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 😭

I do a basic shop in Aldi. Each week the basics come to just under £45. Couldn’t go to Aldi last weekend so went to my local Tesco. Same basics but I didn’t buy the kitchen roll or loo roll I usually buy came to £60 but I did by a deli precooked chicken instead of a uncooked one and 4 tins of peaches for the food bank collection. Cat food I buy in wilkos as I have 3 cats so buy in bulk as felix is £12 for 40 pouches.
I popped into my local asda as my mum likes their own brand hot drinking chocolate was £1.4 a pouch for ages but is now £1.40. Aldi’s and Lidl’s are still £1 so I will be stocking up before theirs rise too.

Shadows one pair of trainers is fine for PE and home. PE is only an hour a week. Teenagers can be cruel but I would just brush that off. Or say it's for environmental reasons. I've got 4 kids that would be 8 pairs of trainers!!

I do think pet ownership will have to reduce - with cats and dogs eating a lot of meat it will be too expensive. We are on a high income but are really noticing what the cat food adds to the supermarket bill

Seriously though- if you are on UC you cannot afford to be feeding your dog chicken. Get some cheaper dog food!

I've just spent over £70 in Lidl for a week's shop (I live alone), but will need to top up later with veg and bread. I bought one chicken and a small pack of mince, so no big meat, no alcohol, no coffee etc.

I sat in the car park and checked off the items, I couldn't believe it was that much. I used to spend £30-£40.

It's part of the long term plan for companies like Lidl and Aldi to do this. Start being cheap, get a reputation for being cheap over several years. Then start ramping up the prices - it will take most customers a long time to no longer see them as "cheap" supermarkets, all the while they're coining it.

Yes! Packet of babybels is now £2.29 in Aldi!

Food prices have been low, that's true but so have salaries. It's not acceptable for working people to not be paid enough to cover standard rent, food and energy prices.
I fear this will get worse and we're heading for further discrepancies in society. Some people will be really poor and those who could afford to contribute to food banks (which shouldn't even exist in a developed nation), won't be able to.

The cost of living crisis is not some crafty PR stunt by the supermarkets to make people get used to higher prices 🙄🤨

Until the very top of the chain ie energy and fuel firms stops profiteering from Covid and the war, it isn’t going to stop. It isn’t costing them more to obtain the oil/gas etc, they’ve hiked prices because no one can stop them. And as long as shareholders etc refuse to have diminished dividends, this too will perpetuate it.

It’s actually quite horrifying - we’re watching the dystopian future where there’s a super-rich demographic, and the rest of the population starving and struggling to survive. Not sure what happens when we’re all so poor we stop buying stuff. Presumably they all have plenty invested and squirrelled away to keep a few generations going, and in this instance evolution will eradicate those who aren’t in the top tier.

Another farmer here, we have seen an increase in the price we are getting for our cattle. I'm in R. Ireland though I'd hope it is the same same 30 minutes down the road in the UK.

But the cost of diesel/ electricity/ fertiliser has sky rocketed! We don't use any feed but dairy farmers would (so do many beef). With grain increasing so dramatically the cost of that is huge.

Personally though I have noticed a massive increase in the cost of my weekly shopping. I'm 37 weeks pregnant and have gestational diabetes which means that bulking dinner out with extra carb (like at uni) is very difficult. We are managing but I think a lot of people are not. I also really worry this will get worse.

I get Tesco delivery last year it was an average of €80 per week. Then maybe €100 per month in the butcher. Tesco is now about €120 per week and the butcher is about €150 per month. That's for 2 adults. Granted that is 100% of our food, breakfast/lunch/dinner/ treats/ snack/ coffee. I WFH and DH is here on the farm so no nipping into the café for a latte and a cake slice.

Someone said about waiting until prices drop. They won't drop. They will stabilise and it will become normal to us.

I read yesterday that 50% of children from single parent families now live in poverty. We are the fifth largest economy in the world. I have no words.

