As a housecleaner I live in the SF Bay Area on between $15-20k/year. The cost of my dietary staples which are primarily vegetables, leafy greens, dairy products, and eggs has hardly budged.

Anyone who has access to a kitchen can with practice use minimal time and effort produce meals that are competitive with processed options from frozen foods, grocery store chickens, and of course fast food joints. Though cuts of meat have gone way up in price, whole chickens are still reasonably priced for those who can process a bird which is not really that hard.