How do you cope with supermarket prices going up and up and up?

[WildEnergySupplier]

Just back from my big supermarket shop and I’m genuinely shocked at how much prices have gone up AGAIN.

It feels like every week there’s another increase - milk, bread, meat, vegetables, even the own-brand basics that used to be affordable. Things that were £2 to £2.50 about 4-5 years ago are now all about £4 to £4.50. It feels like since last summer, the prices have exploded.

I’m really struggling to keep the weekly food bill under control while everything else (energy, petrol, council tax etc etc) is still sky high.

This is despite the government telling us last week how brilliantly the economy is doing!! It certainly doesn’t feel like it to me. And I just heard on the radio that this navel gazing by-election is apparently costing us £5 million, as it will lead to another mayor election.

So many families are worrying about feeding their kids properly and keeping the heating on. How are the rest of you managing? Any clever tips for cutting costs without it feeling miserable? Are your shops coming in much more expensive too? I’d really appreciate hearing how others are coping because I’m starting to feel a bit despairing about it all. Thanks in advance.

I hear you and feel for you. I checked the credit card App on my phone because we've been using it lately for a few unexpected things like car repairs and suchlike, and to my horror, it's sitting at nearly £1200. There's no hope of clearing that anytime soon with the Direct Debit amount we set up. I don't know where to turn or what to do about it. I just feel desolate and frightened. I feel like running my car into the Clyde in the morning, then I wouldn't have any worries.

Things we have done to keep the quality of food but reduce costs

Famiky of 4, 2 adults, 2 full sized teen boys

Breadmaker - we were gifted one, not the best model but will happily replace when it breaks - and use it not quite daily for bread and pizza dough
I worked out a while ago for interest, including energy consumption that it costs about the same as the cheapest value loaf to make a lovely crusty loaf - it’s smaller but there is no waste (well the occasional crust)

ice cream maker - we infested in one last year it’s one that you don’t need to freeze the bowl just put in the cream etc, turn on, hour later amazing ice cream or sorbet - we make both
we calculate it will have paid itself back by the end of summer without the teens missing out on nice ice cream - plus it’s very none UP, cream, milk, sugar, flavour additions
big outlay but investment
it’s quite bulky to store

pressure cooker - soaking dried beans and chick peas - then cooked in 18 minutes - use this a lot for various dishes and houmous - it’s do much cheaper and if you experiment and get spices right beans are a good source of protein and very versatile- the teen”s favourite chilli is a two bean chilli with a small amount of soya mince added - much cheaper no reduction in enjoyment

milk delivery - now this is an odd one as the milk is more expensive per pint, but we were in the pursuit to reduce plastic in our food storage (it’s delivered in swill and return bottles) - account easily managed online - but it saves us money because you don’t need to pop out for milk - which inevitably meant you might pick up other things as well - so for us it saves us money, and reduces packaging

coffee bean grinder - lovely freshly ground beans (which are cheaper and nicer than ready ground coffee)
same for leaf tea (but we do also have tea vags as there isn’t the time to piss about with teapots in the mornings)

we have a soda stream - with a bottle of ribena - the teens buy fizzy cans with pocket money and wages but are happy to have fizzy from sodastrean at home

I get basic pieces of fish frozen, much cheaper than fresh and you take want you need - less waste
I also get some frozen veg and frozen fruit for the same reason

a large tub of Greek yogurt a week with seeds, fruit and honey to add (this is where frozen fruit is great) rather than flavoured yogurts is healthier and cheaper as a sweeter option

learn how to make a couple of good curry bases, then you can add meat or lentils/dals, or have with boiled eggs. A good based can easily be made with onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, usual spices and natural yogurt.

basically to cut down your food bill you bring as much of the “labour” costs in-house and use your freezer - so much is cheaper frozen

we do an online shop - you don’t get side tracked by extras - which add up

I don't think you should be going without decent, regular meals. That is at the bottom of Maslows triangle. Very sorry and its all wrong

This is appalling. Please don't do anything like that and boot those thoughts right out of your head.

Of course supermarkets pass on increases. All businesses do.

If the supermarkets, tomorrow, decided they weren't going to make any profit and operate only at a break-even level, then you would save about £3 (maximum) on a £100 shop.

Even if they only made a single penny of profit on every item they sell, they'd still make huge profits.

It only takes basic financial literacy to look at a set of supermarket accounts and understand just how thin a margin they operate on. The only reason they can do so is because they trade in such large volumes. If most other business operated on such small margins they'd go out of business very quickly.

Same. I truly believe there will be a rise in I'll health at best, and suicide at worst. I am considering the latter more frequently than I used to .

In the old days, people had chips with everything, the chip pan a permanent fixture
on top of the cooker.

is there a point here I’m missing ? there are two of you no children to feed?
this is practically the Lion diet

I have “I am woman, hear me ROAR” in my head now

People who are really up against it....do you have food banks/pantries in your area? Or This Bread and Butter Thing.

