It’s not even an age thing, but more an economic issue, I never ran into this as an issue when the cost of eating out was affordable. Don’t feel like prepping lunch the night before? Screw it, I’ll pickup something during my lunch break for $3-4. But now that $3-4 is $10+
after 40 all meals are horror
Submitted 8 months ago by shoulderoforion@fedia.io to [deleted]
https://fedia.io/media/e2/6f/e26f25fda4729d30ecfda5b0a13f69b6935e22b1768e5717f072f4c1b542b3ff.jpg
Comments
Good_morning@lemmynsfw.com 8 months ago
aesthelete@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I find you can’t even get a sandwich anymore for less than $15.
(Fast food may be slightly cheaper, I wouldn’t know because I don’t frequent fast food chains.)
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
For some reason fast food is even more expensive. You’re not missing out on anything.
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 8 months ago
my weekly work lunch is a soda and a sandwich with a bag of chips. It’s $20. 5 years ago it was $12.
ElCanut@jlai.lu 8 months ago
Me, living in France, where a cafeteria room is mandatory, 1-2h long lunchs are the norm and your employer has to give you at least 4-5€/day to buy lunch:
Cryophilia@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Sad American noises
Do I want to get 6 hours of sleep and then pay $25 for a shitty meal, or get 4.5 hours of sleep and cook something that I hope tastes okayish reheated in the microwave tomorrow?
NegativeInf@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Do people not eat salads? Like some spinach, a nice vinaigrette, some nuts, and maybe a little sliced baked chicken, with a few raspberries or something?
FelixCress@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Do people not eat salads?
What, like a rabbit?
okwhateverdude@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Rabbits aren’t salads, silly. They are second order salads.
InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Can you say it in freedom units?
Fester@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Do people not eat cheeseburgers? Like some ground beef, a nice condiment, some veg, and maybe a little sliced bacon, with a few fries or something?
NegativeInf@lemmy.world 8 months ago
EAT RABBIT FOOD WITH SOME CHICKEN
MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
I’ve seriously considered buying MREs because I can’t be bothered to meal prep.
ebc@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
It’s still basically canned food, it’s just that the can is a pouch. It’s more expensive too.
MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
Most MREs that I’ve looked at are a bit more elaborate than your average canned product.
But the idea is the same, yes. It’s more interesting than your typical canned meal, and it’s more expensive, but the quality of the food, if you can call it that, is not dissimilar.
MREs usually are a more “complete” meal with a variety of components, while canned meals are just a volume of a single component.
For me it’s mainly that it adds variety.
And sure, there’s MREs that are like, stew, or soup, that you would probably be better off just grabbing a can of ready to eat Campbell’s or something… But there’s way interesting options than that too.
I once saw a “taco” MRE. It was little more than some “beef” (that you had to heat up) and “cheese” and some other fairly sad toppings on a small tortilla… But I would still take that over a can of chunky beef soup any day.
The nice thing is that MREs are shelf stable for a really long time, so you can get a box of them and shove them in your trunk, or into a desk drawer and then you don’t have to worry about lunch for a month. Longer if you occasionally go out for lunch with coworkers to local food places near your workplace.
Presently, I don’t work in an office (my job is 100% work from home), so I don’t really need it. I can get the same variety from a frozen meal, which is arguably easier, and it’s definitely cheaper than MREs.
I also have considered buying a few boxes as emergency food and throwing them in the trunk of my car. I live in Canada, and getting stranded in a blizzard isn’t impossible. I have access to my trunk from the cabin of my car, so I shouldn’t need to get out to get them and I could stay nourished while waiting for rescue. MREs are supposed to be paired with heating/cooking packs, which would help the car warm up when I’m having one, and with a decently sized container of drinking water, I could wait weeks for rescue, as long as I have adequate protection from the elements (jackets, blankets, etc), and some way to dispose of my bodily waste without contaminating my “living” area. I almost always travel with a radio (I’m a certified amateur operator, aka, ham radio), and a battery bank for my cellphone.
