To be horrified at the price of food

What @SkyBloo said.

There’s too much UPF available and at absolutely stupid prices comparing to fresh food.

At the mo major supermarkets have offers on veg for 20p .

I paid £1 for cheap ham and garlic bread was 79 p

where are you shopping?

Where are you buying a packet of ham for 20p??

A lot of it is about seasonal eating. It’s just coming towards the end of winter, in the UK. Peppers have to be cultivated elsewhere and transported in. That costs money. You can buy winter and early spring vegetables relatively cheaply in both supermarkets and markets. Yes, food is more expensive than it used to be, but I don’t buy the argument that people eat junk simply because it’s so much cheaper. People eat junk because McDonalds is more immediately gratifying than a salad and doughnuts are the type of fatty, sugary goodness we’re biologically programmed to eat based on evolving in environments of food scarcity.

We regularly make stews in our Instant Pot and can end up with 10 good sized portions of dinner made of fresh chicken, pulses and vegetables for not much more than £10 total in ingredients. It’s not mega expensive to eat well.

Where do you buy ham for 20p

But yes, food prices are ridiculous.

Loose carrots and bananas are still very cheap. Small bananas are about 10p each at my local asda.

Where can I find this 20p packet of ham?

Food has been really too cheap in the uk for a long time. Supermarket competition and power meant farmers being squeezed to the bone & consumers sold produce on absolutely wafer thin margins, in stores staffed by badly paid staff. If you went to a lot of parts of europe its been more expensive there for years. Also true of australia etc.

So - there was a reduction in people willing to produce the food in the uk (because they weren't paid enough). Less supply = higher prices.

Supermarket staff are having to be paid a bit more. Higher prices.

You still can buy a lot if you are on a budget but you don't get much choice & have to shop really carefully

I didn't notice the small increases, just the overall increase in monthly food bill until a few weeks ago.

The price per kg of veg has really shot up. I didn't often pay attention to prices but I remember about 3 or 4 years ago when I was weighing some small amounts of loose veg and noticed the carrot was 7p, the onion was 15p etc and thinking it was mad that people said it was cheaper to eat processed food. A few weeks ago I was making the same dish and most things were 50% more expensive. It was still cheap but that's a huge increase for such a short space of time.