this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2026
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A Boring Dystopia
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It's the changes from over the last few years. You don't notice till you look back. A $10 burger, medium fries and, 2 energy drinks pre COVID became a $12 then $15 lunch post COVID. As of Monday same lunch I like to get is now $19.09.
Pre/during COVID I use to survive off $200usd for a month of groceries, Its now $400 to barely fill the fridge and get a few basics. Electric Went from $150 to $200/$250 and my state put a rate cap on it. Heating bill hit $400 once this winter. Internet went from $90 to $150 my last renewal and Comcast is the only real option. Gas only goes up...
Is that a normal lunch to you?
We usually spend £10-15 each a week on food. Internet is £24/month, electricity about £100 a month averaged out over the year with no gas connection. Probably going to be cutting energy usage down quite a bit soon too.
Is that 10-15 each day or for a whole week?
If it's for a whole week, what are you eating?
Each week, between 2 of us, usually comes to around £25 but does vary with some things that are infrequent purchases.
Around £5 on cheese. Then everything else, typically some mix of: potatoes, onions, carrots, rice, beans, chickpeas, lentils, soy sauce, hoisin, frozen peas and sweetcorn, flour, chicken, sausages, honey to make mead, lettuce, cabbage, grapes, tinned chopped tomato.
That's crazy, your other expenses (internet/electricity) seem comparable, but your food must be so much cheaper than in the US. Where I am, chicken alone is like $5 per pound. I think a pound of any decent cheese is $8-10.
Probably get 0.5-1kg of chicken, or 400g of the finest sausages in Aldi. That along with cheese are by far the most expensive ingredients in that list.
I suppose living fairly near cheddar helps with cheese prices, doesn't have to be sent very far.
It's the payday celebration lunch, getting something expensive at work for lunch. I usually eat cheaper but the payday burger is the first thing that came to mind that I know the price history. I got stash of dry food in my office I can microwave for lunch.
Small chips from vending machine is $1.50, ~$10-20 would be cheap fast food, a sit down restaurant would be ~30-$60 +tip for one person (haven't been to one in a few years so I'm not quite up to date).
Normally if you cook at home you can make good meal that last you a day or 2 for $5-10. If your desperate you can scrape by on the college special of ramen, bread, and frozen pizza for ~$1-$2 a meal.
I'd boil my balls for internet that cheap, It's not possible to get anything for less than $60 where I'm at and it's cellular internet with a low data cap at that price. Average home internet would be about $75-100 I do also have more expensive contract as I would get charged MUCH more on a home plan as I use more than the 1.5tb a month of "unlimited" internet but it would still be $80-150 a month. I got the cheapest phone plan possible and root my phone to not get charged for tethering and to bypass the shady stuff phone carriers do to your phone to milk you for money.
I don't think I've ever seen an electric bill under $100 I know I'm higher than average as I'm on a computer all day.
Don't worry the US changes how we measure inflation every few years to keep the number looking politically favorable.