It's also useful to keep an eye on what price actually goes through at the till as this can bump up the bill too. Our local large supermarket is shocking for a higher price regularly going through at the till compared to the shelf prices, sometimes significantly more.

Best using self checkout or one of the handheld scanner things to check prices if you can.

My son mid teens, a dustbin, tall and slender but starting to bulk out.
I bought brown, pasta, spaghetti, real brown rice I soaked overnight,
wholemeal or wheatmeal brown bread, blessed with old fashioned bakers
either end of our large village, brown filled him up more, he made peanut butter,
we shopped on the market Saturday morning, took packed lunches to school/college.
We also adopted the ‘when its gone its gone’ method of making sure no one ate all the fruit in one go.
I didn’t want them thinking, ‘when we’ve eatenit we can just buy more’ when I had
a budget and was teaching them how to, as a precursor to life at Uni.
Working to a budget can be challenging, bit like life in general at the moment - and
still no sunshine, only gloom.

I agree with using the handheld scanners (or shopping online) as you can then easily see the price of your shopping adding up as you go round. Granted it can be a bit depressing but it does mean that I don't get a shock at the till and I can make decisions to swap to cheaper items or do without as I'm going round.

The Jam Doughnut app is also useful. On average you get 2% (sometimes more) back on your shopping. I will see how much my shopping has cost on the handheld scanner, purchase a gift card for that amount as I'm pushing my trolley to the till on Jam Doughnut and then use the pay by gift card option at the checkout. £2 here or there each week soon adds up for a minute or so of extra effort. My referral code is OCRA if anyone is interested.

I don't fully get this. 40hrs a week at UK minimum wage is £500+ per week and you'd likely then qualify for additional support from UC if you have children/housing benefit if a renter.
500 isn't no money. If you are single with no children you only need to be in a 1-bed flat which would surely have lower council tax, utility bills etc plus single person discount on CT too. I just find it hard to believe any working full time 40hrs a week bringing in 500+ per week is having to only eat 1 meal a day unless they have other high costs that are effectively 'luxuries' such as servicing an expensive leased car, paying a mortgage on a bigger property than they need etc?

Have you looked at if you qualify for any universal credit top ups?

It isn't because
You can't be because
It shouldn't be because
I refuse to believe because....

Do you think people are lying on here just for laughs, attention, and likes..?

These post are real from real people.

🙄

That's not an answer? I do a supermarket shop every week. I cook from scratch. I know what reasonable healthy nutritious food costs, I feed a family of 4 for between £130 and & £160 a week and there's some treats included in that and we are certainly not only eating one meal a day, we just aren't buying loads of pre-packaged snacks and expensive out of season fruit or loads of red meat.

Wow.. would you like a detailed breakdown of my income and expenditure to help you understand?

Consider yourself lucky that you don't understand it, I guess.

Let them eat cake, eh?
🙄

I'll send you a breakdown of my income and expenditure if you do the same.

I think you being naive if you think all posters are real people.

There are an awful lot of political posters, b*ts ( the word that will get my post deleted) and people posting to cause division. I’m not suggesting that this poster is one, but you should be aware.

We have a shop near us called Heron, which is a sort of approved foods discounter. I bought a second freezer and stock up on whatever I can, when I can. Last week we had innocent blueberry smoothies which were a massive treat for the kids for £1. This week I bought five packs of dolcelatte for £1 each and two other nice cheeses also for £1 each. It will all go in the freezer and be bought out strategically to cook with.

It is all very dispiriting. After the years of abundance I feel more connected to my grandparents raising children in the 1950s than I ever expected to, except that there is no time around my job, cleaning my house and life to do things like make scones. I really want to, but every single day is a battle between time and staying barely on top as it is.

You're right. Could well be, but it had just the right level of blissful ignorance and naivety to ring somewhat true. I know a few who are doing well, and some of them are childhood friends who are chronically unaware of the struggles people are facing.

But what are their mortgage rates/house prices/energy costs? We have short term fixed mortgages which fluctuate (America offers 30 year fixed rates). We have high energy costs which again shoot up whenever the world is in chaos, which is much of the time. And our old, badly insulated housing stock is very expensive in comparison to many other developed countries.

People only talk about cutting the cost of food because it is one of the few things they have power over.

I can assure you that I am genuine. Here's a quick breakdown of my monthly income and expenses as proof I'm struggling:
Income. 2000
Less
Rent (cheapest in my
Area 2 bed (although more
Like one before and
box room) 750
Council tax 160
Electric 120
Oil 120
Water 45
Broadband 30
Phone 30
TV license 15
Road tax 18
Petrol just for work
(No reliable public transport) 320
Weekly parking 40
Contents insurance 12
Car insurance 35
Food 240
Toiletries 60

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