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Original poster

£31 for two bags of fudge?! 😲

242 replies

Wisteriabloom · 12/08/2021 17:09

I was at a seaside festival with dd yesterday, and looked round the food stalls before we left. There was a pick & mix fudge stall, you fill your own bags and get them weighed.

I picked a small selection for dd & I for the journey home, and a slightly bigger one for my parents, as we're seeing them tonight.

Lovely fudge - salted caramel, candyfloss, oreo, every flavour you could imagine, but I couldn't believe it when asked for £31!! Paid it, wasn't allowed to put any back, so we'll make it last! 😋

OP posts:
tigger1001 · 12/08/2021 20:56

@spongedod

Quite a few food shops have an "if you touch, you buy" rule, even outside of Covid times. It's just hygiene.

I would still put it down and laugh at them for trying t to charge me £31 for fudge. What can they do? Take me to court to force me to buy their fudge Confused

I agree.

What would they do if you didn't have £31? They can't force you to buy it

CarlottaValdez · 12/08/2021 21:00

I once left a £25 pot of mixed olives and just walked away while trying guy shouted “you have to buy these” at me. This was about 20 years ago too just an insane amount of money. There are some proper scammers at these farmers markets.

IncessantNameChanger · 12/08/2021 21:08

What if you dont have £31 on you?

My poor late dad quite often forgot his money doing the weekly shop. Tesco never took him to court when he ( a few times a year) found out once it was all scanned.

To be fair he did always go back, pay and collect his food.

If your embarrassed just say "Ohio thought it would be under a fiver, I will just find my dh / mum / minted fairy god mother and be right back .....then run for the hills. What can they do? set the hounds on you?

Interested in this thread?

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General food
EarthSight · 12/08/2021 21:08

A good rule of thumb is not to buy from a fudge stall where it's about £1.50 or more per 100g. A 100g is nothing so you'll reach that point quickly. Also, many quality, small scale fudge producers don't necessarily go to festivals. I've seen quite a few pick & mix stalls where it's obvious it's mass produced using glucose syrup and vegetable oil as they're the ones who can usually pay the high stall fees.

EarthSight · 12/08/2021 21:09

Also, I'm wondering if people getting shocked by the price and wanting to put it back is a regular occurrence for them......

tillytoodles1 · 12/08/2021 21:09

I was stopped at a market by a man who offered to clean my glasses. After he gave them a good going over and I put them back on to walk away he shouted "hey, you're supposed to buy some now". I just carried on walking and ignored him. The stuff was £15.

Disrespected · 12/08/2021 21:28

We did similar. It was a pick n mix at an event.
3 kids all had 5 quid each. So they chose sweets. The lady as they were filling said how much do they have to spend. I said 5 each she said careful they're close. She could tell by what they'd put in.
No kidding they had the anoind of a small bag of 'randoms' sweets u can get in tesco 3 for £1.20.
It came to £15.68. I'd also done a bag with 6 small flumps for the 18m.old. Which was in that.

Never again.

MadameMinimes · 12/08/2021 21:31

I think it’s pretty important to know how much the bags of fudge weighed. Fudge is dense and even a fairly modest sized bag can be pretty weighty. I pay somewhere in the region of £25 per kilo for my favourite fudge and consider that well worth paying. If the two bags of fudge were altogether more than about 750g then it doesn’t seem too excessive for tourist trap prices. If they totalled much less than 500g then it’s outrageously expensive.

Ericaequites · 12/08/2021 21:39

In the States, you can buy450g/1 pound of good fudge made with real butter for £ 12-20. This includes Cape Cod tourist traps who vent cooking smells onto the street.

ShellyShore · 12/08/2021 21:49

@WiddlinDiddlin

Once you've made fudge with clotted cream (watch out for it on the bargain shelf in the supermarket and snaffle the lot, you can also make a glorious salted caramel sauce that lasts ages if jarred properly), you will NEVER go back to bought stuff OR condensed milk stuff again!

It is divine!

