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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think this increase in cost is going to break me?

366 replies

Yummmyy · 01/02/2025 18:42

I earn a decent salary. Whenever I go to Tesco for a basic food shop, sone items are going up literally 50p plus within a matter of two weeks. Orange juice was 2.20 for Tesco’s basic, the most expensive 4.30!!

Yes I know orange juice isn’t an essential but when you’re well above minimum wage and have to cut something like that out of your food shop it does make you question what’s the point… anyone else relate to this? I just don’t know where it’s going to end

OP posts:
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FancyBiscuitsLevel · 01/02/2025 21:02

@Meadowfinch - have you really not noticed the basics going up as well as processed foods?

milk, cheese, butter, all meat, most fruit and veg, dried pluses, coffee beans etc. all seem to have gone up in the last year. good quality bread flour is suddenly very expensive.

We also cook from scratch most of the time and our bills have gone up. It’s the very processed crap like biscuits and ready meals that seem to be holding their prices.

Tinseltuttifruitti · 01/02/2025 21:00

Meadowfinch · 01/02/2025 18:52

I don't buy orange juice but the price of fresh oranges hasn't risen. Maybe juice your own ? It's much nicer.

I cook from scratch, buy unprocessed foods and the prices seem to be holding steady.

Is it processed foods that are rising in price?

That's a load of bull shit and you know it !

peachystormy · 01/02/2025 20:59

beetr00 · 01/02/2025 18:55

£2.80 for black peppercorns!! don't even look at olive oil any more.

You are not being unreasonable @Yummmyy in the slightest

I haven't bought olive oil for ages for this reason! If I do get it will have to be from Aldi. Can't begin to imagine how much tescos would cost. Prob a tenner 🤣

FancyBiscuitsLevel · 01/02/2025 20:57

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No the opposite will happen- because processed fat and sugar foods are the cheaper option. Eg if you are after a sweet treat, own brand biscuits for 80p are quite a lot cheaper than a punnet of grapes. If the rest of your food bill has gone up, it’s harder to justify the more expensive treat option.

suki1964 · 01/02/2025 20:56

Laszlomydarling · 01/02/2025 18:59

A cucumber has doubled in price in the last year. It's not just processed food at all. Everything has gone up.

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Where do you shop??? I pay 10p more this year then last

Flibberdigibbit · 01/02/2025 20:56

Meadowfinch · 01/02/2025 18:52

I don't buy orange juice but the price of fresh oranges hasn't risen. Maybe juice your own ? It's much nicer.

I cook from scratch, buy unprocessed foods and the prices seem to be holding steady.

Is it processed foods that are rising in price?

Really? Butter, cheese, olive oil and loads more base foods have climbed in price.

AnotherNameChange1234567 · 01/02/2025 20:56

FrustratedandBemused · 01/02/2025 19:15

It takes about 8 oranges to get enough juice for a small glass!

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Takes 2 oranges 🍊 for me

sunshine244 · 01/02/2025 20:53

PregnancyHormonesss · 01/02/2025 19:42

i did entitleto once to see what would i get if i split with my husband and we sell the house (so no longer a homeowner) and i would get slightly more in benefits on the top of my part time salary! (I earn about 23k part time) its crazy… really whats the point of trying and shitting myself if we can pay mortgage or not

That would only be a temporary situation until your kids were older though. You'd be forced to work more hours over time, and then all the benefits cut when they left school. Leaving you with no UC and no house. It's really not comparable.

NattyTurtle59 · 01/02/2025 20:53

Upstartled · 01/02/2025 19:56

I read the thread title and wondered what you were going to be talking about, the runaway cost in rent, the leap in mortgage rates as you fall off a fix, the stubborn and creeping price of energy, increase in water rates, council tax increases this year, childcare costs on the rise...but, yeah, food too, I guess.

I know that food is expensive in other countries but we've seen huge rises over the last three years and I've definitely seen another shift since the new year.

And you don't consider that food prices are also rising in other countries too?

Thegoatliesdownonbroadway · 01/02/2025 20:46

Apparently, food is still quite cheap in this country. We have had cheap food for so long. That has to be a factor in the UK obesity crisis. That and the fact that so many of us are lazy and drive everywhere. Petrol needs to go up as well, and car tax.

If I were in charge, I would apply a factor of BMI/25 to everyone's National Insurance. A sort of greed tax. The more you consume, the higher your N.I. rate.

StMarie4me · 01/02/2025 20:42

Meadowfinch · 01/02/2025 18:52

I don't buy orange juice but the price of fresh oranges hasn't risen. Maybe juice your own ? It's much nicer.

