Supermarket shop really expensive all of a sudden

[Lockdownhair]

I have a very good husband who normally queues for the supermarket shop so I admit I have not really realised how expensive it has all become. Today I did it for the first time in weeks, in Morrisons & Sainsburys, and have certainly woke up & smelt the coffee! Is it just me or are they taking advantage of the situation? My supermarket shop seemed so expensive today. Even the Co op has become as dear as Waitrose for some things. Once this is all over & greedy consumerism returns they're going to have to become a bit more competitive with each other. There doesn't seem to be a shortage of most things like I imagined there to be, so why the big hike when a lot of people are going to be struggling financially? I meal plan & don't waste food. Is anyone managing to keep their supermarket shop reasonable?

My shop has been so much more expensive!

Some of this is because we are eating out less. However even accounting for that its definitely gone up

Items dont have to rise by much for it to make a big difference. Lots of things have risen by 20/25p plus no offers, not so much variation in brands so buying more expensive items.

I noticed the Paracetamols in Tesco too , pre Brexit they were 35p
Is this a due to Brexit as well as the virus?

I shop at Aldi so I’m not used to brands

Isn’t Lurpak quite expensive generally?

Lurpak 500g 2.75 last week at Morrisons and Asda. This week 3.85 Morrisons and 3.75 Asda.

In the meantime dairy farms are struggling as the demand plummeted. Farmers were told to reduce their supply.

You can’t switch off a cow so they are pouring the milk away.
Why is it not churned into butter and sold?

@JAXHOG, where do you base your transport costs having gone up? They haven’t, DH is Transport Operations Director, rates have not gone up at all and oil has gone down, so fuel is cheaper.

I would agree on the other things.

I read Morrisons had gone up 7% they said, do not know about the others. We are shopping differently now, 21 meals a week x 3 plus snacks.

It’s definitely a lot more expensive, even in Aldi and Lidl it’s a lot more expensive!!.

Though in there defence they have had to have a lot more staff on, and also it cost a lot more to do home delivery especially in rural areas.

@opticaldelusion No I don't shop very often, husband does it normally. We used to use the co op as a top up for bread, milk etc as it wasn't too bad, but not anymore!
I'm all for the farmers getting their fair share & the fat cat bosses receiving lower salaries, bonuses & dividends. It just makes me so angry to feel that they are taking advantage of the situation now. They know people do not have the time or inclination to shop around because of the queues. Now the panic buying is over & hopefully people have come to their senses surely they could restore the status quo. I feel very sorry for people who are struggling to feed their families 😕

I have two teenage boys at home now so our shop is an extra £40-50 a week. I'm usually pretty canny but yes, very few offers. Glad I signed up to Tesco Extra, I try and gauge it so my two 10% off a month discounts fall on our biggest shops.

I had my first grocery delivery for ages a little while ago today and didn't notice prices, I will have a look. I expect some items are more expensive, bound to be, but on the whole I don't think things are too bad from what I read.

smokescreen

Good. Food is way too cheap anyway, encourages waste. Also if farmers are getting a fair price for produce, I'm okay spending a bit more on groceries.

I'm sorry not sorry but only stupid people waste food. Food should be priced at a fair price for the producers but that is not what is happening right now. The supermarkets are just using the pandemic to price gouge and make enormous profits.

Aldi and Lidl are still the same prices so people can vote with their feet if able. The queues are non existent too in my area. Compared to hours long queues for tesco and asda.

Definitely prices gone up. Example - Smirnoff Ice (large bottles). Not something you'd expect to be affected, no panic buying.

Pre-CV19: both Tesco & Asda sold for £3, Tesco also had 2-for-£5 offer.

Post-CV19: Tesco still selling single bottles for £3 no offer (so 20% price increase for those who buy in round numbers). Asda selling for £3.25 each (8% increase).

We normally buy lunch out every day and eat out 2/3times a week so are spending lots more on food/alcohol
Cleaner brings own stuff so spending more on that

@PineappleSmoothie I am gutted mysupermarket has gone.

Lots of the cheap budget range seems to have been removed online. There seems to be less offers and the prices of individual tins seem to have increased by a few pence.