Me Kipling 8 angel slices from asda, I have bought them every week for ds’s pack up. Used to be £1.95 but when on rollback were £1.25. Went up a couple of weeks ago to £2.50 or £2 on rollback. When I did my food shop on Saturday they were £3.85 😱 they did not go in my basket, he got a 6 pack of milky ways for £1 instead.

ive noticed the prices rising every week … I’m still putting the fruit and veg in the trolley but I’m buying cheaper alternatives of anything that’s non essential so treats like crisps and cake for the kids . I’m still paying roughly the same for the weekly shop but there’s hardly anything left by the time I go again

It seems that people will stop buying certain food, like the cake slices. I've stopped buying crisps and have spent the money on fruit instead.
I'm sure lots of people are doing similar. Will these businesses fold? They have shareholders too so I'm intrigued about this (and fear the job losses and fall out)
In the meantime, the government are developing insects for us to eat...this gets more and more dystopian

www.gov.uk/government/news/healthy-low-fat-insect-and-plant-protein-launched-in-wales

I really worry about what rising food costs are going to do to food banks as well, as If everyone’s usual shops are skyrocketing then who is going to be able to afford large amounts to donate? I’ve noticed the donation point at my nearest Tesco used to be overflowing but recently it’s always only been a few bits. To be fair it may be coincidence and I may have just been in when it’s not long been emptied, but if everyone’s shops are going up 20-30% then there comes a point when many people won’t be able to afford the additional items that they would usually donate, at a time where more and more people are needing to use food banks. Scary times.

We are cutting down on the more expensive items and using more beans/lentils/veg instead of meat or fish. Some things have gone up by a ridiculous amount.

I noticed several jumps on my online shop at Morrisons last week and not just a penny here and there, 10p on a small tin of baked beans for example.

Neverendingdust · Today 09:54
Dotjones
It's part of the long term plan for companies like Lidl and Aldi to do this. Start being cheap, get a reputation for being cheap over several years. Then start ramping up the prices - it will take most customers a long time to no longer see them as "cheap" supermarkets, all the while they're coining it.
The cost of living crisis is not some crafty PR stunt by the supermarkets to make people get used to higher prices 🙄🤨

I am amazed at how many people think that this is a conspiracy and have ignored the fact that we have had major disruption to our supply chains over the last 2 years. I work as a food buyer for a large company and live and breathe this day in day out - it all comes back to supply and demand - supply was reduced due to lockdowns and when the world opened up again the demand outstripped supply - everything comes back to this. The war in Ukraine has exacerbated this - again by reducing supply. The majority of suppliers are not profiteering - they are having to pass on increases to cover the increased input costs.

Yoghurt has had really big increases. The Aldi Greek style 0% someone mentioned was a weekly staple for me was 39p then 45p now 65p all within a short space of time. Arla skyr was £1.25 now £1.60 is cheapest I can find.
If you can get to know yellow stickers time though there are some fab reductions. Our little co op has stuff down to pennies at 7pm. There seems more if it - I assume people aren’t impulse buying luxuries and so they end up reduced. Sainsburys had all the extra special berries reduced to 19p last week - people aren’t spending £2.50 on a little pack of raspberries so they had lots on yellow stickers.

We were in Australia a few weeks ago, and food there is extortionate, although wages are higher.

£10 for an iceburg lettuce - I don't think I'll ever get over that one!

XenoBitch our pets are important to us and often the one thing maintaining our happiness.

Cat food prices in ireland have risen dreadfully. Costing me a bloody fortune for the 3 overlords!

We have completely moved to cooking from scratch with unprocessed proteins bought at reduced prices and frozen

So fishmongers salmon but only at 5 pm for a yellow sticker
Haddock from counter but only at 5 pm with yellow sticker
Massive bag of frozen chicken portions
Large bags of dried grains and lentils from indian shop.
Frozen white fish
eggs
Plant mince when yellow stickered, mixed with tiny amount of meat mince and onions and peppers and frozen into portions of effective veggie "mince" for 4 or 5 meals.

No tins, cans, snacks etc - and a huge amount of cooking from scratch - and timing shops around sticker times and own brands on a once in 10 days online shop....

I need to buy baked beans in Waitrose. Hoping the 4 for 3 offer @ £1.20 for 4 cans is still valid as it has been for a year or more pre covid too - we far prefer their baked beans

If you can get to know yellow stickers time though there are some fab reductions

Problem with knowing yellow sticker times is that others do too. There is a woman in my local shop who blocks access to yellow stickers with her trolly and then checks every single item... I watched it few times because the grumbling noises of others brought my attention to it.