Since the COVID pandemic, food prices have skyrocketed.

Many of us are nostalgic for lower expenses and a higher minimum wage. TikToker @caiticlare89 is, too.

“I don’t have the heart to tell her (my younger self)” she begins a video, “That in 2024, if you make the federal minimum wage and you work for one hour, you can only afford one McDonald’s hashbrown.”

“She deserves better,” she ends the video with a lilt in her voice at the end and it sounds like she is about to cry.

Sarah McLachlan’s wistful song “Angel” plays in the background. The song clip starts with the line, “In the arms of an angel.”

The song is usually played to represent a death, suggesting her sad tone is somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

It’s a selfie video and the background is a screenshot of McDonald’s items in an app.

It shows a single hashbrown is $4.15 and a bacon egg cheese McMuffin is $6.59.

She does not disclose that this is the DoorDash app, not the McDonald’s app.

These are DoorDash prices: it includes DoorDash’s markup.

The federal US minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour.

OP does not say what the prices are in the McDonald’s app where she lives.

She also doesn’t provide information on how people can advocate for lower food costs or higher wages.

@caiticlare89 tagged the McDonald’s handle in her caption, but there doesn’t appear to be a response from the restaurant chain in the comments.

Here’s the full video.

@caiticlare89

This is what @McDonald’s was doing when they were distracting us with the Grimace shake 😭#greenscreen #mcdonalds #mcdonaldshashbrowns #inflation #shrinkflation #pricehike #reccession #economy #mcdonaldshacks #happymeal #dollarmenu

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♬ Angel – Sarah McLachlan

Let’s check out the comments.

This may have been before my time. Didn’t that make the hashbrowns stick together?

Several commenters noted that DoorDash marks up the prices.

Why did the prices go up? It could be wider social and supply chain issues that determine who you should protest against and what you should ask for.

We don’t have this store where I live in Canada, but we have a frozen potato chain called Cavendish and I always have a ton of their hash browns in my freezer. Delicious!

I think I remember them being $0.99 each in the ’90s. Sad to see how much has changed.

Time to start buying in bulk.

If you liked that story, check out this video from a former Chipotle employee who reveals how the company cheats customers out of food.