Houngan
3516
We are not rich people, we are poor people with money. About the only good quote I gleaned from 2034.
Houngan
3517
Panda Express? I have a bag of packing materials in my basement, I can make a hell of a meal by drizzling some soy sauce on that and beat PE. I ate there once in the last 50 years and I’m still pretty pissed about it. (sorry if that came off too aggressive, but how the hell is PE even a viable thing?)
There are a lot of crappy American towns where Panda Express is far and away the best Chinese restaurant option in town. It’s certainly true in my mother’s town; the two other Chinese restaurants there are execrable.
The Panda express in Honolulu are actually pretty decent. Yes, I’ve eaten at some horrible ones in the rest of the US. I think maybe because we actually have plenty of folks who know how to make decent Asian food. There pretty much average quality for Chinese restaurants, You know the old story about you can judge the quality of Chinese restaurant by how many Asians eat there. Well in Honolulu, pre-covid it was actually most Asian customers.
It’s not Chinese food, like Taco Bell isn’t Mexican food, but I think it’s actually pretty good as far as fast food goes. Much improved nowadays versus when I ate it in the mall as a kid in the 80s/90s.
Houngan
3521
Again, sorry if I was too aggressive about that, but I was shocked when I ate a meal from PE and it was just about flavorless. Maybe it’s a Midwest PE thing, but even the crappiest menu-on-the-placemat “Chinese” restaurant has 10x the flavor.
There’s only one good thing I’ve ever found at Panda Express: The Black Pepper Chicken. Everything else on the menu is not worth getting.
And the trick to getting good Black Pepper Chicken from there is to order the large sized/family sized to go. If you order regular size, they’ll fill a box using the “it’s been sitting here in the buffet for 30 minutes” black pepper chicken, and you don’t want that. You want them to make you a fresh batch.
I sometimes try some of the other stuff, when new things are brought seasonally. And it’s never been good. Only the Black Pepper Chicken. Remember!
Alstein
3523
Aldi isn’t that much of a bargain anymore.
I do like getting some things from there- milk, eggs, steak, alcohol , jalapenos and cookies.
For me, getting out is basically me wanting to eat something different than what I usually eat. Mexican food was the one thing I missed during the lockdown, and you couldn’t do that take-out it was cold when you got back.
Enidigm
3524
I posted somewhere on Qt3 a pic of my grocery bill - to buy burgers “from scratch” was about $50 for four burgers.
It’s generally not cheaper to eat out than to cook yourself as long as your happy eating 3 ingredient meals (ie, dry pasta cooked, a can of tomatoes, Parmesan cheese). Once you start layering on the ingredients there’s basically no way to match the economy of scale of restaurant chains.
We’re very much not eating the same type of burgers then because it would not cost me anywhere near 50 bucks to make 4 burgers.
If that’s the case, you’re comparing apples to oranges. No way the ingredients in the cheaper eat out burgers are on par with a $12-$13 ingredients only burger. Economy of scale is important, but it doesn’t cover labor, overhead, and profits.
I did BBQ a couple weeks back: 10 lbs of 80/20 ground beef on sale at Safeway for $1.99/lb, about $20 bucks of veggies, buns, American cheese. Made like 20+ double patty smash burgers for under $50 dollars. Obviously not Whole Foods level ingredients, but certainly no worse than any fast food joint, including stuff like In N Out and Shake Shack.
I do comparison shopping a lot, and things like butter, Greek yogurt, cheese, ice cream. All that stuff is at least 2/3 the price of any grocery store in the area. And their specialty brand are great.
Their fruits and vegetables are also usually a good deal and usually looks great.
Sure, I guess, but most restaurants spend between 25-30% on food cost. So every $10 you spend, the restaurant spends $2.50-3.00 on raw ingredients (so not including labor, etc). Let’s say you’re paying 50% more than the restaurant for the goods. You pay for a pricy $15 burger at a sit-down joint. They’re paying $4. You’d pay $6 or so at the grocery store.
Enidigm
3529
There’s absolutely no way you’re making a pricey burger from scratch for $6. Unless your idea of pricey burger is “cheapest ground beef in the store”, and even then it’s highly unlikely.
I confess I have no idea what you’re going on about. How much ground beef do you think is in a ‘pricey’ $15 burger? What do you think the retail price of that much ground beef is?
I’m sure it’s possible to blow $50 on making 4 burgers at home, but that’s certainly not the price of entry.
I don’t know why not. Maybe if you are talking One burger but for a family or neighborhood bbq to eliminate wastage it shouldn’t be hard to get it around $6 You can get 20 pre-made 8 0z Black Angus burgers at Costco for $95 that $4.75 each. cheese $.20/slice, buns .75, lettuce, tomato and condiments another $.,50.
Enidigm
3533
Basically what people are saying is cost of meat and maybe buns. What im saying is if you have to buy everything from scratch - ketchup, mustard, mayo, ect, and you’re also not buying the cheapest ingredients - cheapest meat, cheapest lettuce, ect, you’re by no means getting a six dollar burger if you buy solo, not for two, maybe getting closer for 4, but I’d be surprised at a $25 bill for 4 tbh. That jar of pickles, that avocado, ect.
More than likely people are saying “hey, I bought ground beef for $6 a pound and some buns for $2… it’s burger time!” But that’s what eating out is going to get you, not just meat and bread and whatever’s in the fridge. That’s why i said above that unless your eating three ingredient meals it’s not easy to be cheaper. I could certainly eat cheaper by buying the cheapest white rice and the cheapest ground beef and cook them together and pour a can of corn on them… but that’s not, let’s say, eating well.
I find it hard to make a salad for less than about 6-10$ even with dressing / oil at home. Romaine? 3$. Cucumber? 1$ Red Bell Pepper? 1.50$ Feta cheese? 3$ Red onion? 1$ ect
but you don’t throw away the bottle of Grey Poupon after making one burger, or toss out $8/lb cheddar cheese block after you put 1 oz oz of cheese.
Maybe we are saying the same thing, my $20 per pizza in part was because I couldn’t use up enough flour, olive oil, expensive cheese and I had wastage just for eating for the two us. Ground meat freezes well as do most burger ingredients and burgers are pretty common meal especially in summer time. So I think it is probably not a good example,
The only reason why you couldn’t is that generally, you can’t buy just 5oz of ground beef at a time, or just one bun. That said, shopping at Whole Foods might even make it easier, as they have a butcher and a bakery, etc. I guarantee I could walk in and get burger fixings for $6 or less.
Looking at their website (in Seattle-not sure if prices vary by locale, and I can’t be bothered to check).
80/20 Ground beef, $5.99/lb. 6oz potion=2.24
Soft Pretzel Bun $1.25? I think? I think I’ve bought singly them in store for that- so I know they sell them that way. There’s a 4-pack on the website for $4, anyway,.
So, $3.50 for the two important bits. You still have $2.50 to spend on whatever else. A little onion? A mushroom or two to sautee? A whole tomato might be expensive- could be a problem. A tiny handful of arugula? A lot of grocery stores that have a fancy cheese section do ‘bits’ of cheese when they package them, you can pick them up for a buck, so some blue cheese, maybe, or brie? Sounds good.
