Are your food bills rising?

Food prices are definitely a lot higher than they were a year or two ago. Because I am slightly nuts and have a good memory for figures, I can tell you with absolute authority that a couple of years ago, 250g of prepacked steak mince in Sainsburys was £1.23. It is now £1.64 but reached the dizzying heights of £1.73 at one point.

I have switched quite a few things to Basics range, do a monthly shop at Asda to take advantage of cheap deals on stuff that doesn't go off and we are eating a lot more dishes that are bulked out with lentils etc. The bills are higher than they were a few years ago and seem to be still rising. I think prices have been rising in dribs and drabs over the last few years but I've noticed a few things recently that have had quite a hike in price (I won't bore you with the details!) over the last six months or so.

If prices continue to rise at the same rate, I think we'll be seeing a lot of people having to make some very hard choices (including being unable to eat/feed their kids as healthily as they might like). Fruit and veg has gone up quite a bit recently.

yes, it's really noticeable. when did tinned tomatoes go from 17p to 31p a tin? We plan menus and shop really carefully in Asda, Iceland and Aldi but still costs a small fortune for family of 5 and 1 cat.

I would agree that the difference has been increasingly noticeable over the last 4 months.

I have become a supermarket `floozie' taking advantage of points schemes and incentives (varying online shops and when you havent ordered from one supermarket for a period of time - they often send money off vouchers to tempt you back - this month Tesco have offered me £10 0ff a £50 spend)although I have a fondess for Lidl!

We eat more vegetarian meals than previously - now 2-3 times a week whereas previously it would have been perhaps once or twice.

Meat quality I am not keen to compromise on but I scour our local Co-op for the reduced meat and stock up the freezer.

The biggest change I have made is that (if possible and within reason) nothing gets thrown away - years ago shamefully we probably threw food away that we had forgotton about or bought on a whim and never ate. Every meal is planned in advance and we have reduced our portion sizes too (better for the waist line - a welcome side effect)

It's definitely getting more expensive. I'm managing by shopping the offers and making full use of the freezer but it's really hard to stay in budget. 10 years ago as a student I managed comfortably on £20 a week for food and toiletries and easily had change to spend on drink! Now with two adults and a toddler it's hard to keep it under £50-60 a week not including nappies and stuff.

same here with chicken but switched to turkey ages ago

I have changed my spending habits and meal planning to keep the cost fairly constant-but its quite an effort. The quality of what I buy has probably been compromised-higher welfare chicken, for example, went by the board a while back

We've switched to Aldi - from Tescos. It's made a massive difference. We meal plan and shop with a list.

We noticed it was just getting more and more expensive... Especially with online shops.

We've really taken control of our costs, and are really happy with the difference.

Not mine tbh, I shop at asda and my weekly shop for 7 of us is approx £110. I have always looked for good deals and planned meals etc... so have continued o do that and haven't noticed any change