Some truth from Divemedic.
Joe Biden’s economy is claiming more victims. I have been saying that restaurants don’t just compete against each other, they compete against home kitchens. When it becomes too expensive to dine out, people begin cooking more at home. That is what it looks like is happening.
Even before I got into the whole getting healthier thing, I had pretty much given up on eating from the Food Franchises. Maybe if I was in a hurry or out on the street busy, I dropped by a BK and get a meal. But after I decided to lose weight, we pretty much quit eating out, the only exception is a steak (for me) and shrimp (for the missus) meal when we need to just have a day out there.
Getting into BBQ/Smoking has saved us a lot of money. And I don’t even bother to grill burgers anymore because a slice of smoked meatloaf used as a patty beats the living daylights of any old burger. I do a smashing pulled pork that comes about $3.50 a pound and I haven’t even bothered calculating the price of ribs other than what they cost when bought.
And salads at restaurants? I usually do Caesar salad, but they charge up to $9 for 6 inch soup bowl while I can get a bag of ready Iceberg salad at Walmart for $3.14 and I can make at least 4 big 3-4 quart bowls out of it. The bottle of light Caesar dressing for $2.94 will usually last me for 2 bags salad or more.
Right now, there is half a pork loin (10 Lbs.) in the oven being roasted that we got at $2.10 a pound and we will probably get 6 to 8 meals out of it. I also have several pounds Chili made which would be my most expensive protein, but I don’t have the costs a top of my hear. But you can bet it will be still cheaper than some mass-produced stuff out there.
Basically, other than having a date day with the missus, we have no reason to go to a fast-food joint.
PS: Pork loin done. Fat side up. My touch is to inject it with butter seasoned with salt and garlic. The outside gets whatever inspires me that day and bind with the excess butter coming out of the injections.
20 minutes on broil (10 per side) and then about an hour 15 at 325 or internal temperature of no more than 160. Then let it sit for 30 mins.
Slice thin for sandwiches.
I usually get pork loin at a local place for around $2.50 a pound. Season with granulated garlic,.salt and pepper, then toss it in a propane fired smoker with alder. Set the flame to get around 225° and toss in a bit more alder when needed. Takes about 2 to 2½ hours to get it up to 160 or so. It’s got a water pan above the plate where the wood goes, so it doesn’t dry out. I’ll cut up the leftovers into ’rounds’ and pack them up in freezer bags for later.
we have been buying meats in bulk when we find deals. about once a week we have a date night dinner. problem around here is finding a place that has good food.. service is a known crap shoot with loaded dice… since covid and daddy gubmints free money programs decent employees are few and far between… like the manager of an auto parts place said- “ these days it hard to find BAD help let alone good”.. sad how fubared this Country has become.. I don’t know if it will ever recover…
The post wasn’t questioning that you can save money by eating at home. It’s the damage that this is indicating that Biden’s inflation is doing to the economy.
People are cutting out discretionary spending. That spells doom for large portions of our economy.
And I agree with you. But that means I am destroying the economy too… ZOMG! I am a Bidenista!
I’m in Northern Indiana, couple counties over is the RV capital of the world. It’s the damn apocalypse around here. It’s not just the RV builders, it’s the fab shops, the machine shops, powder coaters, the suppliers for the above and even the dealerships that sell the naked chassis to be built on. That’s the 2nd order effects. The 3rd order are all of the retail that is hurting because everyone is out of work and has no money to spend on things.
Makes me wonder…
We witnessed chimp-out after chimp-out when there were no Popeye’s chiggin sammiches.
A large part of the indigenous population uses fast food as their primary diet. Given what I’ve seen at a grocery store (those that work there can’t ID common food products like celery), I’m going to guess not many can cook fresh ingredients.
Glad I moved to a less vibrant city.
it’s funny. My wife and I have started eating things we ate as little kids — fried bologna, cabbage and dumplings, corn pone, lots of beans and soup, game, etc. We are boomers, not depression kids, but it turns out these are so called “depression foods.” Now we’ve come full circle. Every day, I’m believing more and more that those “Fourth Turning” people are right.
Yeah….ever since the assholes in charge fired my wife at the very beginning of the PlanneDemic….they had an excuse…but they were looking to save cash, we haven’t gone to restaurants much. And with the prices spiraling
out of control it’s now down to once every 4-8 weeks.
I like my cooking. Way too much. At least I know what I’m eating and it tastes good. It’s also healthy and nutritious.
Three words: Restaurant Supply Store. https://www.chefstore.com/ Buy it cheap, stock it deep.
I’m a single guy with a SMALL chest freezer. I do almost ALL of my shopping, particularly meats, in bulk at the RST.
The fresh meats are generally ‘primal’ cuts, so they average 15-20 lbs (depending on the cut) but you can portion that down at home as you please. My current favorite beef cut is the Chuck roll. Makes for a great knock-off prime rib style roast. I can get three to four consumer sized roasts out of one primal, and have some trimming left over for stew or stir fry. One roast is lunches for the week with (usually) some left over for the weekend.
Costco roast chickens are also a slam dunk deal. A single $5 chicken nets almost three weeks of lunches. The two breast make a big batch of chicken salad for sandwiches one week (I recommend the Costco croissants for these!), the dark pieces go as-is with some sides to pad out the lunches for week two, and the carcass gets made into a soup or stew for week three.
I do this as well. Even Sams Club has decent meat prices.
I portion it out and vacuum seal it in smaller portions.
Since the Plandemic, I have been going to a restaurant supply house in my town. I’ll get a case of Boneless/skinless chicken thighs for about $2/pound( 40# case) and a case of 12-1# tubes of ground turkey- $3/pound and am good for a month of protein. Eggs are super cheap by the case and round out the breakfast/baking side of things.
It has been a huge help in keeping the budget under control.
yummy !!!
There is also ample evidence an increasing number of restaurants are actively opposed to having customers.
No inside dinning means less personnel expenses. Payroll is a heavy part of the operating budget.
I am guessing The Lord’s Chicken makes more business via drive thru than seating.
I get the expense of maintaining dine-in services has become, for many restaurants, an intolerable burden that forces difficult operating decisions but the disdain of having customers goes beyond just the cost adjustment of favoring carryout over dine-in.
If the focus is on 2 things: 1) staying in business, profitably, and; 2) the cost containment of running as a carry-out / drive-through operation it would seem worthwhile to devote enough energy to operating that carry-out / drive-through function with enough efficiency to not display open hatred for the paying customers. When the voice on the really crappy drive-through speaker is too heavy a foreign accent to be understood, the lights on the menu display are burned out, long delays in the money taking / order delivery processes are the default, plus the benefit of receiving an incorrect order, one has to assume that either the business has fallen into the “hobby class” or the owners are tired of running it.
I’m old enough to remember when all McDonald’s were carry-out only, with no dine-in facilities whatsoever; who knew the 1960s were so cutting edge and ahead of their time that they’re being resurrected sixty years later. Will we start seeing poodle skirts and Lucky Strikes next?
I gave up on most fast food long ago after therapy for throat cancer. I don’t taste sweet or salty that much so what I notice is the gross stuff – the spent grease they used frying it, or no taste at all. It’s also hard for me to eat.
That said, I go to local owned restaurants at least once a week. I can afford it, and they need the dough.