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by xyzzyz 2536 days ago
In Walmart for $11 you can buy 1 pound of chicken breast ($2/lb), 1 pound of rice ($.50/lb), 1 pound of tomato sauce ($.50), 1 pound of carrots ($1/lb), 1 pound of bread ($.88/20 oz), half pound of butter ($3/lb), half pound of cheese ($2/8 oz), and still have $4 left after tax. You can literally feed a family of four with this. Of course, most nominally poor people will spend much more, because they're not actually all that short on money.

If you take 1860s unskilled worker wage and spend it all on food, you'll get about as much as you could with SNAP benefits (~$130/month) today. The UBI is already here, it's just our standards have rose significantly.
2 comments
slowhand09 2536 days ago
I concur with your experience. Spouse is a great shopper. We probably spend a little more than this daily, but we frequently get 2-3 meals each out of it. Dinner for 2, 2 days lunches. We eat out 2 nights per week, one being take-out pizza and a salad. The salad always gives us enough for part of a 2nd meal. We shop carefully, cook at home. Buy soft drinks, bottled water in bulk, make iced tea, buy big bags of ground coffee, etc. We do this by choice and eat better foods than most people we know. We can afford to spend quite a bit more, but this suits our lifestyle.
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xyzzyz 2536 days ago
This has been my experience when I was growing up, and when I was a student. Food these days is insanely cheap if you aren't going for specific tastes, or if you're good at cooking.

I'm much wealthier now, so I spend much more on food because I can, but if you're really frugal, you can keep your expenses extremely low by simply avoiding expensive ingredients. For example, a single red bell pepper costs $1.50, which is insanely expensive compared to chicken, beans, rice, or carrots, based on the nutritional value. Of course, fresh vegetables are nice, but fresh vegetables any time of the year are very modern invention, thus expensive, and you can easily do without them.

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ToFundorNot 2536 days ago
Maybe where you're from but: [1] chicken breast 5.86/lb [2] rice $.94/lb [3] tomato sauce $.63/lb [4] carrots $.99/lb [5] bread $1.38/20oz [6] butter $2.95/lb [7] cheese $3.05/8oz

Which shows that it's multiples more expensive in Canada.

[1]https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/boneless-skinless-fillet-remove... [2]https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/rose-jasmine-white-scented-rice... [3]https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/great-value-tomato-sauce/600015... [4]https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/carrots/6000191271746 [5]https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/great-value-100-whole-wheat-bre... [6]https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/natrel-salted-butter/6000199418... [7]https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/great-value-cheddar-cheese-marb...

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