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.

When was your last move and how much did it cost?

Renting:
Deposit
Rent in advance
Removal cost
Double rent during crossover period
Post redirection
End of tenancy cleaning

For average rental this is £1400-7000

Mortgage holder:
Selling costs - agent, solicitor, EPC
Buying costs - Stamp duty, survey, mortgage fee
Removal cost
Post redirection

For average house this is £13-15,000

Someone eating one meal a day is not able to save up for these massive costs.

For anyone struggling with food costs I highly recommend Weary Wolf Adventures on YouTube. Don’t know how to link but just search him on YT. He does eat meat but also does some vegetarian and vegan videos.. basically he will do food challenges where he has a budget of around £20 for the week (3 meals a day). I’m preparing myself for living alone after being in a relationship long term where I haven’t really had to think about budgeting for food and I’ve got loads of great ideas from this channel.

Snacks don’t have to be expensive.. you could make a batch of muffins or a loaf cake, could have these for breakfast also. I’m vegan so I would use mashed bananas, apple sauce and flour (and baking powder) add some milk to loose the mixture. Add sugar, cinnamon, frozen fruit or nuts if you have them.

i find when I eat porridge I don’t feel the need to eat lunch. Oats are cheap and I wouldn’t mind eating them every day.

make your own flatbread - just flour and water basically. kneed and leave to sit before cooking. Add oil to the pan, add some salt/pepper or herbs to the bread if you want to add more flavour.

I made an amazing crumble last week with a 75p packet of crumble mix from the supermarket. Poured it over a tin of fruit in a baking tray, sprinkled with sugar and baked for 20 mins in the air fryer. It was better than any pre made dessert I’ve eaten. And total cost £1.75 (fed 2 people).

And cheaper to cook when using an airfryer

Another great desert is
sliced up bananas with crumbled ginger biscuits on top
Heat in the microwave

Buy M&S cooking chocolate - it is £1.50 a bar and delicious. I have one square a night for my treat!

When I were a lad.....

I'm Gen Z and a lot of my mates are decently paid middle class professionals and just have started shoplifting higher ticket stuff while paying for cheaper things like veg and fruit. I'm too scared to do it myself with AI an facial recognition but honestly I don't blame them.

Sure.....

We do but quite a bit more on housing and energy, transport than the Global average.

Reading this thread, there’s a clear disconnect between the government framing of the economy and the lived experience of people on here…

bleak times.

Bloody hell.

Also given current stamp duty levels as well as all other associated costs, moving is not the money saver being claimed.

Not everyone is on mains gas either - people rurally often use heating oil, which is through the roof since the Iran thing, or things like electric storage heaters which are just ouch for costs.

Heads of Government don't have a clue how badly we're struggling.

They absolutely do not .. Look how many just resign and leave that day .. I could never contemplate just walking out of a job .. We live hand to mouth .

The next MP basic salary increase (if it holds at 5% uplift) will take them from £98,599 to £103,528.

That will throw them over a tax cliff edge won’t it? I hope so.

They’ll just bung it in their fabulous pension scheme.

Cheap sweet treats and snacks that I like are
In season fruit crumble
Home made crepes
Home made Flapjacks
Home made donuts - bit of a faff to make but so cheap

We are in Channel Islands, so whilst we have lower tax, the COL is extremely high.

We have done the following:

-made own bread (without machine) and frozen, same with flatbreads / wraps

• stock up on favourite items when on offer only
• switched to M&S ketchup (1.15)
• switched to supermarket cereals
• essential Greek yoghurt by kilo and add small amount of home made caramel / fruit coulis
• make own pizza dough, sauce and freeze in batches
• grow as many fruit and veg as can - each year DH makes batches and batches of pasta sauce from home grown tomatoes which we freeze and then have throughout winter (appreciate you need garden and freezer space for this)
• buy minced pork and make own meatballs - much cheaper and healthier than ready made and can freeze
• homemade shortbread biscuits are super cheap and yummy
• DH had made some chocolate mousse the other day so had leftover egg yolks and made some fresh pasta
• often make a cheap cake in a weekend to have for puddings
• switched DH to Seabrook crisps for work - nice but cheaper than other brands

Food inflation is extremely worrying and yet the supermarkets are announcing record profits - somethings not adding up there

if there are meetings at work with leftover food, I’ll often bring home if it’s nice which can do a couple puddings or so

Food in Guernsey is very expensive

Dhs family come from there and being stuck with having to shop at Waitrose is painful.

I sigh heavily, but just pay it.

A PP mentioned the Olio app - there is a similar one called Too Good to Go

I haven't used them (yet) so don't know how it works, but dc1 has. A while ago she got 15 assorted pastries for £0, and 4 packs of 2 salmon fillets and a pack of raw prawns for approx £14

This is a great list, but when you already do most of it and the costs are still spiralling up, you're getting to a point where you can't cut back much more.

We live like this and it's from preference rather than necessity, but it's becoming much more necessary.

I use traditional budget cookbooks a lot, particularly from the 1970s which was also an era of rocketing food and energy prices. I like More for Your Money, by Shirley Goode - out of print I think, but around secondhand on ebay. World of Books etc. The original version of Delia Smith's Frugal Food is also good, plus The Pauper's Cookbook (Jocasta Innes), Kitchen in the Hills (Elizabeth West), Not Just a Load of Old Lentils (Rose Elliot), and some of the 1950s/70s "500 recipes" series are very good.

Thanks Bookshelf
i can see an evening of googling for me 🙏