Cooking is expensive now too. I’m paying pre-covid eating out prices to cook food at home, and I shop cheap. $80/week if I really hit some savings to feed just myself.
Are you in Canada or the US? I moved from Canada (Toronto) to Germany, and it’s night and day how much less I spend on groceries.
I went from shopping at No Frills in Canda to Lidl/Aldi in Germany, and I spend half as much as I used to. At least in Canada, it’s really disappointing to see how Loblaws has managed to get away with so much price gouging.
Yeah, I’m doing better off than most of the people I knew growing up, but I too have been looking at buying the cheapest of everything.
Great Value brand is getting the majority of my purchases these day. Just looked at my cabinet shelf, 18 GV brand items, 2 others (maruchan, rice a roni).
Also cut back on any drinks that don’t come out of my faucet (excluding coffee grounds and milk for the coffee).
I’m not sure who the article is referring to, but pretty much every Gen Z person I know lives at home with their parents. So not really a strong point being made here. Oh, it’s fortune. That explains it.
Almost all of my 26-and-under co-workers are living at home. Not everyone immediately moves out at 18, and with the sky high housing cost in this area I wouldn’t even say ‘most’. Even for university, some of these co-workers have degrees but still live at home.
I’m in a dual income houshold, in a single bed/single bath apartment that, 5 or 6 years ago, would have run for about $600/month. Now it costs us $1200 (this is in Canada where the housing market is in complete and utter shambles, only getting worse and heading for a complete fiery crash).
At this rate, I will never be able to afford a mortgage. Let alone a mortgage and car payments, let alone all that plus food, utilities, or any liesure activities to, y’know, give me and my girl any sort of quality of life. No wonder we eat Kraft mac n cheese and hot dogs instead of hitting the town on friday nights.
I like making homemade chicken bowls. They were originally meant to be cheaper alternatives, but KFC food quality is kinda shit sometimes, so at this point I outright prefer my own version. Mine also has shrimp since they take about the same time to cook as the chicken, so I mix throw that in.
Just frozen corn at the bottom (well, heat it up, just follow the instructions on the bag, I usually just stick frozen veggies on the microwave with a bit of water for 3 mins).
Then the breaded shrimp or some popcorn chicken pieces on the bottom with the corn.
Then mashed potatoes. Instant or ones made from actually smashing potatoes work (for real ones, just peel some potatoes and cut them up into smallish chunks and boil them for about 10 minutes, then drain the water, add some milk and butter (or dairy free alternatives). About 1 tbsp of butter, I like to do the milk by ear, starting with too little and adding more until the moisture is about right. Also add salt or it’ll taste like it’s missing something. Taste it for both milk (moisture level rather than flavour) and salt (flavour for this one) to get it right. You can add oregano or chives, or any green seasoning to enhance it without changing the flavour profile entirely. Or if you want to change it entirely, go with curry powder, Cajun, or some other spice blend (not sure that would work with chicken bowl, but it doesn’t hurt to experiment).
Then more chicken on the top, shredded cheese, and gravy (I use envelope gravy, pretty quick and easy to make, just follow the directions). Add paprika or cayenne for colour/heat.
Maybe if you’re considering buying a single meal at a restaurant vs the cost of buying packages of ingredients at the grocery store which would net you many meals. But I don’t think there’s a single place on Earth where grocery store food is more expensive than the equivalent restaurant serving.
That’s the key phrase in their post. They simply don’t want to, so they’ve come up with excuses to justify that stance. Raw ingredients are always cheaper, but you have to put effort in to see the savings, they don’t want to.
There is more upfront cost in acquiring some stuff, and that has to be amortized over many meals. Some spices are just… expensive if you’re not using the whole container, so if the recipe calls for a pinch of something that’s $7 for a one-time use, it gets pretty crazy pretty quick. Not that I went through this very recently.
I moved into an apartment with my girlfriend about 7 months ago and we had the same problem. Cooking everything ourselves was causing our grocery budget to balloon out of control because we had nothing in the pantry, no spices, no oil, no sauces, nothing. So every new dish was an extra upfront cost that would really only get used one time and then go back in the cabinet.
After about 3 months, it somewhat stabilized now that we have all the staples and it is cheaper to buy raw and cook ourselves, especially if you buy in bulk and freeze leftovers.
You are absolutely right. Getting started is hard, and I think your point is similar to the Boots Theory. Luckily, the savings that can be had by buying basic staples and eating simply will compound and can be rolled forward into the next grocery trip where you can buy a spice or two.
Unseasoned rice, beans, or pasta is not anyone’s ideal meal, but if you’re truly in such dire straits that you cannot afford a spice, then the only way to move up is to buy as much bulk staples as you can on each grocery trip. Eventually you’ll have enough of the basics that you can skip buying any staples and start buying spices.
Another issue many people have is just buying name-brand, or shopping at convenience-oriented stores. If you shop around, you can often find really good deals. I’ve also found that shopping at ethnic stores is really good for deals on bulk staples like rice and beans.
