We Can... Because its New York...

My friends apartment where I am staying has a typical New York kitchen for a studio apartment. By local Realtor™ standards, it would be called a "cooks kitchen" (it has a drawer!). This 5 x 5 space would be the laughing stock of the rest of America, but in New York, there are many that would give a testicle or finger, or something else comparable just to have this much space to make coffee.

You see, New Yorkers have small kitchens not because they live in small apartments (which they do), but because nobody cooks here. Why cook, when you have have anything you want delivered within the hour... or walk a few feet from your door and have a wide variety of restaurants to choose from. It also doesn't help that landlords live by the rule that; to spend any money on such items as cabinets or counter tops is an absurd waste of their profits.

Well, as I am at the moment unemployed, and trying to watch my duckets, I decided that I would learn to make do with what I had, and do some grocery shopping to get some basics ( things that don't involve a lot of actual cooking, since my dear host is among those that uses his oven for storage). So, this afternoon, I headed down to the Brooklyn Heights Gristede's to stock up on real groceries that could be used to put together meals and save the need to eat out three times a day.

It was as I pushed my cart down the 36' wide isles, squeezing between people, displays, and support columns for the housing above that I had a complete and total realization of the real reason that people eat out as much as they do. It's Cheaper!!!! (Note to any fellow New Yorkers that may be reading this... do you know how much you are being screwed when you got to the grocery store?)

Now I know that rents are higher for grocery stores too, but that is why NYC grocery stores are tucked into small basements or other crevices, to help make up for the higher rents. And, I expected things to be more costly.... But, as I walked down the isles, everything was 20- 30% more expensive that what I was used to paying in Chicago. And if it was even remotely healthy, that gave them an excuse to increase the price even more. I saw items that I would normally expect to be $3.99 priced at $7.99. WTF??? I then found myself spending the next 45 minutes wandering around the store to see just how expensive everything was going to be. (Example: Kellogg's Crispix Cereal... In Chicago, I would usually pay about $4.19 for a 12oz box, here... $5.29!) After the initial shock wore off, I went through the check out and spent $75.00 on four bags of groceries... I felt worse than I do when I leave Whole Foods spending the same amount on the same quantity... At least Whole Foods gives the illusion that it is money well spent.

So... Lesson learned... New Yorkers eat out all the time not because of their impossibly small kitchens, but because it is simply cheaper and easier.... Not to mention the added benefit of using one's oven for additional storage.