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[–] 14 points 4 months ago (12 children)

It's crazy how expensive it is not knowing how to bake, if you like good bread.

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  • [–] 8 points 4 months ago (5 children)

    Most people have no idea how expensive it is not knowing how to cook.

    I genuinely can't understand why people complain about having no money and then spend $50 on $4 worth of food to have someone bring it to you in more time then it takes to make.

    Someone somewhere right now is ordering pasta, the highest margin restaurant for item, at a 900% markup compared to basic ingredients in the store. And it takes longer. And tastes worse by the time it gets there.

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    What we want are cafeterias and automats.

    What we get are finely crafted artisan pasta experiences, and empty closed buildings, but nothing in between.

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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    You say that, but cafeterias and automats are usually wholly impersonal mass produced garbage like fast food in another wrapper. That's what they were when they were new, a la carte prison food. They would bet slammed for not being authentic enough for some reason.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    But I don't want garbage. I want inauthentic mass-produced healthy food - economies of scale.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    I'd have no problem with that, of course. But that would do best in bigger cities, and there's always going to be a significant advantage to knowing how to DIY. Specialization is for insects, never de-skill willingly.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    Sure, but fresh food is perishable, making this a more expensive prospect. Economies of scale doesn't apply to a flat line of food waste. Fruits and veg only have so many days before they go off.

    Chipotle used to be the single-cuisine version of exactly this, and look what happened to it. Chopt does all fresh veg and over 25 years only has 70 locations. And neither of these things are cheap.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago* (5 children)

    It costs [your wage] to bake bread, if you start doing it daily instead of buying, and aren't having fun. I'm pretty sure if it became price-competitive to home bake then society would collapse.

    Yes I know the quality isn't comparable, but what are we making? Sandwiches? Toast?

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    I can do the hydration math in my head and spend about six minutes of total active time making a crusty boule or a loaf of sandwich bread for about 60-80¢ of ingredients. You can substitute a lot of time for kneading, it's easy as hell.

    The quality isn't comparable, it is price competitive, and if my not buying shitty bread did make society collapse, I would die of happiness.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 child)

    So...

    Ingredients $0.7

    US minimum wage is $11.80.

    6 minutes is 1/10 of an hour.

    $11.8 / 10 = $1.18

    $1.18 + $0.70 = $1.9

    Google says it's $1.8 (ehh, mb, more like 2-3? you might have a point) on average for a loaf, so, even with your numbers, it's not price competitive with buying at minimum wage (and those numbers assume expertise and ignore waiting time). Unless the bride prices are totally crazy these days?

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