What do chicken thighs, home safes, used SUVs, temporary tattoos for pets, American sperm, and Asian-American egg donations have in common? Lately, consumers have demonstrated a curiously high level of interest in these goods and services, along with a few other random ones.
Tyler Cowen is an economist who teaches at George Mason University. He has written economics columns for the New York Times, published what the Economist called “the most talked-about economics book of the year” in 2011, and was praised recently by Foreign Policy as one of the world’s “Top 100 Global Thinkers.” The man is [...]
The past few years of economic turmoil have been a boon to dollar stores, which have proven to be a strong draw for shoppers seeking cheap gifts, clothes, and household goods. Man and woman cannot live on inexpensive tchotchkes and laundry detergent alone, though. For a dollar store to be a truly one-stop shopping experience, [...]
If your refrigerator door is stocked with just two bottles of condiments—one Crayola yellow, the other Crayola red—and you use them only in strict traditional fashion (mustard on hot dogs, ketchup on French fries), then your taste buds are missing out. New, unusually flavored condiments are gaining popularity, as is the idea that classic condiments [...]
How much food is bought and brought into your home, only to wind up in the trash rather than your belly? One estimate says that about 25% of food purchased by Americans is wasted, adding up to $100 billion annually. Another estimate has it that a family of four throws away between $500 and $2,000 [...]
Compared to traditional home cooking, fast food is more immediately gratifying and pleasurable and, well, faster to prepare and consume, from beginning to end. But no matter what some people say (particularly right after a pricey run to the grocery store), dinner prepared by McDonald’s isn’t cheaper than dinner prepared at home.
Frozen dinner … again. But maybe that’s not such a bad thing. For busy families hoping to save time and money, a favorite new meal-preparing strategy involves setting aside one day a month to cook—and then freeze—an entire month’s worth of dinners. Once everything’s squared away in the freezer, “cooking” supper consists of nothing more [...]
Turns out the stuff that is normally thought of as useful only for the compost heap—broccoli stalks, watermelon rinds, potato peelings, leaves around peaches and tomatoes—is not only edible, but some chefs consider them among their favorite ingredients.
Indulging your inner mad scientist may also wind up saving some money. But is the savings worth the time and hassle?
In an earlier Q&A, Ashley Grimaldo, a stay-at-home mom from Texas, told us all about her experiment paying her family’s expenses exclusively using gift cards. The cards, she says, helped her maintain a budget, and since she bought them at online marketplaces for less than face value, they also saved her money. How much? At [...]
A woman in Oregon teaches one very unconventional cooking class.
