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 listened to something the other day where they said the reported growth in the early part of the year has been the same for the last 4/5 years. They put it down as an adjustment that happens after Christmas and it’s skewing the data.

Supermarkets will still be making vast profits.

I use cheaper cuts of meat, e.g. a packet of duck livers in Sainsbo is now £1.50 & plenty for 2, maybe 3.
I'll be making a steak & kidney mix for pies tomorrow, shin of beef is cheap & I got a pack of yellow-stickered kidneys. But I will NOT compromise on butter for the pastry !
I stretch a ragu with red lentils, bulk out a curry with chickpeas, make bottom-of-the-fridge-soup etc

We don't have battered frozen fish. They're really expensive and rubbish now.
We were buying the frozen fish on 3 for£10 at Morrisons but that's stopped and they're a fiver a bag now.

At least one easy cheap dinner like beans on toast or eggs on toast a week. Usually two.

A sack of potatoes is a bargain.
In the old days we'd have had chips with something. Probably fried egg.

It is so very difficult. I only have 1 child but he has a restricted diet so typical tricks such as porridge, lentils etc to save money are a no go.

I use a community supermarket where I can buy up to 15 items at a heavily reduced cost to help prevent waste. It is not a food bank and anyone at all can sign up to a membership (£5) and then use it.

I then top up whatever I get with Asda just essentials and always make sure I have a small stash of their pasta, pizza, chicken nuggets etc for tougher months. Not the healthiest but cheap, suitable for my son's diet and fills a hole.

I feel for you. Just what others have said. Lifestyle change and careful meal planning so nothing is wasted. No eating out and make use of travel mugs for coffee/tea when socialising. Also, more fruit and veg, less meat. Batch cook too if you can and vary toppings or sides to keep it interesting. Eliminate unhealthy snacks, just yoghurts, nuts and basics like chocolate, but the healthiest options. Stock up on freezer items and eat those after the perishables so not food shopping again for ages.

I eat one meal a day now. No clue how adults are affording more than that.

I’ve stopped buying fruit and most vegetables I’ve switched to frozen. I’m eating a lot of baked potatoes too.

I make my own breakfast granola but that’s more a taste choice rather than financial.

less reliance on meat, like a lot of other have said.

We've done a variety of things to keep the bill down (especially as my husband has food intolerances so needs to buy some things from the expensive 'free from' ranges)
1 We downgraded our brands, e.g instead of heinz beans/tomato ketchup we get supermarket own brand, if we normally buy the supermarket brand we try the 'savers' range (not everything is as nice but there have been a few pleasant surprises)
2 Use your freezer, bulk buy and freeze things like chicken, divide larger packs into meal-sized portions, buy frozen beef mince and cubed beef (bonus is you can cook both from frozen) look out for reduced to clear items that can be frozen, if you have a portion of a meal left then freeze in a tupperware/takeaway container for a quick meal for one
3 Try bargain shops (Home Bargains, B&M Bargains, Iceland/Food Warehouse) you can often get branded items cheaper here than the supermarkets which is useful if you 'must have' heinz beans for example.
Lastly cut back on the amount of treats you buy, don't cut out everything you enjoy but maybe save them for the weekend, if you can bake make your own muffins/cakes (if time is an issue make a large batch when you have time and freeze)

I used to buy chicken thigh fillets but have swopped to non fillets or legs. I'm trying to swop things like this. Using half the amount of meat in sheppards pie etc. It's very depressing.

Agree. This is a great book. It got us through a tough time several years ago. The Mennonite 'More With Less' cookbook is also good and I think free online.

I'm doing strict meal planning, only buying food in season, own brand where possible, and Aldi shops. I cook from scratch which is cheaper but time consuming.

Our main challenge is feeding a very sporty, very fast growing teenager. I wouldn't have believed it before we reached this stage, but genuinely don't know how this could be done without healthy snacks and meat. They are constantly hungry and need far more calories and protein a day than we do.

Myself and my husband eat fresh meats everyday, we shop at our local butcher and farm shops, even the meat we have in our sandwiches comes from butcher or farm shops, I can spend £50 easily just on meat 🤣 we don’t eat pasta or rice very often 🤢 I have food intolerances and some of the food is very expensive and full of chemicals so I’d rather have a plate of meat that anything else!

Sporty teenagers, eek! I remember that well. That’s probably when I started making my own bread, and buying trays of baked beans and a big block of cheddar from Costco. It’s amazing how much food teenagers need.

I shop at Tesco - my list is probably very similar each week in terms of what I need but not the specifics around it so as such I pretty much live on the clubcard yellow label prices. Crisps are whichever are on offer, ditto the oven pizza meal etc. Obviously there are lifestyle choices re how to spend less as well but if there's some stuff you have to buy then that's my approach.

Edit - oh and re non food stuff, stock up when its on offer. I have a facewash that is either £6 or £3.50 at tesco. I can do without it if I run out and the pricing cycle isn't kind but when it's £3.50 I'll buy 2/3 tubes.

How depressing

Everything is depressing. That’s why people are angry.

