• Alaskaball [comrade/them]MA
    ·
    7 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]
    ·
    7 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]
      ·
      7 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
        ·
        edit-2
        7 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]
        ·
        7 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]
          ·
          edit-2
          7 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.

          • SpiderFarmer [he/him]
            ·
            7 months ago

            The Midwest has the great lakes. Too bad we killed a lot of the stuff in there.

            • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
              ·
              7 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
            ·
            7 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]
              ·
              edit-2
              7 months ago

              Maybe, but Iceland is surrounded by ocean filled with fish and most people live on the coastline. That’s much more sustainable than buying live clams/ fresh fish from a chain grocery store in North Dakota

                    • Leon_Grotsky [comrade/them]
                      ·
                      edit-2
                      7 months ago

                      The Midwest they are referring to is a region of the land-locked interior of the united states. Generally refers to the states in the region comprising of: Nebraska to the West, Minnesota to the North, Ohio to the East, Missouri to the South, and those that lie between.

                • ped_xing [he/him]
                  ·
                  7 months ago

                  Is the gag that Iceland's in the middle of "the West"?

                • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
                  ·
                  7 months ago

                  I see where you are coming from and that’s my bad, I’ll make the term more specific.

                  I was using a colloquialism common to the United States which refers to a group of landlocked areas hundreds/thousands of miles away from the ocean

                • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  7 months ago

                  They had 3 wars against UK for fishing rights. Won all three too, since they threatened to quit NATO and USA immediately reprimended Brits.

                  • TheWolfOfSouthEnd@lemmygrad.ml
                    ·
                    7 months ago

                    We’ve fucked ourselves over with fishing rights, there was no point.

                    When we were doing Brexit, the pro Brexit politicians got the fishermen on their side. But they’d sold fishing rights to Europe.

                    • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml
                      ·
                      edit-2
                      7 months ago

                      As i see this Brexit was one hell of a hoax. Sure, fuck EU but from the outside of UK it clearly looked as because EU was not neoliberal and imperialist enough for them.

        • TheWolfOfSouthEnd@lemmygrad.ml
          ·
          7 months ago

          Most westerners are of an “me first” attitude. You seriously expect them to accept the fact that they just can’t have something?

          • SuperZutsuki [they/them]
            ·
            7 months ago

            They're going to have to if anything is to be done about climate change. (I do not expect anything to be done about climate change.)

          • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
            ·
            7 months ago

            many certainly are cucked by their political economy into believing with absolute certainty, despite all evidence to the contrary, the current and wildly unsustainable configuration is all that's possible.

            pretty sure if they can swallow "Trump v Biden = democracy" and "no money for healthcare, infinity money for war" they can wrap their minds around "no vine ripe tomatoes in January".

          • nothx [he/him]
            ·
            7 months ago

            How can you expect us to give up our treats!?!?!? You must hate freedom.

    • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
      ·
      7 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]
    ·
    7 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]
    ·
    7 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.

    • Hexamerous [none/use name]
      ·
      7 months ago

      But like, at least they had actual famines (due to a myriad of material reasons like kulaks and technological limits) so there weren't any actual food to distribute, and that was what, 60+ years ago?

      There's plenty of food around now, but you just can't have any...

  • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
    ·
    edit-2
    7 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.

  • Skeleton_Erisma [they/them, any]
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    Coupons aren't even as effective!

    I snip and cut away, use their stupid apps

    And somehow only manage to save like 3 dollars????!!!

    • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      ·
      7 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]
        ·
        edit-2
        7 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

        • Tunnelvision [they/them]
          ·
          7 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.

          • Thordros [he/him, comrade/them]
            ·
            7 months ago

            My grocery stores used COVID-19 as an excuse to permanently remove their bulk bins. The closest store to me that still has them is a 90 minute ride on public transit, with two very timing-precise bus transfers. And I still need to walk about a mile on top of it.

            • Tunnelvision [they/them]
              ·
              7 months ago

              I think you misunderstood me, I’m talking about the like tubular tubs of generic oatmeal that’s in the oatmeal aisle at the store. It’s pretty much the same as in every store I’ve ever been in America. It’s not a special bulk bin item that I’m aware of.

              • Thordros [he/him, comrade/them]
                ·
                7 months ago

                Oh, they don't sell those here anymore, either. Or at least, they've transitioned exclusively to only stocking premium brands that are gluten free organic carbon neutral oats that the farmer read poetry to, for twice the price.

        • nothx [he/him]
          ·
          7 months ago

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

    • spacecadet [he/him]
      ·
      7 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
      ·
      edit-2
      7 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.

  • CommunistBear [he/him]
    ·
    7 months ago

    But I was told that inflation was gone and that the economy is going great?! shocked-pikachu

    • Rom [he/him]
      ·
      7 months ago

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

    • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
      ·
      7 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]
      ·
      7 months ago

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

    • fox [comrade/them]
      ·
      7 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.

      • kleeon [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        7 months ago

        you could maybe afford food again in 5 years when high prices get offset by wage growth. Thank me later biden-rember

      • Hexamerous [none/use name]
        ·
        7 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.

    • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      CW Joke about meat

      spojler

      An inspection from the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station came to the pâté factory.
      The inspector asks:
      Is this hare pâté really made of hare?
      Yes. Well, to tell you the truth, we also add a little horsemeat.
      What are the proportions of that "a little"?
      One to one
      Which means?
      … One hare, one horse.

  • LaughingLion [any, any]
    ·
    7 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

  • roux [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    7 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.

  • HexbearGPT [comrade/them]
    ·
    7 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....

    • nothx [he/him]
      ·
      7 months ago

      Or they have 6 roommates in a 2 bedroom.