Food is too cheap ?

[Loveshelly]

Food has never been cheaper, meat is unbelievably cheap. Even with a conscious move towards less meat consumption it’s clear that huge consumption of cheap meat is going on.

AIBU to think that we all need to spend more on our produce, especially in the wake of brexit, we clearly cannot rely on cheap labour anymore. So we are going to have to pay more.

All I tend to see on MN is people desperate to get food bills down, then on another thread people fretting they can’t keep heating on all night.

Have we become totally skewed about what are the things we should be spending more and less on.

I'm guessing you aren't poor are you OP bleating on about how things are too cheap. Spare a thought for the families out there who are on their arses and an increase in food prices would break them.

@NCForthisxox
I think you’re clearly missing my point entirely. Maybe you haven’t read my posts. But that’s ok. I understand how emotive it is.

@JoborPlay

Yes, food is too cheap. Farming is barely a sustainable industry in the UK. Corners are being cut, livelihoods lost and standards slipping.

But food is one of our biggest living costs and most people can't afford to pay more.

I'm not sure what the answer is.

My feeling is social housing would solve a lot of issues for the working poor. If budgets need to be redistributed then we need to look at the biggest expense first imho.

People at the top don’t want to solve the hosing crisis, it’s a ponzy scheme that can’t be allowed to collapse. But that means we are going to end up like America.
Who spend even less money on food per head. Even though they are probably the wealthiest country in the world,

Groceries in the uk were proportionally alot higher in the 1970s. However, housing was affordable. Everything is so expensive now and food poverty is very real.

So the statement should be,

people should be paid a decent enough wage to afford housing, gas, electricity and good quality ethically produced food.

Families should not be made to choose between either of the above and we need to look at how we look after our workforce in this country ?

@thinkbiglittleone
Yes I think so. Though I will add I think our food standards are very high in comparison to lots of countries, so we need to pay enough to sustain the current food standards. And that everyone can afford to eat and heat and have housing.

I would think that’s basic for a first world country.

In terms of me thinking food is cheap, came more from listening to the head of the meat industry saying on newsnight that we have been expecting to pay too little for the food (meat) we eat when in fact production costs have gone up in every way.

Supermarkets are lead a lot by consumer demands, if consumers want cheap milk and cheap pork then the supermarkets will do anything to make that happen.

Anyway, as I said it’s a viscous cycle. And the farming industry seems to be the main ones losing out economically

No idea where you are, but food in my area just keeps going up in price, it’s not cheap now

With all due respect, and I'm only posing the question, which is, would some people be better off if they looked at what other expenses are they funding, e.g. Sky , fags, booze ect as these different expenses have to be looked at to see where people can make improvements

Thats a pretty ignorant comment. Most food bank users are employed in low wage jobs. I'm sure they have already cut out as much as they can. And to be honest why shouldn't be able to afford sky TV if they want it? We should all be able to afford some entertainment after work.

I don’t personally adhere to the fags booze and sky crap.

I simply want to know why we cannot afford to employ people to deliver and make food in this country. Yet we still expect it to be cheap.

I think the standard of living that's deemed as minimum has risen, which isn't a bad thing. WiFi is largely essential now, nor everyone lives near a library to access the Internet to apply for jobs, benefits and homework for children etc. Some sort of streaming service is also standard, although sky is ridiculously expensive; especially when you can get now for cheaper which is sky but streamed, which is better anyway . I remember the excitement of going to a friends to watch nickelodeon as we just had terrestrial, but free view has good channels if you can afford a license, or netflix etc are all cheaper- so I don't think it's unreasonable to look at whether something is more affordable as doesn't mean you can't have anything.

@YourFinestPantaloons

Food has never been cheaper are you absolutely sure of that?

Apart from a period from about 2018 to early 2020 food now is cheaper than at any point in history when measured against income. Even now food is still very cheap as a percentage of income. The biggest change is in consumption, more meat, more processed food, more alcohol, more out of season fruit and veg.

@TartanJumper

With all due respect, and I'm only posing the question, which is, would some people be better off if they looked at what other expenses are they funding, e.g. Sky , fags, booze ect as these different expenses have to be looked at to see where people can make improvements

Thats a pretty ignorant comment. Most food bank users are employed in low wage jobs. I'm sure they have already cut out as much as they can. And to be honest why shouldn't be able to afford sky TV if they want it? We should all be able to afford some entertainment after work.

