to think the price of shopping is getting rediculous?

[Ilovesunflowers]

Especially tuna. Noticed a pack of 4 was nearly £9 in my local supermarket. I use a lot of tuna and it used to be a cheap meal (pasta, tuna and veg).
Bread is crazily expensive. It's hard to keep costs down for shopping now.

[Bluemonkeyspots]

I was £91 in aldi yesterday!

I did not even think that was possible.

Best part is I have hardly anything in for dinner this week, we will scrape by but should have much more.

that will teach me to take dd's annoying friend with me who stressed me out so much I was chucking anything in the trolley

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

YABU if you're paying £9 for 4 cans of tuna.... Really important to get more savvy with shopping around, switching to cheaper brands, home-cooking rather than using processed foods etc. Cut my January food budget by 20% by cutting right back on meat, ditching imported stuff and serving lots of home-made soup!!!

[RooneyMara]

I too am puzzled by how four tins of tuna can cost £9...where is that? Is the problem that people are used to buying more expensive food and find it hard to switch to stuff that costs less?

Like if you are used to Hobbs and have to buy from Primark? I can understand that. I just never spent much on food I guess, it's not my thing.

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

My local Asda had me really annoyed this week.

One, just one, brand of Icing sugar. No big packs either. So no choice and no value bigger pack. Not to mention things that I buy every week doing 40p jumps in price.

I am going to the butchers and the market for veg this week. If I have to pay ridiculous amounts I would rather it went local than to a huge company.

[pigletmania]

It's is ludicrous £4 for lean mince, over £1 fora loaf of bread, Tina is no longer cheap food anymore. The government tell you t eat 5 fruit and veg a day but the prce of fruit n veg is so exensive compared to junk food, which always seems on offer. Permenantly dirt cheap

[Sugarice]

cantspel I feed 5, the dh and 3 teenage boys who eat for England plus I like leftovers for a meal Monday.

Their beef wasn't that dear a few week's ago, not sure what cut it was, once I saw the price I backed off!

[Theicingontop]

Tesco seem to alternate their tuna half-price promotions from brand to brand, but usually you can pick up a four-pack for £4. Or, you can buy the brand just above value, and it tastes exactly the same.

My food shopping, for three of us, is £40 per week, which actually includes non-food items like washing up liquid and soap. I budget to the last slice of ham, and have weekly food plans spanning into next month. We make our own deodorant with potash alum (a few quid on ebay) and water.

You have to be clever and alter your habits if you want to stay afloat these days.

[OutragedFromLeeds]

Tesco sometimes have 4 cans of tuna for £9, it's just before they do a 'brilliant offer' of 'half price tuna' £4.50 (Still more expensive than Iceland, Asda etc!).

[Varya]

I use Lidl more and more as food is becoming a luxury and we are being ripped off left right and centre. Co-op battered fish was £3 today down on offer from £4.79. 4 pieces of fish and will make home made potato wedges in oven to go with them as the fish bakes. Tonight is bangers in tomato sauce with sauted veg plus mixed beans/pulses and garlic bread. Make as much as I can from scratch and watch prices carefully.

[wonderstuff]

I've spent about £160 over last few days, food and nappies for 10 days. I remember when I was a student I thought a frugal shop was when the total number of items was greater than the cost in pounds.. I think my shop has doubled in price in last 4 years, shame my salary hasn't.

But I am fortunate I can afford to feed my family without making any major sacrifices. A few years ago I was eating lots of preprared food, I started cooking from scratch to save money when I first had children and I eat so much better now.

[careergirl]

I was in M & S the other day and they had pretty small bags of prepack veg for £1.99! I've seen those in Tesco for 99p
I try to put good food on the table but you have to have a bit of creative thinking these days to stay in the budget.
I agree with buying own brand but above value and do this as much as possible.

[Isityouorme]

I am also finding the quality of some foods going downhill. Meat from my Tesco is awful and I feel like I am eating chicken with extra added water and antibiotics to make it bigger. Their cheese is also very rubbery. I try and plan food according to what is on sale.

[Buzzardbird]

Pretty sure the op was talking about fresh tuna. (pack of 4 tuna steaks?) Anyway you can buy fresh tuna steaks in Aldi (where nothing costs that much) so op just needs to adjust her supermarket loyalty

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

OP where are you looking at tuna for that price?

Waitrose own brand is £5 for 4 tins and that is not on offer. John West is £8 in there and there is no difference between them.

cantspel silverside needs pot roasting doesn't it? I either get topside or top rump, and a piece big enough to do Sunday, cold Monday and then some left for sandwiches through the week. A piece big enough to do that will be £20+ but does 2 days dinner plus about 3 days of lunches for 4 of us.

[IrnBruChew]

A joint of meat for 20 odd quid? Could you smoke it?

[cantspel]

Sugarice My asda silverside is just over a kilo in weight and is priced at £7 per kilo.

Plenty to feed five (2 adults, 2 teens and a pensioner). i wont have enough left for monday but should make a couple of sandwiches.

For £20 or more i would be expecting tbone or fillet which will always cost more.

What i did notice was expensive were the roasting potatoes. A small bag was £2.40 and wont even do 2 meals. But i can get a large bag in lidl for £3.57 but will mean a trip into town during the week.

[cantspel]

No i wont pot roast it. i will rub it will olive oil, wrap it in foil and roast it on a low heat for a hour or so. Comes out lovely and moist and tender.

It will only be crewy if you try cooking it too quickly.

[Sugarice]

cantspel agree about the potatoes going up too, I noticed that last week.

I would love a vegetable plot in our garden, pity I'm not green fingered

[cantspel]

I did grow potatoes last year but they all got blight so it was a waste of time. And a waste of money buying the bags to grow them in.

I love my garden too much to want to give up my flower beds for runner beans and cabbage. Plus a bunch of roses cost alot more than a frozen bag of peas.

[BarcelonaBabes]

I think there should be legislation to mean that supermarkets cannot make over a certain percentage in profits on healthy food. Yes we would pay for it as junk food would be more expensive, but basics and healthy food should be affordable IMO.

[LeeCoakley]

Our local supermarket (Budgens) had Napoli tinned tomatoes for £1.23 today. I thought it was priced wrongly but no! AND they said they price-checked with Tesco. I'm sure last week in Tesco I only paid about 60p. I've found that for the last year I have to check the price of everything I buy because it's never the same each week. I only buy meat, cheese, washing powder, dishwasher tabs, teabags, mayonnaise and other stuff if it is on offer. Dried pasta this week was 99p when last week it was 78p. Soon it will be over £1. Ridiculous! And as for lean mince, don't get me started on the price of that! Yes, and bread! Eeek! Oh and peppers - that's another, 89p each

[BarcelonaBabes]

I buy Asda Smartprice peppers; I think a pack is £1.50 and you get 5 peppers per pack for that, usually a mix of red and green, which suits us. For bread, I go to Asda once a week on a weekday at about 11am and buy a week's supply of reduced loaves for 40p each and then freeze them. Smartprice pasta is a lot less than 99p, and tastes no different to branded or supermarket premium range pasta.

[QOD]

Tuna in my tesco is £7.99 for 4 John West, occasionally on offer for £4

[LeeCoakley]

Wish we had an Asda nearby. Morrisons is my supermarket of choice. When I visit my mum we go and get her shopping from there and there are always fantastic offers on. Meat is lovely and reasonably priced, ditto bread and cakes.