Speaking as someone who worked fourteen hour days in the video game industry for fucking peanuts… explain when I was supposed to cook dinner. And I live in a high CoL area - don’t assume I had a stay at home partner or private chef or any of that bullshit. Most weekends I’d sleep straight through to catch up on sleep I had lost during the week.
Also if you’ve spent hours slaving away in front of a stove working fast food, the idea of spending a few hours more slaving in front of your own stove to make dinner isn’t particularly tempting.
Fast food isn’t cheap, so you weren’t doing any favors to yourself if you were actually making peanuts (tip: if you were eating Fast food regularly, you were better off financially than you thought). It takes like 120 seconds out of the day to prepare enough rice to last a person a whole day. Throw on some washed veggies to steam at the same time. There are definitely better options out there.
Just to clarify, have you ever worked a 58 hour week with an additional ten hours commuting? I think you’re underestimating the mental fatigue involved with that much work and how difficult it can be to find energy to buy groceries and keep a kitchen stocked after that.
This isn’t the pity Olympics. I can tell you that I was self-employed while a full-time student, making random 200+ mile trips for work all hours of the day, “working” probably 80+ hours a week and sleeping every chance I got, but I don’t think you’d believe or care. A 20lb bag of rice is like $15 at most. If you’re actually poor and actually have no time, then you can’t afford to do anything but prepare your own food.
I’m glad you had the fortitude after working 80 hours to drive hundreds of miles and cook yourself a meal - personally, I didn’t and I don’t think most people would have.
if you were eating Fast food regularly, you were better off financially than you thought
Wow, so being able to afford a McDouble or a McChicken on the regular means I’m well off? Despite the fact that it is absolutely more expensive to buy ingredients for dinner??
If we’re saying you’re buying $20+ meals every time you eat, then yeah, you are better off - but most of the time, people eat fast food because it is absolutely cheaper and easier to do than it is to buy ingredients to make meals with. If all you have is $5 to your name because you can barely afford rent and expenses, are you gonna go buy a head of lettuce and a potato for the whole $5, or are you gonna go to McDonalds and be able to eat 5 meals for $1 per meal?
Never said well off, but not as poor as you think. I think McDonald’s prices vary regionally but even in my LCoL area, you can’t buy a “meal” for less than $8.
If all you have is $5 to your name because you can barely afford rent and expenses, are you gonna go buy a head of lettuce and a potato for the whole $5
If you’re smart, yes.
or are you gonna go to McDonalds and be able to eat 5 meals for $1 per meal?
I live in a VHCOL area, and I can tell you both the McChicken and the McDouble are around $3 where I live. Also, please tell me what kind of satisfying meal you can make with a lettuce and a potato that you can stretch for more than 5 meals, because I’d very much like to hear your idea of a meal based on those two ingredients alone. Hell, tell me any satisfying meal you can make for $5 that can stretch for 5 meals - and don’t just go “bUy ThE fIvE dOlLaR cHiCkEn”, because that requires a membership for either Sam’s Club or Costco, both of which are expensive to afford when you’re earning peanuts.
Potato and lettuce were your idea, not mine. I said rice, which is perfectly satisfying fried or steamed and with maybe some steamed veggies to people who aren’t, you know, addicted to greasy, colorful, highly-caloric, processed “foods.” None of what you just linked is a meal to well-adjusted people.
Addiction. People are psychologically addicted to fast foods. This is like asking poor people why they don’t quit smoking to save money.
Speaking as someone who worked fourteen hour days in the video game industry for fucking peanuts… explain when I was supposed to cook dinner. And I live in a high CoL area - don’t assume I had a stay at home partner or private chef or any of that bullshit. Most weekends I’d sleep straight through to catch up on sleep I had lost during the week.
Also if you’ve spent hours slaving away in front of a stove working fast food, the idea of spending a few hours more slaving in front of your own stove to make dinner isn’t particularly tempting.
Fast food isn’t cheap, so you weren’t doing any favors to yourself if you were actually making peanuts (tip: if you were eating Fast food regularly, you were better off financially than you thought). It takes like 120 seconds out of the day to prepare enough rice to last a person a whole day. Throw on some washed veggies to steam at the same time. There are definitely better options out there.
Just to clarify, have you ever worked a 58 hour week with an additional ten hours commuting? I think you’re underestimating the mental fatigue involved with that much work and how difficult it can be to find energy to buy groceries and keep a kitchen stocked after that.
This isn’t the pity Olympics. I can tell you that I was self-employed while a full-time student, making random 200+ mile trips for work all hours of the day, “working” probably 80+ hours a week and sleeping every chance I got, but I don’t think you’d believe or care. A 20lb bag of rice is like $15 at most. If you’re actually poor and actually have no time, then you can’t afford to do anything but prepare your own food.
I’m glad you had the fortitude after working 80 hours to drive hundreds of miles and cook yourself a meal - personally, I didn’t and I don’t think most people would have.
Wow, so being able to afford a McDouble or a McChicken on the regular means I’m well off? Despite the fact that it is absolutely more expensive to buy ingredients for dinner??
If we’re saying you’re buying $20+ meals every time you eat, then yeah, you are better off - but most of the time, people eat fast food because it is absolutely cheaper and easier to do than it is to buy ingredients to make meals with. If all you have is $5 to your name because you can barely afford rent and expenses, are you gonna go buy a head of lettuce and a potato for the whole $5, or are you gonna go to McDonalds and be able to eat 5 meals for $1 per meal?
What five meals are you getting from McDonald’s at one dollar each?
Never said well off, but not as poor as you think. I think McDonald’s prices vary regionally but even in my LCoL area, you can’t buy a “meal” for less than $8.
If you’re smart, yes.
This hasn’t been the case for years. The only items for $1 that McDonald’s sells now are sodas.. You can’t even get one proper meal from McD’s for that whole $5.
I live in a VHCOL area, and I can tell you both the McChicken and the McDouble are around $3 where I live. Also, please tell me what kind of satisfying meal you can make with a lettuce and a potato that you can stretch for more than 5 meals, because I’d very much like to hear your idea of a meal based on those two ingredients alone. Hell, tell me any satisfying meal you can make for $5 that can stretch for 5 meals - and don’t just go “bUy ThE fIvE dOlLaR cHiCkEn”, because that requires a membership for either Sam’s Club or Costco, both of which are expensive to afford when you’re earning peanuts.
McDonald’s does sell sodas for $1, but there are actual food items that are on their $3/$2/$1 menu.
Potato and lettuce were your idea, not mine. I said rice, which is perfectly satisfying fried or steamed and with maybe some steamed veggies to people who aren’t, you know, addicted to greasy, colorful, highly-caloric, processed “foods.” None of what you just linked is a meal to well-adjusted people.