To be appalled at the cost of food?

[pinotnow]

I know this has been done to death and we are in a cost of living crisis, but listening to the news they are intimating that it is slowly levelling out and the worst is over. Yes as far as I can see it's spiralling out of control.

I did a Lidl shop this weekend and bought absolutely nothing for main meals as I have a Hello Fresh box for three days coming, boys are going to their dad's for the weekend on Thursday and I have store cupboard stuff in already.

Therefore all I bought was stuff for lunch boxes, snacks, fruit and breakfast cereal. No cleaning stuff, oil or pet food needed this week and one bottle of wine. I thought it would be a bit less than I usually pay (only the second time I've used Hello Fresh) and certainly the trolley wasn't as full.

It came to £78!! Maybe £5 or so less than I have usually paid lately. It's out of control. How on earth are people supposed to manage and when will it stop going up all the bloody time?

I use to spend roughly £65, no more than £70 a week in Tesco, 2 adults and 1 child who has autism with an eating disorder who has to eat specific branded stuff. That £ included nappies and wipes, wash stuff, toiletries. Butter was lurpak , washing up liquid was fairy etc etc, it also included dh pack up for work and ds pack up for school.

I spent £108 yesterday in Asda. No nappies, no wash stuff, no pack up stuff, just food. Mostly own brand. Barely buy brands anymore unless it’s for ds.

Ridiculous.

Powder is much cheaper than liquid. £4:50 for a big box.

How would you manage on UC l wonder? Ethical morals whilst good are really only a luxury available to those with some disposeable income.

If you’ve run out of cash with 3 days left and a family to feed lm not sure you’d care where your chicken came from.

The problem with this attitude is that it then makes healthy food unavailable for poorer people. It means that fresh ingredients are unattainable yet ultra processed food, and it's very damaging effects to both the environment, society and the individual become the norm. Our food consumption is driven by money and until we address that then this will always be an issue.

You can make soda bread with plain flour and bicarbonate of soda (no need to rise just put it straight in the oven). Easiest cheapest most adaptable bread ever. You can also use soured milk if you're unlucky enough to have any.

I get UC, I just buy free range chicken less often.

have you got a recipe please?

Why would you have to buy chicken though? There are plenty of nutritional tasty foods that you could buy cheaper. Eating vegetarian is cheaper.

Me and DH have never been on benefits but we certainly have been hard up and struggled. When we bought our first house the mortgage rate went up and up and up and up. We were both Londoners with jobs in London but could only afford to buy a house nearly 50 miles away in Kent.

We would eat beans on toast or soup night after night. We were not vegetarian then but no way would we have bought a cheap chicken

I am back from the grocery haul.

Crikey, it seems like everything has gone up just since my last shop.

I went today as my local supermarket has certain days when they have very good specials on seasonal fruit and veg, so as we are going into winter its citrus fruit, pineapples, peppers and that sort of thing.

I hope this will last 2 weeks, I may need to go and do another top up.

66 items
Converted - 90 pounds.

{faints}

Oh and the babybels were 2.86 pounds converted. I have no idea what they cost your side. I got a block of cheddar 600g for similar price.

(i cant find the pound sign on my keyboard 😂)

No , whst is disgusting is that people including children are starving and using food banks. Maturity is realising humans matter more than animals.

Used to be you could get a free trial box of Schär gluten free products, have you ever done that/can you do that?

@minimadgirl if that's your situation and it's likely to continue then it's just much cheaper to change the way you eat - ie less bread/cheese /biscuits and more of the things you/they can eat. That's hard transition at first (no more toast or sandwiches) but you do get used to it. I do bake a cake /buns once a week for the kids but lunch is more soups and salads.

Probably area dependent but gluten free is always reduced heavily in Booths near me and I’m sure I’ve seen same in Waitrose. If you have a freezer you could stock up. I’m not gluten free but sometimes but the wraps as they are so cheap.

Yesterday my grocery shop was astronomical-the most I've EVER paid and yes, I bought a lot of food, plus laundry detergent and a greeting card but it came to $227 here in the states. I shopped at a equivalent of Tesco grocery chain too, not Whole Foods!

I have switched to powder, after using liquid for ages.
I have to say that the clothes do come out clean and lovely.
I used to have problems with stains remaining long ago, but maybe the formulation is better now?

There’s nothing mature about this, what an unpleasant attitude. We are animals too, all animals matter. One subset of animal shouldn’t have to endure relentless suffering from birth to death for the sake of a box of battery eggs or a £2 chicken. If you can’t afford higher welfare meat/eggs/dairy then it’s possible to go without and be healthy. Rice, root veg, peanuts, beans and lentils are still very cheap.

We also buy own brand, still comes out to a much larger number these days.
Also, eating out has sky rocketed around here. I mean a coffee and a sandwich when going out shopping into town, or a simple pub meal. Now it comes to what a nice restaurant dinner used to be.

I’ve been saying it for years - but if you buy fruit / basic stuff Lidl isn’t cheaper. The amount you bought - I spend £60 in Costco but I get at least a kg of everything!

I don't want to eat endless beans and legumes, I can't take enough calories in to get enough protein.

I try and buy the best I can with the money I have.

What a tone deaf, obnoxious post in these COL times. Pile on the guilt to those already hurting - People are suffering, children haven't got enough to eat, parents are going without food to feed their kids...But you want us to focus on animal welfare?? I love animals too but humans have to come first like it or not. It's all very well having principles, IF you can afford them. Some people haven't got that choice

Honestly if I served up endless vegetarian dishes of soup and lentils to my family, they'd stage a walk out! So I buy ordinary supermarket meat

I didn’t say I wanted to ‘focus on animal welfare’, my post was in response to the statement ‘Maturity is realising humans matter more than animals’. Plenty of other posters have pointed out that it’s not essential to eat cheap, factory-farmed meat.

People do have a choice, whether that’s having higher welfare meat less regularly or not eating meat at all. It’s not a case of eat meat or shrivel up and die as some people seem to be suggesting.

Some of the people here seem out of touch with rising costs. I had my gas off all through winter except for showers. My cooker has been switched off for two years.
I get free food from Olio, which is past the sell by date. I can't get everything I would like, but I'm eating.
I sold my car and use public transport. With all this, I know there are many worse off and they have my sympathy.

See, that annoys me as well - so only people who can afford higher welfare (and considerably more expensive) meat, should. Those who can't, well suck it up and eat lentils.... Smells a little of classicism to me.

I just wouldn't buy a chicken. I don't boot my ethics out of the window when I run out of money. I cut my cloth, basically.

The 'only the rich can be ethical' is something that feels very uncomfortable to me.