Can you easily absorb a 20% rise in your grocery bill?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

I am worried about this, predicted to come early next year. I moved abroad last year but have people I love in the UK, some are budgeting very tightly already, and there's nothing I can suggest when they are worried.

I find it really troubling. Surely this is going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back for quite a few people who are coping with limited money? It could mean the difference between being able to get by and being stuck?

Would a 20% increase in food prices be difficult for you, or just a pain in the arse?

Is there any way a price hike can be avoided?

And now they'll be the ones that suffer the most
Well it seems fair to me that the people who voted for it suffer the most, don't you think? After all, how many times have we heard 'we knew what we voted for'? And if we have a return to violence in NI they will have blood on their hands as well, they get zero sympathy from me.
It's the people who didn't vote for it I worry about.

And no I won't stop moaning about it, I will keep reminding voters and government what they have done.

I once bought some runner beans that had been imported from Morocco. What a waste of money, no taste whatsoever.

The idea that we can all live of British food instead is so ignorant. You need 1 acre of land to feed 1 person. The UK has approx 40 million acres of farmable land. So even if they were producing the maximum amount possible a third of the population would starve.

kowari you are funny.

Rice, lentils, beans, root veg, tinned tomatoes, oats, bananas and so on. Peasant food, less variety but otherwise healthy and we won't go hungry.

Rice - ah yes, grown in the rice paddies of Cornwall.
Lentils - from the fields of Lancashire, obviously.
Tomatoes - from the swathes of greenhouses in Kent
Bananas - from the plantations in the Welsh mountains.

Most of what you have listed is either not grown in the UK at all or not in sufficient quantity.

And this ignorance is why we are in this situation.

o not forget medicines and beauty products

Yes I am worried about medicines too, my mother needs the pain relief but they're not medicines that she can in any way stockpile - if she asks for a repeat prescription even a couple of days early they make her wait.

I have little sympathy for the Little Englanders who voted for this nonsense suffering from it. They made their own bed and can lie in it. After all, they didn't just vote for Brexit, they then voted for a really right wing Tory government too.

Taking a 20% increase in food is assuming absence of one major thing. Come February will there be food in shops anyway? This Government has already stated that it has no legal duty to feed the country. It is the job of the supermarkets to feed the nation' according to Mr Gove and make sure they have the supplies which will be a bit difficult if lorries are stuck in the new shovel ready lorry parks in Kent and Dover!

And Calais!

@pointythings

kowari you are funny.

Rice, lentils, beans, root veg, tinned tomatoes, oats, bananas and so on. Peasant food, less variety but otherwise healthy and we won't go hungry.

Rice - ah yes, grown in the rice paddies of Cornwall.
Lentils - from the fields of Lancashire, obviously.
Tomatoes - from the swathes of greenhouses in Kent
Bananas - from the plantations in the Welsh mountains.

Most of what you have listed is either not grown in the UK at all or not in sufficient quantity.

And this ignorance is why we are in this situation.

I was saying what I'd do if overall food prices were to rise by 20% .

Oh don't worry about medicines apparently they have hired ferry companies to transport meds. The fact I can't get my Creon ( enzymes) in the dosage I want ( comes from Germany) for the last 6 months has nothing to do with any sort of shortages. So instead if taking 12 enzymes a day I have to take 48! Lower dosage ones. That's on top of the other 26 pills I have to take daily.

@pointythings That's just the kind of foods we ate when we were poor, well still do but with some treats. I'd have to rethink if specific foods went up in price.

Let's hope these ferry companies actually have ferries!😁

I would say that 90% of my vulnerable clients, mostly on benefits, all in housing need, voted for Brexit. They thought they would be better off when we got rid of all the immigrants. hmm

They tended to be much more invested in Brexit than they ever were in general elections.

And now they'll be the ones that suffer the most.

Yep. Sad thing is the immigrants are doing the jobs the locals refuse to go. So once they are told to get out of the country, those businesses will probably have to close. Over hundred year old businesses having to shut because of twats and their racism, and refusal to work. My sympathy remains nil on them starving, they brought this on themselves.

