[ben_w]

Now that I’m a senior software developer, I earn enough that I don’t need to care how much food like this costs.

When I was a student, during term time (rather than the summer holidays when I had a job and lived with my parents), I made a game out of spending as little as possible on food. My record was 50p per day sustained over an entire term in 2004 (adjusted for inflation, that’s about £1 per day today).

Accounting for disposable income rather than gross income, being surprised that students find £4 sandwiches expensive is like being supposed that someone on €60k doesn’t eat every lunch in €100-a-head restaurants. (Those sorts of restaurants are still “fancy special occasions only” for me).

[chrisseaton]

But presumably these people are aware that there are people who aren't living on a pound a day. They can't be genuinely surprised that most people out there can afford a couple of pounds for lunch? They'd have to be ignorant of the basic economic state of the nation to be surprised by this.

[ben_w]

Anchoring bias is a powerful thing. As far as I can tell, most people think of themselves (in the System 1 sense) as representative of normal, no matter how rich or poor they are.

[zelos]

I don't know: as a reasonably well paid software developer I still find the amount people are prepared to pay for lunch surprising. As the article mentions, once you buy coffee+sandwich+pastry+fruit you can easily be over £10, which is something like the price of a new Macbook every year?

[wenc]

Well my rationale is a little different. I tend to buy lunch every day because I like fresh/hot food, I like variety and I like putting money into the local economy (many lower income folks depend on their food service salaries). And I enjoy doing other things with my leisure time than prepping meals.

Nothing wrong with prepping food on the weekends — many find it therapeutic while others do it out of financial need or for dietary reasons - but I personally wouldn’t do it to save a few bucks. I was a poor student for many years, and I’ve had to do it out of need, but I’m glad to be able to live differently now.

[zwaps]

What is the alternative? What is the opportunity cost of doing so?

I'd imagine enough people going there earn enough such that even the price of a new Macbook is not even a thing.

[gowld]

What good is another macbook if you already have one?

I know what good a meal is if I already had one.