To be horrified at the price of food

[Thorts]

Single pepper, now 60p - everywhere.
Apple juice - 99p everywhere for the cheap stuff

How are people supposed to eat fresh fruit and veg daily (and the right amount) with these prices?

If you were to look at processed food however; pack of ham 20p, custard creams 20p, garlic bread 35p.

You could get two of all the processed items mentioned for less price than one pepper and one carton of 1L value Apple juice.

Surely something needs to be done?

I didn't notice the small increases, just the overall increase in monthly food bill until a few weeks ago.

The price per kg of veg has really shot up. I didn't often pay attention to prices but I remember about 3 or 4 years ago when I was weighing some small amounts of loose veg and noticed the carrot was 7p, the onion was 15p etc and thinking it was mad that people said it was cheaper to eat processed food. A few weeks ago I was making the same dish and most things were 50% more expensive. It was still cheap but that's a huge increase for such a short space of time.

Food has been really too cheap in the uk for a long time. Supermarket competition and power meant farmers being squeezed to the bone & consumers sold produce on absolutely wafer thin margins, in stores staffed by badly paid staff. If you went to a lot of parts of europe its been more expensive there for years. Also true of australia etc.

So - there was a reduction in people willing to produce the food in the uk (because they weren't paid enough). Less supply = higher prices.

Supermarket staff are having to be paid a bit more. Higher prices.

You still can buy a lot if you are on a budget but you don't get much choice & have to shop really carefully

Where can I find this 20p packet of ham?

Loose carrots and bananas are still very cheap. Small bananas are about 10p each at my local asda.

Where do you buy ham for 20p

But yes, food prices are ridiculous.

Where are you buying a packet of ham for 20p??

A lot of it is about seasonal eating. It’s just coming towards the end of winter, in the UK. Peppers have to be cultivated elsewhere and transported in. That costs money. You can buy winter and early spring vegetables relatively cheaply in both supermarkets and markets. Yes, food is more expensive than it used to be, but I don’t buy the argument that people eat junk simply because it’s so much cheaper. People eat junk because McDonalds is more immediately gratifying than a salad and doughnuts are the type of fatty, sugary goodness we’re biologically programmed to eat based on evolving in environments of food scarcity.

We regularly make stews in our Instant Pot and can end up with 10 good sized portions of dinner made of fresh chicken, pulses and vegetables for not much more than £10 total in ingredients. It’s not mega expensive to eat well.

At the mo major supermarkets have offers on veg for 20p .

I paid £1 for cheap ham and garlic bread was 79 p

where are you shopping?

What @SkyBloo said.

There’s too much UPF available and at absolutely stupid prices comparing to fresh food.

I was buying leeks for our roast tomorrow this morning. Put two (admittedly very big) on the self weigh scales and it came to about £2.50!! I put one back and just got the one for £1.44. Honestly couldn’t believe it.

Where is garlic bread 35p?

If you can get to Tesco you can stock up on some cheap veg today, Christmas style 15p on some veg

I'm sure the value garlic bread in Aldi and Lidl costs about that

Well given that a pepper takes around 3 months to grow to harvestable size, and will either have been grown in a heated, lit glasshouse in the UK or under glass elsewhere in Europe, probably heated, harvested, probably by hand, and then transported to the UK, while leaving a profit for the grower that grew them and the retailer that sold them £0.60 seems pretty cheap to me. And processed ham for 20p seems very unlikely so I think you are being unreasonable and unrealistic. If you want cheap vegetables then buy what’s in season in the UK at the moment - a kilo of carrots is £0.65 in Aldi, and reduced to £0.15p over Easter. Cabbage, kale, potatoes are also in season and relatively cheap.

I agree, processed shit is cheaper than real food, especially fresh fruit and vegetables.

However if you buy frozen veg and use dry pulses, you can eat cheaply and healthy.
It really depends what you are used to buy and cook... and that's an other discussion!

I think 20p ham = 🤮🤮🤮

Ham for 20p ? That would surely be exceptionally poor quality ?

I agree with this.

Food in the UK has been very very cheap for a very long time. (I always remember thinking wtf to find that the same weight, and brand of made- in- Italy pasta in Italy cost twice as much, in Italy than it did in Asda)

Lidl had the same - big bag of carrot for .15p. Swede, cabbage (and a few other bits I can’t remember) at .15p each too.

But yeah, mostly food prices (especially fresh stuff) are absolutely ridiculous now.

Asda do a very cheap garlic bread for about that amount.

Bananas are known as "loss leaders" in supermarkets. Price is low to attract customers in store.

20p ham, if it exists, is not something I would want to eat.

I live in Spain and food is very expensive here too. Olive oil is the most shop lifted item in supermarkets. The weather has a lot to do with prices as it affects harvests and there’s been very little rain here. There isn’t anything that can be done about it that I can see - what do you suggest?

Lots of vegetables are rather inexpensive I think, especially when bought in season. A big bag of greens for less than a pound, carrots, broccoli etc. Lots of people would just rather eat poorly.

100% agree with this.

I also think that a lot of people simply don't have the skills to know how to make cheap healthy meals by using what is in season and end up spending a fortune on food.

I was taught to cook by my gran (born 1906 and raised 3 children on very little through the war). I am so grateful for the skills she passed on to me! I have taught my dd to cook and she teaches her friends!

Buy seasonal veg that's uk-grown.

In spring you can have spring greens, spring onion, red cabbage, potatoes, spinach, leeks, carrots. For fruit, apples, pears.

If you want stuff out of season, consider buying it frozen or tinned. It keeps much of its goodness

I agree, it’s about clever buying, rather than trying to have things out of season. I bought a bag of parsnips for 19p yesterday, and a savoy cabbage for something like 30p. Frozen veg can be cheaper, and is fine for everyday dinners. A kilo of sliced peppers costs 99p.

Yep. I'm in Italy and olive oil, cheese and things like packets of ham etc are all tagged.

I was thinking about the 60p pepper in the UK. One single one here would be about €1,20. Strawberries are in full season now (nearer to the end than the beginning) and I paid €2,99 for a small punnet this morning which had €1 off.