If you’re looking for any deal at the supermarket nowadays, chicken wings may be your go-to. They’ve hit their lowest price since 2018 and are the ultimate brain food for prudent investors.
As with every bull market, the only downside is that these rare deals on protein won’t last long so devour them while you can!
Once the NFL season ramps up in the fall, they will only be hotter, spicier, and pricier as well. Weeks leading up to the Superbowl in the U.S., supermarket shelves resemble an incoming apocalypse. As in prior years, I’m predicting another avocado shortage due to all the bananas around guacamole. Loading up on healthy fats is key!
In sum, preparing for the worst and hoping for the best isn’t only useful for your portfolio. Plan strategically and early when it comes to your health as well to make life easier when it comes to game day! Health = wealth after all!
As we’ve been witnessing obscene price increases for the past few months, especially for raw staple commodities such as energy (oil) and food, the most volatile sectors not part of the core CPI index, finding a table at your favorite restaurant may actually be an easier solution!
Consumers are spending like it’s 1999 or whenever inflation wasn’t as high! Feelings of FOMO and picture-perfect summer weather are so enticing that a great deal of Americans are spending all the pent-up savings they’ve worked so diligently to grow during the pandemic. Hopefully, no more than 1/3rd of Americans earning more than $250k per year go under or else unhealthy habits of splurging and revenge spending will trickle down into the rest of the economy and might actually cause a real recession this time around.
Although getting out and securing a seat, booking a ticket, or waiting in line may be harder than ever these days, it may very well be worth the wait for your wallet and sanity. Compared to the check-out line and jacked-up prices on revolving shelves, grabbing a cup of joe and eating out may be in your best interest.
Chew on It
At the grocery store, there are plentiful reasons, not to mention the store’s favorite of price gauging, to jack up prices. Since inflation is caused by too many dollars chasing too few goods, defensible inelastic stores such as big-box retailers and grocery chains have all the reasons to keep up with inflation even if Q2 earnings topped the Street’s estimates.
From production to shipment costs, labor to machinery, there are more fixed costs and estimated COGS with upkeeping a grocery store given more robust demand and loaded inventory 24/7. As a result, in order for a nationwide chain or even local deli to keep up with rising costs and continue to pay their employees and 3rd-party providers fairly, wages must rise with the market rate and the prices they charge to their customers as well. There are many more levers stores have to pull to make sure they’re turning a juicy profit and satisfying everyone involved.
Compared to a restaurant, labor tends to be a restaurant’s greatest expense above rising food prices. Given they are in control of what types of meals they provide, the quantity/quality, and how many customers they can serve, their prices are more stable and less volatile relative to the overall rise of prices.
The skyrocketing prices at grocery stores remind me of the rising costs of having children these days. In 2022, the average cost to raise a child in the U.S. and I’m sure globally is a staggering $300k up to age 18! I wouldn’t even count till age 18 though, more like 21–25 until graduates are really ready to leave the nest. With the median household income in this country only around $80k and home price nearing $450k, no wonder more than 80% of Americans report feeling financially insecure at all times. Paying for basic expenses is a struggle with 2+ kids, mortgage, and student loan payments to mention a few ongoing costs.
With more than 2 kids and depending on your family’s appetite, eating out may not be the most logical solution to your budget after all however for single folks, who on average tend to be less wealthy than those who are married, going out won’t feel like such a splurge as it used to.
Whether you’re a meal prep, grocery goer, or order-in kind of gal/guy, considering time and added expenses are crucial to make sure your wallet is getting the healthiest deal possible. Oftentimes meal prep delivery packages have added fees such as delivery and shipment and require more work to be done since many only include pre-portioned ingredients, not the actual meal to be reheated which most are looking for anyways!
While at a restaurant, although the initial wait may be an annoyance, cooking is a true hassle for couples who work full-time and don’t have time to plan ahead on when they want or can sit down to have a meal.
Not to mention, the more expensive the meal, the less food you eat and more satisfaction you’ll have! The more scarce the item = the more valuable it is! Clearly, the whole point in suggesting eating out with a smaller family is to save more however even if you spend a little more than intended, you will most likely feel more full, grateful, and support a local taqueria in the process!
Less = more and what comes cheap usually becomes expensive later on folks. Cooking is certainly a worthwhile cost-friendly activity however if you’re sacrificing your time, relationships, and sanity, stick to the outside option that is surprisingly more affordable than ever before! You may even lose those extra pounds and muffin top that you’ve been stuck with since lock-down!
Whether or not you actually end up saving at a restaurant, make sure to treat it like an experience regardless so you savor it more. At the end of the day, moderation is key in everything.
You may end up eating less and being healthier and happier as a result! Spending a little more can actually turn out to be less when you factor in the cost of groceries, pickup, turning on the oven, and blasting the AC (energy costs). Cooking in 90% degree heat is no fun. Worthwhile investments always pay off and are seen as precious deals later on.
Personally, after cocking 2+ meals a day since lockdowns began in March 2020, back when I was too nervous to even touch a doorknob without sanitizing it first, I’m venturing out and ordering in more nowadays!
I have to admit, I’m tired of saving until it hurts so bad for so long.
What’s the point of grinding so hard if you can’t appreciate what you’ve earned?
For goodness sakes, I’m only 21 and for the longest time, even my most devoted readers believe I’m in my late to early 40’s as a personal finance blogger!
Readers, if you have any tips on how to responsibly ‘live it up’ in your twenties, let me know since I’m growing up too fast!
As a frugal minimalist, although this lifestyle of buying ‘what I need, not want’ will be ingrained in my habits forever and there’s no going back, eating out will certainly be a new recipe I’m adding to my rich diversified cookbook! Less options, the better!
Treat yourself once in a while! You’re worth it.