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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

£3 for a bloody ice cream!!

333 replies

Ilovegreentomatoes · 22/08/2021 17:12

Live in south east not sure if that has any relevance. Just doing some walking and stopped of at an ice cream van.Got a small ice cream (one scoop) and been charged £3! Am shocked. Not brought an ice cream from a van for years but are these the prices? And if so how do families with kids afford this?.
Maybe I was just ripped of but AIBU to think things like this are ridiculously expensive and how does a family with a couple of kids afford things like this?

OP posts:
EastWestWhosBest · 23/08/2021 11:48

Seriously?! The thread is about ice cream, not coffee.

But the two are comparable. A decent coffee will cost £2.50/£3. There’s not much too it really and you can do much more cheaply at home.
But there are the overheads of buying the machine etc.

QueenBee52 · 23/08/2021 12:08

@labazslovesliving

whipped creamy ice cream with a flake that is a true 99. I remember when I was young liked the ice cream cone with some red sauce and nuts sprinkled on it not sure what that would be called. there was an oyster the outside had chocolate and coconut coating with ice cream inside. or the plastic cone with ice cream and a bubble gum in the bottom yummy. funny faces not like the ones today chocolate button eyes Fab lollies oh heaven

Mr Whippy is the only ice-cream I can loooooooooove 🥰

stick a flake into it... heaven 💕

phishy · 23/08/2021 12:11

@EastWestWhosBest

Seriously?! The thread is about ice cream, not coffee.

But the two are comparable. A decent coffee will cost £2.50/£3. There’s not much too it really and you can do much more cheaply at home.
But there are the overheads of buying the machine etc.

But that doesn't mean you can't be shocked at the price of ice cream nowadays.

I don't drink coffee so have no interest in it. It's immaterial to me why ice cream vans are so expensive, all that matters to me is that I don't buy from them.

NCforsafety · 23/08/2021 12:54

@Ilovegreentomatoes

I guess the bigger picture is low income families should get more help or prices need to be more realistic in relation to what people earn.
Ice cream is a luxury. The ice cream provider needs to make profit in order to live. Who exactly should subsidise the cost? In my opinion no-one.
BarbaraofSeville · 23/08/2021 12:59

Small treats like coffees, ice creams etc might seem expensive when you consider the basic ingredients and how little they would cost to make at home.

But when you think properly about the costs involved, especially when it's a sole trader or small company behind them and especially if it's a decent product, not mass market factory rubbish, then it's surprising that it doesn't cost more.

On the matter of cafe drinks (I know the ice cream vendor doesn't have a cafe, but they do have a van and pitch fees, which could be significant).

www.news.com.au/finance/business/cafe-owner-fires-back-after-negative-trip-advisor-response/news-story/cadc58e50c8f3c87a7ec1cd6935adf52

SchrodingersImmigrant · 23/08/2021 13:13

Btw flake's gone to shit quality wise. The actual flake

phishy · 23/08/2021 13:19

@Ilovegreentomatoes

I guess the bigger picture is low income families should get more help or prices need to be more realistic in relation to what people earn.
I do disagree with this. A pp mentioned 6 x magnum type ice creams for sale at £1.59 at Lidl.

I know Asda Moments are £1 for three.

There is lots of cheap ice cream to be had.

labazslovesliving · 23/08/2021 13:32

CO-OP unicorn ice creams are superb lots of ices in there for £1

Sowhattodo · 23/08/2021 13:35

No such thing as a '99' now there £3 eh 🤣
I agree it is a bit expensive for a small cone but then it's all about profit and living etc now.. and the quality is probably nicer than it was before :)

I can't find a mr whippy anywhere other than a van so I just pay the fiver 🤣

MumofSpud · 23/08/2021 13:47

There was a thread recently where the OP said she NEVER bought her DC food in cafes etc including NO ice cream out either.
She takes picnics and ice creams in a cool box.
It wasn't because she couldn't afford it.
The general consensus was that she was insane!

