into US territory. Many fishing boats freeze them on ship, even. The only way you can chance upon “fresh” fish is if it’s in season and near the coast you’re buying in.

    • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      116 months ago

      What the fuck is the deal with butter too btw? That shit used to be a dollar per pound. Now it’s 6-8 dollars on any given week AND cows are starting to catch the fucking bird flu.

  • someone [comrade/them, they/them]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    526 months ago

    Historically, food insecurity has been the revolutionary straw that breaks regimes’ backs, even in the most repressive regimes. Wall Street is playing with fire here. We all know about the “peace, land, and bread” slogan, and you can be damn sure that it was the “bread” part that most caught the attention of the peasants.

  • LGOrcStreetSamurai [he/him]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    476 months ago

    It’s becoming more and more real to me that just about everyone is one bad paycheck away from poverty. It sucks so much.

    • @CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      346 months ago

      For me the issue is that coupons are often for brand name items and the coupon rarely makes it more cost effective than buying store brand.

      • Skeleton_Erisma [they/them, any]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        7
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        There are coupons for store brand items too- Which I use as well

        Though store brand items tend to already have a reduce prices anyways.

        Why pay 6.79 for a box of 8 pack quaker oats instant oatmeal when the store brand has instant oatmeal with the same number of packs for ~4.50

        • nothx [he/him]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          36 months ago

          Additionally, many times the store brand is manufactured by the name brand anyway.

        • Tunnelvision [they/them]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          36 months ago

          I would just get the steel cut oats in the tub. They’re better for you than the instant shit and on a per serving basis are usually cheaper.

    • spacecadet [he/him]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      276 months ago

      Pretty sure it is some STEMlord’s job to ensure the coupons and couponing apps are designed with precise calculation in order to not benefit the consumer in the long run but only appear that way.

    • Iwishiwasntthisway [none/use name]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      18
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      Don’t stone me but we have a decent amount of disposable income and the prices have sort of made me move away from coupons and circulars anyway. If chicken breast is 6.99 / lb. and fucking wild Alaskan king salmon is 9.99 / lb. I might as well just get salmon. When we hit Weimar inflation the extra money in my account isn’t going to help me and I’ll be grateful for the Omega-3s when I need to brawl in the streets for bread.

  • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    39
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    I have an incredible deal on rent in NYC and shop very conservatively for food. Why do I have to pay almost 30K a year, not counting any other living expenses, to just eat the bare minimum food and sleep in the bare minimum accommodations? If you gave this info to somebody living in the Soviet Union they wouldn’t even believe you because it sounds like such unbelievable bullshit that it surely would have to be propaganda.

    • Rom [he/him]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      266 months ago

      porky-happy Inflation may be lowered but no one ever said anything about bringing prices back down

    • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      146 months ago

      That’s the thing. Deflation never happened and wages were never adjusted, so the impact of inflation just stayed and is still slowly increasing

    • nothx [he/him]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      36 months ago

      Inflation only affects the rise in prices, once the price goes up it never goes back down.

    • fox [comrade/them]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      176 months ago

      Thank goodness the rate at which calories get more expensive has gone down. Surely a reduction in how fast things get expensive means that we can now afford them despite their prices not getting lower.

      • Hexamerous [none/use name]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        86 months ago

        Don’t worry, the global extreme poverty line is still stuck at a realistic-grounded-in-reality $1-2/day according to very serious people doing economic “science”, so if you’re above that you’re good actually.

  • roux [he/him, they/them]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    286 months ago

    My favorite thing about this dystopian nightmare we all exist in is that during the height of the pandemic, food costs basically tripled over night FOR NO GOD DAMN REASON.

  • LaughingLion [any, any]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    286 months ago

    the thing that everyone absolutely must have to live on a daily basis is a huge concern for those people now that the price of it is increasing rapidly?

    news at 11

  • Des [she/her, they/them]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    28
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    started going to a certain discount eurogrocery store in the city and basically cut my bills in half. and i work at a grocery store (not that one)

    shoutout to the “so over this shit” twink that haphazardly throws my food into a cart. i get it, i really do

    • 7bicycles [he/him]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      116 months ago

      It’s not a true eurogrocery store if the twink throws it into the cart for you. True eurogrocery stores expect you to operate at the speed of their cashiers to pack your shit away

      • Des [she/her, they/them]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        46 months ago

        it’s a separate cart that you swap yours for and you have to take it to a station to bag it yourself. i think it’s just for efficiency

    • KimJongFun [he/him]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      86 months ago

      I did a double take at the store this week when I realized bell peppers were three goddamn dollars each. Not even organic or at an upscale grocery store or anything, just regular old peppers that I’m pretty sure I was buying for less than half that less than two years ago

  • HexbearGPT [comrade/them]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    266 months ago

    ummm i am very surprised the majority are not saying HOUSING COSTS.

    But that’s probably because a lot of people are just having to keep living at home with their parents forever. which i guess leaves food costs…