[handrous]

Rice, beans, block American cheese, stew meat, whichever fruits and veggies are on sale, make your own baked goods. People found ways even when prices were much, much higher relative to incomes. Eat-whatever-you-like-whenever-you-like is not the historic norm for the working class.

Not saying this is a positive development, mind you, but there are whole cuisines designed around these kinds of needs, for good reason. Stretching out meats over multiple dishes, finding ways to use worse cuts, re-using fats, using all those parts most Americans won't eat anymore, but used to. Making stock from veggie scraps so they're not wasted (then using what's left for the garden, if you don't have chickens and/or pigs to recycle it into eggs and meat for you). Food waste should drop as prices go up, as it's largely a convenience thing. Assuming we remember how to really cook....