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?

Falling value of the pound compared to other currencies makes prices go up.

*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.*

Yeah, because young/poor people living in flats have so much space to grow their own vegetables.

And because vegetables and lean meat are so much cheaper than chicken nuggets and burgers made from whatever cuts of meat weren't fit to be sold separately.

Seriously? We import most of our food and the value of sterling has fallen (thanks Brexit). Of course it's more expensive. Just hope sterling doesn't fall further next March.

Starting a thread about the awful increase in food prices because of the cost of something you bought in a Co-op is a bit disingenuous tbh.

Everyone know they charge far more for everything than most supermarkets so yes as the Co-op prices probably are high. They always have been.

And that apart YBVU paying £2.50 for something as vile as a tin of corned beef.

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

Only marginally. Point is that surely we should not be at a point where buying a packet of mushrooms, peppers and a courgette is so expensive that we need to find alternatives...

Aldi and Lidl are your friends.

Despite recent price rises, the percentage of income spent on food is a fraction of what it was even 20-30 years ago, and is much less than many other countries.

There's also a huge amount of 'luxury' food consumption that can be cut back on if necessary to ensure that people get enough to eat such as drinks other than water and tea/instant coffee, ready meals, takeaways, imported fruit and vegetables, meat more than once or twice a week, bought lunches, meals out, many processed foods, snacks, cakes, sweets, crisps etc etc, the list goes on.

Of course some people don't have enough money for food, but for the majority, it's going to take more than a few pence of price rises here and there for them to not be able to afford enough to eat, even if they don't get to eat what they're used to eating.

Vegetarian is cheaper than meat eating, when comparing like with like. The lasagne example above - the amount of lasagne made by a pepper, aubergine, courgette and mushrooms is going to be quite a bit more than half a pound of mince, so of course a big pile of veg will be more than a small pack of mince.

Made a lentil lasagne last night. A bag cost me £1.17 and will make about 8 lasagnes for 4. That's dried green lentils from Tesco, about 250g.

Co op is always more expensive in my opinion. So is our local sainsburys corner shop. Often find things 20p to 50p more expensive than actual sainsburys but i do agree prices of certain things are slowly creeping up.

The coop is definitely more expensive than tesco/asda/sainsburys. I have one local and spend loads in there compared to any of the other shops.

With food prices going up obesity will increase. Junk food is still cheaper to produce and sell.

There was nothing like ths during WW2.

I haven't noticed an increase. I shop in Aldi and it costs £70-£80 pw for family of 4 with maybe a £10 top up.

Milk stayed the same That's marvellous. More dairy farmers going out of business.

Depends on how you define it, but this says that in 2016 "Based on the farm-gate value of unprocessed food in 20162, the UK supplied just under half (49%) of the food consumed in the UK."
www.gov.uk/government/publications/food-statistics-pocketbook-2017/food-statistics-in-your-pocket-2017-global-and-uk-supply

This study also says "More than half of the UK’s food and feed now comes from overseas"
www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/06/more-than-half-of-uks-food-sourced-from-abroad-study-finds

But you do have to be very lucky, talented and diligent to make growing vegetables at home worthwhile. The person who described it as spending hundreds of pounds and hundreds of hours to save a few tens of pounds on vegetables had it spot on.

Our Coop is way dearer than Waitrose and M&S. Daylight robbery.

I agree with turning vegetarian, but if you want to carry on eating meat and fish then look for cheaper fish and cuts of meat. Tinned sardines are about 45p a tin, tinned mackerel (which is much nicer than tuna, imo) is about 80p.
I don't eat meat myself, but I'm sure someone can advise on cheaper cuts, offal, etc.
As to your point in your OP about using tuna or corned beef for the evening meal and using paste, marmite, soft cheese, etc for sandwiches, well that's exactly how people used to live (and many still do).

Barbara maybe we have a different perspective as we live in Australia. We don't spend hundreds of anything on ours...or hours growing it. We did have to set it up which took some time but they look after themselves now apart from watering.

I find that shopping online helps me save money - we pay annually for delivery (Tesco and Ocado), but I'm sure I save more than it costs because I just shop the special offers and flash sales. This week I got 2 x 2kg pork shoulder joints at half price - in fact my savings on a £100 shop (Ocado) came to £57! Rather than deciding what I want to buy in advance, I just let our weekly menu be dictated by what's on special offer, and stock up on things like coffee when there's a good deal on.

I'm housebound, being 24/7 carer for my Dad, so actually going to a shop isn't an option, but even if it were, I think you can save more by shopping online - no tempting bakery smells, no 'oo that looks good' impulse buys :) Consequently, I haven't noticed an increase in food costs over the past year or so - I do a £100 shop once a month, and top up with a £40 a week order. So, £260 a month for 2 adults, plus at least one dinner for friends every week - includes everything from loo roll to Dad's e-cig refills, plus wine. Probably more than many people have available to spend, but not hugely extravagant, is it?

sometimes we just have about 6 different vegetables roasted in rosemary, garlic and salt and pepper.

Do you have the recipe for this as it sounds delicious? I love roasted vegetables but always seem to burn them

We also don't buy any processed foods aside from the odd bit of cheese and a packet of crackers.

Biscuits, nope, squash, never, crisps....maybe for a picnic as a treat. I realise that some people might see this as miserable but it's the healthiest way also.

I do make cakes, the odd pie and tart or muffins.

With food prices going up obesity will increase.
This attitude really annoys me. There's absolutely no need for it too. I've found the exact opposite when I've experienced poverty, including my entire childhood. If people actually put a bit of effort into buying and cooking proper basic food it's perfectly possible to lose or maintain a healthy weight.

People in flats can't grow veg. My council house has a tiny pathed backyard. I'm not allowed to alter it as per my tenancy. There must be many people that don't have the means to grow veg. Waiting list for an allotment is 10 years!

With food prices going up obesity will increase

I don't understand this thinking at all. The things that are making people fat are all the unnecessary/treaty/junky shit that you just cut out if you are short of money. Stuff like crisps, sweets, chocolate, eating out, fizzy drinks.

Get rid of all that and just eat basic food and weight is likely to go down, not up.