These are difficult times, no matter where you are.
Here in the USA, I am often at the "reduced for quick sale" bin, looking at products that are on 50% off (or more) because the last good date is today.
So often, that bin/refrigerator unit at the supermarket is empty. It has been a long time since I have "just shopped" for food... these days it is all a carefully planned trip, and only getting things that are "on offer."
We are grateful for having a large freezer, so when something like chicken or pork chops are on special, I buy a large quantity and put them in the freezer.
It seems so strange to look at life and realize this is how we live now. 20 years ago, it would not have been part of my reality.
I'm someone who seems to have a hard time adjusting to change because it took me a long time to get over and accept it all. I also take shopping as a trip, often it's just an informational tour between the stalls, to inform myself of the new prices, because I wouldn't buy any of it.
Personally, living in a poor country, I have always had a problem with prices, but I grew up thinking that things in life progress, that there is improvement, you know - you start a job, you get better, you get a higher salary, you start to afford better things, more food, etc.
But I kind of missed that progress, I didn't see any of it, on a personal level things got worse and worse and I got to the point of saying: Give me something cheap. Something really unthinkable to me, this lack of progress is completely unthinkable. But apparently I have to get used to that too. It's very unpleasant. Am I the only one horrified by this?🤔
I hope in USA 50% off is really worth it. Here with us, as I said, even that is sometimes quite expensive, and the weekly promotions are usually associated with artificially increasing the prices in advance, only to announce some kind of reduction later. If you don't keep a close eye on product prices, you can easily be cheated. Also, the quality is pretty questionable, so I wouldn't freeze meat here. Maybe I'm exaggerating, and my partner gets annoyed by it often, but I'm really questioning everything here because things are pretty out of whack.