Young People Drowning in Food Costs? Try Boomer-Style Frugality – RedState
Damn, but young people these days complain a lot. If you ask me, they have too sweet things. In my day, not only did we have to walk 48 miles to school in hip-deep snow, uphill in both directions, but we also had to carry granite tablets instead of books and fight off saber-toothed cats and cave bears in the process.
Seriously, though. It’s a little frustrating, and not just for us aging baby boomers, to see young people complaining about the cost of food, then learn that they get much of their food from Uber Eats or DoorDash. That’s why, when I saw this post on X, I couldn’t help but laugh; this guy understands.
My sandwich instructions have been viewed 9.3 million times https://t.co/wouqxXLSS8 pic.twitter.com/4y9I8tAmWX
– Joel Berry (@JoelWBerry) May 23, 2026
In case this image doesn’t show up, as it sometimes does, here’s what Mr. Berry had to say, in response to a child who complained about his $28 lunch.
A little-known hack:
- 2 slices of Aldi bread: $0.17
- 3 oz Aldi deli turkey: $0.86
- 1 slice (sic) of Aldi cheddar: $0.15
- 1 condiment of your choice: $0.02
- 1 apple: $0.53
- 1 hard-boiled egg: $0.14
- 5 carrot sticks: $0.17
- Cold tap water: $0.01
Total: $2.05
You can do it.
Now, before you people who are younger than me (and these days, that’s an ever-increasing proportion of the population) say, “OK, Boomer,” I’d like to point out that a lot of young people are not on my lawn to be bothered by this. In fact, one of my grandchildren is in medical school after completing a four-year pre-med program. She packs her lunches in brown bags. She also monitors her finances, works part-time, and applies for every small scholarship she can find. She is in her second year of medicine. Do you know what his student loan balance is?
$0.00.
Back to young people and food.
Learn more: Morning Minute: You guys…the WH DoorDash delivery wasn’t spontaneous!
DoorDash Grandma works hard: Thanks to Trump for ‘no tax on tips’ on McDonald’s delivery to the Oval Office
In my youth, of course, DoorDash and Uber Eats didn’t exist. The closest was pizza delivery, if you lived in the city, which you didn’t. My first few years alone, many weeks, the only reason I ate red meat was because I shot a deer every fall. And we saved. Boy did we save.
And we ate plentifully, even though it wasn’t expensive.
As for the kid in the post Joel Berry responds to, all I can say is, “What are you eating? Unicorn cutlets? Champagne, caviar, and sugar cookies sprinkled with pixie dust?
A few years ago, I was annoyed to read an article in the New Yorker (admittedly, I’m often annoyed by what I read in the New Yorker) about the financial difficulties of young professional couples. The young couple they profiled, two young doctors just starting out in practice, were complaining to the interviewer about their student loans, while the photo of them showed them sitting in a new Volvo, each with a Starbucks cup. If I could have talked to these two idiots, I would have said, “Hey, you know, if you’re having cash flow problems, maybe try Chevrolet and Folgers instead of Volvo and Starbucks!”
Young whiners. Remove delivery apps from your phone. Go to the grocery store. Make your own sandwiches. Cook your own dinners. If you don’t know how to cook, learn now; there are probably 842,290 YouTube channels that will show you how to do it. Stop whining. You are not Marie Antoinette. You’re not special. Learn to feed yourself. We did it. You can too.
And get off my lawn!
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