In the Bloomberg graph posted, half or more than half said all the products listed were higher. Approx 25% said prices were about the same and only a small hand full said prices were lower.

So the higher prices aren't hitting everybody, but nearly half are seeing higher prices.

And yes, prepared meals would be more expensive than the raw materials themselves.

FWIW

Well yes, when I saw steak was $33 a pound, I didn’t even consider it.  Instead, I got a different type of meat for $4 a lb. It be closer to $3.50 a lb but I didn’t need much anyway.  I find different recipes that use less meat or I cook more vegetarian.  It’s not a big deal.  To someone who is on a Keto diet, their expenses could go way up.

Well, if you're a meat eater, you have beef, pork, chicken, sheep (mutton), deer, duck, emu and many other types of fowl (quail, pheasant, etc.), fish (all kinds), bear and many others.

The Japanese eat red meat, but they also eat a lot more fish and other animals too.

As for volume... I always find the portions I get at US restaurants TOO large. That's why I always go for the filet minion because it's usually the smallest cut.

Each time I visit the US, it's usually to go to a company which my company was doing business with. They would always take 8 or 10 members out for dinner. We got the cold dishes (shrimp cocktail, salad, soup first) I was just about full on just those items even before the main menu came. LOL. I've lived in Japan so long, I've gotten used to eating a lot less than when I was in the US. So when the main course comes out, I eat the entire meat, but often leave some of the baked potato or fries because they're just too much. And finally, every else orders a big dessert, but I pass on the dessert because it's just too much already.

Waiters and waitresses often ask me if there was something wrong with the meal because I always leave some on the plate, but I always reply that it was delicious... but the portions were just too much.

So if you learn to cut back a bit, and/or change your dietary habits, you can drastically reduce your food budget.

FWIW

Edited to add: [I just wish they would serve smaller regular portions and charge extra if you want a larger volume.]

Everything has additives these days, unless you grew it yourself. And then of course when doing normal processing and cooking, you add additives although we often call them condiments.

Showtalk said:

when I saw steak was $33 a pound, I didn’t even consider it. Instead, I got a different type of meat for $4 a lb

Same here. I respond to high prices of one food kind with switching to something else.

People count on extras to take home as leftovers.  

Usually condiments aren’t as harmful as secret additives.  Supposedly subway head to change their bread recipe because it contained an ingredient also found in tires.  They did and the bread became tasteless.  They lost business over it.

Showtalk said:

Usually condiments aren’t as harmful as secret additives

Things like melamine to bulk up cereals, or formaldehyde to retard spoilage? (thinking of some of the stuff in Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle")

.

It sounds unappetizing.  We need to read labels.

Both of those things are illegal to add to food, and both are actually toxic. But they have been used as additives in the bad old days. Melamine is used in the manufacture of countertops and not intended for ingestion. Formaldehyde of course is embalming fluid and is rather poisonous. Neither should be anywhere near food. But unfortunately, some unscrupulous characters have done unsavory things in the past and that is why we now have such a maze of regulatory red tape