Between groceries and restaurants, Americans are spending more of their income on food than they have in 30 years.
That’s according to the latest data from the USDA, which shows that U.S. consumers spent more than 11% of their disposable income on eating — whether at home or at a restaurant — in 2022, the highest percentage since 1991.
“This is really a metric that’s about the share of our disposable personal income which the USDA tracks, and which recently was at essentially a 31-year high,” Jesse Newman, food reporter for the Wall Street Journal, told CBS News.
Experts say painfully high food prices, and ongoing inflation more generally, help explain why many Americans are down on the economy despite low unemployment, rising wages and steady economic growth. Inflation is expected to continue slowing this year, with the National Association for Business Economists on Monday forecasting that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) — a basket of common goods and services — will decline to an annual rate of 2.4% this year, compared with 4.1% in 2023 and 8% in 2022.
My coworker spent $17 on a whopper meal 5 days in a row.
Homie dropped $85 on whoppers this week. Like wtf
$50 would sound whack as fuck.
A nearby hotel currently has a $26 cheeseburger on their menu, and a few $12 drafts. 2 beers and a burger at $50 before tax and tip, looking at like $65.
I want you to understand that if he ever complains about money you have the internet’s permission to slap the ever living fuck out of him.
He makes half of what I make (he’s new/young). He has 3 kids. He has a galaxy s24 ultra. He has a PS5.
Me and fellow coworkers keep trying to get him into PC gaming. “I donno I can’t drop that kinda money.”
🤷♂️
I even gave him a $500 build list and told him I’d build it lol.
My slapper is itching
This isn’t anywhere near that expensive, but there’s a local cafe my daughter likes me to take her to. A chai latte for me and a smoothie and a yogurt parfait for her (our usual) costs $20. And they’re a lot cheaper than plenty of other places offering similar fare.
That sounds like a lot, but honestly it’s not much less than groceries these days. A week’s worth for me (one person) at Stop & Shop is $80-120 depending on what I get. If I was getting stuff for a burger, fries, and drink every lunch, it wouldn’t be that far behind. A couple bucks for convenience.
“Cereal Company CEO, why is a box of cereal now $6?”
“Well, you see, we wanted to stick it everyone. Cheerios don’t cost that much, but what are we gonna do, not screw everyone?”
Haven’t you heard? Cereal is now for dinner too according to Kellogg’s CEO, and I guess that means it can be more expensive! But shhh, don’t tell your nutritionist because they’ll let you know that most modern cereal is actually more of a snack than something suitable for a main meal. You’d think access to affordable, nutritious food would be a pretty basic human right for countries to ensure, but instead we have things like cereal prices rising an average 28% since 2020 (12% in the last year alone).
I buy that cheap shit in the huge ass bag. Fuck Kelloggs.
Not to leave out the boxes getting smaller.
Hear hear. Shrinkflation is maddeningly annoying.
I’m boycotting food
steps on scales
Dammit, NineMileTower is onto something.
February was the month we finally broke and said “absolutely no more schedule eating out”. We were getting eaten alive (pun intended) in our budget by lunch costs that add up so much faster than they used to.
A little curious how much is being spent on delivery services. Not trying to sound like boomer punching down. Like everyone else, I’ve noticed the significantly higher prices at grocery stores. But I’ve also noticed a lot of my coworkers use food delivery apps when our office is a very short drive to two groceries and a dozen restaurants. And we get an hour for lunch.
I don’t see how allowing someone else to grab and deliver the same amount of groceries should have any baring what so ever on prices. It doesn’t change demand, it changes the final delivery mechanism after the point of sale.
He’s not saying it was pushing prices. He was saying it was potentially a big driver of the OP headline.
Yes, prices are going up, but a potential big factor in the increase of spending on food could be associated delivery costs.
They are likely considered part of “money spent on food” as calculated by the study, and have been a much more prevalent thing since the pandemic.
No, that’s literally my point. The peice at the grocery store is BEFORE delivery service charges. Delivery isn’t food. It’s delivery. Grocery prices have gone up by this amount at least around here. I’m saying greedlfation has been bad on food.
And here I am just stealing more food than ever.
I’m curious what the long term health affects of this are going to be as people are forced to eat less and less. Yes, it may help with obesity, but what about malnutrition? I’m overweight, but I’ve lost a fuck ton of weight in the last year from not being able to afford food and I’m at the point where it’s not uncommon to go a day or 3 without eating. And it’s only going to get worse for me. I just went to the grocery store today and bought food for the first time in a month and some sandwich fixings/bread, a pound of chicken, 2 tomatoes, a container of greens and two small bags of snacks cost over $50. Hopefully I can stretch that for a few weeks.
I’m so sorry for what you’re going through. Check out local food banks - they typically don’t ask questions and you can go to multiple food banks if you need to. Good luck to you.
deleted by creator
Thanks biden
deleted by creator
Did he lean on the food prices lever again?
