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.

Sophie Grigson Meals for fiver.

Though I suspect that fiver might not be a fiver now.

Just seen this advertised, which may be helpful . . . .
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/39154517/supermarket-slashes-prices-everyday-items/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=sunsavers&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawR5Z5FleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF2RjhIamVsQ2gyWEdSdkI4c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHgJXdN3Al_3TzeuQpjTgdpk9HF92lnYcZStWZs5_nuJkxKFX77EYSfGf1l6A_aem_tHstpzo32yh6-sLGNynL4g#Echobox=1779202276

You have to be pulling our legs.

Meal planning is the best way to budget, plan breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack for everyone every day and then turn that into a shopping list. Chat GPT can help you meal plan so you are using up full packets and not wasting half a lettuce etc.

Projects like Bread and Butter Thing are also great where short life products are sold very cheaply.

Stock up with non perishables when offers are on (shampoo, soap etc)

Use bar soap instead of liquid soap.

Dont fall for the cleaning gimmicks, most things are best cleaned with washing up liquid. A bit of bicarbonate of soda if something is really stubborn. A standard mop and bucket to clean the floor - no need for expensive whizzy mops etc.

I bulk buy things like rice and pasta. I’ve swapped from beef mince to pork for some meals. It seems to work well in a chilli. I always have meal options that are relatively cheap like mac and cheese or pasta bakes. I buy things when they are offer most of the time. We are a family of 6 and shopping is between £120-140 a week.

I've recently started on an app called tooo good to go, honestly been dumbfounded at the quality and amount I receive xxx

How many calories is that?

The Govt is wrong if it says economy is good, the bond market says otherwise, very low confidence in current Govt..inflation on a lot of food items is well over 20% and more.

200g jars of Kenco coffee jump from £6.30 to £7.85 overnight. This has happened before, the price drops back down. This is not inflation, it’s surge pricing as exploitation by a major outlet.

I'm not even being scheduled every week at work, because I took holiday recently Universal Credit has decided not to give me any money for April and May because of my holiday pay, I'm really struggling.

I've recently started on an app called tooo good to go, honestly been dumbfounded at the quality and amount I receive xxx
I tried that last year. I gave it a few goes and all I got was beige food that wasn't great.

I may give it another go but im not hopefully. Im glad you got good results though!

So I eat less meat, I give it to my children. I spend the least on myself and more on my children. I do a lot of surveys, etc the money. I save spending less on myself I make up with food. But I find Tesco’s or aldis are my best shops. I eat a lot of yellow sticker and pasta food. I try to bulk out my food with cheap veggies.

I have definitely reduced the amount of protein we eat which is annoying as I was actually increasing it until recently. I have bought chickpeas etc but my husband is a big meat eater so he has noticed. I have always bulked out with veg in curries etc but I am finding I am using less and less meat as it’s so expensive
I have gone back to a few old cheap favourites that we used to have in the run up to payday but have now become weekly staples- so jacket potato with beans and cheese (but with no extra main like before like quiche- a meal in itself now) Simple pasta with oil and Parmesan or a puttanesca minus the olives and capers but even tinned tomatoes have skyrocketed
They say it’s cheaper to eat rubbish than well and I kind of agree as I can get 3 x bags of chicken tenders in Iceland for £10 and they do loads of meals- I originally bought them for my son but now me and my husband have been having them with salad in a wrap as an easy cheap tea. Also fishfingers and frozen peas in a wrap
The price of eggs has gone mental as well! Ham, egg and chips was always a cheap meal growing up but not now
I have 2 fussy eaters and a Ristorante pizza is a staple but I refuse to pay full price so I have to shop around for those- this week Tesco is cheapest but I wish I didn’t have to go all over the place for th deals!
My friend has a freezer solely for yellow sticker meat and bases her week around whatever she has got but I am never there at the right time

Go in the evening. You usually find reductions then. Don't waste anything. Use veg up in homemade soups or vegetable pie. We eat less meat nowadays. Freeze reduced things, make your own lasagne and portion up so you have a meal for another evening. Serve bread and butter with meals to bulk out. There's lots of ideas online as well. Good luck.

