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've been battling with our budget since this stated, borrowing from this pot, reducing that pot and managing to find enough for the extra gas DD every time it went up and squeaking everything else down to cover increasing food bills.

We have now been consistently overspending for the past 3 months despite being really careful so we've had to create some slack somewhere now and have cancelled our mortgage overpayment. I know we are insanely privileged that we have that safety buffer but we were no where near that last year and it didn't even make the numbers look that good. Just topped up a few pots I'd been borrowing for and allowed me to put a realistic number in for food this month instead of fighting against the tide to come in on budget.

I can't even start to imagine what it's like for everyone who doesn't have that flex.

It's just awful that this has happened so fast without any real chance or even expectation that wages will rise at the same rate

Yeah but fridge raiders aren't cheap either

I wish people would stop trivializing the extreme mental torture and cruelty that gaslighting is. It has got to be the most incorrectly used word on this site (and that’s suing something considering all the “narcs” that are diagnosed here by the armchair experts, as well as all the “sobbing and shaking” that seems to happen almost daily).

What people are doing here is not gaslighting. Not even close. They are pointing out that melons and berries are not “basic fruit” and highly processed snacks that are marketed at children/teens are very expensive. And that’s the truth.

I feel like the cost of food is rising exponentially. We’re financially comfortable but I’m still really feeling the pinch and closely monitoring what I buy. Was watching an old 90’s sitcom last night and the character got a box of orange juice out of the fridge and poured one big glass for himself, one for his friend. I thought 😱 ‘but orange juice is so expensive!’ That’s just one item I now consider ‘luxury’ and has been jettisoned from our weekly shop.

A whole chicken is £10 +
And I don’t buy in any of those extras.
i don’t even buy chicken!

This is what I was thinking. I just buy cheddar cheese in a block, babybels are more expensive. I buy greek yogurt in a 1kg tub. Most of those snacks I wouldn't buy. It costs £60 a week for me and a teenage boy.

@BritWifeInUSA I agree. It really muddies the true meaning of the term and isn't helpful

@pinotnow my children are a bit younger. But I agree with others, those snacks don’t fill them up. You can still buy pasta pretty cheaply. My oldest nephew makes a pasta bake with just pasta, a tin of tomatoes and some grated cheese on top. It’s not exciting but he likes it and can make a pretty large portion for £2. It fills him up (this is just a snack - supper comes later 🫣).

Im a bore about “snack” foods. They’re mainly just a gimmick that appeals to children and sells itself as a convenience to parents. My children have large bowls of yoghurt with some honey or jam on top and that’s about 5 times cheaper than the muller corner they might sometimes have as a treat. For example.

I used to be anti snacks because of health. Now, it’s also about food prices. I’m feeling the pinch along with almost everyone else and the less processed the food the better the value

It’d not just the convenience foods though. Standard veg and fruit have shot up its nearly a quid for a cucumber or a head of broccoli. Cheapest bag of apples which weren’t tiny 1.49. Frozen sweetcorn is up, peanut butter, cream cheese, yoghurt, bread, butter.pretty much everything you feed your family with has shot up.

Weirdly you can still buy cheap biscuits for 30p or something.

It is mental isn’t it. I am also finding Aldi and Lidl aren’t that much cheaper than other supermarkets any more.

It’s long been acknowledged that the French spend a bigger percentage of their incomes on food. Always have. Where has higher wages? We always want something for nothing. It’s our culture. We don’t value home produced food. We want seasonal
foid all year round. We need to change and cook seasonally .

We do not cook enough because we are time poor. However I don’t buy all those snacks and never have. Blackberries in May are a luxury too. It is not that difficult to adjust what you buy. Most of us like a few luxuries, of course, but if I’m sticking to a budget I don’t buy snacks, out of season fruit, and look for good value items. Imported food will always be expensive - all those airmiles!

Will they eat tortilla chips and dip? Aldi ones are about 45p, I get a big tub of greek yoghurt and mix that with ranch dressing powder for a slightly healthier dip. Throw them a few carrot sticks too and the yoghurt is filling

Greek yoghurt + banana + walnuts with some honey
Beans on toast (provided they don't want Heinz!)
Toasties? They're good for using up bits of cheese and meat or veg
Aldi oat biscuits (like hobnobs) are about 50p
Egg wraps - make an omelette but you only need 1-2 eggs, add a wrap on top so it sticks to the egg, flip it, add some cheese/ham/tomatoes and fold
Cereal or porridge is always a good one and if you get own brand it's not too pricey
If they like tuna you can bulk it out - I add chopped red onion, red pepper, sweetcorn, chopped gherkins, mayo, a tiny bit of mustard and sometimes lemon juice. Turns a small tin of tuna into a decent sandwich filling
Frozen jacket potatoes

I would try and have less choice maybe? So pick 2 savoury snacks and 2 sweet plus fruit for the week and that's it

To be fair you can't put 1kg tub of yoghurt in a lunch box easily

We used to have OJ in the fridge all the time as kids were poor at eating fruit but it's just unaffordable now. I too am shocked at the shrinkflation, literally everything is smaller- even things like Rich tea biscuits, bagels etc.

All that processed meat is a category 1 carcinogen. I make no bake protein bars for DS (19) to snack on or even boiled eggs would be cheaper and so much better for them.

These, they are really easy
https://www.jaroflemons.com/no-bake-oatmeal-protein-bars/

I'd guess an egg would be comparable to a fridge raider?

This week I’ve spent £80 in Tesco, £50 in Sainsbury’s and then another £25 in Tesco. Last week it was £75 in Sainsbury’s and the same in Aldi. So £150/week for a small family without treats, washing powder, shampoo, pet food etc. A few years ago I’d get to £75 and think that was huge for a weekly shop. It’s really hard as the most basic of things are so expensive now. I also saw a packet of chocolate digestives that were super slimmed down - smaller diameter, fewer in the packet but the same price as ever - the other day. Shrinkflation at its finest.

@tikkanaan you decant some yoghurt into a pot. Then it’s washed up and used again. And again. Cheaper and so much less packaging going to landfill.

Good idea. I might get some pots in. Thanks

I bought 12 eggs for over £5 today. There were so few in the shop I had to buy the expensive ones.

I kind of agree with this.

Food in the UK is really cheap compared to some other countries.

I mean, of course that doesn’t help when prices are rising, but people really do need to realise we’re very lucky.

My DC get Greek yoghurt in a airlock tub with frozen berries at the bottom and a sprinkling of muesli and honey on top everyday in their lunchbox. The berries keep it refrigerated.

Sneaky bastards.

I put it back in disgust.

It is scary how much things are and how fast they’re going up.

@tikkanaan these come in loads of sizes