Just now, vikas83 said:

I honestly don't think I've ever purchased chicken from a grocery store in my life

Can you cook a chicken yourself?

14 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

If you know how much you're paying for chicken, you've failed at life.

...or you prefer not getting ripped off. Aren't you the guy who says he "values every dollar equally?" Apparently not.

2 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

Can you cook a chicken yourself?

Never tried. I'm sure I could put it on a grill if need be. But, this is why I have a wife and/or what I pay others to do. Why would I want to know how to cook a chicken?

Just now, vikas83 said:

Never tried. I'm sure I could put it on a grill if need be. But, this is why I have a wife and/or what I pay others to do. Why would I want to know how to cook a chicken?

No reason you need to.  Can you drive a car?

1 minute ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

...or you prefer not getting ripped off. Aren't you the guy who says he "values every dollar equally?" Apparently not.

I get more value out of focusing my attention on my job than being a penny pincher over the price of food that I need. You see shopping around for a better price as saving money. I see it as wasting my most valuable commodity -- my time.

Just now, DrPhilly said:

No reason you need to.  Can you drive a car?

Of course. I love cars.

Just now, vikas83 said:

I get more value out of focusing my attention on my job than being a penny pincher over the price of food that I need. You see shopping around for a better price as saving money. I see it as wasting my most valuable commodity -- my time.

No doubt time is an asset to be used wisely.

1 minute ago, vikas83 said:

Of course. I love cars

That's fair.  Some people love cooking.  I like both.

57 minutes ago, ToastJenkins said:

innovate what exactly? you are talking about hope. hope is not a plan. you need to be specific. 

i work in life science R&D. people have no concept how hard it is to develop a gene therapy. and even then who is going to pay millions for it? 

infrastructure i already covered. thats just spending. there is no ROI.

There certainly is ROI. I just covered it: People get better jobs and new products open up new markets, which means people have more money, which means people save more and...buy more. Improved infrastructure also helps streamline the transportation of goods.

57 minutes ago, ToastJenkins said:

high speed rail? you mean the Springfield Monorail lol...do you have a single idea that is in anyway creative or new? these are all old left talking points. mass transit is a terrible investment.

Obviously, these projects can go south if not managed properly, but it can be managed properly. They're doing it all over Asia.

Again, I just addressed the benefits. In addition to creating jobs, as well as increasing GDP and personal wealth, the towns and cities along the routes expand economically. Look at the early history of American railroads and highways. They spurred development across the nation.

9 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

I get more value out of focusing my attention on my job than being a penny pincher over the price of food that I need. You see shopping around for a better price as saving money. I see it as wasting my most valuable commodity -- my time.

Meh, I'm not gonna lose sleep over it, nor am I gonna make extra trips to save a nickel here or there (that's just burning more gas anyway) I value convenience, too, but I will look at a price and keep it in mind whenever I'm in another store to compare so that, in the future, I spend my money more wisely.

When the civil war comes, Vikas is gonna be in CVON asking for cooking advice, lol.

11 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

When I was in I-banking out of college, I never bought any groceries. All meals were at the office, so no point. After leaving banking and going to the buyside, I lived alone for one year before my wife moved in. So...I got delivery for a year. 

I honestly don't think I've ever purchased chicken from a grocery store in my life.

We had our lunch paid for usually but other than that we were on our own for meals and residents make about 50k.  Not terrible but also not "not look at the pricetag" or "takeout every day" kinda money.

Now the only thing I look at the pricetag for is fish cause, mostly I'll get yelled at if I but $50/lb Otoro bluefin on a random Tuesday (learned that the hard way).

I love to cook. I live to cook. I'd still cook even if I made 10x as much money. On weekends, I look forward to trying new recipes because I know I have more time to devote to it. It's a hobby I just enjoy and there's a sense of achievement in the improvement over time. One of the major bummers for me of the past year is missing out on hosting friends and neighbors for dinner parties and having them try different things I've gotten better at. 

Oddly enough, it was driving to and from work that I hated. Sitting in traffic every day was such a ridiculous waste of time. Avoiding that might be the only good thing to have come out of all this.

 

 

25 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

Never tried. I'm sure I could put it on a grill if need be. But, this is why I have a wife and/or what I pay others to do. Why would I want to know how to cook a chicken?

On the subject of values and paying people to do things for us, I value personally value people not being in my business a lot more than I value having someone do certain tasks for me.  No amount of money would make me prefer to have a chef at the house.  Same reason we're not having a live in nanny or au pair when the kid comes.  I wanna be able to get weird in my own home.

2 minutes ago, DEagle7 said:

I wanna be able to get weird in my own home.

Mattmcg films from your cellar doesn't he?  It is all becoming clearer now...

37 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

...or you prefer not getting ripped off. 

