Pack of Birds Eye Fish Fingers £7.50 !! WTF?

[planedelay]

In Tesco today. Birds Eye normal code fish fingers. 30 pack, so the largest of the standard size packets but not a huge pack. And they were £7.50!! How much?! For bloody fish fingers!

I asked the lady on the check out till and she couldn't believe it either.

I expected them to be about £4. I bought Tesco own at £3.30.

AIBU to think that a what should be a cheap family staple should not be seven pounds bloody 50? And why?

What else is going to rocket in price?

Smashed avocado and organic chicken all the way, eh?

And let's not even mention the price of pub food and fish finger sandwiches! Where I am, they charge you over £8 for a fish finger sandwich with a lettuce leaf and some tartare sauce.

I know. I gag at the thought of all that processed sugary crap. Dgss have crap sometimes but I wouldn't buy them.

i nver bought fishfingers,
the one occasion i did DH demanded 4

Yes, I put them in the same category as chicken nuggets which we do always have in the freezer for when I haven’t got anything left or we have a friend over for dinner!

MSC labelling is greenwash of the worst kind. Please don't take it as proof that a fish product is sustainable. It isn't.

A pack of dried works out cheaper than tinned - as with most pulses and if you have a pressure cooker or an instant pot/ninja type appliance you don’t need to soak them. Cook on high pressure for 18-20 minutes. If you soak for 8 hours, cook on high for 12-14 minutes and leave pressure to reduce naturally.

What particularly is junk food like about cod fish fingers?

@PlumPudd there's more to fisheries management than stock management. Bycatch for example - an enormous problem.

You literally gag at the thought? Have you sought professional help for that?

Tesco sell 10 cod fish fingers for 80p. I don’t eat white fish other than cod because of the taste so these are the ones we always get. 64% cod so not full of filler. Ok it’s not cod fillet but last time I had birds eye ones I didn’t like them so much.

Heinz tomato ketchup has become very expensive. In our local Co-Op £3,75 and they had sold out of their own brand (£1). In Lidl £3.49 and had sold our of own brand too! We currently have no ketchup! I know not an essential item and ultra processed but still nice to have on the side occasionally!

For 80p absolutely no one is getting paid a fair wage in that supply chain, I'd be quite surprised if the welfare of those catching the cod or processing it was considered much. I know money is tight so a lot of people are unlikely to be able go give much of a shit, but it's terrible really. Sad all round.

Farmed fish is an environmental disaster - they need industrial fishing to feed them, the fish themselves are riddled with sea lice and other parasites, and in Scotland for example, seals are shot to protect the farms. You can't maintain a healthy ecosystem by shooting apex predators.

And yes in theory overfishing can be reversed. However the moratorium on cod fishing on the Grand Banks didn't produce the intended results. Fish breed differently, and sometimes protection measures work e.g. Atlantic bluefin tuna have made a comeback since their protections were put in place, because they are broadcast spawners. However bluefin tuna - a high end, expensive, prized fish - is not going to provide the cheap protein that people demand. They will need to find it from other sources.

i used to buy Lurpak spreadable large tubs but switched to supermarket own brand when the price shot up. I’m evidently not alone. Lurpak block butter has gone to a ridiculous price too. I don’t think i would switch back even at a reduced price as we’ve got used to the own brand now. I think a lot of people will be the same - a win win for the supermarkets and maybe something for the brands to consider when setting prices.

In Ireland it's €7.99 for 16 so a 30 pack would be about £12 but I've never seen one because nobody would buy it!

Try Tesco own brand. 75p for 550 gram squeezy bottle - the 900 gram is under £2 but appears to be out of stock online at the mo. It’s really nice and is another own brand we wont be switching back from.

Same price as Waitrose. I don't buy much branded stuff.

£9 for a steak is NOT normal though, unless you are getting something "special". I shop in Waitrose, yes I know, but even there I regularly buy three packs of Sirloin for £10, and we have one each. Are these steaks perhaps meant for two??

Yes @HesterShaw1 bycatch / impact on the marine environment, good fisheries management and stock status. The three pillars of a fishery being legitimately classed as sustainable.

You’re never going to be able to eliminate bycatch, but it is much lower in certified fisheries which have to have measures in place to reduce it.

So better eating sustainable fish than unsustainable eh?

@Rosscameasdoody we went to two supermarkets and in both the own brand was out of stock. We normally would buy the own brand if they had it. I was shocked at the price for a branded ketchup! While I was checking in there was any own brand ketchup in Lidl other people also where there and also left empty handed rather than paying £3.50 for a standard sized bottle of ketchup

Yes of course it is. We agree on that.

(I do have a massive beef with MSC and other sustainable labelling though)

Perhaps we’re heading for a new normal. In the 50s the average household spent about a third of their income on food, now it’s closer to half that, largely due to post-war policies that prioritised cheap food over animal welfare or the environment.

Well yes, the £9 steak is a large one and a lot more than what I would eat, but it's what DP likes and comparable to what you get served in a pub. I got him the £7 rib eye, but I did notice that there were steaks up to £11/12 in the range.

groceries.asda.com/shelf/fresh-food-bakery/meat-poultry/beef/beef-steaks-sauces/1215135760597-910000975206-910000975528-910000976888

Genuinely curious, why? @HesterShaw1

I’ve worked on a lot of land based supply chains and the sustainability labels for fish and seafood are very robust compared to the ways most labelled coffee, minerals, chocolate, sugar, fruit and veg, palm oil, cotton etc are sourced.