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

It's the same all over Europe. France, Germany, Ireland... are all in shit street too!

This is just not true. Yes there have been some economic issues in other European countries, but they are not experiencing the same level of economic problems as the U.K.

It doesn’t sound like enough to feed my household. As well as having a slightly fussy eater in our house, who would refuse half of that list, it sounds a little repetitive- but maybe I’m not being imaginative enough.
We tend to have pasta with home made tomato sauce, sometimes a lentil bolognaise, or a carbonara type dish; chilli (veggie); fish once a week because everyone will eat it and it’s good for us; frittata; we usually add cheese to our veggie meals unless it’s Dahl. OH likes meat so I buy 3 meat items a week usually, like shin of beef or mince, or sausages, or a joint of meat on offer; and will serve a casserole or a roast, and then something made with the leftovers (ideally we would get three separate main meals from one roasting joint and at least one lunch). I eat homemade soup or leftovers for my lunch almost every day. It’s a struggle to balance the nutrients everyone is having over a week, with the cost of things and available time to cook. I’m sure we could save a bit more- but more would be wasted as people would just leave the food if they don’t like it. Or I run out of time to cook and the food can be wasted that way. It doesn’t negate the fact that prices have risen so much in such a short time and wages simply haven’t kept up.

Line dried clothes smell and feel disgusting though

Then quit your job and go on UC.

Ok… so don’t do it then. Pick a different career more as aligned to your earnings aspirations.

To do something that could change, but choose not to change because it’s difficult, is just playing the victim. None of us born with a stamp dictating what we have to do for a living. Choice and free will is the greatest gift we have in this country ffs! Fine if people don’t want to use it, but don’t also then have a whine and a moan.

if you haven't noticed then it can't be you doing the grocery shop.

I haven't noticed and I do the grocery shop. In fact, I did a comparison on the last monthly online shop I got v an almost identical shop in November last year. Only 1 item had gone up. Cravendale milk is 25p per pint more.

Everything else, all the staples, bread, cheese, potatoes etc, exactly the same price.

Pp at beginning of thread also mentioned that it's okay for costs to go up because wages do too (if I remember right)...but public sector pay was frozen multiple times in the UK, including in 2010–2013, 2021–2022, and during the 2013–2017 periods.

It's rubbish.

Housing costs are high.
Utilities are increasing.
Groceries are increasing. Size / quality is decreasing.
Public services are going down the pan.

I could go on and on.

Cost is going up all the time, and if a pay rise does happen then as pp said all other things increasing totally wipes it out.

Teacher pay scales

By the time you get to the around 40k mark, that often coincides with babies, mat leave, part time working to balance childcare costs etc.

Postal workers average salary is around £27k.

NHS says average nursing wage is between £33 and £35k.

It's been a very long time since a cucumber was 49p in my neck of the woods, and even longer since it was 45p sadly

They are cheaper than say Tesco etc on a lot of things, but not always and often not by much either!

Sure:

-bunch of 7 bananas (£0.80)
-2 bags of frozen fruit (£4)
-1kg Greek yoghurt (£2)

These make banana, fruit and yoghurt smoothies for my daily breakfast. I use a spoonful of yoghurt, one banana and a large handful of fruit, which I defrost overnight.

-1kg wonky carrots (£0.50)
-3 leeks (£1.50)
-1kg chicken drumsticks (£2)
-1 whole large swede (£0.60)

That's a week's worth of soup. Not all of it will be used for soup (e.g. I might make cock-a-leekie soup and not use all the swede, which will go into mash, some carrots will go into dinners, some will be frozen. Not all the chicken will be used; a pot of soup typically has 2 drumsticks in it and the pack had 8, so I will have 4 leftover for dinners. I make new stock from the bones and vegetable offcuts, with salt.

-4 large black puddings (£1)
-bag of frozen mixed veg (£1)
-soy sauce (£.80)
-bag of pasta (£0.70)

Bear in mind that, as I said upthread, I freeze and use up leftovers, too, so I still have some fresh eggs from last week's shop, still some slices of bread, two baking potatoes from a large bag last week and even some leftovers from another dinner. This week will give me leftover vegetables and next week I will use some of the money to stock up on herbs and chillies. With some forward planning and a decent rotation I can get a lot of food for not very much.

Will you share your "£15 for a weeks worth of meals" shopping list?