I get that, and I had a similar problem when I was first living on my own. I specifically remember deciding to make lasagna from scratch, and when I went to the store to buy the ingredients, it came out to over $50 for one dish (this was probably 10 years ago too, so maybe more like $75 today).
These days I could make a very similar lasagna for about $15, and that would be enough for dinners for entire week or more. It’s definitely not easy, but if you shop around I’m sure you can make it work. There are also a lot of online communities devoted to this very topic. Reddit had r/eatcheaplyandhealthy. Maybe you could start the same community here on Lemmy.
Calorie per cost isn’t a useful measure unless you’re a livestock animal. Heavily processed bullshit with more calories will leave you hungry in much less time than a well prepared meal with lots of unprocessed fiber.
By family pack I mean if you buy more for less price per kilogram (or ounces IDK what you use).
Usually when I buy chicken for example even if it’s just me, I buy 2kg (4.40 Ounces), I cut out what I need for the day and the rest get frozen. Same for some vegetables. Then for shelf stable stuff I always overbuy as well. For example I use a lot of oregano and I bought the dried plant 2 years ago and I’m almost finished with it (it costed 5€, the usual 10g spice cost like 1.50€ and it last me a couple of months)
To late us millennials already claimed that. Pretty sure we killed restaurants around the same time we killed movie theaters, trade schools, and domestic beer.
If you’d only bought fewer iPhones and avocados you could have bought a 5 bedroom house with 3 garages, a pool and a white picket fence and take a holiday abroad twice a year. You just need more discipline, pull yourself up by the bootstraps*!
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Cooking is expensive now too. I’m paying pre-covid eating out prices to cook food at home, and I shop cheap. $80/week if I really hit some savings to feed just myself.
Are you in Canada or the US? I moved from Canada (Toronto) to Germany, and it’s night and day how much less I spend on groceries.
I went from shopping at No Frills in Canda to Lidl/Aldi in Germany, and I spend half as much as I used to. At least in Canada, it’s really disappointing to see how Loblaws has managed to get away with so much price gouging.
I’m in the US.
i just started trapping and gathering in the city
Is this a joke? It’s hard to tell these days
Sometimes I have to go to the fucking food bank- I guess you could say I’m shopping less
Fuck, what about millennials? Those guys been fucked even longer.
Calm down, there is plenty of fucking for everyone.
On the bright side I can make pizza from scratch and meal prep virtually guarantees I get the macros I need for the gym.
Yeah, I’m doing better off than most of the people I knew growing up, but I too have been looking at buying the cheapest of everything.
Great Value brand is getting the majority of my purchases these day. Just looked at my cabinet shelf, 18 GV brand items, 2 others (maruchan, rice a roni).
Also cut back on any drinks that don’t come out of my faucet (excluding coffee grounds and milk for the coffee).
Aren’t we all? The price of everything has gone up the past few years.
I’m not sure who the article is referring to, but pretty much every Gen Z person I know lives at home with their parents. So not really a strong point being made here. Oh, it’s fortune. That explains it.
From experience, fully 75% or more of what comes out on Fortune is bootlicking in disguise of journalism.
Gen Z is as old as like 26. There are plenty living on their own.
Almost all of my 26-and-under co-workers are living at home. Not everyone immediately moves out at 18, and with the sky high housing cost in this area I wouldn’t even say ‘most’. Even for university, some of these co-workers have degrees but still live at home.
I’m in a dual income houshold, in a single bed/single bath apartment that, 5 or 6 years ago, would have run for about $600/month. Now it costs us $1200 (this is in Canada where the housing market is in complete and utter shambles, only getting worse and heading for a complete fiery crash).
At this rate, I will never be able to afford a mortgage. Let alone a mortgage and car payments, let alone all that plus food, utilities, or any liesure activities to, y’know, give me and my girl any sort of quality of life. No wonder we eat Kraft mac n cheese and hot dogs instead of hitting the town on friday nights.
The title of this article reads lile a dr seuss book
Why is this a headline? It’s just called living within your means. Smart people have been doing this forever, it’s nothing news worthy.
I like making homemade chicken bowls. They were originally meant to be cheaper alternatives, but KFC food quality is kinda shit sometimes, so at this point I outright prefer my own version. Mine also has shrimp since they take about the same time to cook as the chicken, so I mix throw that in.
Just frozen corn at the bottom (well, heat it up, just follow the instructions on the bag, I usually just stick frozen veggies on the microwave with a bit of water for 3 mins).
Then the breaded shrimp or some popcorn chicken pieces on the bottom with the corn.
