It depends of the meal but sometimes I use 2 big pans and a big pot to cook if its a lot. Its true a normal sized pan and pot would not work though.

I dont know why people downvote the user above so much but he’s got a point about efficiency.

You can easily cook for 2-3 days by making bigger portions during working days for example. That means you cook 2-3 days per work week max. Theres a lot of healthy dishes that take 20-40 min to make. You go to the store once for the whole work week which including planning takes 1h and saves time and money as you dont buy crap by going all the time for small things. This means you spend on average no more than 2h30 min in food related stuff. This assumes you get food at work for lunch and breakfasts are fast so not including these (like toast or scrambled eggs or protein shakes). Im asuming you enjoy eating your food so not counting that. So basically 30 min a day are wasted on food stuff during the work week.

Weekends are weekends you have more time to cook more special dishes or go out. I count that as leisure time.

Cleaning the house takes 3h max (30 min bathroom, 30 min floors and 2h extra for washing clothes) providing you clean after you eat and if you dirty something.

I get its annoying to do all these tasks and sometimes your tired and postpone them or take more time than it should but if your organized it’s not that much particularly if you split them with more people.

I think its hard for some americans to understand that welfare in Europe is not an utopia. I personally believe the estate needs to provide help and support to citizens including healthcare and basic education at a minimum. Ideally some basic help for people that are unable to work and whatever is needed for people to not be on the street.

My biggest issue is as it is right now I can see how much money I have been putting over the years and how much extra money I still need to put on top privately to have a quality of life for things such as pension, salary insurance, etc. So while almost half my salary goes out as taxes I still need to contribute on my own to private companies. On top of that I can see people that can take advantage of the system and between the high taxes and all the help you can get (house help, unemployment, lids, etc.) theres people not working that get almost as much as an engineer working full time. I think something is off.

But this has nothing to do with the post of why american companies choose to pay more than european ones.

Everyone or almost everyone is in an union here. My point was these statistics that come from the union are very reliable so when I say american companies pay 30-80% more consistently here it is quite accurate. Its not some online poll or something I have heard.

My point still stands that while laws and welfare are different in the US when an american company comes to Europe it must follow its local laws. At that point its the same as a local one but chooses to pay way more.

There is a clear difference in pay between american and non american companies here and that I think can only be attributed to american companies choosing to pay more to attract talent and european ones being more relaxed and pay average attracting more average talent. I think this is a cultural thing where the US is a more competitive country and benefits us (developers).

I see your point better now - thanks for claryfing. Still shouldnt european companies that have massive profits choose to pay also way more? I cant see much difference between salaries in local companies (even with big well profitable ones). I would expect some to pay 2x for example then if they can afford it (they can in some cases I know).

But from what you suggest it may be possinle for some american companies in europe to benefit from some taxation stuff and by doing so they can pay more. What I hear is they can pay more and choose to do so to get talent in contrast with local companies that could do the same bur rather keep it to them instead. So again without trying to sound arrogant I think US rewards talent and europe mediocrity.

I know the numbers by heart. And getting 100k usd before taxes is hard in Europe. No one usually talks after taxes that doesnt make sense as taxation changes among countries and your situation (some people get more tax exemptions than others for example if you have loans)

That could explain some but still “old” hardware companies not even software ones can pay well above market here. I would imagine these to be more similar to european stable companies.

I think ultimately the US choses to pay more for certain jobs at the expense of some others getting less. In Norway for example I read somewhere software developers only make 20% more than the average worker. I think that would be unimaginable in the US. Theres simply not the same reward for hard work in Europe as theres in USA and I think its dangerous because it tells people to do the bare minimum and make Europe less competitive. Why study for 5 years and work hard (mentally) all your life when you can just work in a factory or flip burgers etc for next to the same?

Reading some comments I think laws are weaker in the US and companies need to pay more as hiring a worker there is closer to hiring a contractor here in terms on how easy is to fire. But still these companies choose to pay more when they come to Europe to attract talent.

I dont remember the exact numbers but it was around 1/5-1/6 of what I make a year now. I mean if you have the house fully paid and dont have any expense other than food maybe its technically possible but its so low you need the private one. And if you rent all your life like some people do then Im not sure what would be your options.

In the danish reddit people also say take an american job in denmark never look back. The best of both worlds american salary with danish welfare and protection laws. I was just trying to understand why its only them that pay well and the rest dont do more than average.

I think your country is my country. 60% top skat… still no decent public pension. Where the money goes who knows.

I am older than you think but I still need to pay out of pocket for most things and get an insurance for unemployment and invest my pension. At that point even when Im older other than healthcare and kids getting a free education theres not much more Id get out of the welfare. If I get sick its the insursnce that pays for me again. At some point paying 50% taxes and when Im old I basically have no pension feels so wrong. I feel taken advantage of. When Im old if I cant drive id sell the house and move to a smaller apartment in a city like most old people do. Again the country is not giving me anything or helping me its only my investments and decisions that would give me a bright future.

However if I slack off and Im a parasite the welfare will help me no problem. Im not that kind of person but it feels thats what my taxes pay for for the rest of my life.

I can see statistics of US companies vs non US companies where I am and they consistently pay 30-80% above market value. I havent seen one go below 30% over. Its not only FAANGS. They just pay much more

Not all do but these salaries simply dont exist here. Even when an american company hires in Europe they pay easily 50% over market. Stock is salary and most can be cashed out eventually.