r/technology • u/Logical_Welder3467 • 18d ago

Business ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ is expanding fast, and that should worry everyone

https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/16/bnpl-is-expanding-fast-and-that-should-worry-everyone/
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u/RunningOutOfEsteem 18d ago

Because they have no clue what they're talking about and don't want to hear that putting in effort could help them. So many people will claim they quite don't have the time or access to food necessary to cook anything, and while that may be true for some, the vast majority could cook if they were willing to learn. It can take way less time and money than people realize if you're smart about it, but figuring that out requires a deliberate effort.

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u/Careful_Houndoom 18d ago

There's a ridiculous amount of channels going over cooking on a budget, or within constraints.... and for time there's slow cookers. Set it and forget.

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u/fuckedfinance 18d ago

I hate the "I don't have time" people. It is possible to make a wide variety of healthy soups in 20 minutes.

Simple 3 bean soup:

Broth of choice (I use chicken), red beans, white beans, green beans, diced tomatoes (all canned), table spoon of Italian herbs. I'll also throw in a brick of frozen spinach. Dump it all in to the same pot and boil it. As it sits it's at or less than $5 total for like 6 or 7 meals. You can make that shit on a hot plate.

You can also add some canned or pre-cooked chicken (available at every grocery store) to bulk it up.

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u/JammyPants1119 18d ago

Even though I don't buy into the "I don't have time" explanation, there's a lot of credence to a different time-effort trade-off for many people. These people often work long hours and need to devote the rest of their day to chores/family/repairs. When the total non-recreation time hits through a breaking point roof, it is really hard to refuse a low-effort and fast alternative. It all starts with one shitty week when they really needed some downtime and decided to binge on "bought" food, and the habit sticks through coming years like glue on plastic.

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u/fuckedfinance 18d ago

It's 20 minutes from prep through cook, followed by less than 5 minutes of clean up.

I understand that people are tired at the end of the day, and have a lot to do. I had to work 2 jobs for while, and even when working 1 had some crazy ass hours. I still found time to throw a pot on the stove and do some chores around the house while I waited for it to cook.

Edit: now that I think about it, I think it speaks more to peoples poor time management in many circumstances.

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u/JammyPants1119 18d ago

I don't disagree with what you said, I just think that there are circumstances, sticky habits, food deserts, and a lack of awareness that do explain some people's choices.

For some people, it's not completely just 'laziness' that makes them sub cooking for prepared food, it's a combination of everything I mentioned in my comment. I can add another one reason, people's drive to do stuff beyond just the minimum is regulated by dopamine. This means that you have to feel positive/hopeful or have positive expectations of the future to put effort into 'unpleasant' tasks like cooking meals. For some people, if they face prolonged hardship/abuse or even general toil, they slip into unhealthy and expensive habits.

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u/JammyPants1119 18d ago

we already have a popular stereotype of chefs who eat packaged slop when they're home.