Australians are turning to meal prepping as a way to save money amid the cost of living crisis, and Gen Z in particular are voicing their frustrations about it.
Younger customers with cash on hand are the lifeblood of the hospitality industry: 16-24 year-olds are twice as likely to purchase food outside the home as diners in their 50s, according to Lighthouse’s Hospitality Insights 2024 report.
But many are turning to preparing their meals at home in advance, while cafes and takeaways are raising their prices to cope with rising costs – according to the same report, menu prices overall have risen by up to a third in the past 12 months.
Patty Friedlander, a Gen Z man, complained that the “economic crisis” was robbing younger Australians of their rite of passage to enjoy cafes and hospitality venues before they were saddled with mortgages and household bills.
Now he has been forced to prepare supermarket food for lunch to cope with inflation.
“There’s something special about preparing meals,” she said in a video posted on social media.
“It’s like I can buy this at a coffee shop and be happy like Larry, but just because I know I’ve done it and I’m doing it to save money, there’s something about it that disgusts me.”
“I don’t want it. I want to go and spend $30 on an overpriced meal.
“I hate the economic crisis… this stinks.”
Patty Friedlander took to social media to lament that cafes had now become unaffordable and she had to resort to meal prep, which she said was “disgusting” to her.
Many young Australians agreed, saying eating out had become an unaffordable luxury and they were unhappy with having to prepare meals.
“I’m the same… I thought I was the only one,” one person said.
“I literally bring something from home and go buy something to eat anyway because my food container is depressing me,” said another.
“I’m really poor, but I spent $80 at Door Dash tonight because I wanted cheeseburgers,” said a third.
“Is it too much to order just a salmon bagel and an almond milk latte every day?” asked a fourth.
Australians are increasingly faced with rising costs of living caused by a perfect storm of factors.
Thursday’s spending data, although the Commonwealth Bank showed households were more efficient,Economic challenges appear to be hitting renters hardest, with a 0.9 percent drop in renter spending recorded in the year to June.
Combined with rising rental prices due to Australia’s housing shortage, younger Australians who rent are being hit particularly hard.
Younger Australians who rent are in a particularly difficult situation (pictured: about 150 people waiting to get into a unit in Sydney’s eastern suburbs that was rented out last year)
Transportation costs and extreme weather have caused food prices to rise in recent years.
Global factors have also contributed, such as rising gasoline costs due to international conflicts and major supply chain disruptions that first appeared during the Covid pandemic and are still ongoing.
Freight and Trade Alliance director Paul Zali said some in the industry were referring to the latest round of supply chain problems as “baby Covid”.
“This is driving up costs and that will be passed on to consumers, from confectionery to luxury goods to medical products,” he told Sky News on Thursday.
He said the Red Sea had become dangerous for cargo ships because of attacks by Houthi militants, so a longer route around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa was being used to reach Asian ports.
The longer transit was causing delays that extended across all shipping networks and as far as Australia.
A likely US tariff hike on Chinese goods was also forcing a massive flow of goods from China to the US, driving up prices with Australia’s biggest trading partner.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded a higher-than-expected consumer price index (a measure of inflation) of 4 percent in May, down from 3.6 percent in April.
The increase has raised fears that the country’s inflation problem may be more persistent than expected and that the Reserve Bank may soon implement another interest rate increase.