I was brought up to believe that a banana with a piece of bread and 2 cups of tea with milk and sugar is a meal.
It really isn't. It is not a luxury or a treat to have more than that.
I do agree though that fruit out of season should be considered a treat. And cheaper cuts of meat are great for soups/stews.

I know. Just horrendous that advice is to ‘eat less’ it shouldn’t be this way

I have adopted my mother's technique from about 1975, when the food is gone, it's gone until the next shopping day. No top ups. I cook most things from scratch and bulk out meals with veg. I'm fine with it, I haven't ever been a foodie and I don't eat a lot of meat but DP isn't that taken with it. Given the choice and budget he would eat steak everyday. But that's not possible.

I’ve switched to Aldi and Lidl for my main shops. Heavier items get delivered via Sainsbury’s. Less meat.

Full of chemicals.... Yeas ago when I worked for the Min of Ag, Fisheries and Food, we used to take foreign delegations to organic farms. Where farmers, when forgetting 'the script', were telling us - same planet, same water, same environment, there is no such a thing as 'organic, non-chemical'. A direct quote 'this is my so-called organic land, certified'. Around me everyone is into non-organic farming. Plus the environment, rain, etc. All I can offer is higher prices and faecal contamination from manure'. Full of chemicals, my arse. EVERYTHING is full of chemicals. Including your plate of meat. That ship has sailed 40 years ago.

I don’t know about your teens but mine also complains if the meal
is veggie rather than meat so I’m going to save a fortune when he leaves home one day 😂

But protein doesnt have to be prime cuts

I get most of my protein from tinned fish, any fish that I get my hands on for a decent price ( kilo of frozen sardines from Lidl £4 and are beautiful cooked on the barbie in minutes ) and pulses

If the kids enjoy a curry - red lentil Dahl - I make a pot every week or so. Last weeks one I shoved in sweet potato, aubergine, spinach and tomatoes. To get DH to eat it as a main meal, I added cooked chicken from the big bloody chicken I had roasted . I make a pot of that, stick it in the fridge and then warm up the portion I think Ill eat and eat with a flat bread or pitta ( wholemeal ) Blimey I even had a small pit of cheese sat looking at me so cubed that into it and it was like wee pops of creaminess

Or a big pot of egg fried rice ( pile in the chopped veg ) - let them heat up what they want, add a couple of crispy fried eggs and hot sauce - they will love it

I've been finding carrots not to be keeping as long as they previously did too.
We use them regularly and yet I've noticed some get brown soft spots on them like they never did before.
The thing I do is I take them out of the plastic bag and put them into a sturdy paper bag, and leave the bag top open a bit as they store in the crisper drawer off the fridge.
The last bag I actually had to take a tea towel and pat the carrots dry before putting them in the bag.

I am finding it such a squeeze that I’ve actually started buying the infamous MN chicken. It’s just me and the dog here now so one medium sized chicken literally does last us the week. I have it with pasta, rice, ramen noodles, sandwiches etc. Dog loves the jelly residue which I put on her kibble. By the end of the week it looks like it’s been stripped to the bone by vultures. Then bones go in a stock. I make sure I always have eggs in and I make my own bread from a very easy recipe. Going to the supermarket is now such a miserable experience. I look at the bottom shelves and check out the yellow stickers (which are usually barely reduced 😒).

Whether I had the money or not I really resent the constant price rises. I took a photo of a pack of sweet potatoes today because I swear they’ve increased by 10p since last week! I want to keep an eye on that.

I always used to like variety but at the moment I’m keeping to a fairly repetitive menu in a bid to keep costs within budget.

And always have a big bag of porridge oats in the cupboard.

I live off two £50 Sainsbury’s deliveries per month (I only have to feed myself so I am kind of lucky). My staples are

• Stamford Street plain yogurt, lemons, tinned peaches which I make into jam, porridge oats, digestive biscuits (crush them up and layer with the yogurt and jam), biggest block of cheese they sell which I cut into four and freeze
• bag of potatoes which you can do anything with
• eggs, I mainly live off omelettes, especially Spanish omelettes
• Tortilla wraps, love to make them into quesadillas

I also try to grow as much as I can in the garden, especially high-yielding crops like courgettes, beans and tomatoes.

The only thing I won’t buy cheap is ready-cooked bacon, the one from the Co-op is by far the best and I use it for Flammkuchen or fry-ups.

Learning to make pastry properly from YouTube was a real game-changer for me. Also my friend told me to use a fat to flour ratio of 1:4 instead of the traditional 1:1, and it comes out so much nicer. I can make it in less than five minutes now and there are so many things you can do with it, for example date caramel pastries, cheese and potato pasties, quiche with leftover veggies etc. No one needs to pay £4/5 for a quiche!

Buying fruit and vegetables is one of the hardest things, it should be subsidised imo. Meat is a complete luxury now and I haven’t eaten fish for years 🥲 Bars of chocolate are one of the things I miss the most, I make my own Hungarian chocolate cookies (you use cocoa powder) for a hit of choc when I need it.

It does make me sad.