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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:
VenusTiger · 22/08/2021 19:55

And if so how do families with kids afford this?.
Really?
How do families with kids afford a round the world trip?
They don't.
Most ice cream is oil and additives anyway. No thanks.

Didicat · 22/08/2021 19:58

@Ilovegreentomatoes I no longer buy from the vans… I always walk or drive to the nearest Iceland/supermarket and buy a packet of ice creams to share for the same price as 1 from the van. If I have to buy a box with too many in I can always find a random passerby to offload the extras onto. (Good deed for the day etc)

Original poster
Ilovegreentomatoes · 22/08/2021 19:58

Well at that price I wouldn't buy again from a van so I'm guessing overall they will loose customers as most will think "sod that" and not bother again.so I don't think.its really good for custom tbh.

OP posts:
SchrodingersImmigrant · 22/08/2021 20:03

Most ice cream is oil and additives anyway. No thanks.

Yeah. Some of the super cheap ones have interesting ingredients lists...

MrsPumpkinSeed · 22/08/2021 20:07

We can afford to buy ice creams from posh places but honestly dh tends to run to the local supermarket if he spots one for a 4 pack of cones. Dc know no different.

stairway · 22/08/2021 20:17

I agree £3 from a van is too much , it would have to be a sit down place or really nice quality for that price. If I knew in advance I wouldn’t buy it, you can get a McFlurry for 79p. Obviously some don’t mind though.

NotMeNoNo · 22/08/2021 20:19

There’s a lot of difference between buying your own ice cream from the supermarket and having it brought down your street by a human trying to make a living and pay for a taxed/fuelled/insured/hygiene inspected van.
Cost of living has gone up and so have business overheads.

I guess ice cream vans in the streets aren’t the same business as the days when hardly anyone had freezers, they must make more from events/pitches at picnic sites etc.

Meraas · 22/08/2021 20:20

YANBU, it’s crazy that I can get 3 x Magnum type ice creams fur £1 at the supermarket and yet the ice cream can costs so much.

We just don’t use the ice cream van. It’s a shave as it was definitely affordable when I was a kid in the 90s.

TakeMe2Insanity · 22/08/2021 20:22

Queued up in Lords last night with 5 year old who only wanted an ice cream and that’s what it cost 🤷🏻‍♀️

BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand · 22/08/2021 20:23

I'm up north, and for 1 scoop of nice dairy ice cream I'd expect to pay in the region of £2.50 (a pound more for 2 scoops).

Sounds pretty standard to me. It is a treat, so it's not something I'd expect people on low incomes to be buying really regularly.

MissCruellaDeVil · 22/08/2021 20:25

That's a really standard price, honestly don't know why you're complaining. Are you a "low income family" or are you using you masquerading as one because you're a cheap skate?

ohfook · 22/08/2021 20:25

Honestly ice creams have tipped me over the edge these holidays. I've spent a fucking fortune on them.

Lucyccfc68 · 22/08/2021 20:31

Very lucky where we live (NW) . Our local van has just recently put his prices up and now charges £1.20 for a 99. Decent size, with sprinkles and sauce.

BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand · 22/08/2021 20:32

I think the comparisons to supermarket ice cream or McFlurrys aren't comparing like with like.

The ice cream sold in vans around here (Yorkshire Dales) is usually proper dairy ice cream, made with locally produced milk. It's better quality than soft scoop, or a magnum you'd buy from a supermarket, and miles better than a McFlurry.

And that's without going into the additional costs of running an ice cream van as a small business.

Unless the ice-cream in question was soft scoop? In which case, I wouldn't pay tuppence for that shit.

Bawdrip · 22/08/2021 20:41

@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.
Why not look at it from the business' point of view? The ice cream person needs to earn a realistic wage too and they're probably trying to make up fir their massive losses recently.
phishy · 22/08/2021 20:41

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand

I'm up north, and for 1 scoop of nice dairy ice cream I'd expect to pay in the region of £2.50 (a pound more for 2 scoops).

Sounds pretty standard to me. It is a treat, so it's not something I'd expect people on low incomes to be buying really regularly.

But the ice cream in the 99 isn’t nice dairy ice cream, it’s cheap stuff so that’s why the £3 feels like a lot.

Paying £2.50 for a scoop of Jude’s etc is very different.

MondeoFan · 22/08/2021 20:42

Not too bad. I paid £4 for 1 scoop on a waffle cone - SE too

BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand · 22/08/2021 20:43

Yeah, I'd agree with that. 99 is pretty crap ice cream.

Tbh we don't really get ice cream vans selling that round here so no idea so not sure what the price would be. Yorkshire Dales Ice Cream has cornered the ice cream van market in these parts.

Bawdrip · 22/08/2021 20:43

@InFiveMins

I get what you are trying to say OP and I agree. £3 for a scoop of ice cream is ridiculous, £1 is about right for what you got and prices many people out of being able to treat themselves/their children.
Out of that £1 you are wiling to pay I doubt very much there would be any profit in it. More likely a loss. At that price there will be no ice cream vans left in business
BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand · 22/08/2021 20:44

Although a 99 is Mr Whippy type stuff isn't it? I thought that wasn't served in scoops so am confused now. I thought that was just splurged onto the cone, so not sure how you'd know what a single scoop is.

Original poster
Ilovegreentomatoes · 22/08/2021 20:45

@MissCruellaDeVil and are you a disney villain or just pretending to be one?

OP posts:
Original poster
Ilovegreentomatoes · 22/08/2021 20:46

Is it was lemon ice it comes in scoops.

OP posts:
Etulosba · 22/08/2021 20:50

I remember being indignant as a child. A 99 was a whole shilling (5p). How was I ever going to afford that.

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 22/08/2021 20:53

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?

My parents never ever bought an ice cream from a van when I was growing up and get were well off! Plenty of people don't buy ice creams from vans, its utterly non essential.

I earn plenty enough to afford it but don't, I just buy tubs for the freezer from Tesco's and we have those when we want ice cream.

MrsSkylerWhite · 22/08/2021 20:54

Peanuts. 5 quid in Southport. Nearly choked on my sprinkles.

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