How much fonio does your family get through in a week and how much will the reduction in price help you?

[noblegiraffe]

The govt have released a list of 125 "everyday essentials" that they plan to cut tax on to help families with the cost of living.

It's a bit of a weird list. Beans, biscuits and chocolate yes, a bit more baffled by the fresh figs, gherkins and plantains. And I had to google fonio.

Aubergines
Avocados
Baked beans
Bananas (fresh and dried)
Biscuits
Boiled sweets
Bread
Buckwheat
Candied fruit
Chewing gum
Chocolate (bulk and retail)
Chocolate bars
Chocolate drink preparations
Chocolate spreads
Chocolate with fruit, nuts or cereal
Citrus fruits (various)
Cocoa paste
Cocoa powder
Couscous
Crispbread
Crisps
Dried apples
Dried apricots
Dried figs
Dried papaya
Dried peaches/nectarines
Dried pears
Fonio
Fresh figs
Frozen fruits
Garlic
Gherkins
Gingerbread
Green tea
Jams and marmalades
Limes
Liquorice products
Margarine
Marzipan and pastes
Mixed dried fruit
Mixed fats and oils
Mixed fruit and nuts
Mixed nuts
Mixed preserved fruit and nuts
Non-alcoholic beverages
Olive oil (extra virgin)
Olive oil (other)
Olive oil (virgin)
Olives (for oil production)
Olives (fresh/chilled)
Olives (frozen)
Other fresh fruits
Other peppers (capsicum/pimenta)
Pickled peppers
Pizzas and quiches
Plant-based drinks
Plantains (fresh and dried)
Prepared vegetables
Preserved beans
Preserved citrus fruits
Preserved tropical fruit
Preserved vegetables
Processed potatoes
Quinoa
Rusks
Soups and broths
Sugar confectionery
Sugar tablets
Sweet peppers
Throat pastilles
Toasted bread products
Toffees and caramels
Tomato ketchup
Tomato sauces
Vegetable oils
Waffles and wafers

That is a seriously weird list.

If they have bananas, citrus fruit and plantains, why not other tropical fruit such as melons, mangoes, pineapples, kiwi fruit, coconuts etc?

And what's with all the sugar, sweets and chocolate - since when did they become 'everyday essentials'?

Most of that list is already zero rated for VAT, so I’m guessing it relates to import tax?

I am a huge foodie but have never heard of Fonio

Presumably not taxed in the first place

@YoBetty it will be based on which foods we import from countries we don’t have a free trade agreement with. For example we have trade agreements with Chile and New Zealand which produce a lot of kiwis but not with Ecuador which produces a lot of bananas.

Presumably they have just removed taxes on a particular list of things that currently incur that tax.

I doubt it is middle class social engineering etc etc.

That is one wanky food list!

I think it will be the dextrose tablets that my diabetic DH uses when he has a hypo. Would be good if those were zero rated, actually.

Limes but not lemons. I use plenty of lemons but fewer limes.

Ah, that's a good point. I bet a lot of bulk imported olive oil for food production comes from North Africa.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/millions-to-benefit-from-lower-travel-and-food-costs

I meant to add this link too

www.nationalworld.com/news/politics/household-staples-tariff-cut-full-list-of-everyday-essentials-included-8642218

Most of our lemons come from Spain so are already zero rated. Maybe we import more limes from countries that we don't have a free trade agreement with.

I’ve heard of fonio, it was described to me as like quinoa but half the calories. I haven’t eaten it though.

Never had (or heard of) fonio either.

Fonio sounds like it would make good baby porridge.

I’ve never been aware of frozen olives

I'm baffled by frozen olives?? I don't think they even exist do they? And why not preserved olives?

Price cuts on the following will help me.
biscuits,
crisps,
Chocolate
Garlic
Jam
Mixed dried fruit
Olive oil
Sweet peppers
Ketchup. (once every couple of months)

It'll be interesting to see how big is the reduction.

I’d need some context here - are these things that up till now have had VAT on them and won’t in future?
Fonio is presumably a staple food of a particular community so needs to be taken account.
It certainly indicates how far we’ve come that things like figs, olives and quinoa merit this treatment. We can manage happily without these. I would like things like bran flakes, cheddar cheese, fresh meat and fish to be cheaper.

It says 'citrus fruits various' higher up the list.

No idea what fonio is.

No. Most foodstuffs are zero-rated, chocolate being one exception that I know of. As pp's say above, it is more likely to do with import duty.

Well, we eat healthily but do not buy 42 of those things listed. 🤷‍♀️😬🙄

But we produce bran flakes, cheese, meat & fish ourselves. There's nothing on the list that is home-grown, as it were.

Haha think we both thought that at the same time!