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

39 items I don't buy on that list and a couple ( marzipan) I might buy once a year.

Nothing healthy on that list. Where is the meat?

No one has eaten margarine since about 1997. I also don’t know what fonio is!

How about the government work on making employers raise people’s salaries fairly whilst cutting executive and director pay????
then people could easily afford to pay (the already very reasonable) cost of food in the UK.

The problem is not food prices. It’s the lack of fair salary growth and greedy companies who want labour for nothing so they can syphon off wealth for a very few people at the top who probably pay zero tax in the UK.

Up to 21 products - but some very very rarely. I buy limes when they are on deal in lidl and freeze them. Figs are seasonal anyway.
There’s not much I buy that regularly - only bananas, baked beans, bread, lemons and garlic. None I find a massive cost.

why green tea and not black tea.

What a waste and time and money

How’s throat pastilles got themselves on a food list?! Surely no one is eating them as a snack…

So chewing gum is now regarded as an “everyday essential” rather than an American abomination that ruins the surfaces of our high streets? Pah!

Ok so why is it being touted as something that will help everyday family living costs?

Avocados
Baked beans
Bananas (fresh and dried)
Biscuits
Bread
Chocolate (bulk and retail)
Chocolate bars
Chocolate with fruit, nuts or cereal
Citrus fruits (various)
Cocoa powder
Frozen fruits
Garlic
Jams and marmalades
Mixed nuts
Non-alcoholic beverages
Olive oil (extra virgin)
Olives (fresh/chilled)
Other fresh fruits
Other peppers (capsicum/pimenta)
Pizzas
Sweet peppers
Toasted bread products
Tomato ketchup

Humans have been chewing gum for thousands of years. It's also good for dental health.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10299855/

They should add:
Yoghurt
Flour
EggsCereals including last and musli
Breakfast tea
coffe
Butter

None of which are subject to tariffs on imports. You can't cut a tax on something that isn't taxed. I despair, this site has become a forum for the hard of thinking and Daily Fail readers.

The problem is, just like with smoking, if people are addicted to certain things, they'll make them a priority. I've been there. If I had £10 and needed a certain number of items, I'd pick up my priority items first. Perhaps if the cost is lower, more people will have money left over to buy at least some healthy things.

It's awful that this is the case, but it honestly is.

Limes but not lemons! So we can have Mojito but not G and T with a slice of lemon.

Frozen olives? also never heard of fonio but very happy about the many forms of chocolate😃

And how clever you must be 😂 just lacking a little social nous.

Thank you for the information, don't really care about how my food is taxed other than hating increasing food bills. I'm happy with what I contribute to society as part of my profession and lifestyle. I do vaguely remember tariffs from my most recent MSc (I loathed the module it was dull as dishwater). I also have another master degree but didn't learn anything related to tariffs there and a first class BA , never ever touched on economics seeing it was art related. I am glad people like you know about tariffs, so I don't have to.

But your lemons come from Spain, so no duty due to the EU FTA. Your limes are more likely to come from South Africa or South America and so were subject to duty. So now they will be cheaper (for the importer at least).

Because if tariffs are reduced, then it reduces costs throughout the system which in theory should reduce costs to the end customer. Or the supply chain could simply fail to pass on the savings and pocket them.

I assumed they'd probably just thrown in a few wild cards to bulk out the list, please some of the more upper class shoppers because it needs to be fair to all and look like they're doing something for everyone's best interests.
Maybe the MPs are regular Fonio and Fig eaters.

Same! I was thinking FOMO!

Returned to this thread and it is still amazing how many people do not understand this is about tarrifs for food ingredients and that most of our food has no tariffs anyway (including everything from the EU).

Dried fruits sometimes have a high sugar content. List looks like something from a market in North Africa.

Think Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt etc.

I’ve no idea what fonio is, and nor does my spell check, but I’d consider a lot of those good items to be luxury goods or treats. Not essentials.

Right, so goods on which tariffs were levied and now won’t be. All the basic food ingredients, either produced here or in the EU, are tariff and VAT free already.

That’s a different matter. I wasn’t discussing the merits of price controls or cutting taxes or where they are produced etc. I was just commenting on the list of supposed essentials.