To think the quality of a lot of stuff has drastically reduced in recent years

[Tommalot]

Maybe over the course of around 20 years or so. I'm concerned this is a symptom of side effects of widening social inequality generally.

I'm sure I remember being able to buy pretty decent quality natural fibres clothes from the early 00s and before from high street shops for a semi-reasonable price. Now it seems very polarised, like you can buy either cheap synthetic nasty shit from Shein or New Look which falls apart or hangs poorly, or have to pay £££s at a very upmarket outlet for anything approaching quality that will last.

Food is similar. There's been a lot in the media recently about UPFs but the majority of most supermarkets are packed with unwholesome products. Whereas buying good quality, natural food is now a lot more expensive.

I feel it may be the case with other products and services as well, that there's increasingly just a choice between something cheap but shit or decent quality but out of reach of most people, with very little in between.

AIBU or am I just blinkered to affordable middle of the road stuff? Am I doing John Lewis all wrong? Help me out here 😁

I agree. We've virtually given up going to restaurants. The only ones worth going to are insanely expensive, but at least you get fresh food cooked by chefs so instead of going a few times a year, it's now just once a year for something special (and pay for it!).

The vast majority just "ping" whatever they buy in from Brake Brothers/3663 or other catering supply firms, hence why every "Hunters Chicken" tastes the same - they ARE the same! All the "restaurants" do is present them in different ways with different sides, different extra sauces, etc. But basically, they're ready meals that the kitchen staff (won't call them "chefs") just heat up. Even the sauces come ready made and just need heating in the microwave.

Same with burgers. How simple can you get. Bung a pre made burger patty out of the fridge on the griddle, take the bread roll out of the bag, put them together, bung a bit of salad out of a bag or pre packed sauce, and you've got a "gourmet" burger - NOT!

@taxguru I completely agree. I don't want to pay £15 for someone else to microwave my food when I could do the same thing myself for £1.

It's particularly annoying that you can't always tell in advance that they're going to do this.

Years ago we used to go out if we couldn't be bothered to cook. If we'd cleaned up the kitchen, we'd treat ourselves.
I can't afford it and I'm not paying for Hunters Chicken, Gross. I'm not a bad cook and I'd rather have Charlie Bloody Bigham!