I cook from scratch, buy unprocessed foods and the prices seem to be holding steady.

Is it processed foods that are rising in price?

Price of oranges not risen? Price of everything has risen!

GreyCarpet · 01/02/2025 20:41

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Not if the only food people can afford is low quality crap.

My.partner and I were discussing this earlier.

Our diet consists of meat, fish, veg, salad and cooking from scratch. It would be cheaper for us to eat crap food but we don't want to.

StMarie4me · 01/02/2025 20:41

Poppyseeds79 · 01/02/2025 18:52

It's madness! Once I've paid my rent, council tax, standard bills, travel costs, and utilities. I literally have around the amount I would have if I received UC. I work full time, and my commute is fairly long.

You genuinely end up thinking what is the point 🤔

But you'd then have to pay your bills. Do you think that people on UC don't have bills?

tilypu · 01/02/2025 20:40

nannyl · 01/02/2025 20:38

if you are looking at orange juice you can buy it on Ocado for £1.75.

I completely agree with your post BTW but Ocado isnt always more expensive than the big supermarkets. (they price match tesco on lots of things, and many prices are the same as aldi)

Is that for 1 litre? Pretty sure the £2.20 price is for the 2 litre pack. Could be wrong though.

StMarie4me · 01/02/2025 20:40

Housebuy1 · 01/02/2025 18:47

Shop at Lidl or Aldi if you can?

There prices have gone up 8-20% since Christmas

Birchavalon · 01/02/2025 20:39

We’ve all been used to eating whatever we like for so long. I wonder if it is unsustainable to expect much? Olive oil and other imported things were luxuries in the 60/70s.
When I was little (80s) we pretty much we lived off eggs from our chickens, goat milk, garden fruit and veg. All my parents bought were rice and lentils because we couldn’t afford much more. It was really boring but we could all start growing our own food a bit.

Strawbsss · 01/02/2025 20:39

I have been saying this to my husband today,
We buy so many of the same items each week and some items have increased 50p-£1 in a couple of weeks! It's crippled me x

AdoraBell · 01/02/2025 20:39

YANBU OP prices are going all over.

Zanatdy · 01/02/2025 20:38

So expensive, but when I see prices in the US and Canada I’m grateful i’m not doing a grocery shop there. I’ve noticed so many items I regularly buy jump up a lot

nannyl · 01/02/2025 20:38

if you are looking at orange juice you can buy it on Ocado for £1.75.

I completely agree with your post BTW but Ocado isnt always more expensive than the big supermarkets. (they price match tesco on lots of things, and many prices are the same as aldi)

Scribl · 01/02/2025 20:37

Meadowfinch · 01/02/2025 18:52

I don't buy orange juice but the price of fresh oranges hasn't risen. Maybe juice your own ? It's much nicer.

I cook from scratch, buy unprocessed foods and the prices seem to be holding steady.

Is it processed foods that are rising in price?

Bearing in mind the OP is clearly struggling, I'm choosing to believe you are genuine and simply didn't do the maths.

It takes 15 average oranges to produce 1 litre of juice.

3 x £1.50 for a five pack of oranges from Tesco = £4.50

I litre of pre-prepared juice is £1.75

QuestionableMouse · 01/02/2025 20:37

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Take your bullshit elsewhere.

QuestionableMouse · 01/02/2025 20:36

Antsinmypantsneedtodance · 01/02/2025 19:05

YABU for shopping in Tesco. I've swapped my full weekly shop to Aldi. Apart from 2 items i can't get there everything is Aldi. My weekly food bill for a family of 3 including extras like washing stuff etc. Has gone from.nearly £130-£140 a week at tesco to ~£90 in Aldi. I meal plan and cook from scratch.

Also or Lidl don't work if you have major food allergies. I can't eat gluten and I can't have any of their tinned soup, bread, 99% of the cereal. They do a decent gluten free pasta in Lidl but it's not somewhere I could do a proper full shop.

I picked a pack of ham up the other day and it had wheat added.

surreygirl1987 · 01/02/2025 20:32

MrsJHernandez · 01/02/2025 18:52

Prices are rising while it's contents are reducing.

It's not going to end.

But we're still one of the cheaper countries for groceries 😂

Unless salaries fall in line with inflation, we're f'd.

My concern is rent prices. Most salaries are way off to be able to afford housing costs these days.

I agree - I lived in Australia for a while and our supermarkets are cheap as chips compared to theirs. It is still possible to eat very cheaply in this country.

Mortgage rates are what terrify me...