To be horrified at the price of food

So good for you then, but on another thread where people were moaning about the cost of living, someone on there was paying £35 a month for a mobile phone contract over 3 years which is a whopping £1250.

A single pepper was 60p probably 10 years ago, possibly even longer ago. It's always been more expensive to buy a single than a 3 pack. Having lived abroad & also travelled extensively in the last 6 months I can assure that a) that is still a reasonable price compared to other countries and b) food prices have gone up globally.

Surely its all about shoping around and buying what's in season?

Saying junk food is cheaper is just a poor excuse!

Onions, carrots and bananas are cheap. Chopped tomatoes are cheap. Frozen peas good value etc... so many healthy foods are good value.

Then in some areas you can get an odd box delivery of wonky fruit and veg.

No, my phone is six years old and on a SIM only deal and I don’t watch TV. So?

I wonder how many people complaining about the price of food are quite happy to pay for an expensive mobile phone contract and expensive TV package.

I think fruit and veg has gone up a lot in the last couple of years. Cucumbers used to be 43p and now they are 89p; lettuce used to be about 50p and now it is £1, for all people are saying seasonal veg is cheaper, it is still more expensive than 2-3 years ago. My salary has not gone up 50% so it means to by the same amount of fruit and veg, I spend more on food and struggle to save as much, which means the list of jobs needing done on the house expands, because electricity and gas is also more than it was 2-3 years ago, travel costs are more, everything is more.
So I don’t think it is necessarily about the 60p pepper but the cumulative effect of all costs going up a lot. It’s disingenuous to suggest this is not the case or doesn’t matter for people.
And then I live in Scotland so I also pay more tax as well.
I do feel a lot poorer than I did previously.

We're in the March to May window that's always been a meager period for local seasonal food. Frozen is still a good option.

The main problem is the amount of energy (oil) that goes in to our food production - heated indoor growing, machinery, fertiliser and transport. It's hard to change that.

When oil was $10 a barrel (not that long ago) no one was going to invest in the alternatives. So, high oil prices are probably good in the medium term. That's no comfort when you're doing the weekly shop.

On the other hand, you can still get 6 salad tomatoes from Morocco for less than £1. That seems cheap to me.

At the moment Tesco have carrots, swedes, bags of potatoes and bags of onions all priced at 15p. There is always fruit and veg on offer.

Food in this country has been cheap for far too long.

You're absolutely right. It's a national security issue. We don't manufacture and we don't grow food.
Big good is gradually making sure most real food don't have seeds.
In two decades it will be too late.
We're being distracted by global warming, ulez, over population etc. The urgency of real food being too expensive is conveniently never spoken about. Instead it's plastered with political gimmicks such as free school meals for every single child.
Nothing about seeds, farming diverse and real food etc.

In the late eighties/ early nineties bus fares were dearer. Especially in relation to wages. No £2 fare cap.
Also re Iceland you can buy fresh veg / meat and frozen vegetables/ meat. Tesco/ Sainsburys even Ocado sell frozen chips and nuggets.
It’s the treats that are expensive. Dal and rice/ lentil soup is still cheap.

60p for a pepper which is grown in a greenhouse in southern Spain, then picked, loaded into a refrigerated truck & driven across Europe, then onto a ferry across the channel, then trucked to a supermarket distribution depot then to my local store where I can buy it crisp & fresh is both a bargain and a miracle of 21st century logistics.

Our local Asda does a bag of carrots for 15p. I often get reduced fruit and veg too. Big bags of frozen veg go really far too. It is possible, but agree you get more bag for your buck if you eat the processed stuff.

Peppers have always been expensive. Is 60p a lot for a pepper? I feel like they've always cost at least that much.

I definitely think we’ve reached a point now that we’re so used to cheap and convenient luxury that we feel hard done by when we can’t have something.

In the 1950s there were less snacks. People just ate their 3 meals a day, children included, there wasn’t an endless supply of biscuits/bread sticks/fruit/crisps. Meals were plainer, meat and two veg type things and portions were smaller.

People can scoff and say ‘ooooh that’s not much of a life, they were malnourished’ or whatever but the people who were adults in the 1950s have the longest lifespan yet whereas ours will be shorter. They’re far less likely to be obese which probably accounts for a lot of that. And I’m certain their food production has done less harm to the environment than ours, by eating seasonally and buying less food.

According yo dome friends who live in France now, who used to live in England, food is even more expensive there.

Not even one person probably. Too many calories but so devoid of nutrition that you'd still be hungry.

I just buy things when they’re on offer and the veg is mostly frozen, as is the fruit for my compote.

Its adapt or die and it always has been.

You haven't yet explained why a pepper should cost less than 60p!

An Iceland meal deal for £1 feeds how many?

Surely something needs to be done?

Something like what? Price-fixing? Taking all food shops into public ownership? The problem is that we have all got far too used to having things like peppers in March when they are not in season in the UK until July/August. Or strawberries in February. Of course things are going to be expensive when you have to ship them across Europe or from the rest of the world. In season vegetables and fruit are not nearly as expensive.

My weekly shopping is about 70 just for me😶 double if DH is more at home. But I do buy pomegranates when available for reasonable price and pomelos, kefirs etc.

Why "insane"?

What exactly did you buy, how many meals will that £50 cover?

For instance, you may have bought pomegranates at £2.25 each. Or £50 of meat and veg that would feed you for a month.

Context is required.

Why though, what is your reasoning for peppers needing to be less than 60p?

Simple.

work more and earn more money.