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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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MrsJHernandez · 01/02/2025 19:53

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 bought black peppercorns in B&M the other day for £1!

LadyKenya · 01/02/2025 19:52

FrustratedandBemused · 01/02/2025 19:48

One poster did, in fact, say that they’re not.

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Well they are mistaken, prices are rising frequently, I find.

FancyBiscuitsLevel · 01/02/2025 19:50

Also is a bit cheaper than Tesco’s but really not much. I only don’t spend much if I go there because they don’t stock everything I’d normally buy so it looks like I’ve not spent as much then I end up having to do a top up shop to get the other stuff from Tescos/sainsburys anyway.

Treesinthewind · 01/02/2025 19:49

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

Except you wouldn't, because you would have over £16k in savings. And you'd also have to run a home each on one income. Which is really hard. Can people please stop envying single mothers on benefits for the glamorous lives we're apparently living?

Whoknew24 · 01/02/2025 19:49

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?

Gosh you’re so lucky your shopping hasn’t increased.

The rest of us must all be imaging things. But where I live they have everything from fresh produce to toilet roll to washing powder.

tilypu · 01/02/2025 19:49

SL2924 · 01/02/2025 19:28

It’s not the cost of living. It’s supermarket profiteering. Tesco profit for the 24/25 year is estimated at 2.9 BILLION. They are scamming their customers with ever increasing prices. More pressure needs to be put on the supermarkets and energy companies. They are the issue.

That's just not true.

The massive profits are because it's a massive business.

In terms of gross revenue, it's the third biggest business in the world. When you look at profit, it's the ninth biggest business in the world. It drops six places - which goes to show that it's profit margin is much lower than the businesses above it.

Feelingstrange2 · 01/02/2025 19:49

tinygingermum · 01/02/2025 19:45

Aldi and Lidl aren’t as cheap as some people always claim they are, I find very little difference in prices and neither are local to me so I would have to travel further to get to them.

The anti processed food brigade seem to be joining this thread to food bash, and I have no idea why because meat prices have also shot up along with fruit and vegetables.

Aldi and Lidl allow you to buy what you want rather than having them overpriced and having to buy double to buy them at a sensible price. They also don't have quite so much range and sort of restricts your shop.

I fancied fresh sage the other day but Aldi don't sell it so I made do with dried. That's not necessarily a good thing but it does reduce your food bill by having less choice.

FrustratedandBemused · 01/02/2025 19:48

LadyKenya · 01/02/2025 19:47

Nothing wrong with not wanting to live on processed food, of course raw ingredients are going up as well, no one has said that they are not.

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One poster did, in fact, say that they’re not.

thegrumpusch · 01/02/2025 19:48

Yesterday I read an article about the huge increase in retail theft. It's desperate and I keep thinking that the huge inequality we're seeing is about to boil over into something very ugly. We both earn good wages, we are absolutely scraping and cutting back every month and still in the red.

LadyKenya · 01/02/2025 19:47

tinygingermum · 01/02/2025 19:45

Aldi and Lidl aren’t as cheap as some people always claim they are, I find very little difference in prices and neither are local to me so I would have to travel further to get to them.

The anti processed food brigade seem to be joining this thread to food bash, and I have no idea why because meat prices have also shot up along with fruit and vegetables.

Nothing wrong with not wanting to live on processed food, of course raw ingredients are going up as well, no one has said that they are not.

FrustratedandBemused · 01/02/2025 19:45

Miley1967 · 01/02/2025 19:45

Just cut down. People don't need half the stuff they buy.

Speak for yourself. Everything we buy, we eat. All healthy weights.

Feelingstrange2 · 01/02/2025 19:45

@truth25 I think there's rather a reliance on a packed store cupboard there to manage a week on M and S at 60!

Miley1967 · 01/02/2025 19:45

Just cut down. People don't need half the stuff they buy.

tinygingermum · 01/02/2025 19:45

Aldi and Lidl aren’t as cheap as some people always claim they are, I find very little difference in prices and neither are local to me so I would have to travel further to get to them.

The anti processed food brigade seem to be joining this thread to food bash, and I have no idea why because meat prices have also shot up along with fruit and vegetables.

PregnancyHormonesss · 01/02/2025 19:43

GordonLaChance · 01/02/2025 19:40

Can you share what you bought? I'm baffled you can do a full shop for a family of 4 at M&S for just £60!?