For a couple hundred dollars (maybe? Maybe more? IDK what the prices are for MREs right now), myself and a passenger could survive for a while being stranded in the white wasteland of Canada, without really having to do anything… Just waiting for rescue.
With global warming, last year we barely got snow where I am, and I don’t travel much, so the whole thing is on the back burner at best. The idea was to have it, and if I don’t need it, a few months before everything expires, the MREs become my lunch, and I buy a fresh box for my vehicle.
Lizardking27@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Shit take.
PriorityMotif@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Everything bagel, cream cheese, provolone, tomato/cucumber in that order. Eat open faced. You’re welcome.
kameecoding@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Where is the crushing existential dread and multiversal blackhole?
Classy@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Go look at a tiny plant sticking out of a sidewalk crack. You’ll feel better
WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
I used to do something like that for lunch. Next thing I knew I was crashing from not enough protein, and developing high cholesterol. Be careful eating the same basic things all the time, it’s easy to accidentally max something out without thinking about it.
henfredemars@infosec.pub 8 months ago
Yes, it does end.
eager_eagle@lemmy.world 8 months ago
it ends when you become lunch
aesthelete@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I think something that is missing in the minds of all the “but you could just…” is that the mindset of the OP doesn’t always come from laziness or the inability to navigate how to pack a sandwich, it sometimes comes from crippling or barely functional depression.
I work from home and the thought of even making a sandwich most days in the middle of the day is just too much. I don’t want to make a sandwich, and I know how to make a sandwich. I want to go back to bed for eight to ten years.
socsa@piefed.social 8 months ago
This is precisely why always working from home is unhealthy and the context switch would be worth the psychological boost it provides if not for the commute. I know people really liked the liberation of WFH at first but I just don't think it is going to be sustainable. It has nothing to do with productivity, but it's the next simmering mental health crisis.
aesthelete@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Working from home isn’t really the problem. The job is.
RecluseRamble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
it sometimes comes from crippling or barely functional depression.
For sure but here on Lemmy it seems to be the case in like 80% of posts. If that many people were actually depressed across the whole population, civilization would long have collapsed.
aesthelete@lemmy.world 8 months ago
So you’re saying a niche platform with a lot of tech guys who are actively facing layoffs daily isn’t representative of society overall? I’m super surprised.
But relatedly depression levels have risen in multiples across society over the years, it’s gonna impact the posting.
MellowYellow13@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Then you are just burnout, this ain’t complicated. If you need to rest, fucking rest.
ComicalMayhem@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Oh wow! My crippling depression is cured! Why didn’t I think of this before? Thank you so much!
andros_rex@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It’s frustrating as an adult with ARFID/eating disorders. I can’t bring myself to eat leftovers because I worry that they are contaminated. I’ve thrown away so much food because I won’t reuse a pasta sauce jar if it has been opened.
A lot of the common “easy” meals are things that I absolutely will not eat - spaghetti, canned veggies, ground beef. Sometimes I struggle with eating ramen. It’s fucking embarrassing but I literally cannot help it. I will gag and puke if my brain decides I can’t eat something.
Cort@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Have you considered taking a serve safe restaurant hygiene class. I used to be similarly worried about food, but after learning about the safe handling and storage rules and temperature danger zones, I’m much less worried about left overs.
andros_rex@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I got the manager certification a long time ago, and it oddly made it worse. Weird things like being convinced that my refrigerator isn’t consistently keeping temperature or that the plastic in the packaging has holes in it. Texture sets me off and there’s a lot of variation I’m sensitive to.
I can’t get a family sized bag of chips or cereal for example, because I can only eat them the same day I opened the package. I know that there is nothing wrong with them, but the thought of a stale one upsets me. I love apples, but rarely eat them because I don’t want to risk a mushy one. I know a mushy apple or stale chips aren’t “contaminated” but they feel intensely like they are.
cows_are_underrated@feddit.org 8 months ago
Sounds absolutely horrible. I usually have to tame myself, to not eat all leftovers in the evening so I have some for tomorrow.
