I ate a fairly healthy dinner last night that maybe cost about $2 with the current yen exchange rate. Semi-steamed chicken with black beans and rice with fresh cucumber on the side.
You know, the thing is that it IS in fact possible to cook a nutritious meal for a family of four for $5 per serving. That's $20 for one meal.
Repeat after me: "this is actually not cheap. At all."
If the person in the family who is doing the marketing and cooking (and we're going to go gender unspecified because same sex families exist and men can cook) is spending $20 on dinner every freaking day, that is $600 a month. For one meal.
That entirely leaves out the existence of breakfast and lunch. No snacks. Even if we assume that the person in charge of meals for the family is only spending double the dinner amount for all of the other food in the house, that's $1200 a month for groceries. That's $300 a week. That is not a budget that families who are financially strapped can afford.
So, it's basically a double insult. First, they insult our intelligence by claiming that this meal that actually costs a minimum of $30 to $40 bucks "only" costs $5.00 per person. Then they insult our intelligence by pretending like it's really easy for the average American family to plunk down $300 a week for their grocery budget.
It is possible to feed a family of four a nutritious dinner for under $20 total. I know this. I raised two kids and did it for years.
It probably involves rice and/or beans. It may involve small amounts of chicken or pork or sausage. For example, it might be lentil soup with andouille sausage. It might be chicken street tacos and spicy black beans. But it doesn't include salmon and it doesn't also, probably, doesn't include beef (even ground beef prices are through the roof at this point.)
As someone who has been cooking "on the cheap" for decades (and I have the luxury of being able to buy in bulk what we don't produce ourselves) I can attest that this is absolute nonsense. I can bring in a meal at under 5$ per person, sure, but it would almost never include animal product (unless there was an amazing sale on rockfish and that would be very small portions!). The way we do that is a diet of bulk-purchased legumes and whole grains, and whatever veg is in season or that we preserved when it was. All of that takes time, equipment and storage capacity- things most people probably do not have
When I was traveling on the cheap a packet of Ramen or a can of beans with one fresh vegetable and a cheap protein was a one pot meal. Small electric appliances fly under the radar at motels if all trash leaves the room to the dumpster.
I remember when ramen started to be widely available. Yep, I did the same when I was living in a fairly sketchy boarding house at 17. You really didn't want to be out in the public rooms as a young gal. I even went in and out through my window! Cooked in my bathroom with an immersion heater and a portable mini coffee maker.
My mom used to make "salmon patties." I am sure she used the cheapest canned salmon. I think there was egg and onion in them. Kind of boring although not awful.
Even when Publix has a good sale on wild caught keta or sockeye salmon, the price is $11.99/lb. Farm raised Atlantic salmon (the fatty stuff) may drop as low as $9.99 on a good day. I grab it anyway and perhaps I will turn it into a quiche, which I CAN still make for under $20 total. Of course, that involves using a pre-made crust, which likely violates the spirit of that show.
Salmon for $8.99 is the opposite of the classic $10 for a banana joke.
Hey Bobby Brainworm? So how the fuck do you buy 42 cents of avocado mayo? Oh, you just buy the whole jar and "save the rest for other recipes"? So how the fuck do you "save the rest for other recipes" without a fucking refrigerator?
Remember when Republicans were dumping on people who had refrigerators, saying they could not possibly be poor, and/or they are poor because they spend their money on "luxuries" like fridges and microwave ovens? You know, so they could prepare meals at home, like people do who are good with money? Nevermind that the fucking appliances might very well not be theirs but came with the apartment, perhaps even required by local laws as part of certification for occupancy? Pepperidge Farm damn sure does.
How about the electric to run the reefer, Bobby? You want to amortize that into your forty cents of goddamn mayo out of the fourteen fucking dollar jar? No you don't, because you just assume that like a second car and gig-speed internet, limitless electric is part of the base package that everyone has by virtue of simply being alive, because that's how it always was for everyone you've known. You have no fucking idea.
I kinda wanna do the recipe to see how terrible it is. Not many spices going on there at all and 8 cents worth of red onion is certainly not going to go very far
Oh I get how they ran those numbers now. They took a 3 lb bag of raw onions (which maybe has 4-5 onions), and divided it by the total weight of the chopped onions they used in the recipe. Instead of.... you know.... dividing by the number of onions.
