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Comment by InefficientRed | Hacker News Reader

> psychology of inflation is different than the past... It used to be that inflation fueled spending because people figured they should buy it now because it will cost more later... Today people see a Big Mac meal costs $9.99 at McDonalds and think “I can’t afford that!”

Apparently homo economicus has an interesting digestive system. Does the Econ dept have an Anatomy book explaining how folks can eat 2x this year and then not eat next year?

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As glib as your comment is, the answer is that people will probably start eating at home. I'm not saying they will eat higher quality foods, but they won't be eating fast food as much. The value proposition isn't there.

I see this in my own life. I've eaten out for about 80% of my dinners. Taco Bell use to be $0.89 a taco. Now it's around $2. It took me 15 minutes round trip to get Taco Bell. My time (including fuel for the car) and food costs are now at or below $2 per taco (where I would get at least 3 for myself, two for my wife and 2 burritos betwixt us). I can eat steak and potatoes for the same total cost of a meal.

Homo economicus still has a digestive system. It's now considering the amount of energy (money) required to gather the food. Similar to the homo sapiens idea of, "Should I eat these nuts or get a pack of people to take down a bison?"

Food at home is up 11%; food away from home is only up 7%.

You have to keep in mind gas to get the food. Now if you stop on your way, you can call is 0 total. If you go home first, do things, then go get food, you need to include the cost of fuel.

This only strengthens my point. Going to the grocery store in nearly every household's weekly/biweekly cadence, but most people drive to go out to eat. If we include additional energy costs, the spread in inflation between food at home and food away from home is even larger.

It doesn't take an econ degree to understand that there are cheaper alternatives to a $9.99 Big Mac meal.

Maybe this will help people to eat healthier. You can get a pound of deli meat and a loaf of bread for around $15 here. That makes about a week's worth of sandwiches. I certainly know I could stand to eat better.

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