Here (Seattle area now and LA last I visited) McDonalds is definitely not cheap. Taco Bell, Dairy Queen and sometimes Arby's are the least expensive. Not everything on the menus, but generally if you don't get sodas, you can eat for under $2 per person. Jack-in-the-Box is the most expensive and can cost more than a sit-down meal.
Still, Top Ramen at $0.10 and Kraft Mac & Cheese has those prices beat, but I wasn't counting processed food. Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes
bit of effort and we can get 4 individual meals for roughly $2 per.....Plus a few cents for electricity (prob less than the gas to go to Taco Hell.
Even easier. 2 lbs of boneless chicken ($5 on sale) One jar chili mix ($3 bucks) dump in crock pot and serve over rice ($.50).
another 4 meals for $2/per and more work washing up than prep. (and something even a lazy bugger like me can do).
Just quick and dirty cooking for folks too tired/busy/lazy to get serious. Things I'd compare to fast food. You really can't compare a well prepared 3 course meal to fast food garbage. You pay more to get more.
It does sound like our food prices are comparable and those are good ideas. And I get your point that it can be done. I still think there's something wrong, though, when, generally, it's cheaper to eat crap than real food. It used to be the opposite. Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes
Large scale production using mediocre quality materials and min wage labor is just cheap (and easy for the buggers lining up).
Potatoes are expensive to ship out here evidently. (rot fast in the heat too) Yams will grow here but not spuds. (and I couldn't remember what we paid for the bag of spuds, prob guessed high, but usually they are about $1/lb when sold loose). Locally grown tubers are something we haven't figured out yet.
If you really want to eat cheap, head to Hamura's Siamin shop for a huge bowl of noodles/wonton/mystery meat(spam)and a couple of chicken skewers for about $6-7 bucks. Cough up another $1.5 for big slice of Lilikoi pie...
We even have a TV news spot called Cheap Eats where two hugely fat newscasters show you where to chow down for cheap (but on Oahu). No fast food but pretty high calorie stuff usually. We have a terrible obesity problem and high rate of diabetes in these islands. Esp. among the Hawaiian population that seem to love pretty unhealthy eats and have a cultural thing in favor of being obese.
The chicken was actually $7.50. Safeway had a 2/1 sale but no doubt it's a factory farmed bird. If you want local meat here it' usually pork with some grass fed beef (not that great quality either) also available. Mostly, we get container loads of frozen meat from the mainland. But the fish is fresh!
