To be seriously worried that the cost of food is getting so scarily high

[thebird]

I am not extravagant I buy shop own brands where I can, I try to shop on a budget, I cook from scratch and have given up buying extras like wine (well just the odd bottle to keep me sane) but still each week the cost of my food bill goes up and up. I know inflation is running at around 4-5% but I cant understand this as many basic items have increased almost 30-50%. When the hell is it going to stop or I really will be living on beans on toast every night(and even they've gone up lots!

[nowwearefour]

I agree. With petrol and train fares (we commute by train) going up so fast too it is v scary (and no pay rise to be seen for the foreseeable...)

[thebird]

@nowwearefour :(

[seb1]

I really worried about the heating bills this winter, we were £125 a month last year. so we will al be hungry and cold.

[ragged]

I still think food is very cheap, really. People waste it like I can't believe.
Then again, housing and heating & transport fuel are over-priced , and yet people treat those things very wastefully too (sigh).

[EternalPie]

I agree. I've resorted to buying frozen packs of meat as it's cheaper than fresh and at least once a week we have to have a "crap" dinner which usually consists of breadcrumbed something, waffles and beans.

[ddubsgirl]

yanbu ours has gone up £20-£30 more a week

[Alibabaandthe80nappies]

YANBU. I didn't really notice the price rises through last year but the last few months it has been ridiculous.
We are fortunate that it doesn't put us in difficulty, but we are having to have fewer treats to stick to the same monthly budget.

Eternal - one evening a week DS has pasta pesto and DH and I have beans and egg on toast. Partly so as not to be cooking each night, but partly to keep costs down.

[ShoutyBag]

In some countries the government regulate food prices, so why not here?

[izzywhizzyletsgetbusy]

This thread should be linked to the one about WW2 and rationing because what we are experiencing is effectively rationing by stealth for many whiile the profits of the big supermarket chains continue to wax huge.

The artificially-inflated cost of heating/lighting, fuel, transport, and many foodstuffs is a national disgrace brought about by short-sighted and incompetent politicians. Needless to say, they won't be feeling any need to tighten their belts.

[Molybdenum]

Actually I think most food is too cheap. As a society we have never spent less on food than we do now, when looking at it as a proportion of our income. Previous generations spent 30-50% of their income on food.
We have come to expect cheap food, and this has led to a a decrease in standards of agricultural worker welfare, animal welfare and nutrient decline.
Really we should be expressing outrage at the cost of housing, which has risen exponentially over the past fifty years, but food should be a lot more expensive than it is.

[YoungishBag]

Foods very cheap. It's only about 5% of our income.

Whereas housing, heating and council tax is more than 50%.

[HerRoyalNotness]

You know, I was suprised by the cheapness of food over there. We were over in July and thought it was quite resonable. £1 for 5 nice nectarines, £2 offer for a pack of peas and something else to choose from. All the Get 3 for two offers at BOOTs, BOGOF at the supermarkets. we NEVER get those kind of deals over here (Canada). Our friends collect pamphlets and see which supermarkets have the best deals and will traipse around town to different stores for their shopping. We were cutting coupons in the last town we lived in. I have NEVER done that before in my life.

I still think that you can live quite well on a budget in the UK.

[TadlowDogIncident]

YANBU - we're really noticing it, and I'm about to have my pay cut so we'll notice it a lot more. We're not extravagant: I cook from scratch, and we don't eat a lot of meat, but our food bills have easily gone up by 50% in the last 18 months or so.

But Molybdenum has a good point too (especially about the cost of housing- am I the only one who is when I see yet another stupid newspaper article celebrating rising house prices?).

[lubeybooby]

YANBU

Got 'a few bits' on tesco online to be delivered today and it was £90. For what used to cost me £40 not very long ago.

I have the £30 a week meal plan and got to start using it.

[ChippingIn]

It has gone up a lot recently. I don't budget tightly or shop regularly etc so it's only the odd things I notice, but lately I've noticed quite a few things (Anchor spreadable butter was £2.60 for ages, £2 on special. It was £2.90 the other day. Big difference on one item in a short space of time).

Compared to a lot of Europe and NZ/AUS it is still 'cheap' - but that doesn't help you when you live in the UK on a fixed income does it.

[Itsjustafleshwound]

The issue is the cost of cereals and basics has increased (increased demand and less available) and fuel which impacts the entire food chain and is not just a supermarket raising prices. My BIL is a dairy farmer and he is struggling to cover the costs of his inputs.

It doesn't help too that our energy supplies are in the hands of foreigners who can charge what they like.

Every month it is robbing Peter to pay Paul and a whole lot of wrangling to come out on what I think is a decent wage.

It is all quite scary ....

[gegs73]

It does all seem to have gone up and continues to do so for some things it seems on a monthly basis.

HerRoyalNotness - the price of food in Canada is ridiculous!!! We visited my SIL there last year and we were shocked by the prices. $9 I seem to remember for a box of cereal was the most outrageous!! I know my SIL finds it very hard to budget and gets everything on special offer/reduced. ALOT more expensive for food than it is over here.

[fatlazymummy]

I agree, a lot of things seem to have jumped up in price. I do agree though food prices are still proportionatly cheaper whilst other things are more expensive.
I know it comes up a lot but I can really recommend //www.moneysavingexpert.com. There are loads of tips on there for anyone who is having difficulties. The oldstyle and grocery boards are particularly
helpful.

[coccyx]

prices are higher but has been a kick up the rear we needed as a family. we wasted a lot and now I have a weekly menu and much better at checking what I have in cupboards before going shopping

[Popbiscuit]

Do you have warehouse shopping clubs in the UK? We have a giant store (in Canada) called "Costco" (sometimes called Sam's Club, I think) where you can buy in bulk. It really does save a LOT of money to buy things in larger format if you have a few children. We cut our grocery bill in half when we joined.

[Itsjustafleshwound]

My issue with costco is that not everyone gets a card (it is a membership thing isn't it) and I just don't have the room to store the bulk.

Saying this, my ILs and family live in SA and the cost of living there has become impossible.

[Popbiscuit]

You do have to buy a membership (anyone can) but ours paid for itself in savings after three visits. Storage could be a problem, though.

[Whatmeworry]

Price of Food and Riots - here

Doesn't apply to UK riots apparently, but other stuff I've seen says 20% young male unemployment is a good predictor of rioting.

[ragged]

Our travel costs to get to a CostCo would be more than possible savings.
My mother shopped religiously at her local CostCo; it made her overbuy; she threw more stuff out than she consumed. Even she complained about this problem, but she still did it anyway because things were so cheap to buy there.
Around here it would be Macro, which I think is supposed to only be a semi-wholesaler for businesses & charities, but all sorts of people have Macro cards and you can tag along on their visit and buy stupid amounts for your own personal use.
I still don't really approve because you have to be very canny not to overbuy and waste a huge amount.

[fatlazymummy]

I have a macro card but have never been tempted to buy food there. Actually I never found it much cheaper for anything once VAT had been added. Personally I think careful shopping, looking in the reduced fridges, special offers, menu planning etc is the best thing to do.