Is food really that expensive? I eat mostly beef, yogurt, eggs, small canned fish like sardines, a few vegetables and fruits and I find sell by mark downs all the time on beef that I stock up on and freeze. Like just a few dollars per pound. Same thing with eggs, they have price spikes sometimes but a lot of times they are about 10-20 cents per egg. So like 8 oz serving of beef and a few eggs is like $4 per meal total.

Maybe olive oil prices have gone up and some others or lots of packaged and processed foods. But from a PRICE PER NUTRITION standpoint (real food like beef, eggs, etc), I dont find food costs all that bad.

Price per calories for junk processed foods like snacks and juices is a different argument I guess.

I will also add when times are tough you can quit spending money entirely on carbohydrates. Your body cant produce fats or proteins but It can produce all the glucose it needs endogenously. You can supply yourself fats and proteins your liver will take care of making glucose just fine.