This does not work with produce because AT LEAST A THIRD OF THE WEIGHT IS COMPOST in any given purchase. And if you cook the onion before weighing it, it's even more misleading.
A big onion is more like a dollar, unless you're buying a 10 lb bag of onions at a time from a wholesaler.
On Wednesday evening, August 19, 2026, a shocking petrol bomb attack targeted a fleet of luxury vehicles parked outside a wedding celebration at the Royal Shalimar venue in the Sparkbrook area of Birmingham, UK. Three suspects dressed in black hurled multiple incendiary devices across the street, setting a McLaren and a Lamborghini (initially reported by some outlets as a Ferrari) completely ablaze. Around 500 guests were dining inside at the time of the targeted arson, and several individuals, including a baby outside, narrowly avoided the thrown explosives. Venue staff managed to use fire extinguishers to battle the initial flames before emergency services arrived.
I ate a fairly healthy dinner last night that maybe cost about $2 with the current yen exchange rate. Semi-steamed chicken with black beans and rice with fresh cucumber on the side.
How will our nation's children live without learning how to cook raccoon penis?
You know, the thing is that it IS in fact possible to cook a nutritious meal for a family of four for $5 per serving. That's $20 for one meal.
Repeat after me: "this is actually not cheap. At all."
If the person in the family who is doing the marketing and cooking (and we're going to go gender unspecified because same sex families exist and men can cook) is spending $20 on dinner every freaking day, that is $600 a month. For one meal.
That entirely leaves out the existence of breakfast and lunch. No snacks. Even if we assume that the person in charge of meals for the family is only spending double the dinner amount for all of the other food in the house, that's $1200 a month for groceries. That's $300 a week. That is not a budget that families who are financially strapped can afford.
So, it's basically a double insult. First, they insult our intelligence by claiming that this meal that actually costs a minimum of $30 to $40 bucks "only" costs $5.00 per person. Then they insult our intelligence by pretending like it's really easy for the average American family to plunk down $300 a week for their grocery budget.
It is possible to feed a family of four a nutritious dinner for under $20 total. I know this. I raised two kids and did it for years.
It probably involves rice and/or beans. It may involve small amounts of chicken or pork or sausage. For example, it might be lentil soup with andouille sausage. It might be chicken street tacos and spicy black beans. But it doesn't include salmon and it doesn't also, probably, doesn't include beef (even ground beef prices are through the roof at this point.)
Yeah, the whole thing is absurd and, as you say, insulting as fuck.
AI Judge Wapner screaming about a Todd Blanche remake of The People's Court is something I might just click on.
Hey, I bet I could make sockeye salmon with herbs for under $5 a serving too if I could just rob RFK Jr's fridge
Albert Finney was my favorite Scrooge because singing.
As someone who has been cooking "on the cheap" for decades (and I have the luxury of being able to buy in bulk what we don't produce ourselves) I can attest that this is absolute nonsense. I can bring in a meal at under 5$ per person, sure, but it would almost never include animal product (unless there was an amazing sale on rockfish and that would be very small portions!). The way we do that is a diet of bulk-purchased legumes and whole grains, and whatever veg is in season or that we preserved when it was. All of that takes time, equipment and storage capacity- things most people probably do not have
When I was traveling on the cheap a packet of Ramen or a can of beans with one fresh vegetable and a cheap protein was a one pot meal. Small electric appliances fly under the radar at motels if all trash leaves the room to the dumpster.
I remember when ramen started to be widely available. Yep, I did the same when I was living in a fairly sketchy boarding house at 17. You really didn't want to be out in the public rooms as a young gal. I even went in and out through my window! Cooked in my bathroom with an immersion heater and a portable mini coffee maker.
It helps that most of the GFCI outlets in a commercial bathroom are 20 amp.
My mom used to make "salmon patties." I am sure she used the cheapest canned salmon. I think there was egg and onion in them. Kind of boring although not awful.
The very last of any Thanksgiving turkey became turkey patties in my mom's kitchen. They were tasty.
