Dee (DLAINEDEE) said:

What is alternative food products?

Soylent green, in the not so distant dystopian future

True, it doesn’t matter what they hack, it’s all dangerous for someone. 

It’s here now. Plant based but still a take over of food choice.

I remember the soy burgers of the 1970s that were served in the school cafeterias. You could absolutely tell the difference, and they served those because they were cheap.

The new style soy products taste like real meat but we talked about them before. They have additives.

Meat Eaters Hit Hardest as Inflation Sweeps U.S. Grocery Aisles

(Bloomberg) -- Inflation is landing in America’s refrigerators -- and it’s hitting meat-eaters most of all.

About one in three U.S. adults say they’re spending more on groceries than they were at the start of 2021, according to a Morning Consult survey of 2,200 U.S. adults conducted May 17 to 19 for Bloomberg News. Red meat was the ingredient cited most often for its higher prices, with chicken right behind.

Food inflation has been inching up for months, driven by soaring commodity costs, costlier transportation and challenges securing labor. Rising demand for meat, from home cooks as well as from the booming fast-food industry, has buoyed prices, too.

“We’ve got these pockets of inflation without having corresponding wage growth, and that’s going to put consumers in a really tough spot,” Morning Consult economist John Leer said in an interview.

To save money on their rising grocery bills, about a quarter of U.S. shoppers say they have started buying fewer items overall during the pandemic, including less meat.

Rising grocery bills also appear to disproportionately impact shoppers of color. More than 40% of Hispanic and Black respondents reported higher grocery costs since the start of the year, while most White Americans reported no change in spending.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meat-eaters-hit-hardest-inflation-183156184.html

FWIW

I have no rise in grocery bills because if the price of something goes up too much, I buy something else.  It helps to do your own cooking vs buying convenience foods, because not all foods in the original state are pricier.  Prepared foods are.

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.]