MewtwoLikesMemes@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I don’t understand; could somebody please explain?
Sludge@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Prepping food is hard and buying food is worse. The meme comments on the burden of needing to feed yourself as an adult.
uienia@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Still doesn’t make any sense at all. Is she having some sort of eating disorder?
MewtwoLikesMemes@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Thank you for explaning. I can’t say I feel I’m in the same boat as her. I regularly struggle to buy food. ¯\(°_°)/¯
Dkarma@lemmy.world 8 months ago
This bitch has first world problems and she thinks they’re huge.
In reality it’s as simple as a sammich so she just looks dumb.
Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world 8 months ago
What’s wrong with Kramer’s method of just bringing a sleeve of crackers to eat at work?
ryo@lemmy.eco.br 8 months ago
And what do you do down there all day?
TCB. Taking care of business.
keiichii12@ani.social 8 months ago
Breakfast is the worst. Sausage, ham, pancakes, cereal, eggs, hash browns, or toast. Want a breakfast burrito? Take a normal burrito, add scrambled eggs. Want a breakfast sandwich? Swap out sliced bread with english muffin or bagel, optionally add an egg.
Screw that. I’m having leftover spaghetti for breakfast.
uncrme@lemmy.world 8 months ago
One of the greatest freedoms of adulthood is realizing you can have whatever you want for breakfast and nobody can stop you imo
InEnduringGrowStrong@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Cold pizza breakfast hits in all the right spots.
AA5B@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Avocado toast! Which an egg on top!
hark@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Really? I’ve been an adult for quite a while and I always look forward to lunch (all meals, actually). Plenty of quick, simple, and appealing meals to make.
blanketswithsmallpox@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Where’s all the people who loathe breakfast because they aren’t hungry until lunch?
Followup question because I’m not one of them. Should we not talk to you until you’ve had your morning coffee and cigarette? You know what hat doesn’t give you permission to act like a fucking dickweed to everyone Kyle & Amanda.
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Bring my morning coffee and cigarette to me in bed and you’ll have a fast friend for life
SassyRamen@lemmy.world 8 months ago
This is a first world problem
leadore@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Well, what do you want to eat? I guess if you don’t want to prepare your own food, those are the only options, whether at work or at home. Otherwise, make whatever you want and take it to work. Cook more food than you need for your dinner and take the leftovers. Make a salad (tons of options for them), make a sandwich. You don’t have to eat canned soup, make some nice homemade soup and freeze a bunch of individual servings to grab and take. The possibilities are endless.
GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
Microwaving some leftovers might be an option. You get the great food you put effort into making, without actually having to make the effort at lunchtime.
PenisDuckCuck9001@lemmynsfw.com 8 months ago
Don’t eat lunch. When you finally convince your boss to let you work 8 hour days with no break instead of 9 hour days with an awkward 1 hour paid break you can do nothing with, that’s 1 hour you can, spend on yourself that you didn’t have before.
Asafum@feddit.nl 8 months ago
Not everyone can do that unfortunately as it is illegal. We’re “forced” to have a lunch break, which I support the idea of, I just hate that I have to stay the extra hour when “normal” full time jobs are 9-5 and the lunch is in that 8 hours…
PenisDuckCuck9001@lemmynsfw.com 8 months ago
That was one of the few advantages of living in Texas. It was not difficult to get out of that 1 unpaid hour “break” so I could go home earlier and get paid the same.
MBM@lemmings.world 8 months ago
Also, now you don’t have to waste as much of your spare time exercising (to fight weight gain caused by eating 3 meals a day as an adult)
Just make sure you don’t compensate by snacking more
AA5B@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Then you realize cooking can be a hobby!
