You were supposed to have choices.
Go to the grocery store and cook something. Pick up something quick on the way home. Food was never supposed to be the hard part. You were told it was abundant. Finish your plate. There are starving children in Africa.
Then came the other promise. Study hard. Get a degree. Don’t end up like us. Get that paper and everything else follows. Easy street. That was the word they used. Easy.
Nobody mentioned the overdraft fee.
Nobody mentioned standing in a grocery aisle calculating which items to put back. The credit card with just enough limit left to cover dinner. The fast food place you used to hit without thinking now costs what a sit down meal used to. Nobody mentioned any of that.
And when you bring it up someone who bought a house on one salary in 1985 tells you to work harder. Spend less. That’s what they did. That’s how they made it.
You are working as hard as you can.
It’s just not working.
The cost of life in the richest and most powerful country in the world makes you feel like you are somewhere else entirely. Somewhere smaller. Somewhere the system wasn’t built for you. You don’t want to sound ungrateful. You know your life is better than most people on this planet. You know that.
But you are exhausted. Bone tired from a grind that doesn’t stop and doesn’t pay what it used to and doesn’t care.
You were promised easy street.
Last Sunday a New Jersey company called FreshRealm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
You probably haven’t heard of them. That’s the point. FreshRealm was the infrastructure behind the meal. The company that made fresh prepared food at scale for retail partners across the country. Not a brand you’d recognize on a shelf. Just the system that was supposed to make it easier to eat well without spending the time or money you no longer have.
They cited a significant ingredient supply disruption in 2025. That’s the official reason. But the disruption goes deeper than a supply chain.
FreshRealm’s bankruptcy includes an agreement with Blue Apron to exit its commercial relationship and transition operations to a new structure. Blue Apron. The company that went public in 2017 valued at nearly $2 billion on the promise that people wanted to cook, they just needed the ingredients pre-portioned and delivered to their door.
Blue Apron’s valuation had fallen to double-digit millions before it was eventually sold for around $103 million. From $2 billion to $103 million. That’s not a business failure. That’s a referendum on a promise that didn’t hold.
The promise was this. You are time-poor but food-conscious. You want to cook real meals but life gets in the way. Give us a subscription fee and we’ll remove the friction.
What the meal kit industry got wrong is that friction wasn’t the problem.
Exhaustion was the problem. There is a difference. Friction implies a solvable inconvenience. Exhaustion implies there was nothing left by the time 6pm arrived. Two jobs. A commute that costs money you don’t have. Kids who need things. Rent that takes more than it used to. The mental load of just keeping everything running.
By dinnertime most people aren’t making a lifestyle choice. They’re executing a survival strategy.
And the fallback, the fast food place that was always supposed to be there when everything else failed, stopped being a fallback.
The McChicken cost $1 in 2018. By 2025 it was $3.10. A McDouble cost $1.19 in 2014 and is now $4.59. In most areas people are now paying more than $10 per person for one fast food meal. The place you used to feed a family of four for $20 now costs $40 before you pull out of the drive-thru.
The fallback needs a budget now. The fallback requires a decision.
Here is what the data says about the country that told you food was abundant.
Nearly 1 in 4 adults in the United States reported difficulty affording adequate food in December 2025. Among working-age adults the figure was 27.7 percent.
47 million people including 14 million children experienced food insecurity in 2023, the highest level in nearly a decade. Broadband TV News
More than half of low-income households reported having to choose between food and transportation. 43% had to choose between food and utilities. 40% had to choose between food and medicine.
This is not a developing nation statistic. This is the United States of America. The richest country in the history of human civilization. The country that told you to finish your plate because somewhere else in the world people had nothing.
Those people are here now. They have degrees. They show up to work. They are doing everything they were told to do.
FreshRealm was actually trying to solve the right problem. Fresh prepared meals at scale. Real food. No cooking required. Delivered through retailers so you don’t need a subscription or a delivery window. Just grab it on the way home.
That’s not a bad idea. That’s exactly what someone with nothing left at 6pm actually needs.
The company described itself as the architect of a better food system built for the future, so that everyone, every day, everywhere can access fresh food.
They weren’t wrong about the need. They just couldn’t make the economics work in a country where the people who need affordable fresh food most are the people with the least money to spend on it. That’s the trap. The market that needs solving the most is the market that can pay the least.
Nobody has cracked it. Not meal kits. Not fast food. Not grocery store prepared sections. Not apps. Not subscriptions.
The problem isn’t the solution. The problem is what people have left when they get home.
Today is May 1st.
In most of the world today is Workers Day. The day set aside to mark the distance between what labor was promised and what it actually received. The day the gap gets named out loud.
You were promised easy street.
You got the overdraft fee. You got the $10 fast food meal. You got the fresh food company filing for bankruptcy because it couldn’t make the numbers work for the people who needed it most.
You are not ungrateful. You are not lazy. You are not failing to try hard enough.
You are exhausted in the richest country in the world.
And dinner still needs to happen tonight.
Colt Avery is a contributing writer at Aktiego. The views expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not represent the editorial position of Aktiego.com.
Sources
FreshRealm Chapter 11 Filing | Le Lézard
Food Insecurity Remained High in 2025 | Urban Institute
Map the Meal Gap 2025 | Feeding America
America’s Deepening Affordability Crisis | CBS News
McDonald’s Prices Have Surged Since 2019 | The Takeout
The Rising Cost of Convenience: Is Fast Food Too Expensive in 2026? | Toast
So What Happened to Blue Apron? | TechCrunch
Food Security Key Statistics | USDA Economic Research Service
Hunger Report 2025 | Capital Area Food Bank
Editorial Disclosure
This article was prompted by the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of FreshRealm and expanded into a broader argument about food affordability, the collapse of the meal kit industry, and the widening gap between the American promise and the economic reality facing working adults in 2026. No financial relationships exist with any company mentioned. Market data is drawn from the USDA Economic Research Service, the Urban Institute, Feeding America, the Capital Area Food Bank, CBS News, and Toast. Commentary reflects the author’s own assessment. The information provided on this website is for informational and educational purposes only. Our content is derived strictly from verified online sources to ensure accuracy and objectivity. This analysis does not constitute financial, investment, or professional advice. Readers are encouraged to consult with qualified professionals before making decisions based on this information. For more information, please see our full DISCLAIMER.