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I would also love to know @Truth25

Feelingstrange2 · 01/02/2025 19:43

I've always found Tesco expensive (and annoying with those clubcard deals).

I shop at Aldi.

OJ I've watched in price, even at Aldi, and now buy the 2L bottle that costs £2.19 and is from concentrate. I buy the one with bits and not from concentrate for special occasions whereas I used to buy two of those weekly.

parttimeworks · 01/02/2025 19:43

GordonLaChance · 01/02/2025 19:40

Can you share what you bought? I'm baffled you can do a full shop for a family of 4 at M&S for just £60!?

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Agree. No way that covered 84 meals, breakfast lunch and tea

FrustratedandBemused · 01/02/2025 19:42

Porcuporpoise · 01/02/2025 19:39

But it's not irrelevant though. We import most of our food and we are in competition with the people in these other countries to buy it. Why would a farmer sell a cucumber to us for 50p each if people elsewhere will pay double?

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I meant that it’s irrelevant in terms of the impact it’s having on our personal finances at the moment.
It’s all very well saying ‘you’re lucky, food is cheaper there than it is in x, y and z country’. The fact is that food costs have risen faster than our wages have risen, and is it therefore putting more strain on our budgets.

parttimeworks · 01/02/2025 19:42

Doggymummar · 01/02/2025 19:28

We have deliveries as live rurally. I book a slot with Ocado and one with Tesco. Everyweek we have pretty much the same shop and I do it at both shops to see which is cheaper. Every week Ocado is cheaper. Except this week Tesco has a deal on chicken, which I usually get from muscle foods at 6.00 a kilo at Tesco it's 6.09 a kilo but no delivery charge. So this week I have two deliveries coming. It's worth pricing your shop up at a couple of places if you can. It's shit we have to, but it all adds up.

Don’t know if you knew but Ocado now promise to price match Tesco. If they find a discrepancy they’ll email and refund

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

GordonLaChance · 01/02/2025 19:40

Truth25 · 01/02/2025 19:07

I'm originally not from here and one of the things I will always disagree on is the price of food. It's really dirt cheap and people must not have travelled or just lived only in this country to not know what expensive food is. Ironically a lot of fruit and veg is imported from my home country and dirt cheap if you had to buy it there!
Oh and there's things like yellow stickers, offers on everything going and so MANY different grocery stores not to mention farmers markets all over the place.

I've literally just said to dh the other day that I have done a full week food shop from M&S and it was around 60 and we cook Almost everything from scratch for a family of 4. I appreciate what you are saying op, as that's how you feel.
To me food is one of the cheapest things about this country.

Can you share what you bought? I'm baffled you can do a full shop for a family of 4 at M&S for just £60!?

Porcuporpoise · 01/02/2025 19:39

FrustratedandBemused · 01/02/2025 19:11

Food is cheaper here than some other countries, yes. That doesn’t change the fact that the price of food has risen faster than wages have, meaning British people now have to make their money go further. The price of food in other countries is irrelevant, as we don’t live there.

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But it's not irrelevant though. We import most of our food and we are in competition with the people in these other countries to buy it. Why would a farmer sell a cucumber to us for 50p each if people elsewhere will pay double?

Maia77 · 01/02/2025 19:38

It is terrifying and it will keep getting worse. UK is on the way to become one of those countries where the middle class doesn't exist, where there are only super rich and very poor, like countries in Latin America, Africa. This is happening because of growing wealth inequality. The super rich are getting richer and they will completely outcompete ordinary people for all sorts of things - schools, dentists, doctors, property. Gary Stevenson's explains these things so well. We need a wealth tax. Nothing else will do.

mumedu · 01/02/2025 19:36

Moonnstars · 01/02/2025 19:07

I agree. I also have fussy children who like certain foods and even things like their preferred pasta sauce keeps going up.
I don't find Aldi much cheaper (and no clubcard points to collect) also the fruit and veg usually doesn't last from the cheaper supermarkets either so isn't cost effective for me personally.

Yes, true. Aldis fruit goes off very quickly.

Buttonmoon45 · 01/02/2025 19:36

Housebuy1 · 01/02/2025 18:47

Shop at Lidl or Aldi if you can?

Not much difference in it now, Aldi have been slowly increasing prices week on week too.