QueenBee52 · 23/08/2021 13:48

@MumofSpud

There was a thread recently where the OP said she NEVER bought her DC food in cafes etc including NO ice cream out either. She takes picnics and ice creams in a cool box. It wasn't because she couldn't afford it. The general consensus was that she was insane!

reminds me of my Grandparents... She would make a picnic for every day out 🤣

Whammyyammy · 23/08/2021 13:53

Its standard in UK holiday resorts to rip tourists off. I refuse too holiday in UK for 2 reasons. Crap weather and rip off Britain.

I feel UK tourism has really missed a trick, could if shown people that go abroad normally thstba UK holiday can be good. But nope , rip people off constantly.

People will vote with their feet

ToykotoLosAngeles · 23/08/2021 14:02

@Whammyyammy

Its standard in UK holiday resorts to rip tourists off. I refuse too holiday in UK for 2 reasons. Crap weather and rip off Britain.

I feel UK tourism has really missed a trick, could if shown people that go abroad normally thstba UK holiday can be good. But nope , rip people off constantly.

People will vote with their feet

I agree with this from the perspective of hotel prices. A B&B we love previously charged £100/night. We tried to book for September and they wanted £330 for 2 nights, no breakfast due to covid. I appreciate short-term survival is important but... it's 3 weeks away and they had the room free so currently getting £0.
Meraas · 23/08/2021 14:45

@Sowhattodo

No such thing as a '99' now there £3 eh 🤣 I agree it is a bit expensive for a small cone but then it's all about profit and living etc now.. and the quality is probably nicer than it was before :)

I can't find a mr whippy anywhere other than a van so I just pay the fiver 🤣

Don’t think the quality is any better. I got one last summer and it tasted like plastic and was £2.50 for a small. Have avoided since.
mustlovegin · 23/08/2021 14:57

An ice cream out shouldn't be an unaffordable treat for a low income family it just highlights how bad it is

I can see your point OP.

But a lot of high income families buy ice cream from the supermarket and enjoy it at home.

For some reason once the temperature reaches 24C you see swarms of people who have to get an ice cream from Mr Whippy there and then. And that's when they get ripped off

mustlovegin · 23/08/2021 14:59

For a fiver you could get a tub of Romeo at the supermarket. Delicious and it would be enough for 2 or 3 to share

mustlovegin · 23/08/2021 15:02

Its standard in UK holiday resorts to rip tourists off

This happens everywhere, Spain, France, etc. Where do you holiday that ice creams from vans when it's boiling hot are affordable?

phishy · 23/08/2021 15:05

DH and I were out and swerved the ice cream van for the co-op, and got for cones for £1. The only trouble was we had to eat 2 vines each!

phishy · 23/08/2021 15:05

*cones

NotMeNoNo · 23/08/2021 17:05

@mustlovegin

For a fiver you could get a tub of Romeo at the supermarket. Delicious and it would be enough for 2 or 3 to share
That's not very useful for the OP out on a walk though is it?
stairway · 23/08/2021 20:07

I think at the end of the day if you don’t want to subsidise an ice cream van person through the long winter months, it maybe worth teaching the kids a lesson in patience.

aworldofourown · 23/08/2021 20:11

The ice cream can that comes near our house charges £3, didn't realise until he asked for £12, it was a small as well. They used to be 99p when I was younger so I guess the price has just crept up. It's a rip off. When we do go out to parks and stuff, we tend to stop off at Tesco or wherever and buy a box. Sometimes we will still get it from the van

stepmad · 23/08/2021 20:35

A park in West London people just go to the local shop and buy a box full any left over you give them to children near by

BlossomOnTrees · 23/08/2021 21:58

Read on another forum that someone bought 2 bottles of water, a small Ben and Jerry's ice cream and a callipo. It came to £10.
Absolutely mental.

QueenBee52 · 23/08/2021 22:00

@BlossomOnTrees

Read on another forum that someone bought 2 bottles of water, a small Ben and Jerry's ice cream and a callipo. It came to £10. Absolutely mental.

day light robbery 😳