My wording may not be the best and I apologise, all I was asking was if a person has or is struggling with their budget, have they tried to save in other areas where they don't necessarily need e.g. that tv package, and then if they could free up some of the budget to then use towards their food budget, and plus when it comes to food are they attempting to shop at expensive supermarkets or more budget prices , do they have regular takeaways or do they have a Costa each day ect.?

@TartanJumper

With all due respect, and I'm only posing the question, which is, would some people be better off if they looked at what other expenses are they funding, e.g. Sky , fags, booze ect as these different expenses have to be looked at to see where people can make improvements

Thats a pretty ignorant comment. Most food bank users are employed in low wage jobs. I'm sure they have already cut out as much as they can. And to be honest why shouldn't be able to afford sky TV if they want it? We should all be able to afford some entertainment after work.

Many food bank users are in low wage jobs, but the majority of them are not working full time. The talk of people working "two jobs" often involved them doing two shifts a week in different employment, when historical comparisons would be people who worked full time doing additional hours in the evening, overtime, cleaning or bar jobs. There are definitely people who struggle and have limited option, especially single parents and disabled people, but there are also a lot of people who waste what they have.

@MatildaIThink
I appreciate the extra perspectives.

@Fifthtimelucky

I know many people are struggling to make ends meet, but actually I agree with the OP, especially in relation to milk and chicken. If food wasn't so cheap, people might value it more and not waste so much of it.

My parents were both brought up during the war. As a result they never wasted food and we children were never allowed to do so either.

I agree with you. I too was brought up not to waste anything.

@Loveshelly

Food has never been cheaper, meat is unbelievably cheap. Even with a conscious move towards less meat consumption it’s clear that huge consumption of cheap meat is going on.

AIBU to think that we all need to spend more on our produce, especially in the wake of brexit, we clearly cannot rely on cheap labour anymore. So we are going to have to pay more.

All I tend to see on MN is people desperate to get food bills down, then on another thread people fretting they can’t keep heating on all night.

Have we become totally skewed about what are the things we should be spending more and less on.

I live in the US and food shopping here is so much more expensive than in the UK. PPs are right, food prices have stayed low when everything else has gone up and without EU farm subsidies and migrant workers it's just unsustainable. On the pepper example, I asked my Mum what she'd paid for a pepper a few weeks ago. She said 81p. I asked because here I had just paid $3.06. For one pepper. A bog standard red pepper.

@Loveshelly

I don’t personally adhere to the fags booze and sky crap.

I simply want to know why we cannot afford to employ people to deliver and make food in this country. Yet we still expect it to be cheap.

OP a lot of people are being snarky but missing the point. British farming is built on the back of cheap farming labour. Even if Brexit didn't happen it was still food being grown off the back of people happy to work for peanuts. There's a cognitive dissonance between wanting to 'pay people fair wages' but not realising that the same should extend to farm workers. Except for a small proportion the majority of farmers operate on thin margins. Markups' etc come from supermarkets but unless there's a push to return the profits to their rightful owners it won't happen.

With all due respect, and I'm only posing the question, which is, would some people be better off if they looked at what other expenses are they funding, e.g. Sky , fags, booze ect as these different expenses have to be looked at to see where people can make improvements

some of you have never been poor, trapped in shitty socioeconomic circumstances and it shows.

@TractorAndHeadphones I don't think that's a true reflection of farming as a whole. Most farms around us are run solely by families, including our own, no workers being paid peanuts here

food isn't cheap. Bad, processed food is very cheap. anything fresh and decent - costs so much more.

@CatsArePeople

food isn't cheap. Bad, processed food is very cheap. anything fresh and decent - costs so much more.

There are still basic foods that are cheap - eggs, seasonal fruit and veg, flour, oats, eg. Op seems to be focussed on meat though. I don't buy or eat meat myself but I get the impression that many people make meat the main part of their meals now, whereas it used to be the smallest part. If you want to eat a lot of meat then yes, a lot of people won't be able to afford decent quality meat and will buy cheaper processed meat instead.

@MissCruellaDeVil In fairness the OP means is food too cheap to pay the producers of that food fairly - and yes it undoubtedly is.

Which is why British farmers can't pay British people decent wages to work on farms.

Clothes too, are too cheap. Nearly all clothes sold on the high street are cheap because they exploit workers in developing countries.

Must be nice to have that choice