We need to know how to make the salted caramel sauce, Widdlin
JudgeJ · 12/08/2021 22:07

@tillytoodles1

I was stopped at a market by a man who offered to clean my glasses. After he gave them a good going over and I put them back on to walk away he shouted "hey, you're supposed to buy some now". I just carried on walking and ignored him. The stuff was £15.
Similar thing happened to me in an American airport, I was 'chosen' to have my eyes rejuventated by this wonderful Dead Sea stuff, I declined but the woman was so insistant that I left her proceed. She massaged below my eyes and after she'd finished wanted me to buy this wonderful stuff. When I told her I'd bought it at Amman airport much cheaper she was most out out.
woodhill · 12/08/2021 22:10

Oh we that Dead Sea stuff, was always at the American malls. They always pestered you

Frodogo · 12/08/2021 22:30

I always assume stalls are over-charging, so I generally just avoid. If I'm particularly tempted, I'd ask the price. The thought of agreeing to buy anything without knowing the price beforehand is utterly foreign to me, though. Grin

stupiduser · 12/08/2021 22:53

Can I also just say any fudge you make is also easily frozen. We have some chocolate fudge in the freezer at the moment (it's only survived because I am trying not to eat it and the kids have forgotten it's there!)

YesIDoLoveCrisps · 12/08/2021 22:54

The same thing happened to us once OP.
My husband was traumatised. When we were going to sleep that night he kept muttering ‘forty-fucking-two’ pounds over and over.
Yes we had spent £42 on pick and mix. It was for 3 children but even so it’s so much money! Shock

roses2 · 13/08/2021 08:31

@MadameMinimes

I think it’s pretty important to know how much the bags of fudge weighed. Fudge is dense and even a fairly modest sized bag can be pretty weighty. I pay somewhere in the region of £25 per kilo for my favourite fudge and consider that well worth paying. If the two bags of fudge were altogether more than about 750g then it doesn’t seem too excessive for tourist trap prices. If they totalled much less than 500g then it’s outrageously expensive.
Good point. I've only found one brand of fudge which I like and I pay £5 for 175g from Fudge Kitchen (£29/kg)

www.fudgekitchen.co.uk/en/build-a-box/slab-fudge

No other brand I've tried is as soft and creamy as this although I only buy it once every few years when I pass one of their shops.

Deathraystare · 13/08/2021 08:40

Well it weighs heavy you know!

I remember as a youngster going into our local CO op shop and buying some pic and mix. I may have gone a bit made. I left, £15 lighter!

LadyEloise1 · 13/08/2021 09:34

@Incywinceyspider
I visited that pirate themed shop in Dubrovnik too. It was very expensive Shock

woodhill · 13/08/2021 13:44

@YesIDoLoveCrisps

The same thing happened to us once OP. My husband was traumatised. When we were going to sleep that night he kept muttering ‘forty-fucking-two’ pounds over and over. Yes we had spent £42 on pick and mix. It was for 3 children but even so it’s so much money! Shock
Daylight robbery - horrible feeling
WestendVBroadway · 13/08/2021 14:15

@EarthSight

A good rule of thumb is not to buy from a fudge stall where it's about £1.50 or more per 100g. A 100g is nothing so you'll reach that point quickly. Also, many quality, small scale fudge producers don't necessarily go to festivals. I've seen quite a few pick & mix stalls where it's obvious it's mass produced using glucose syrup and vegetable oil as they're the ones who can usually pay the high stall fees.
Also @MadameMinimes, I just weighed some of my homemade fudge , I got about 9 pieces for 100g. However the pieces on stalls are probably bigger!
£31 for two bags of fudge?! 😲
mustlovegin · 13/08/2021 14:32

Outrageous OP! I would have left without buying anything

BananaMilkshakeWithCream · 13/08/2021 14:58

Crazy! We once got asked for £15 ish for 2 small bags of pick and mix. It was about 250g all in all.
We put it back and went and bought some haribos 😂

kowari · 13/08/2021 15:10

Good point. I've only found one brand of fudge which I like and I pay £5 for 175g from Fudge Kitchen (£29/kg)
Yes, this is the only one I (very occasionally) buy. 175g is a decent sized slab if two of you like the same flavour, or you can even get a box of four for £17. £31 is crazy!

BarbaraofSeville · 13/08/2021 15:33

I'm going to make my own fudge over the weekend. That Rodda's recipe upthread works out at about £3 to make 600 g of fudge or about £5 a kilo so a bargain in comparison.

stripedbananas · 13/08/2021 16:36

This happened to us at a local fair where DD chose a huge bag of pick and mix - but as she hadn't handled it with hands just tongs we were able to put most of it back especially as my friend was the one who'd offered to buy her some - I was mortified at the cost and owners had no issue with items being returned to their respective tubs. In fact they didn't say anything so were likely used to it