To ask why surviving costs so much?

[splendidisolation]

What is your monthly supermarket spend? Per person if possible?

I just did a shop for the month and it cost me £200. I looked at the receipt and thought fucking hell. I've barely got anything really. Canned goods, pasta, rice, a few vegetables some meat, cat food, stuff like shampoo, loo roll, bin bags. The only non essential item I got was a bottle of wine and a bottle of pop.

WTF!!!!

I'm only shocked because before I used to do small shops every day, seeing it laid out like that makes me think we really get fuck all for our money!

Oh and btw it's not Waitrose-sourced artisanal handrolled tortellini, elderflower cordial from Penelopes Grove Ltd and farmers' market camembert I'm buying here if you get me.

it an economic fact that a weaker pound and a stronger Euro raises the prices of foods that we import (which, I think, is quite a high % of the total food consumed)?? If £1 is worth 1 euro instead of 1.5 euros, it buys less in a Euro marketplace

But it's only the "raw materials" that are imported. We produce most of our processed foods here in the UK - it's the basic raw foodstuffs that are imported, and which make up a small proportion of the total costs, so a change in the exchange rate only affects the small proportion of the cost, not the full retail value. It doesn't explain the massive price increases we are seeing. Food processors and supermarkets are milking it and using it as an excuse to push up prices far higher than they should be.

Try telling the people on the Brexit thread that smile

Yeah. Well they will see soon enough. :(

I'm in a Scandinavian country. Believe me, uk prices are low. Very. Very. Low. Food here is poor quality and multiples of the price of the uk.

Groceries Prices in United Kingdom are 20.88% lower than in France

Some of that is explained by France charging vat on food whereas it's zero rate in the UK.

i don't want to waste my saturday going from shop to shop

I've recently taken to shopping at Aldi at 9pm, they are open until 10pm. It's empty and pretty Zen like.

Some of that is explained by France charging vat on food whereas it's zero rate in the UK.

Ok, so that still makes the UK over 15% cheaper than France.

"This may be true but I would suggest that a UK basket of groceries is far cheaper than anywhere else in the EU?"

Actually, it depends what you measure, but I think the UK comes out as fairly expensive for the EU overall (including fags and booze), and about halfway down the list where a more select range of foodstuffs is considered. You're right that Ireland is uniformly more expensive, though. Here are the stats:

ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Comparative_price_levels_for_food,_beverages_and_tobacco

I think one obvious point here is that to compare the levels of stress that a price rise causes to families within an economy, you need to factor in a lot of variables, including things like wages and disposable income, and possibly some measure of inequality? Common sense says a sudden 5% increase in the price of a stapel like bread in a country with a lot of people on the breadline is probably going to hurt more than a 5% increase in a country where wages and living standards are higher, and tolerance for such a rise is therefore greater??

Oops, let's try that link again

ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Comparative_price_levels_for_food,_beverages_and_tobacco

Still no joy. Google "comparative prices levels for food, beverages and tobacco in the EU" and you should get the document.

I think we can drop the beer and fags, yeah? They are taxed to the hilt and so don't give a fair relflection fn their average cost.

Sure, in which case look at the tables lower down the report. I selected a set of stats calculated for different things to give more of a comparison.

I spend £700 per month, thats for 2 adults and 2 older children and a dog. Thats for everything we use / need. I try and buy ethically though, free range, environmentally friendly products and do 3 meals a day for that.

If you look at bread, cereals, meat, fish dairy we are middle to lower bottom

I think Lidl is really great value, much more so than Aldi and not as packed. My nearest walk to shop is the Coop and I find it expensive, however, I know that it's one of the most successful small supermarkets in the county!

I roughly spend about £50 a week on my shop for three people. I no longer do a monthly shop.

I spend £130 a week for 4 of us and the tesco delivery sheet is so short.

200 a month for one person op?

We probably spend 100 a week min.

Whilst on holiday in Tromso, I was shocked, open mouthed shocked, at the price of food.

I find buying Tesco online for the weekly shop helps keep an eye nicely on the spending. I also go weekly to Home Bargains Store.

I top up with Asda but yes food is pricey.

Stockholm was much cheaper though, but still expensive. You cannot buy alcohol above 4% proof in the supermarket - which probably cut the cost down!

Is that £200 per month for one person?

I spend on average £65 a week (so about £260 a month) on shopping for me and my DH. This includes 12kg of chicken breasts (8kg of which are just for DH and his extra protein snacks) - without his chicken, I would spend £220.

We have good meals and lots of treats - Aldi is the way forward.

We spend £300 a month but that is now rising

A breakdown
£100 on meat this if from a local butcher and as local as I can get
£36 on fresh veg, although we might have to cancel this as we get it in a box every 2 weeks, I love it, but I am now having difficulty justifying it
£66 on tesco, this is for cleaning products, frozen veg and snacks
£60 on pet food and toys (2 cats 1 dog)
£40 fish. I have a fishmonger local to me. I love them but again this may have to go

Tromsø is insanely expensive - makes Sweden looks like Aldi 😁

I knew it was bad when I came back through Heathrow and was looking at airport sandwiches thinking 'fuck me that's cheap.'

I'm not a food price analyst, and I'm sure someone more qualified will come along in a bit to answer some of this stuff. But one thing I've just noted from personal experience is that it's difficult to compare the prices we "feel" as a tourist in a place like, say, Tromso, to prices as a native, though- because the cost to us is affected by a different economic context!

I went to Portugal twice, 18 months apart. In the time between my first and second visits, the pound had weakened. Food was about the same price both times, but my £ bought a lot less the second time than it did the first. Had the £ strengthened, the result would have been the opposite direction!

But that's not the only factor - wages also play a big role in how expensive prices "feel", and average wage levels vary a lot from EU country to EU country. Have a look at this map. I think you might find a broad correlation between higher food prices and higher wages here, though I haven't run the data and could be wrong...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_average_wage

I generally spend £40-60 a week for 2 adults and a toddler. I meal plan every week and shop online with asda so I can see exactly what I'm spending. I buy a lot of stuff that's on offer, if something I'm after isn't on offer I'll look at similar items and adjust what I'm buying. My nearest walking distance supermarket is a Co-op, they reduce their meat around 8pm so I usually wander round and see what I can get then put it straight in the freezer. But that's as much "shopping around" as I do as I just cba. I reckon I could probably save a little more by going to aldi/lidl but I don't have any nearby and don't drive so. I stopped doing a monthly shop as I felt I wasn't getting enough things that would last or make enough meals!

We spend about £50 pw just for 2 of us and a (small) dog. That includes the occasional bottle of wine and lots of chocolate, as well as toiletries and cleaning/laundry stuff.

I'm bloody lazy though and we don't menu plan or shop around. I know I could do it a lot cheaper.

@Badbadbunny ok but how much is your time worth? add the extra on to your (various) supermarket bills ..