We buy all our fruit and veg from a local produce box company. They haven't increased their prices for the last 2 years. I hope this changes the way more of us shop for good.

I usually but 45 -50 items a week ( I used to shop online and this is what I’d notice). Do even if everything had gone up 10p that’s a £5 Add to that the extra food, more expensive brands and larger trolly load and I’m spending almost double.
I also used to buy just enough to last until the delivery the week after. I’m not comfortable doing that in case I get ill, so seem to be constantly topping up the fresh stuff, buying bread etc. Which inevitably leads to further purchases because once I’m in I might as well make the most of it.

It's not just at supermarkets. We've been buying from wholesellers for food at work and what we noticed is that in the last week or two prices have gone up and some of the cheaper brands are not available.

We are also buying more of things would normally only get occasionally - dishwasher tablets cost a fortune and now at home it is on more often

The price of toys has gone through the roof, even second hand on E Bay stuff going for more than the price of a new one were it to be in stock.

I’m glad it’s not just me, I thought,I must be being so extravagant! Last weeks shop came to more than I would spend at Christmas.. and I didn’t even buy any alcohol which is what usually bumps the price up!

Children eat constantly and no free school lunches at the moment isn’t helping of course so I’m definitely buying a lot more than usual but the total each fortnight is eye watering.

I've noticed a difference, plus buying more to feed x4 every meal (and snacks). It is counter balanced for us by less eating out, school dinner costs (for y4, although y2 was free) and DH's lunch time sandwich shop.

I do a Costco shop every few weeks. The big pack of grated cheese went up from £5 to £6.75 between visits.

It's not pure profiteering. Staffing costs have increased with security/ queue management and more staffing on tills. Getting stock on shelves as demand has increased.
Supply chains have been messed up. The balance of where people buy food from has changed, and it's not a simple swap to just redirect supplies to supermarkets.

I've been 'forced' to do our weekly shop in M&S as it's local to me and I can't be bothered to queue at a big supermarket. Surprised how cheap it is!! Spending much less than I did at Sainsbury's or Tesco.

We're a family of 2 adults, I kid and 1 baby and I haven't spend more than £70 each week which I think is pretty decent for the quality of food. Things that surprised me are:

• bag of carrots £40p
• brocolli 60p
• big bag of ripen at home avocados £2
• five lunches for a tenner deal - got two quiches, naice ham, smoked salmon and block of cheese for £10
• 6 huge, good quality salmon fillets for £10
• The rotisserie chicken from the dine in for £12 deal lasted us 3 meals (roast dinner, coronation chicken for jacket spuds and chicken noodle soup) + that's one meal with wine and a nice pudding
• 6 steaks for £10 - another 3 meals sorted (steak & chips, beef stir fry, beef stroganoff)

There's the option to get fancy stuff too. Asparagus was a fiver But if you're not bothered about asparagus I would recommend trying it.

We are retired so normally have all our meals at home, well we might go out for a meal once a week. I have saved on shopping mainly as I'm not feeding grandchildren 5 night a week after school and EOW when my son stays with us with the children as he lives too far away to collect them, take them home and then bring them back.

The downside is I mainly shop at Lidl but I'm having it delivered at the moment, trying to avoid shopping as DH is over 70, black, overweight and has diabetes so just a bit vulnerable. Sainsburys is certainly more expensive than Lidl.

@Instamaticgreenery yes to the children eating constantly! The amount of food we are going through is unbelievable, dd is only 5 but seems to eat more than your average full grown man!

Yes it is more expensive but I used to shop around more and thought nothing of just popping into Wilko which now always has a sizeable queue so am getting most my stuff from Tesco home delivery which has few offers now or Waitrose and M&S.

We really noticed it this week on some items, especially anything with fish in it. I don't think it's the supermarkets profiteering, particularly, it's more likely to be food security (which we've not had to pay attention to in the UK for a long time), also food supply, and labour shortages. If you're lucky enough to be in a position to, and you're able to get hold of compost and containers (there's a waiting list where we are), then now might be a good time to start investigating what can be grown at home. A friend has enough space to keep 2 or 3 chickens and I won't pretend I'm not envious!