Tom, I appreciate the journalistic work, but for fuck's sake, use a cutting board. You're dulling your knives and inviting cross-contamination.
(and yes, y'all, you can sanitize the counter in between, but using fifteen Clorox wipes a meal is more wasteful than washing a damn cutting board.)
Even when Publix has a good sale on wild caught keta or sockeye salmon, the price is $11.99/lb. Farm raised Atlantic salmon (the fatty stuff) may drop as low as $9.99 on a good day. I grab it anyway and perhaps I will turn it into a quiche, which I CAN still make for under $20 total. Of course, that involves using a pre-made crust, which likely violates the spirit of that show.
Salmon for $8.99 is the opposite of the classic $10 for a banana joke.
Hey where in the hell do you buy salmon for $8.99 for a family of four? Where are they shopping for that entire list? Who the fuck are they kidding?
And, whar crudites?
This story takes me back to Ontario in 2001.
The hard-right wing government of Mike Harris slashed welfare, as hard right wing governments are wont to do.
Critics suggested that those receiving support would no longer be able to feed themselves.
Social services minister Dave Tsubouchi drew up a weekly menu that was meant to be within the means of welfare recipients.
It featured a meal critics dubbed "Pasta Tsubouchi."
Pasta.
With no sauce.
No cheese.
No butter.
No spices.
In other words punish the poor for not pulling themselves up with their bootstraps while being held down by wealthy boots.
And who in the world is buying and cooking salmon filets just to mash them up into burgers?
Sure as hell won't get them for $8.99
Nobody. It's like grinding a steak into meatloaf. Unless you're getting a salmon cake a nice restaurant, people make them from canned salmon.
Good morning. The coffee pot was not set up last night. Ugggg. I did find a pod.
Today I will confirm with Mr that he did indeed set up the pot.
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Hey Bobby Brainworm? So how the fuck do you buy 42 cents of avocado mayo? Oh, you just buy the whole jar and "save the rest for other recipes"? So how the fuck do you "save the rest for other recipes" without a fucking refrigerator?
Remember when Republicans were dumping on people who had refrigerators, saying they could not possibly be poor, and/or they are poor because they spend their money on "luxuries" like fridges and microwave ovens? You know, so they could prepare meals at home, like people do who are good with money? Nevermind that the fucking appliances might very well not be theirs but came with the apartment, perhaps even required by local laws as part of certification for occupancy? Pepperidge Farm damn sure does.
How about the electric to run the reefer, Bobby? You want to amortize that into your forty cents of goddamn mayo out of the fourteen fucking dollar jar? No you don't, because you just assume that like a second car and gig-speed internet, limitless electric is part of the base package that everyone has by virtue of simply being alive, because that's how it always was for everyone you've known. You have no fucking idea.
I kinda wanna do the recipe to see how terrible it is. Not many spices going on there at all and 8 cents worth of red onion is certainly not going to go very far
Oh I get how they ran those numbers now. They took a 3 lb bag of raw onions (which maybe has 4-5 onions), and divided it by the total weight of the chopped onions they used in the recipe. Instead of.... you know.... dividing by the number of onions.
This does not work with produce because AT LEAST A THIRD OF THE WEIGHT IS COMPOST in any given purchase. And if you cook the onion before weighing it, it's even more misleading.
A big onion is more like a dollar, unless you're buying a 10 lb bag of onions at a time from a wholesaler.
Worst of the worst?
On Wednesday evening, August 19, 2026, a shocking petrol bomb attack targeted a fleet of luxury vehicles parked outside a wedding celebration at the Royal Shalimar venue in the Sparkbrook area of Birmingham, UK. Three suspects dressed in black hurled multiple incendiary devices across the street, setting a McLaren and a Lamborghini (initially reported by some outlets as a Ferrari) completely ablaze. Around 500 guests were dining inside at the time of the targeted arson, and several individuals, including a baby outside, narrowly avoided the thrown explosives. Venue staff managed to use fire extinguishers to battle the initial flames before emergency services arrived.
Do not hurt Lamborghinis. They are such beautiful cars.
The owners have insurance. I do understand it was a clear statement regarding the commoners vs the ultra-wealthy.
“All your private property is target for your enemy.”