Anyone else want to scream 😱 about prices

[Cupcakeicecream]

Anyone else feel like screaming 😱. The smart meter is now the enemy. I'm constantly topping up the meter. Yes it's prepayment they won't change it I've tried and tried. The budget just keeps getting tighter. It's hard to find cheap food no offers things constantly out of stock. You need a bank loan for just to buy toliet roll 🙄 I don't have the heating on constantly I try to just heat one room with a heater. Radiators are barely on an hour here and there to keep away damp. Dryer needs to be used in in emergency since the house is colder so clothes aren't drying properly. I use an airer and it's constantly raining and windy to use the washing line. Food budget is through the roof food is smaller and more expensive and always out of stock honestly what a joke.

I prefer Aldi baked beans and their soups, and far far cheaper.

Just checked and apparently the average price hasn't been below £1.50 for 5 years. Last year was £1.72 lowest average price. But I always buy the cheapest block, so I think you can knock at least 20p off the average.
www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/kw9b/mm23

If it helps, I've recently downloaded an App called 'Too Good to Go.' It is for businesses to get rid of food that would otherwise be thrown away.

It can be hit or miss. However, the bakery near us, which supplies supermarkets directly, regularly lists a £4 bag. In this, we had 2 loves of brown unsliced bread, spiced buns, loads of sliced white, cakes, bread rolls. The bag is usually about 3ft tall. It's all in date. I made bread and butter pudding with the spiced buns as there were so many and that went down a treat.

We eat the cakes and freeze the rest. I know that Morrisons take part. It is primarily to stop good food going to waste. it does depend on what is nearby but it's worth a look.

Paid nearly £10 for a small lamb joint the other week. We used to have chicken/pork/beef/lamb more or less on rotation on Sundays. Now beef is out of the question, lamb is a rare treat and even pork is a fiver - again for a small joint that will do about 3 portions (there are two of us) so not even leftovers for another full meal.

Used to have steak from time to time ... not happening any more.

I'm using a lot of things to 'bulk out' meals like curry/stew - kidney beans, butter beans, chick peas.

But it's becoming more and more expensive to cook from scratch which is not going to do the health of the nation much good.

1.48 in Jan.
I remember talking with my family about lrice of butter. I am sure it was 1.44 before, but I could be wrong few pennies.
So yeah, not far off the average. Nice.

Stingy has usually good memory😂

I usually buy three bags of food shopping for a science activity at school - it gets used afterwards but is extra to what I'd normally buy. Checked the pasta aisle for the first item and saw a small pack of basic pasta was £1 - it always used to be 50p or 55p. Decided to do the activity by looking at pictures of food instead!

YANBU

But my advice would be if you are having the heating on here and there to put the clothes on the heaters to dry (you can get special heater racks).

I don’t have a dryer and I find the racks don’t dry things well unless the clothes are really spread out.
I put as many clothes as I can over doors and the rest on the rack.

I also do things like charge my phone at work, unplug everything (apart from fridge freedom) including the wi-fi when I go out and after a certain time which has actually really helped my teen DC go to bed earlier and read/colouring in etc more.

I think after covid most people wanted to be at home more for a better work/life balance but I think wfh jobs are soon going to be hard to fill as no one will want them.

I recommend hot water bottles - 1 x boiling the kettle to fill two small or one large will give you warmth for hours, especially if you have a thick blanket or duvet on the sofa.

I hate it. Gluten free bread is now £4 for a tiny loaf in my coop 😱

Yanbu, wet washing everywhere, can't peg out because it's raining, don't want to put dryer or heating on. Many items that were a £1 are £1.50, 50% price increase!

I found mine dries best on a landing where there is good air circulation

Everything Heinz is super expensive. We've swapped to M&S tomato ketchup - much nicer and MUCH cheaper.

Lidl mayo is the best substitute for Hellmans.

If you can afford a bit extra upfront, I really recommend going to a good cash and carry. Costco allows membership if you're part of certain professions, Makro is for businesses and charities but there are others too. When I go, I bulk buys on things like toilet rolls, washing powder, pasta etc. In some cases, it can work out 50% cheaper than the supermarkets. For example, I got 76 tabs of my usual washing liquid for £11 when the same thing in supermarkets would have cost £16. Obviously you need a bit of cash upfront and a space to store things but it's definitely saved me money on things we buy often.

Remember, the Bank of England is just about to raise interest rates, because they think you’ve got too much money and are spending it frivolously.

Butter seems to be cheapest at M&S at the moment - £1.75. It was the other day anyway….

My monthly shop has gone from 260 at the start of the year to nearly 400 for more or less exactly the same stuff. Its not doable at that price any more, but I am not sure what else we can now cut before starting on the food shop

Our smart meter display thing was always around 2.50 a day, now it is more like 5. No heating yet, and trying to use the oven rarely. I am making my own soup from whatever is in the bottom of the fridge. Pick up reduced potatoes and leeks today so leek and potato soup the rest of this week. We make our own bread and so that is still significantly cheaper than shop brought. All the gadgets we have are starting to come into their own!

DH worked out the heated throws we have cost 5p/hr to run. I got the DCs really furry ones so they’d think it’s a treat to use them which seems to be working so far. I work with a throw on my knees every day, air the house in the morning and have got away without putting the heating in yet.

I appreciate this is a luxury item in a probably more than averagely expensive garage type place, but when putting in petrol yesterday in a Shell with an attached 'little' Waitrose on the way to work, I went to grab a sandwich for lunchtime... the cheapest one (cheese ploughmans) was £4.80!!!! The most expensive (smoked salmon) was over six quid! Fuck that. Six months ago the cheese one was less than £3 for sure, I had it regularly. Insane.

Yes, and we'll all be paying more tax soon too. Happy days!

The bank of England can fuck right off frankly, I mean read the room people!! It's not going to solve the problem at all, I know this is what they always do but people don't have the money to start with this time.

And yet, it’s Rishi and Jeremy who keep complaining they are going to have to make ‘difficult decisions’.

To me, a difficult decision is deciding whether to heat or eat.

Milk has absolutely sky rocketed. Aldi and Lidl and not always the cheapest options any more. Its becoming harder to choose healthy, fresh produce.