This. I have to shop for a family of four. Food bills can pile up fast if you're not careful. I used to shop at Whole Foods, and while their meat and produce is top quality you can drop over $500 a week on a family of four there easy. 

2 minutes ago, Gannan said:

This. I have to shop for a family of four. Food bills can pile up fast if you're not careful. I used to shop at Whole Foods, and while their meat and produce is top quality you can drop over $500 a week on a family of four there easy. 

Yes...for a family of 4...right...

18 minutes ago, Gannan said:

This. I have to shop for a family of four. Food bills can pile up fast if you're not careful. I used to shop at Whole Foods, and while their meat and produce is top quality you can drop over $500 a week on a family of four there easy. 

Not trying to be a D, but is that considered a lot? If I look at it, we probably spend twice that a week on meals for just the 2 of us.

EDIT: just glancing at it, and we definitely spend over $100/day on food.

1 hour ago, Gannan said:

$2.50 here. Just checked my fridge. And that one is from Aldi which is generally cheaper. 

Aldi is not low end anymore

If you really want to save money on groceries, you can utilize websites that track sales and maximize savings with coupons, digital coupons on the store app, rewards programs, etc.

Example we shop at Kroger and get our prescriptions there.  We get points on our card that go toward lowering the price of gas.  Or we get gas at Costco.  My wife will buy gift cards at Kroger for stores she's going to shop at anyway, to get double fuel points to save money on gas.  She's already at Kroger grocery shopping anyway so it's very quick and easy to do.

Sometimes I don't worry about price if it's an item I want, other times I know I can get it cheaper elsewhere or wait for a sale if I don't need it now.  You stock up on items when they're on sale and you have coupons and it saves you in the long run.

Asian markets have crazy cheap prices on meat and produce.  Just went to one the other day to get supplies to make ramen and the chicken breast was like $2.50 a pound.  Only really noticed cause of how cheap it was since I was just buying bones and trotters for stock.

This seems like a decent resource.  Even breaks things down between city and midwest

https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic/data/averageretailfoodandenergyprices_usandmidwest_table.htm

We talk about food deserts and that healthy food is more expensive.  That is true.  But you can also find ways such as ordering the salad with grilled chicken from a fast food place instead of the greasy burger and fatty fries and milkshake.  I once saw a sign at a beach parking lot that said "Fruit is fast food."  Cities have bodegas and markets where you can get an apple, banana, carrot sticks, etc.  You can eat healthier snacks, you can eat vegetarian meals that don't require expensive meat.  Example rice, black beans and veggies with a sauce.  You can buy a box of pasta for about $1, a bag of frozen mixed veggies for $1 and a jar of sauce for about $1-2.  You don't have to have meat.  You cook that up for your family for about $5.  Double it if you have a larger family.  There are ways to do it.  

Too many people don't invest in their own health, their own choices to save money or eat healthier and then want to push the blame on others.  You are responsible for your life and your choices.  You are responsible for your budget and living within your means.  

Having said that, there are legitimate issues people face. I've been there when you are living paycheck to paycheck and then you have a hit to your budget like auto or home repairs, a medical emergency, etc. Things happen.

@Phillyterp85 mentioned Dave Ramsey. I took his "Financial Peace" course at a church which was offered for free years ago.  There are some great principles about not extending beyond your means, not buying what you can't afford, creating a budget that is realistic so you're not caught off guard, having an emergency fund, finding ways to negotiate with utility companies to get new customer rates or savings, and other ideas.

I do wish these type of things were taught in high school everywhere. I know some do.  It would be great if it were taught at home but that's not the reality.

3 minutes ago, DEagle7 said:

Asian markets have crazy cheap prices on meat and produce.  Just went to one the other day to get supplies to make ramen and the chicken breast was like $2.50 a pound.  Only really noticed cause of how cheap it was since I was just buying bones and trotters for stock.

This seems like a decent resource.  Even breaks things down between city and midwest

https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic/data/averageretailfoodandenergyprices_usandmidwest_table.htm

That's a good point.  When things were sold out last year due to the early panic of the lockdowns, a friend of mine said they went to the local Mexican supermarket and they had everything. Toilet paper, lysol wipes, meat, fruit, everything.  Same for the Arabic stores and Indian grocery store up the road.

30 minutes ago, ToastJenkins said:

Aldi is not low end anymore

I started to notice that. I wasn't sure if prices had gone up everywhere because of the pandemic or if Aldi was just changing. 

36 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

Not trying to be a D, but is that considered a lot? If I look at it, we probably spend twice that a week on meals for just the 2 of us.

EDIT: just glancing at it, and we definitely spend over $100/day on food.

For me yeah. My guess is that you probably make somewhere around 3-4 times what I make (maybe more). I'm happy where I am. We've talked about this before. I could earn more money if I wanted to but made a conscious choice to take a job with lower salary and less responsibility for health reasons and to spend more time with my kids. So trying to cut back on certain costs comes with that.