My wife and I eat out only about 4-5 times a year now because prices are so ridiculous.
A grinder (regional term - sub or hoagie to most of you) now costs $18-20 dollars, when it cost just about $8 five years ago.

A good meal at a restaurant for the both of us will go $80-120 now. I just won't spend that much more than a few times a year.

My wife and I were reminiscing. When we started dating (1974), thirty bucks (total, for both of us) bought a pretty special meal in some of Chicago's nicer restaurants. Today, that amount is fast-food territory.

Asked an owner he said that the 8 people that get the food to his kitchen control what he charges.

All aspects of the food supply chain has increased pricing .
It's not as simple as people think.

Well, what it comes down to is that it doesn't matter what are the reasons the prices have become obscene. All that matters is that those prices are and will remain obscene, and I am not going to pay those prices.

And by the way, many of these establishments have done themselves no favors with this nonsense of mandatory additions to the bill- "To provide a living wage for our staff". HA! Not. My. Responsibility. If those owners are concerned that inflation is outpacing wages, they should vote accordingly on election day, but I'm certain you would find plenty of them ho keep the leftists in office.

I understand that restaurants and other businesses now find them selves in untenable positions, but, really, it is not my responsibility, and I reject outright the notion that I am obligated to submit to the ongoing rape of the customer and that I am somehow required to support businesses "for the community". Yes- and I say this in all seriousness- it is tragic hat has happened and yes, I realize what will happen to these businesses and the businesses who supply them, and on down the line. Yep. Got it. Can't help it.

Hell, it's enough to deal with being buggered at the grocery store, and just like restaurants, it doesn't matter why the prices are obscenely high. It only matters that they are obscenely high.

There is almost no reason to eat at one of the mid-tier chain restaurants like chilis or whatever anymore.

We have a really nice steakhouse in town that sells an amazing cheeseburger for $17. It’s far better than anything Applebees or Chilis or the like can provide and it’s only a few bucks more. Yeah they also sell $100 steaks and $15 sides but if you just want a cheeseburger and fries they are way better than any other option in town.

When I take the kids out now we almost always go there and eat significantly better food for only a little more than we would at a national chain restaurant.

I travel a lot so I eat fast food occasionally and have found that if you are willing to download the apps on your phone you can score pretty good deals. If I didn’t travel I wouldn’t bother but if you’re looking for good deals on fast food the app is where there are at.

^^^Good and true point about the apps. It’s been awhile since I used it, but McDonald’s usually had 20% or 25% off in the app. My son and I used it for BOGO Sausage McMuffins at 5:00am when McD’s was the only place open.

We are now hosting in-home dinners on Saturdays to replace those EXPENSIVE but so convenient after work Friday restaurant gatherings. It is more work, but the food is better and the conversations even better.

I feel like we are frogs being cooked in ever hotter water...how can prices ever get lower?

We want our homes to appreciate, and they do. But, everything else has gone up so much more. If and when the Fed manipulates the economy and "more money" chases the same quantity of goods, prices will increase again.

Is a $20 bill soon to be worth what a $2 bill once purchased?

When the scamdemic first kicked off in 2020, we cut down eating out to just about zero. Saved quite a bit of money at that time.

Now we don't dine out much because of the cost. Wife and I might go for lunch once a week to a mom & pop place, it's usually a favorite pho place of ours. It's just gotten too expensive otherwise.

However, my daughter and I do go to Culver's every Thursday while my wife is at bible study. My daughter gets the same thing every time: chicken tender meal, apple sauce and a scoop of chocolate ice cream. Thursday night is our daddy-daughter night.

From what I have read, food costs are about 1/3 the cost of the restaurant. I'm wondering what it will do to the cost of dining out when tipping is eliminated.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:
if you are willing to download the apps on your phone you can score pretty good deals.

If they can offer good deals through the app, why the fuck can't they just offer them to everyone? I don't need them mining my personal data to sell to the highest bidder. It's bad enough that banks are starting to require apps instead of allowing browser access, but this is getting out of hand and it needs to be stopped but our government is likely the one compiling and correlating the data for their own use. I understand that you want a discounted price on a meal, but it's not exactly just your data being mined. You're likely giving out your family, friends, and colleagues contact info too! Ever wonder why you get unsolicited calls or emails even though you've never contacted a particular company? Maybe because your buddy down the road downloaded a "free" dating app and the app company mined his contacts and sold them off. We know that some of this is baked into our phones when we get them, but I believe people have gotten a little too carefree in this regard. I think if people truly understood what was happening, they'd have a meltdown.

I have been seeing more and more of these posted online by the younger crowd who I think is starting to get crushed by all this insane inflation.

I do wonder though, is this enough to start causing some of them to stop blindly pressing that button for the Democrat when they vote? I don't know, I don't know if the pain is at the level yet to drive any real change.

Just a warning she does drop one F-bomb here:

https://x.com/WallStreetSilv/s...011821086343489?s=20