4-15 FB Food for Two

 Because there are lots of dual income families, many foods that we eat are more expensive. Now wait a minute, I go to work to make money but then I have to spend more money for food, does that make sense?  In a recent conversation with Dr. Paul Patterson who is an agricultural economist at the University of Idaho, we discussed the return on investment for various foods that are produced by American producers. Well it turns out the more food is processed, the more it costs. Here’s an example. It costs a lot more to buy peanut butter than raw peanuts straight off the farm. Here’s Dr. Patterson to explain the whole situation. “ You’re looking at the trade-off for what people are willing to pay for, if you go back 50 or 80 years where much more food preparation was done at home, people bought the raw ingredients and it took several hours to make a meal, and now with both  spouses working in many households, there’s not as much time available, people want convenience, and so what they want is a meal they can crank out in 20 or 30 min. rather than spend 2 to 3 hours putting one together.” There’s a line in an old country song that goes two steps forward and three steps back. Does that sound like anything you recognize?