If you've got enough room in your fridge, I'd recommend keeping ALL fruit and vegetables in there. Onions, potatoes, carrots will keep for weeks going on months, cabbage and greens for weeks, salad items for far longer than their "use by" dates. I'm on my own, so don't have the turnover that a family would have. But it does save much wastage.

If you are tech savvy you can download an app called Trolley. It sends price alerts when your regular items goes on offer eye Nescafe Gold Blend is now £8.25 in some supermarkets but I received a notification that it was on nectar price for £5.95 a few weeks ago so I stocked up and purchased 3 jars. It compares all the main brands and even compares none food items like cleaning and laundry products,

It really varies by area and can be very hit and miss. I wouldn't recommend it to save money personally.

As a public sector worker (Local Government) I endured 0% pay rises for about four years, and roughly 1% or 2% pay rises since.

Some local government workers have had larger increases as a percentage, but this is because they were earning minimum wage, and got the minimum wage uplift!

There is an exodus of highly skilled and qualified public sector workers to the private sector, colleagues and even my manager have left this year.

If you genuinely want to know why food prices are increasing, obviously Brexit has a role to play, but supermarkets are profiteering too!

Tesco reported a strong financial performance for the 2025/26 financial year (ending February 2026), with adjusted operating profits growing to £3,152 million, a 0.6% increase at constant exchange rates.

Based on 2025 reports, Aldi's UK operating profit for the year ending December 2024 fell 21% to £435.5 million(from £552.9 million in 2023). Despite lower profits, sales grew to £18.1 billion, and Aldi accelerated growth in 2025 with 4.8% sales increases, a 10.8% market share, and a £1.6bn investment plan.

Lidl GB announced record financial results for the year ending 28 February 2025, with pre-tax profits more than tripling to £156.8m, up from £43.6m in 2024. The company saw a 7.9% increase in revenue to £11.7bn, driven by 38 million additional customer visits and a rise in market share.

For the financial year ending March 1, 2025 (FY 2024/25), Sainsbury's reported a strong financial performance driven by grocery sales growth.
Key Financial Results (FY 2024/25):
Retail Underlying Operating Profit: £1,036 million, a 7.2% increase year-on-year.
Statutory Profit After Tax: £242 million, up 76.6% compared to the previous year.

(note figures from google)

I feel the same. I grabbed a few things in Tesco yesterday but had reason to be in Sainsburys today and the staples were MUCH cheaper!

Yes, and/but, our spending on rents and energy costs are higher, by and large, than our EU neighbours.

Same. But eating less meat has been mainly due health issues.

But, DH and I are both vegetarian (DH for 10 years and me for about 6 months) and if we buy meat it is fr the Dcs meals, and even then it is as a favouring rather than the main event.

I also use too good to go, but we are rural and it only has 3 options here, Co-op, Costa and a local bakery. I am up before 5 am daily and often go to the Co-op anyway at 6 am and they have some wonderful in situ reductions as it is.

To add- this morning I bought a 6-pack of pork sausages for 30 pence with the date today so put it in the freezer.

Co-op bread that is reduced always lasts at least a week I find.

While everyone is blaming Trump and Putin, and yes the world situation does affect us negatively, all the supermarkets jump on and use that as an excuse to inflate their profit margins. I saw a mother in Tesco’s looking aghast at how prices had increased, I felt so awful she was on the verge of tears. I then noticed an item I buy (tinned tomatoes) had gone up in 1 week by a pound. Not 20p, or 50p a whole pound. I was incensed. I wrote a long excoriating letter to them (my colleagues said they felt singed when I read it to them) but of course, received a glib yada, yada, email back. They don’t care all they, care about is profit. Still angry!

It’s not just the prices going up, we’re getting less in packets too. My coffee has gone up, yet dropped 10gm, my teabags up 21p and down 20 bags.
I appreciate that we had a dreadful harvest last year, so animal feed, bread, pasta and veg are all more expensive as well as fertiliser costs being just terrifying for our farmers, but I’m also fairly sure they aren’t seeing the extra in their pockets.
Hard times for so many of us.

I know a leg of lamb at Asda is £38, who in their right mind would buy that? I remember when it was £15 ish not that long ago