Since COViD, I
- make bread
- “cuisine of the week”, learn to prepare meals from around the world
- replaced teflon cookware with cast iron, stainless and carbon steel, and learned to use them
- got a steel griddle top covering my entire stove and learned to play short order cook. Played a little hibachi chef but made too much mess trying to twirl and flip things
- got a smoker
This weekend my plan is to smoke a 10 lb pork shoulder. Easily pulled pork for the week and unless my kids come home from school, I’ll likely freeze a bunch
sweetpotato@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
I stopped reading at “make bread”. Waaay too little free time for that
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Bread is probably the least time consuming thing on that list though. There’s a whole slew of no-knead recipes out there, and it takes about 5 minutes to measure out and mix together the ingredients. After that it’s just waiting for it to rise, another 5 minutes to shape the loaf, proof it, toss it in the oven and wait till it’s done. For 10 minutes of active prep time, you can have a nice loaf of crusty white bread that’s nearly as good as something you’d find in some bougie bakery. Granted it takes a couple seconds of pre-planning since the rise/proofing times are long, but most basic no-knead recipes are super forgiving on that, and if something comes up before you’re able to bake it, you can toss your uncooked dough into the fridge for short term storage, or freeze it for long term.
AA5B@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Yeah, but then yu got my main point. Cooking can be a hobby, something you want to do. Find that
dogsoahC@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Reading this makes me really angry for some reason.
explodicle@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Are you an American, who gets a mandatory half hour unpaid in the middle of the workday?
clickyello@lemmy.world 8 months ago
😭
Soup@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I’ve just started with smoothies. Some greek yogurt(has loads of protein), frozen vegetables, honey, and water(to make it a drink) and it’s already goin’ pretty well.
I agree, it’s awful to deal with.
ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
I’ve been making my own yogurt lately a half gallon at a time. It’s dummy easy and comes out a bit thinner than most store yogurt. It works really well as a drink or smoothie base
Soup@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I’ve heard of this homemade yogurt thing. I may have to give it a go depending on how much I need but for now I don’t mind buying the stuff at the store.
funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
smoothies aren’t very healthy or nutritious though. Blending removes a lot of the health benefits of fruit.
Soup@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Well it’s good thing that not a single source I could find seems to agree with you or maybe I’d worry! The hell do you think chewing is?
Blending a smoothie is perfectly fine and does not hurt the fruit at all.
AA5B@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I think it’s the filtering out of pulp and other solids, leaving only sugary juice that would make it unhealthy. However the point of a smoothy is to blend actual fruit including fiber and other solids, and throw in some protein
Veggie smoothies would be even more healthy than fruit smoothies but I’m not up for trying that yet
sazey@lemmy.world 8 months ago
If only not stuffing your face for one meal was a thing.
chemicalprophet@lemm.ee 8 months ago
I skip breakfast so technically lunch is breakfast but it’s then I eat my main meal and it’s always top notch. Who wants to eat a large meal in the evening?
MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
Me. Can’t stomach a full meal until late noon.
MycelialMass@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I do, it makes me sleepy otherwise Ill stayup way too late
chemicalprophet@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Mind that stomach valve, they wear out.
Redruth@feddit.nl 8 months ago
Where is your tupperware lunch box? hmmm?
manuallybreathing@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
Eating is a chore, I watch a video so i dont think about it, instant noodles are real easy to make at work, toss in some broccoli if youre feeling like a but fancy
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Sorry to hear you don’t have functioning taste buds
LoveSausage@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
Diet shakes :)
fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 8 months ago
As a non-UKer, meal deals are amazing.
Redruth@feddit.nl 8 months ago
Yes georgia, it ends when you marry mr successful and he pays for everything.
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
There’s a variety of lunches that are cheap and insanely easy though:
Like sure, some of these things rely on having leftovers laying around to dress up a bit, but I think that’s a reasonable thing to expect of most people.