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 😭

The world has changed
Wages have increased
Everything you buy is transported there by fuel which has shot up
We have been lucky for years
In the 50-60s food accounted for around 50% of a household income
We are going back to that
Not so long ago we considered places like China and Russia to be sort of second level nations
They are going to overtake us as they control huge natural resources and we are now the second level nations
I honestly think that the younger people are in for a hard life unless they have very wealthy parents

Sounds great. Very lucky you have the time and resources to do this, many don’t. A move towards ‘old style’ cooking and shopping (shop around, go to the markets/greengrocers) timing things to hit the reduced section, cooking everything from scratch- completely unattainable for many juggling full time jobs and childcare.

Fedupmum21 It will vary from area to area. I live in a fairly affluent town where a lower percentage of people will need the food banks. They said last week that they are currently overstocked and there were just a few specific things they were short of. Men's toiletries and peanut butter for example. But in less affluent areas the problem is going to get worse. It's all such a mess.

It really seems to be hitting dairy. I know it takes fuel to extract, produce, chill and truck about the place, but why so much more than any other chilled product?

I’ve accepted I’ll have to economise deeply. I’ve already cut back hugely on petrol, electric and gas. But not, milk, FFS.

Not in my area, it's the norm for minders to supply it.

I paid £7.50 for a pack of 3 chicken breasts and some halloumi yesterday, it was at a Sainsburys local, but I also live quite a distance from the cheeper supermarkets. I am contemplating buying a new freez pop pp

Yes this relies utterly on someone (usually the woman of the household let's face it) not being in full time work. Or on paid staff (less likely).

Yes it's shocking.

Far from rich yet used to put curtains items in without even checking prices such as own brand baked beans shower gel etc now i check everything and try to bulk buy stuff on offer such as toilet paper and laundry powder.

Also as well as the price hike the fact that its normal now for several things on my list to be out of stock pushes the price up. Eg Tesco own brand ketchup near me has been out of stock for weeks it was about 50p but I ended up buying Heinz it was nearly three pounds!

This means when I next see the reasonably priced own brand one back in stock I will buy about 10 if I can.

Back to my childhood kitchen soon... 1 packet of biscuits bought occasionally as a treat, a cupbaord full of tinned food bought on offer like fray tinned pies and tinned spaghetti etc

Do not think I have ever told my kids 'no' due to the price of an ice cream or chips etc (have said no though don't worry!) Due to the price. Obviously I have done the no I'm not buying 3 ice creams at the fair but we can nip into sainsburys and get a packet of cornettos but the way things are going they will have to get used to that this summer.

This most ridiculous price I have seen was hummus in a deli for SIX POUNDS for a teeny tub but the 10 pounds iceberg someone above posted about is terrifying!

Yes it’s definitely luck of draw and area specific. I’m in a nice area so shops usually stock more luxury products/expensive meat & fish and they aren’t selling so are heavily reduced whereas in deprived town I used to live the same reductions aren’t there.
Less fashionable foods are always reduced - no one buys kippers or smoked haddock near me - it’s always reduced to pennies lots in my freezer. Likewise vegan/plant based doesn’t sell well here - I’m not veggie but often pick up posh branded veggie sausages for 20p. I’d rather eat those than cheap meat sausages.

If your cat will eat the Felix AGAIL meat and fish or Doubly Delicious range (my two came to me on Felix AGAIL and can't get them off, but they'll eat this), you can get it on an Amazon subscribe and save deal - 120 pouches for around £36, a lot cheaper. I've only just found this, but with two hungry boys to feed it helps and save having to carry it back. I came across a subscription voucher on their site which gives you an extra 20% off first purchase.

YABU to be shocked by the increase. The writing had been on the wall for months if not years (Brexit, Covid, Ukraine). It's fine to be disturbed by it but shocked? come on. It's been talked about for ages and ages everywhere.

Dear God. I really wish these morons in government could read such posts before they say you can cook decent meal for 45p or before they think they're entitled to pay rise for their "hard" work!!!!

I have started only buying meat when it is reduced, and then the weekly shop looks like I'm a vegetarian-it's the only way I can feed us a varied and reasonably healthy diet.
Switched from Sainsburys to Aldi and it has meant that I am spending roughly the same money.
We have stopped eating out, go to the pub once every couple of weeks for a few drinks. Only drive the car for necessary journeys and try to combine trips-today I did the school run and did the food shop on the way home.
I hate having to think about money this much.

Soft cheeses got particularly hit by Brexit import taxes which is probably a significant contributing factor.

On cheap cat food, the cheapest place to get it is generally Amazon. Wait until they have a good price combined with a subscribe and save offer for a first purchase (usually another 20-30%) off, and use that and as soon as your item is delivered cancel the subscribe and save and then do it again next time. They rotate the animal foods that are on this so you have to look fairly frequently. Last week for instance, I got 120 whiskas pouches for £17.53, so equivalent of £1.75 for a box of 12 pounds. I do this again and again and have done for years.
Just had a quick look, the best at the moment seems to be 40 Felix as good as it looks on subscribe and save will work out at £9.75, currently in Tesco these are £13.65 or £14.49 at Pets At Home.

