To be horrified at the price of food

A cup is 8 fluid ounces, although Americans tend to say just 8 ounces because they generally use ounces as a measure of volume, which is about 235ml. Butter is a bit less dense than water (it's mostly fat and it floats on water), so a cup of butter is about 210g. So 750g of butter is about 3½ cups, rather than 1½.

$6.79 Canadian is about £4. I don't know what 250g of pure lactose-free butter (assuming that is what the PP was getting) costs in the UK. I looked on Tesco's site and only found 250g of "Lactose-free butter spread" which was 50% butter and 25% vegetable oil (presumably the rest is water🙄) for £2.25.

North America is expensive for groceries in general, and when we were in Vancouver a few years ago we found that everything seemed to cost double what we were used to.

I thought it was 250ml? I don't see how 750g of butter would be 375ml though.

Where is selling ham for 20p or biscuits? Garlic bread is £1 or more too.

I'm guessing this isn't a normal shop you are going to

There is this thing called Google that will help you here.

The major grocery chains have made record profits beginning during the covid period.

Because they had record takings because... Covid... People couldn't eat out, at work etc.
So obviously that lead to higher profits

Cups of butter? Cups?

I know the Americans seem to measure everything in cups, but I thought the Canadians were more sensible.

Exactly how much is a cup anyway?

Exactly!!

And a pack of Custard Creams for 20p too!

Would bear no relation to ham for 20p! Processed entrails methinks.

You shouldn't be horrified at the price of food because in general people spend a really low percentage of their income on it, compared to most of the rest of the world.

You should be worried that as a nation an increasingly large proportion of people know absolutely nothing about food. They don't know what it is, where it comes from or what to do with it. They can't help themselves stay healthy on a tight budget because they lack the knowledge and skills to do so.

To be honest I find it sad that people have been brainwashed into believing that 60p for a pepper in March is somehow bad, yet they are willing to spend considerably more on other items.

I'm not judging anyone and understand that it's the politics of those who have it all, and will never have been without, who have enabled this change over decades, without foreseeing, or probably caring about the consequences to people's health.

I find it amusing that the OP is moaning about the price of bell peppers.

She has clearly not grown them otherwise she would fully be aware they are out of season in the UK so the only way to grow them is under glass.

As electricity prices have increased loads of producers who use greenhouses around Europe including the UK have shut up shop. This means peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers have all greatly increased in price particularly when they are out of season in Northern Europe. This has been reported in the media since the war in Ukraine. (This is without including the drought in southern Europe so there are restrictions on the number of tomatoes being exported.)

Incidentally as someone who eats bell peppers, and has grown them in the past, there was a period in November when they were cheaper if you bought them in bulk. I don't remember what country they came from though. Likewise avocados are always cheaper and much larger around Christmas.

If I go to the supermarket or the market asparagus, carrots, potatoes, spring greens, spring onions, and grapes are cheaper than normal. (Asparagus was cheaper this time last year as it was in season and there was a glut of it.) There as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and bell peppers are more expensive.

It's going to be a bad year. Our local vegetable farmers are saying the ground is too saturated to plant out.

Another worth considering is EU subsidies for farmers, something that have been massively reduced (and ended for good by 2027) due to of Brexit. This will have effected food prices too.

What does a pepper cost to produce? How much profit should the producer make? Or do you think things should just be priced to suit you regardless of production costs? Why don’t you grow your own peppers if it’s so cheap?

same in greece also, exactly as you say. and the supermarkets were anyway a mafia cartel before the last few years…

I'm wondering if it's all branded stuff though? So cheaper than branded in the supermarket but more expensive than the supermarket brand. Would there be gold 200g coffee for less than £2.50 for example?

No Heron Stores here but their site says that they have offers in store that aren’t shown online.

I don't have a Heron foods near me, but I've looked on the website and there's only one coffee for example and it's £6! I buy supermarket gold 200g for £2.50.

My family would kill me. Everyone hates it except me. And I don't like it enough to eat it in the quantity it always provides.

Is it only branded items though? Would a branded item there be cheaper than a supermarket brand?

Heron Foods sell the exact same brands as the big supermarkets.

The reason they end up in Heron is that they either have close to expiry promotions/competitions, they are the last stocks of old packaging, or they are flavours/varieties that were trialled and the big players decided they didn't have space for them.

That was the basic premise of Heron's discounted stock. You can't think "I need X brand of Y product, I'll go to Heron" because they might not stock it. Or they had it last month, but not now.

They branched out into basic grocery items later. Milk, tinned stuff etc.

Brilliant place.

Lol you can tell you've never been in there.

There is currently a serious drought going on in Spain, much underreported in this country, so yields are lower.

For meals where I used to eat meat I now substitute beans or lentils and they taste just as nice. I am not a vetarian, but am heading that way.

the price is nearly everything is extortionate

@shearwater2 ' Oh British rhubarb is in season. Woo fucking hoo.' 😂

Try cooking it with garlic, as a vegetable to go with pork.

I'm making rhubarb & ginger jam this morning. As you say, I have a ton of it.

I'm in Vancouver, Canada. I paid $6.79 for 250g lactose-free butter this evening and I needed 3. Over $20 for a cup and a half of butter, fgs! Price has gone up 80 cents per in the past few weeks. Gas was $1.68/litre a month ago and was $2.03/litre a few days ago. The major grocery chains have made record profits beginning during the covid period. I follow the Australian news and it's the same there.