If you’re tight on cash and getting fast food, I have doubts about how tight on cash you actually are
Cooking unfortunately isn’t really taught anymore. As someone who graduated and knew nothing about how to even do basic cooking, like didn’t know how to make pasta basic, I was basically in that spot. Luckily I found cooking videos and learned, but right after school it was a hard few years. If it wasn’t peanut butter, top ramen, or Mac and cheese I didn’t know how to make it - and it was incredibly intimidating
Also, it’s really hard to cook for one. I end up spending as much on food that goes bad before I can eat it as it would have cost me to get a $5 value meal.
Agreed. Amortized it much cheaper but when you have an empty kitchen with only a box of macaroni and cheese, getting groceries can feel very expensive.
It primarily requires planning your meals ahead. If you don’t mind left overs it’s even easier. If you eat meat, properly portioning it and freezing the excess simplifies it. Planning multiple meals a week that use the same or similar ingredients saves a bunch and prevents waste.
I was taught cooking in school, graduated in 2014 is that far too long for your “taught anymore”?
My school taught cooking but only 5 students per year could take it because of limited equipment. Suffice it to say, I was not taught cooking
I know how to cook, but it’s hard with 2 kids, and we both work A LOT all week. Weekends we are almost always busy as well, so meal prep and cooking most days is hard. I try to do simple stuff, but it’s hard, and I know I can’t be the only one. Plus, I consider this guy lucky since let me check my bank account right now, and oh, it’s currently negative $300 until next friday… life is super hard these days, do what you can…
Cooking videos are probably the most prolific type on the internet after cat videos. But even then, peanut butter, ramen, or mac and cheese would be a lot smarter than spending your last fiver on a single sandwich.
If you run out of people to judge, remember: you can always judge the destitute!
Damn straight. I could feed myself for a day on $5 easy.
I could even stretch it to a weeks worth of meals, if shoplifting is allowed.
That won’t even cover the Doordash charge.
I don’t understand why people use doordash or food delivery.
Especially people with limited funds.
Me neither. My daughter’s prior bf had $200 in the bank and ordered Wendy’s from doordash. There’s a strong treat-yoself mentality that says everybody deserves a little luxury and makes it practically immoral to be frugal or contradict the “healthy food is too expensive” gospel etc.
My ex did, and was of limited funds. I think the answer is depression, apathy, and a good dose of financial illiteracy.
Definitely financial illiteracy.
I can afford it but refuse to use those services. They inflate the menu prices, add fees. I’m ok with tipping but not the rest of that.
Also, it’s ridiculously inefficient compared to picking it up yourself. It’s not just someone else is doing the drive for you. The delivery does work for the store so there is extra driving occurring, deadheading in trucker parlance.
I understand it for disabled people and I understand it for very busy people such as families with young kids but I don’t understand the majority of people who use it. Just go get it…
As someone with a family with young kids, it makes even less sense. Kids will order chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, or hotdogs or something, which are expensive at restaurants (>$5 usually), cheap at home (like $2), and easy to make (~10 min)
It literally takes longer to order than to cook IMO. For each of those meals, here’s the process:
- Prep for cooking - about the same time as entering an order, less if kids get to pick drinks and sides
- Wait
- Finish (add sauce, mix, etc) - about the same as unpacking and distributing the doordash stuff
And it costs less than half as much. We keep easy meals in the freezer if it has been one of those days and we need food to be ready in 15-20 min. I made orange chicken tonight, and with cooking rice in the rice cooker, active time was 5 min (wash rice, preheat oven, prep cooking sheet), and we had food about 25 min after starting. Total cost to feed 3 kids and 1 adult (SO was out) was ~$10. If I ordered the same thing, it would’ve been $30 if I picked up or $40-50 delivered. Oh, and no fighting about sodas, we just had water.
I recently went on vacation and experienced this for the first time,
I have never personally done it myself, but when I was in Florida one of my friends would do it every time they entered an establishment they would buy a drink they would drink the drink during the time there and then on their way out they would refill it on the soda fountain. Asked them about it and the response was that they found the establishments that have the soda fountain able to be used by customers generally seemed to have a free refill policy.
I have never heard of that, it’s not a thing in my state, and I don’t think they actually do, but nonetheless I never saw her get stopped by any employee for doing it, and just by sitting at the table eating I could see that it definitely was not just her doing it.
You’re actually the odd one out here. Free refills are nearly universal across the US
Places that limit free refills only say that because people try to abuse the system and load up a gallon container.
Those places, channel your inner boomer and feigning ignorance if you’re caught.
I’m seeing that apparently but yeah, I’m up in Maine close to the border, almost every establishment that has those machines generally also have a sign that says no refill and I really can’t think of any place here that advertises refills as free outside of coffee at dine in establishments.
For sit down restaurants, that’s truly bizarre. Why would I pay $3.50 for a small glass of soda that’s half full of ice unless I’m going to pound 3 of them?
I have no clue what state you could be from where soda fountains in the dining room aren’t free refills.
I’m from VA and lived in a few different states. I’ve work in fast food. The syrup and carbonated water combo is cheap. The cup is more expensive. Most restaurants would pay the few cents and keep the customer coming back. I always used to refill my soda when I left places. I’ve been cutting back on soda, so I don’t do that anymore.
The ‘trick’ the fast food workers are supposed to look out for is the customer asking for a cup for water and then filling it with soda. Most cashiers don’t care enough to track you though.
They usually have a coupon code for $7.99 for any footlong, which isn’t too bad.
Poor guy’s so broke that he ran out of money for color.