I'll feel sorry for those who voted remain and will struggle to live. I don't give a toss about those who voted leave.

I just don't understand this though- why should we have to put up with this?
It was touted as being better for us all (admittedly in a totally nebulous and unrealistic way) but really, those who voted Leave surely wouldn't have continued doing so if they'd forseen this spectacular failure on the part of trade deals?

Did they honestly not see this coming? I don't know which worries me more...

Cake Required - Why will immigrants be told they will have to get out of the country. Where has that been reported?

Out food I'll has gone up more as we're eating at home more.

But we aren't spending as much on petrol to get to work, not spending money on the odd coffee here and there, shopping trips into town have as good as stopped. So it's all offset by lack of spending elsewhere ATM.

I picked up a very small broccoli yesterday. Dc and I LOVE broccoli, usually about 50p....well, it was £1.60. First time I have noticed the price increase on seasonal things.

Did an online food shop last night, came to £105, will last about 6-7 days for 3 of us. Food prices are definitely going up.

Our food bill increased by 50% over lockdown when dh was shopping (i was too ill).

I have got it back to where it was by shopping almost exclusively at lidl,.meal planning,.drinking and eating less (no real hardship as i need to lose a stone!)

If lidl goes tits up after brexit I'll be in trouble!

Cake Required - Why will immigrants be told they will have to get out of the country. Where has that been reported?

Well, my kids were told that the day after the referendum, at their school in our very Brexity town. Things haven't got any better since. The Settled Status scheme is a shitshow for anyone who isn't in a simple salaried job, and the rhetoric coming out of this government isn't conducive to making immigrants feel wanted either.

The ones who have somewhere to go - the hard-working ones, the skilled ones, the ones who contribute - they'll go, and fewer will come, because the UK is not open to immigration. So these concerns are legitimate. As you sow...

Yes, its already climbed. Greater rises will be by cutting out food bank donations and coffee shop treats. Various other people will cut their expenses too. The economy will have a second wave of shrinkage.

I will have to make different choices about what we eat as a family when prices rise by 20% or so across the board. Gutted for hard Brexit :(((((

Did they honestly not see this coming?

They were told and told and told, apparently they know better than experts in their field. With regard endangering the peace in NI, ok, most didn't know it would be an issue before the referendum, they did afterwards though, it didn't more the needle at all, they didn't give a shit. Brexit could have been stopped if Leave voters had changed their minds, they didn't.

What can we do about it know? Nothing. I don't think there'll be riots or civil unrest or anything like that (not in England anyway). Remain voters will be angry but they won't riot, Remain have put nearly a million people on the streets without a single bit of trouble. Unlike the other side, EDL, Britian First etc cause loads of trouble on pro Brexit marches. Leave voters won't be having riots or marches against the government though, how could they? The government is just doing what Leave voters told them to do. Leave voters will be blaming the EU.

I get more and more angry with them. We had a proper cushy deal in the EU, one that even enabled peace in NI, they decided they wanted all this instead.

IsAnybodyListening - Why pay that much for it? Nobody's forcing you to buy it. What shop was that in, I paid 48p for prepacked brocolli in Tesco yesterday.

@Mamamia456

Some are already being told to leave. And as pointythings said why would they want to stay here? What exactly does Britain have to offer them now? More racism? More inequality? Less money? Less jobs? Higher priced food? I can't think why they'd leave...

Mine has gone up by around 22-25% since covid. Not because we're at home more (same amount of meals needed from my kitchen either way. Snacks too. We could never affort too buy food out anyway), just price increases.

No, I cannot afford another hike. When the brexit price increases come, I can only afford to buy less of the more expensive food. It means I will eat cerial or toast most meals OR alternatively one proper meal a day. My children will eat normally. This is a tried and trusted technique for me, not just whinging. I've done it before, I'll do it again I've no doubt. I'm not too concerned tbh, just pissed off. I'm not that keen on toast.

Pointythings - So scaremongering by Cake Required.