Why High Food Prices Will Make Public Groceries Inevitable | Hacker News Reader

Why High Food Prices Will Make Public Groceries Inevitable

grocerynerd.substack.com

13 pointstoomuchtodo13 comments

Many solutions will be implemented. A lot can be done locally in rural areas, the old fashioned way, by having local farms grow some for the local community, not just for the commodities markets, for example.

Waste can be minimized. This year I donated several huge boxes of backyard potatoes to local food banks, and I learned a little about their supply chain. They make weekly trips to Walmart to snag unappealing produce, which would otherwise be deposited in the dumpsters. Discontinued or overstocked items are included too.

But changes in shopping habits can make the dollar go further. The loaf of white French bread or baguette for $3 may be very tasty and be consumed in a single meal, but the $6 loaf with 21 grains that weighs 1-1/2 pound can last all week and provide all the daily fiber you need in just a few slices!

Let's face it, half the food in the American supermarket is junk calories in brightly colored packages, heavily advertised to children to hook them young. It's not easy to quit comfort foods. Who doesn't like an oily, crunchy, salty snack designed for addiction?

Maybe this will be an opportunity to critically examine our eating habits, cook more of our own food, maybe grow some in the backyard, or support local farmers by buying direct and cutting out the wasteful middlemen?

Potatoes store super well under the right conditions. somewhere about 10c to 13c or so is ideal. but even without that, i would imagine they'd last at least 3 months or so. i've seen charles Dowding store them in burlap sacks all summer long and well into fall

Wish my grocery story (Giant) could figure out how to do that. I get the shrink wrapped microwaveable potatoes and they are green much of the time within days of my purchase. I've gotten sick after eating them a few times and have largely stopped buying them.

green potatoes have solanine, toxic! They turn green upon light exposure

I've had good luck storing potatoes for very long periods of time, over 9 months, by being very careful about storage conditions. Onions, too -- but don't store the two very near each other.

Address the inflation in rents and mortgages, as it is the major factor that will undermine the economies of every developed nation in the West. When people with full-time jobs are queuing at food banks, it’s because their income is being swallowed by rent, utilities (for example, PG&E in California), and insurance.

Very strange to use taxpayer subsidised military commissaries as proof that it’s a good idea. Ofc…

San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York completely, absolutely, and unquestionably fixed high priced housing by making it effectively subsidized via rent control. It totally worked. There are no problems with the system at all, there are no vacant units being held by owners who fear the results of rent control and inability to actually engage in capitalism. Groceries will be an equal success.

Government involvement by distorting markets always fixes everything.

Germany, for example has rent controls, this is generally a great success, but in Berlin it’s a total disaster.

The contention that it “doesn’t work” in LA and NYC doesn’t really tell us anything useful about groceries.

What you also seem to miss is that government intervention in markets is actually the norm, not the exception, they just don’t normally intervene in ways that get sensationalised by the press.

Not in America. In America, lack of government intervention is the norm. Which is probably why almost all the large companies in the world and most successful startups are here and not in Europe. Also probably why the standard of living is significantly higher here.

Yes! As long as we don't confuse "Standard of Living" with "Quality of Life " - all the money in the world won't help with the results of eating a bad diet, all too often. For example, what's up with the overeating that results in obesity, diabetes and heart disease (all of which correlate with later cognitive decline) - then we need to inject peptides for curbing appetite? Sure, huge industry, big profits, trillion dollar stock valuations - big Standard of Living! But it's kind of "bass ackwards" - simply improving dietary habits could save us all a boatload of money and prevent completely avoidable lifestyle diseases. Sorry if this is "doomer" stuff - but there's an easy way out, and it can be fun, and good for the wallet.

Los Angeles solved housing after the wildfires like this:

https://members.aagla.org/news/once-again-la-county-board-of...

It’s very effective: people with previously unrented units will obviously decide to rent them out at, legally, at exactly 160% of the FMR rates, thus making lots of new housing available. FMR rates can be easily found here:

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmrs/FY2026_code...

And the fact that it’s impossible to predict the law more than one month in advance will guarantee success!

Hah, did anyone fall for that? I know people who were about to move out of LA County, rent somewhere cheaper, and rent out their house to a family that needed it, except that 160% of FMR is utterly, hilariously below market in LA’s housing emergency and isn’t really enough to make the whole housing swap worthwhile, so their house is not actually available to rent. Good job, LA.

P.S. If one could instantly get a permit to rebuild a modern house on the site of one’s burnt-down house, then the housing emergency might resolve faster.

> Government involvement by distorting markets always fixes everything

If you sarcasm this broad: Letting the market run free destroys everything. Here's my evidence: broken atmosphere (CO2), broken ecosystems, poisoned rivers, lakes and fields, lots of people still struggling to pay for basic necessities. What's yours?

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