Then mashed potatoes. Instant or ones made from actually smashing potatoes work (for real ones, just peel some potatoes and cut them up into smallish chunks and boil them for about 10 minutes, then drain the water, add some milk and butter (or dairy free alternatives). About 1 tbsp of butter, I like to do the milk by ear, starting with too little and adding more until the moisture is about right. Also add salt or it’ll taste like it’s missing something. Taste it for both milk (moisture level rather than flavour) and salt (flavour for this one) to get it right. You can add oregano or chives, or any green seasoning to enhance it without changing the flavour profile entirely. Or if you want to change it entirely, go with curry powder, Cajun, or some other spice blend (not sure that would work with chicken bowl, but it doesn’t hurt to experiment).
Then more chicken on the top, shredded cheese, and gravy (I use envelope gravy, pretty quick and easy to make, just follow the directions). Add paprika or cayenne for colour/heat.
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Maybe if you’re considering buying a single meal at a restaurant vs the cost of buying packages of ingredients at the grocery store which would net you many meals. But I don’t think there’s a single place on Earth where grocery store food is more expensive than the equivalent restaurant serving.
Canada
Where do you leave? What if you buy family packs and mealprep and freeze?
That’s the key phrase in their post. They simply don’t want to, so they’ve come up with excuses to justify that stance. Raw ingredients are always cheaper, but you have to put effort in to see the savings, they don’t want to.
You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about.
There is more upfront cost in acquiring some stuff, and that has to be amortized over many meals. Some spices are just… expensive if you’re not using the whole container, so if the recipe calls for a pinch of something that’s $7 for a one-time use, it gets pretty crazy pretty quick. Not that I went through this very recently.
I moved into an apartment with my girlfriend about 7 months ago and we had the same problem. Cooking everything ourselves was causing our grocery budget to balloon out of control because we had nothing in the pantry, no spices, no oil, no sauces, nothing. So every new dish was an extra upfront cost that would really only get used one time and then go back in the cabinet.
After about 3 months, it somewhat stabilized now that we have all the staples and it is cheaper to buy raw and cook ourselves, especially if you buy in bulk and freeze leftovers.
You can also soften the financial blow by eating more simply with less spices and fats, but that’s definitely a tough pill to swallow for many.
You are absolutely right. Getting started is hard, and I think your point is similar to the Boots Theory. Luckily, the savings that can be had by buying basic staples and eating simply will compound and can be rolled forward into the next grocery trip where you can buy a spice or two.
Unseasoned rice, beans, or pasta is not anyone’s ideal meal, but if you’re truly in such dire straits that you cannot afford a spice, then the only way to move up is to buy as much bulk staples as you can on each grocery trip. Eventually you’ll have enough of the basics that you can skip buying any staples and start buying spices.
Another issue many people have is just buying name-brand, or shopping at convenience-oriented stores. If you shop around, you can often find really good deals. I’ve also found that shopping at ethnic stores is really good for deals on bulk staples like rice and beans.
deleted by creator
I get that, and I had a similar problem when I was first living on my own. I specifically remember deciding to make lasagna from scratch, and when I went to the store to buy the ingredients, it came out to over $50 for one dish (this was probably 10 years ago too, so maybe more like $75 today).
These days I could make a very similar lasagna for about $15, and that would be enough for dinners for entire week or more. It’s definitely not easy, but if you shop around I’m sure you can make it work. There are also a lot of online communities devoted to this very topic. Reddit had r/eatcheaplyandhealthy. Maybe you could start the same community here on Lemmy.
Calorie per cost isn’t a useful measure unless you’re a livestock animal. Heavily processed bullshit with more calories will leave you hungry in much less time than a well prepared meal with lots of unprocessed fiber.
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
By family pack I mean if you buy more for less price per kilogram (or ounces IDK what you use).
Usually when I buy chicken for example even if it’s just me, I buy 2kg (4.40 Ounces), I cut out what I need for the day and the rest get frozen. Same for some vegetables. Then for shelf stable stuff I always overbuy as well. For example I use a lot of oregano and I bought the dried plant 2 years ago and I’m almost finished with it (it costed 5€, the usual 10g spice cost like 1.50€ and it last me a couple of months)
That’s not a bad thing, actually I’d call that a success minus the financial struggles.
Where are they getting their ingridients from to cook if they shop less? Or do they just eat less? Is this about starvation?
I can’t wait for the “GenZ are killing the restaurant business!” headlines.
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Gen Z discovers the joy of home ownership lol
Gen Z discovers the joy of revolution
unlikely
To late us millennials already claimed that. Pretty sure we killed restaurants around the same time we killed movie theaters, trade schools, and domestic beer.
If you’d only bought fewer iPhones and avocados you could have bought a 5 bedroom house with 3 garages, a pool and a white picket fence and take a holiday abroad twice a year. You just need more discipline, pull yourself up by the bootstraps*!
*I am now going to research what bootstraps are.
Well we killed chain restaurants… Mainly because nobody can afford to waste our money on microwave crap when we can make better food at home
Well yeah, but they’ll move on from millennials at some point! Soon everything will be gen z’s fault!
Gen z killed " millennials killed" articles
I always assumed cooking was the default.