We coming to a perfect storm, for too long we have had too low food prices. With Brexit, Ukraine and fuel costs rising plus Russia restricting oil/gas exports things are going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

I worry that food banks are going to start (if they haven't already) seeing a lot less being donated because that money we used to buy to donate is now being swallowed up by our own food budget. So those people who are really desperate are not necessary going to have a food bank to fall back on.

Or 120 Felix As Good As It Looks for £26.62, so even cheaper than the 40 box.

It's not just here. DD is virtually vegan, lives in Germany. She sent me a photo of her shopping and asked me to guess price - I under estimated. She really wanted some strawberries, but left them as they were 4E for 250g.

Yanbu

We really tried to keep shopping minimal this week but have spent the same (then end up topping up). Probably spend 30 quid more pw on groceries compared to last year.

I can see why people have prepped now. Nothing is being done about it though. I noticed online where they were reporting the fuel protests on M4 many people were surprisingly behind it, same for public sector protests (since shit pay and conditions generally affect everyone of us and our safety using these services). A few years back everyone would be calling these strikers selfish wankers, but the majority are in favour. With this shift in attitude I think there will be civil unrest soon at this rate. Martin Lewis was probably right!

Still the government and BoE do the square root of fuck all, so they must be benefitting from this somehow. Incompetent, self-serving crooks.

As an aside, has anyone noticed that the E10 petrol that was introduced recently doesn't last as long as the old one? It's like fuel shrinkflation. OH noticed this first and then I did (don't drive much at all, but still noticed this).

People are going to have to live like Asians and Africans do. Very little meat. And everything from scratch. Lentils, greens, local vegetables. ( and no you don't have to live on avocadoes. There are other veggies)

I have friends who are dairy farmers. For years they barely scraped by. Loads of dairy farms folded. There was cheap milk available from French producers to top up supplies and keep British prices down. Now we've had Brexit, which has put the price of imports and the complexity of importing, up. The number of dairy farms in the UK is much smaller than it was 20 or even 10 years ago. The price of imported grain and all the enriched feed the cows are fed to ensure a good supply of high-fat-content milk all year round has gone up as a result of Brexit and Russia invading the Ukraine. Plus the cost of electricity needed to milk the cows and store the milk and keep all the equipment sterile, plus diesel rising, adding to the costs of distribution. Over the winter the cows eat silage, which is cut now by tractors running on diesel...and on and on. The only good news is that my friends now fairly consistently make a small profit on their milk, instead of going for long periods when it's costing them money.

We always try to buy Yeo because it's British and organic, but if it keeps going up at the current rate we'll need to rethink. My partner eats an awful lot of yoghurt!

LIdl in Europe is doing crafty things like removing own-brand products and bringing them back under a different name at a higher price. That way they’re not officially raising their prices.
Agree that if you’re discerning, other supermarkets can be as cheap.

One example of lowering standards. I used to make chicken broth from a whole chicken, use the breasts as a main course and the rest as chicken/mayonnaise salad meat.
Yesterday my stock was made with three thighs and the stripped meat was our main…

What is the plan to keep costs down?

There is no plan.

The current administration (it hasn't earned the title 'government') is content to allow the cost of essentials to soar. It tallies with their actual plan, which is to create the kind of massive underclass accepted as normal in UK history.

Welcome to New Feudal Britain.
Your NHS is already being sold from under your nose, social welfare is becoming as inaccessible as dentistry, 'food deserts' abound & nutritious food is unaffordable to too many, & rents/mortgages are set to become cripplingly, prohibitively expensive.
Meanwhile, the Rule of Law is flouted by lawmakers, & news barons & financiers control policy.

If you voted for Brexit, & for the Tory party, this is what you have wrought.
We will be paying for it for decades.

The new underclass will be pushed off (already inadequate) benefits & into McJobs. It has been created to serve its UK & global masters - & British accents will be the ones people wince at on outsourced cold calls, for which the caller will be lucky to get paid the minimum hourly wage.

I have friends and family scattered across the world and they are all grappling with the cost of living crisis. Must be more than Brexit though that did not help.

But it can't go up to 50% of peoples income considering many pay more than 50% on rent alone, then they've got extortionate gas and electric, childcare, other bills and god forbid they have a car and need fuel.....

Perhaps food prices have been low, but then house prices have gone up uncontrollably. It can't work both bloody ways, something has to give. Also back then a lot of families only had one working parent, so no childcare costs. Now most of us don't have that luxury.

I would support universal basic income tbh - I'd also support cheaper childcare (government investment but properly) and actual support for working families. If you're above the tiny UC allowance you get f all, and a lot of the time you'd be better off not working at all for the sake of the £7 better off you are or whatever.

It's ridiculous, this shouldn't be a problem in this day and age.