Is food suddenly loads more expensive? Why?

[niketrainersarecomfy]

Ok. Panicking if it continues.
Just been to the local shop for tinned tuna and couldnt get it below 2 pounds. Corned beef 2. 50.
These were once cheap options for sandwiches. Now i see them as protein to be saved for an evening meal, and for sandwiches to be made from paste, marmite, soft cheese etc.
I have noticed my usual bread rolls go from 90p to 1.10.
Milk stayed the same. Squash much more money.
Is it just me? Yes i could have gone to aldi and not the corner shop but even so.
I honestly dont see how places like tesco are going to stay open if this continues, nor how anyone could afford to fill a trolley for the weeks shop.
Is it just me or is food becoming too expensive? Thats before tv license, water, petrol getting dearer each year.
How are we supposed to manage when wages dont rise at the rate of inflation?

Co-ops have always been much more expensive than bigger supermarkets. Tuna got expensive when demand switched from trawled to line caught.

Corned beef isn't as cheap as it was, but it's still one of the cheapest meats on a per pound/100g basis - you won't get 340 g of sliced meat for £2.50.

We don't use the Co-op unless it's for 1 or 2 items, or very short of time. Anything more than bread/milk and it's cheaper to drive to Morrisons/Asda.

You just have to shop around as much as you can. Eggs are good as a cheap sandwich filling. Or have something like beans on toast instead.

The weather has been stokingly hot all over Europe, which has affected prices.

There was a CO2 shortage that affected refrigeration and some food production

The £ has been low for a couple of years now, so grocery chains are now passing on price rises to consumers as they can't really cover them any more.

Note that this is all before any shocks to the food supply chain.

I've invested in a variety of seeds recently and will be preparing more raised beds before autumn and making sure the soil is ready for planting for next year.
Am on the hunt for a second hand greenhouse as well, we already grow some small fruits, beans and herbs and have pondered about going all out and being a lot more self sufficient but this has really pushed us to actually make a start.

Mmm, chickens sound good too.

I’m having to eat a lot more veggie meals as I find meat and fish just bumps my food shop up far too much and I don’t want to eat really cheap meat

It has all been said but Brexit devalued pound, there have been weather issues, weather related harvest issues are expected and it isn't going to get better any time soon.

nothing would do the nationa better for its health than if it ate an awful lot less and just twice a day and only drank water. Remembre that massive spike in good health in WWII when you couldn't even get sugar never mind processed foods.

I’m having to eat a lot more veggie meals as I find meat and fish just bumps my food shop up far too much and I don’t want to eat really cheap meat

I don't think veggie food is cheaper, unless the meat you're eating is top quality, organic. I wanted to make a veggie lasagne recently using mushrooms, courgettes, aubergine and peppers...the cost of all those ingredients was far more than the pack of minced beef I saw in Lidl for less than £1.50. Ok, I understand you said you don't want to eat cheap meat, but based purely on economics, eating veggie food isn't going to save you money.

Yep. Coop seem to be about 40-50p more expensive per item compared to same brands in other supermarkets.

The co-op is always massively overpriced in my opinion - I never shop there unless there's no other choice.

But overall smaller stores will charge more - around here the cheapest by far are Aldi, Tesco and Asda.

Food is getting more expensive. Kia ora huge bottles are a pound each in Asda at the minute though if that helps a little

Slight pun genuinely not intended

Shop at a cheaper shop

Prices have been increasing for a while. The cost for us has increased by about 25%, we used to eat a lot of veggie stuff as it was so much cheaper but agree with PP that veg and fruit prices have gone up so much that there isn't so much of a difference now.

Sometimes it can help doing a grocery delivery from one of the big supermarkets like Asda. Easier to see all the special offers and discounts they have available when you can scroll through them all. Also easier to control the total price as you can obviously see it as you’re going along and can make amendments, rather than only when you get to the till.

Shop at a cheaper shop

Genius plan! Until people can no longer afford to buy food at even the cheapest shop...

My local Co-op is also really expensive. I popped into Tesco the other day and my eyes nearly fell out of my head.
I have dropped all brand / store loyalty in the last 18 months, totally liberating. Before DCs I'd piss away money in M&S and Waitrose those were the days , but have since plumbed further and further down the hierarchy of food shopping, and now I do a complete mix of random shops like Aldi, Farmfoods, Costco and highstreet greengrocers. I now realise how much I used to identify with where I shopped, thinking it made some kind of statement about who I was. I used to feel like it was a well earned luxury to not bother about whether or not I could save money shopping around, but the savings I make these days make are great.

xenia It seems more likely that cheap food will be imported rather than no food and food poverty is linked to obesity not slimness. More expensive food is more likely to damage to health of the nation rather than improve it, unless the food situation becomes almost unimaginably bad and there is almost no food.

I think we are going to have to get into the war time mentality, grow as much as you can, eat less, waste nothing.

I agree with Xenia we may also see obesity levels drop.

It will be incredibly tough as a few generations have had far to much for far to long.

I can't recommend turning vegetarian enough. Or rather SLIGHTLY vegetarian. AND growing your own veg.

We eat a chicken per week. We get two meals from it and don't have meat on any other meals. If we're a bit flush, then we might buy some fish or perhaps some chorizo for a pizza.

Otherwise it's vegetarian all the way. Much cheaper and MUCH better than eating shit like corned beef from a tin or multi pack sausages etc.

There are loads of great recipes online. Pizza, veggy spag bol, soups, curries....sometimes we just have about 6 different vegetables roasted in rosemary, garlic and salt and pepper. We might add some grains or pulses but not always.

If you have space, get some chickens. We have four and never buy eggs any more which are a great source of protein.

As pp have asked, was it £2 for a single tin of tuna? If so that is expensive!

Asda do four 160g tins for £2.84 and a 340g tin of corned beef for £1.49. I think you will have to watch out where you shop OP.

I can get an Asda delivery at certain times (Wednesday evening for example) for £1 - might something like that help?

I was just explaining to dd that the local co-op is so expensive, worse than the corner shop. Bloke on the village fb group keeps ranting how it’s the leading cause of rural poverty!

Unsurprising, since the pound is tanking and most food eaten in the UK is imported

Not true, although it depends on what you eat. You need to look up some stats, easily found on Govt websites. Also depends what you eat. If you eat fresh, in season, vegetables and meat, most food eaten in the UK is produced in the UK. As an aside, fruit farmers are having a bumper year, always winners and losers in the weather stakes.

Because of all the Brexit hype, I have been carefully looking at the origin of the food we eat at home. I was surprised, and quite delighted, to find, that the majority of what we eat, is UK origin.

Even in Waitrose, tinned tuna is well under £2 at £1.59 a tin (or £1.50 if you buy a pack of 4). www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/essential-waitrose-msc-tuna-steak-in-olive-oil/372890-52416-52417

@formerbabe yes vegetables can be expensive but in a veggie lasagna you can use lentils to bulk it out which makes it much cheaper.