No washing outside here as I only have a small terrace but I don't own a tumble drier. Although I do run a dehumidifier if I have laundry on the airers.

Speaking of living a bit more like the older generation. It's a beautiful day outside. Around 5-7 degrees C, sunny, light breeze where I am. I went for a walk to the shop earlier (£15 for a week's worth of meals, none of which were in the savers or reduced section) and my path takes me past a number of back gardens I can look into. Only one, apart from my own, had some washing out - an elderly lady in her late 70s. I can guarantee some tumble driers were going while my second load of washing today was drying on the line. Meanwhile, people are talking about the cost of energy.

Nah, budgeting is mostly just a cope. You should be earning more money, not trying to save on Tesco own value orange juice.

And "rich people drive old cars" is mostly a mumsnet meme, it doesnt exist in real life (except for traditional old school country/rural upper-middle class).. In reality, rich people are more likely to drive nice new cars. Who do you think is buying all the brand new Range Rovers, minimum wagers?

This comment is gross! People that notice the cost of orange juice probably have more money, just like the ones who drive older cars. Spend wiser, not more

Who the hell looks at a job spec with ‘huge’ levels of responsibility coupled with poor pay and thinks “ooh yes, that’s a bit of me that is, exactly what I’m looking for! Where do I sign please?”

When I was a student on no money we used to hang things we wanted to keep cool from plastic bags out of our windows.

I have been without a pot to piss in, and I am still not well off now, though my lot has improved somewhat. You can make things work, even in tiny flats with tiny spaces and shared kitchens. I've done that and still eaten well, even with a baby and young toddler.

Maybe we need to make a thing out of either asking the older generation for their habits when young, or buy the many books that now appear in charity shops on how to keep a household in the 1950s (the era before fridges were a thing in every house and before convenience food took off in the 70s).

Food is just one example, but mending things is another. I had the numbers come off an old watch (almost 25 years old, in fact) recently. Brought it to a local watch repair service, who took the thing apart and mended it - for free. Another service wanted me to pay £200 to get it sent away and all sorts done on it or buy a new watch to the tune of £140. It took the guy 10min to fix the watch and it works beautifully. I mend holes in clothes, use rags for cleaning or making soft toys or blankets for the kids, repaint old furniture to make it more modern, repair jewellery and mend what has broken in the house unless it's completely beyond my skill. Youtube and HowTo Wiki are my two best friends in that regard.

No one taught me any of this. Not cooking, not sewing, not furniture upcycling, nothing. I also work 60h weeks, so I'm not even particularly flush with time. But needs must, and with that I do my bit for the environment and save money.

Can’t people let this one go now??

£15.40 for 2L of olive oil yesterday, I nearly fainted! It wasn’t even the nice extra virgin olive oil we always used to buy, it was just the Sainsbury’s bog standard one. We’ve now started doing most of our shop in Lidl and just popping over to Sainsbury’s for the things we can’t get (don’t know if they sell olive oil in Lidl or if they were out of stock but it certainly wasn’t there).

I live in the Netherlands but frequently go back home to London. I don’t think people realise how cheap food was and still is in the UK. Yes prices have increased and I make different choices now than I did 3 years ago, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because I really am more conscious of what I choose to consume.

I stopped using fabric softener (washing machine engineer said I was shortening the life of my machine and clothes by using it). I have offset the price increases on my favourite products by switching up what I buy and how frequently.

My income will drop this year and I will have to be smarter about how I spend my money.

Black pepper is needed as much as salt in my house. Pepper is a basic. I can’t think of a savoury dish that tastes good without it.

Pretty much this. Honestly if you even notice the price of orange juice in Tesco then you most likely dont earn a decent salary.

The median salary in the UK is £37k (or £47k in London). If you earn less than that then yeah, youll have to budget. Poor people have always had to budget, since time immemorial

Ha! There are an awful lot of poorly paid jobs with huge levels of responsibility. And many reasons why people can't move up the career ladder (caring responsibilities etc.)

This is another example of the well off having options to save money that the poor do not.

The existence of secure outside space to store vegetables is massively more common as the value of the property increases.

I accept that there are rural poor who have the same option but a flat dweller in a town or city definitely doesn’t.

I dont earn as much as you op.

I do understand that its going to be harder if you have children.
But live alone and childless so i dont really feel the pinch all bills are paid i have no debt etc.