I wanted to get low sugar jam at the grocery store and it was $7.49. A pound of ground beef is cheaper

Yes. Fancy special occasion restaurants are $400-$500 for our family of 4.
Fast casual is $50-$70
Casual restaurants for beer & burgers, easy Italian, Indian etc are $125-$150

I traveled for work last week and ate out more than usual, and it was crazy! Almost $6 for a large coffee. The one morning I bought food as well (an omelet at a diner), my bill was $21. On my way back with a 12:30 flight, i was planning to get a cheap piece of of airport pizza, and it was $8 per dried out slice! Of cheese pizza! I was on per diem but I couldn't do it on principle, skipped lunch.

Absolutely. I could eat for $5 a few years ago. Can’t even eat for $10 now (including fast food).

A meal for just me and my husband - and we are talking basic, casual restaurants - will easily be $50.

Anonymous wrote:Safeway's single bagels went from $0.60 to $1.15. Almost doubled.

This isn't inflation. This is gouging.

You want to pay people 15.00/hour, this is the result of that including the current inflationary times we are in. I was traveling a couple of weeks ago and drove through and Einstein's Bagels and ordered a bagel with cream cheese, nothing more, I already had water in the car. They charged me $8 for a bagel with cream cheese. I asked the manager if that price was correct and she smiled and said yes, and in the same breath, "I'm sorry." I will not purchase from an Einstein's again, in fact paying $20+ dollars for a dozen bagels (flour and water), not gonna happen. English muffins in our house at this moment. I am confident I am not the only one who will walk away from favorites because these prices are absurd.

Anonymous wrote:Prices have been crazy, both for grocery but so much worse with restaurants. We used to eat out at least 3 times weekly.

We rarely eat out anymore. I don't like the excessing tipping culture on everything either so until we are back to the gold old days pre-Covid, I don't see us eating out as often anytime soon.

I don't think things are going back.

I think these high prices will be our norm until more people can't afford them and then we'll hit a recession.

I'm dreading it a bit in a few weeks when all of my kids are back in the house from college.

They were all home for Easter and we ordered Chinese - it was $116 plus tip. We got our usual family order that we've always gotten in the past but it used to be around $70.

3 egg rolls $6
1 sm wonton soup $6
1 sm hot & sour soup $6
1 lg shrimp lo mein $14
1 lg chicken & pineapple fried rice $14
1 dinner portion chicken & broccoli $16
1 dinner portion mixed veggies $14
1 dinner portion kung pao pork $16
1 dinner portion beef & string beans $16

Prices have been crazy, both for grocery but so much worse with restaurants. We used to eat out at least 3 times weekly.

We rarely eat out anymore. I don't like the excessing tipping culture on everything either so until we are back to the gold old days pre-Covid, I don't see us eating out as often anytime soon.

Anonymous wrote:Safeway's single bagels went from $0.60 to $1.15. Almost doubled.

This isn't inflation. This is gouging.

Yup. Up up up prices go.

I feel this, OP. We still go out but usually sneak in our own appetizer and drinks.

Anonymous wrote:Yes. A meal at Chick-fil-A is like $12 now.

Same. Ordering for 4 and our total is always around $45 or so. Ridiculous. I'm finding fast casual sit down restaurants to be cheaper or about the same. Might as well just go there and have someone else clear the table.

Anonymous wrote:Safeway's single bagels went from $0.60 to $1.15. Almost doubled.

This isn't inflation. This is gouging.

It's absurd.

Anonymous wrote:Agree. If I’m going to eat out, it needs to be special or something I can’t make at home. I never get fast casual or even one step up type of restaurant unless it’s a social outing.

We used to eat all the time but have really cut back. I will eat out with a friend if I am in the office (which is sorta like a special occasion, even if it is fast casual). But even lunch at a crappy DC place for just me is $12-15.

What I miss is double-date nights out with friends--it was a really nice way to catch up with friends, without everyone's kids. But now that can cost easily $500, which just seems stupid. What are people doing now? We are still having dinner parties, but I miss adult only occasions when you don't have to convince the kids to stay in our (very nice) basement.

Eating out is for the rich now .

Yes, even our regular Chinese takeout place has gone up significantly in price. We’ve sharply reduced eating out/takeout.

Anonymous wrote:Yes. We made a rare Chipotle purchase after a game, and I was just happy that everyone (4 people) could get what they wanted for 40ish dollars.

Went out as a group of six a few weeks ago and the bill was $400. We each had ONE drink, 2 total table apps, and entrees were pasta and the like. And we were in the burbs.

This was over $50 for us this weekend! Guess we got gotten by the guac.