AIBU TO BE SHOCKED BY THIS INCREASE?!

[Kate0902900908]

So I’ve just gotten over the fuel increase, made some changes and become more aware of the energy I’m using both at home and car.

Went to Lidl today. I buy 2 tubs of cream cheese a week, Lidl Goldessa Classic Cream Cheese 200g. It’s been 65p for as long as I can remember. Today shop assistant was sorting shelves and organising labels ect. New label £1.19. I asked if that was the price of the 65p cream cheese to which she said Yh, it’s not changed yet it’s 75p now but will be £1.19.
HOW? How? Can something almost double in price? Also when I was it 75p 😵‍💫

I noticed the other cheeses all being marked up too some by 80p-£1. Add this increase to even 1/3 of a shop and it’s going to be unmanageable!
Has anyone else noticed prices on things they buy almost doubling?
What is the plan to keep costs down?
Where do we go from Lidl’s own soft cheese 😭

"What is the plan to keep costs down?"

You eat less often and you eat a less varied diet. That's literally it.

Check out your local zero waste community if there is one. It's like a food bank.

I bulk buy you can get subscription then cancel it I get 120 Felix fish flavour for around £33 with discounts.

Which has a load of tapioca starch or something else whipped in to it. It is not cheese.

@girlmom21 I noticed this increase in cow and gate too. Everyone I spoke to thought I was mad as they didn't believe baby formula would increase by so much.

Prices for things like meat and milk have been artificially low for a long time. Dairy farmers have been held over a barrel by supermarkets for years. £2.99 for a chicken? It's hard to see how a farmer could possibly make a profit on that.

I'm not denying people are struggling but people have got used to a very wide range of very cheap food and sooner or later this was going to happen as it's not sustainable.

I do a big shop about once every three weeks for delivery and in the last six months it's gone up by £100 and I've definitely reduced the number of products I generally put in too and cut out all treats. It's ridiculous

Inflation is bad everywhere but the uk has the worst in the G7. Vote accordingly.

More meat than Richmond's sausages though!
Asda essentials 51%
Richmond's 42%, (second ingredient is water!)

We’ve also noticed price increases, we already buy the cheapest range from aldi, so can’t switch to anything cheaper. One if my children has food allergies, the main ones being gluten/soya/lentils, so we make as much as possible from scratch but this does push up our shopping budget.

we’ve found that our budget has stayed the same as we can’t afford to increase it but the amount of food we have is less, which isn’t great as we have teens going through growth spurts and are always hungry, but thankfully they’ll eat a lot of fruit so I always buy the cheapest fruit in aldi for them to snack on.

we will cope, I’m confident enough in the kitchen to make something tasty with minimal ingredients.

I appreciate that pur food costs were low, but i always thought the pinch point was the farmer. I dont think these increases mean farmers are now making what they should - doesnt it just mean all their costs have gone up and their profits the same low amount.

Agree massive increases for some food items. I noticed ion my weekly shop yesterday that many things had gone up and some 25% increase!

80p for 8 sausages? Can you imagine what's in them? 😳
I'd rather go without or have something veggie than eat them!

The veggie sausages will be more expensive though. Veganism/vegetarianism is skewed towards people with more money. You won't find "basic" veggie sausages in the supermarket.

I try to get yellow sticker items as much as possible but even those seem to be less and less. I guess maybe more people looking for them. I got a tub of creme fraiche yesterday for 29p and Lidl had pink salmon tins on offer at £1.29 the other day so going to do my favourite salmon pasta dish tonight on the cheap !

DH asked if we should get some butter, I said no as it's too expensive and picked up a cheap tub of margerine instead. I normally always use butter for baking but it's just now too expensive so have moved to an unhealthy substitute

Do you make Delia's oil and butter mix? It works very well for most baking and she tells you what it doesn't work for. She now recommends spreadable Lurpak but if you mix about 40g of oil to 60g butter, you can come up with a comparable consistency or something that works for you.

www.deliaonline.com/ingredient/delias-cakes-book-spreadable-butter

Food has been far too cheap in the UK for years. Lots of items stayed at the same low price for years.

I realise it is tough for a lot of people but farmers need to be paid a fair price for milk or whatever else they are selling to supermarkets

I am trying to be as savvy as possible when it comes to our weekly food shop. Meal planning and trying to include a couple of cheaper meals like pasta or omelette.

My £130 shop (childminder so provide food for 6 kids a day on top of my family of 3) has gone up to £170 per week. And thats dropping down a brand (from 'brands' to supermarket own').

It's really not sustainable and I am closing my business in summer.

Yes that was what I was thinking, I think the supermarkets absorbed alot of the price rises somehow, I know a few closed their deli counters for good.

I don’t think farmers are being paid any more fairly - this is about the cost of everything, including farmers’ costs.

Reduce the amount of meat and the bill will go down vastly. We do a weekly shop for a family of 4 from Aldi for around £60 a week and that includes some treats and a bottle
of wine. All meals Monday to Friday are lentil, bean, chickpea and vegetable based- curry’s, chillis, stews, gnocchi, rice based and pasta dishes. We only eat meat Saturday and Sunday- we used to spend nearly double when it was meat every night.

@girlmom21 I'm counting down the days until my baby hits 6mths and I can start weaning. Any amount of formula saved will help. There's a lot of grumbling in this house when he only drinks half a bottle.

My toddler wastes a ridiculous amount of food though

I'm wondering how much of it is we paid too little for our food and now we are paying the "real" cost.

Food has always been cheap in the UK compared to the rest of Europe though. Now, it's starting to come into line with elsewhere. E.g. the cream cheese and milk complained about above has always been that price range.

Have you tried making your own? It is easy, you just need some live yogurt to get it going, heat the milk, stir in the yogurt and then put it somewhere warm, I put mine in the airing cupboard, or you could use a flask.

@Theawkwardblonde

I struggled to afford baby formula in May 2020-2021 until my baby was weaned. It was about 5 to 7 pounds then for regular cow and gate in my local and 10 pounds I think when we switched to comfort milk for a tub. I believe the cheapest we got was 5 quid normal and 9 quid comfort and this would last a week per tub.

I've just seen the price increase and I am gobsmacked.. People will be struggling to feed their babies!

A third of the worlds grain comes from Ukraine and Russia so can't see prices will go down anytime soon. The cost of fuel, energy and employee salary increases have to be passed on unfortunately