The price of butter and general price rises

[FlatteredFool]

My favourite Kerrygold has just jumped from £1.90 to £2.00. We use a lot of it with the dcs' toast addiction. The price of butter has risen steadily over the years but that's a big jump. Is Brexit to blame as it's imported from Ireland? I've noticed things increasing in general but not to this extent all at once. It is it covid related? Or is butter a luxury now?

and food is much less expensive in the UK than it is elsewhere in Europe

It is. My family is somewhere where food is mostly more expensive than in UK (bit of a ahock for me every time i go to shops) yet wages are lower. Somehow they all eat well though

@CovidCorvid

According to The Times today pasta is going to double in price soon. Bad durham wheat harvest apparently. Thankfully I still have about a 5 year supply under the bed!

Note to people. When that happens, leave gluten-free one alone, not like last year! That was ridiculous

@forinborin

The UK is atypically cheap worldwide when it comes to food prices though. I had a short project in Ireland a couple years ago and I swear my food bill nearly doubled there.

I think this is to to do with the supermarkets competing with each other for Customers. I used to live in Aus and they only had 3 supermarket chains (and IGA was more like a corner shop) at the time and food was very expensive there. Although I think they have Aldi as well now, don't know if that has pushed prices down.

I think this is to to do with the supermarkets competing with each other for Customers.
I think there are many different factors. What you said, plus farming subsidies, plus the nature of the agricultural sector itself (very diversified into small producers). Plus cultural moments too, I think, good food in general does not seem to be as important here as in many other countries.

Phew, I've just checked the pasta stash after reading that and I'm good until Christmas from the looks of it. I'll be buying my 16kg bread flour soon to jeep us in bread and pizza until new year.

I've ordered jersey cream to make some butter scones next week.

@Annoyedanddissapointed yeah Dd has coeliac disease and last year was awful for finding food for her. They’ll put gf pasta prices up though I’m sure even though no wheat!

good food in general does not seem to be as important here as in many other countries.

I was discussing this with a friend when we went to Italy a few years ago. The subject was the quality of tomatoes. We found that in Italy you could only get good quality, tasty tomatoes and the price and quality was similar to what we would pay in the U.K. for finest/extra special, organic tomatoes. The difference is, that in the U.K., you also have the option of buying cheaper, tasteless tomatoes. I think good quality food is important to some people - I would rather not eat tomatoes at all if I could only have the tasteless cheap ones - but I know what you mean, the food as fuel concept is prevalent in the U.K. , rather than seeing food as something to enjoy.

@dementedma

Smol is good value for laundry tabs and they are delivered to you in a cardboard box so no plastic waste( which is what you are paying for.) They do dishwasher tabs too.

Yes I do this and they do a free trial as well.

I just noticed today Asda's own brand fruit juice has gone up over 20% in the price from a few weeks ago, it's horrifying.

I appreciate inflation is a thing, but that is a few percent a year, not the price gouging that supermarkets are doing at the moment.

I've noticed rises and I resent the fact that brexit is a contributor, given I didn't vote for it, and that these rises were obviously going to happen.

That said, my plan is to adapt. Too much butter isn't good for you. Lots of the food which will become more expensive are processed as well. Some veg will obviously go up but plenty won't, so I'll have to wean myself off my vine tomato and red pepper addiction 😄.

Or you could learn to make butter? Not that I've tried.

It’s really easy to grow tomatoes @Tinpotspectator. We’ve got a glut this year.

I did try but mine stayed green. No greenhouse!

Couldn't resist-its just over whipped double cream-

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01k91xt

Why are people referring to Home Bargains as H&B? If it's the Home Bargains that I'm thinking of, then it doesn't sell any chilled items. It's mostly a hardware store that sells DIY, some gadgets, then a lot of sweets, crisps, other snacks, plus dry foods, condiments, fizzy drinks, alcohol and cleaning / bathroom / shampoo type stuff.

It definitely doesn't sell butter! As I said before, no chilled items.

Back on topic, what is the nearest that you can get to Kerrygold?

I buy Lurpak, and I am aware that I’m fortunate to be able to afford to do so, but if I wasn’t I would buy Lidl’s ‘Danpak’, which is their clone of Lurpak spreadable. It’s very, very good and dirt cheap.

Buy less meat, veggie options much cheaper, tho my biggest saving is on Aldi alu capsules from nespresso ( the other cheap ones not good), and Aldi cst food from purina one.
You just have to adapt, tho I bet some are not

Home bargains closed to me actually does sell fresh and frozen. Not B&M though. I think none of them do?

Home bargains does sell butter milk cold meats etc.

That said, my plan is to adapt.

Well quite. But plenty won’t because they still can’t countenance the idea of eating less meat and more vegetables, or even just different food.

I get that I’m coming from a position of relative privilege in that I can afford to absorb price rises but not everyone can grow their own (you need a garden for that!) But we have also got too used to unrealistically cheap food, plenty of it, of all varieties, and there whenever we want it. Maybe that was never sustainable and we’re having a long-overdue correction. Maybe with a shift towards less harmful methods of production prices of items like meat will reflect the true cost of that production and we’ll go back to it being the exception rather than the norm, for which we will have to adapt whether we like it or not.

Well quite. But plenty won’t because they still can’t countenance the idea of eating less meat and more vegetables, or even just different food.

Or soak stuff like chickpea overnight. Honest to god there was a thread about food poverty and someone said "who has time to soak chickpea".
Convenience also costs a lot.

@TrickorTreacle

Why are people referring to Home Bargains as H&B? If it's the Home Bargains that I'm thinking of, then it doesn't sell any chilled items. It's mostly a hardware store that sells DIY, some gadgets, then a lot of sweets, crisps, other snacks, plus dry foods, condiments, fizzy drinks, alcohol and cleaning / bathroom / shampoo type stuff.

It definitely doesn't sell butter! As I said before, no chilled items.

Back on topic, what is the nearest that you can get to Kerrygold?

My local Home Bargains in Scotland is just as you describe, but has probably a third of a wall filled with fridges of fresh food, and a tiny freezer area.

I'm already veggie and have been for decades. I buy own brand tea instead of Tetley, own brand washing detergent instead of Persil or Ariel, I don't drink squash anymore, sometimes buy pure orange but it's own brand, own brand biscuits, own brand flour (except for break baking). Butter, baked beans, cream cheese, and chopped tomatoes tend to be branded as in my opinion they taste better.

Just re the vegetables.
Horrible now. All fruit and veg I got in last month and something lasted half the time, if that on se items, than usual. It's across shops, not just 1 or two. Only one who lasted was costco

@Annoyedanddissapointed

Home bargains closed to me actually does sell fresh and frozen. Not B&M though. I think none of them do?

It's the other way round for me:

Home Bargains - doesn't sell chilled or frozen.

B&M - does sell chilled and frozen.

Still wondering what's the closest you can get to Kerrygold?

I don't know about Brexit, I am in Sweden and the price of butter is extortionate

My bloody butter has gone missing. Just bought a new tub last week used it twice and it is now vanished from fridge.
Butter is expensive even more so when it goes missing after two uses.
Where is my butter?