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?

Bought a small 1 kg smoked ham joint (to cook) in Sainsburys for £5, so 100g for 50p, 50g for 25p. How big a pack of cooked ham for 20p? But probably 50% water anyway and tasteless! (The Sainsburys joint was very nice btw and did a main meal and a load of sliced for a salad and sandwiches).

Sainsbury's frozen mixed veg 99p for a kilogram bag.... Nothing wrong with frozen nutritionallly.

I usually cook with the cheaper veg so onions, carrots, tinned tomatoes
I do like salads but I get the cheap cherry tomatoes, tinned sweetcorn, pickle some red onion myself..
Frozen veg for with meals

Fruit I stick to apples and bananas, or frozen mixed berries. Summer I mainline British strawberries as I love them
Love mango but too expensive

Oh and I get tinned pears and peaches too

A carrot or brown onion is about 10p, a red onion, potato, parsnip about 20p. There are plenty of cheap vegetables available.

Eat local seasonal food. Much cheaper.

Spinach and leeks are never cheap. Spring greens, carrots, cabbage and potatoes are about the cheapest veg you get. You can eat veg cheaply, but with very little variety. I know because we do this.

One parsnip does not go very far.

@Mumoftwo1312 leeks are really expensive in my local supermarkets! But I agree overall - seasonal food is the way forward. I bought the Tesco bags of carrots, onions, swede, potato, white cabbage, for 15p each last week. And red cabbage is also very cheap.

Frozen peas and broad beans and sweetcorn, lots of tinned beans… these also help.

And yellow stickers food - I know it’s not always possible to shop at the right times to get the offers but if you can, you can pick up bargains.

Also trying to use the whole vegetable- so the leaves of the cauliflower and celery as well as the bit you usually eat.

I grow my own herbs and chilli peppers on my windowsill.

The 15p veg is a loss leader and only available for about 7 days in the year.

There is a bit of cloth cutting room for some people. I know there will be some people making those exact choices but by and large, not many people who cook with a red pepper and garlic will be buying 20p ham and custard creams.

Frozen red peppers are available as an alternative, garlic cloves can be planted, packaging can be reused and soil is given away on facebook so you can grow entire bulbs from single cloves on your kitchen windowsill.

It's not convenient but it is possible.

Everything has gone up, going up and sizes are getting smaller.

We have tried our own brands and I actually prefer them as often they have less salt and sugar - the own brands are fish fingers after a lifetime of Birdseye.

It's only going to get worse.

Arable land is decreasing and the emerging middle class in countries like China and India are competing with us.

We've had a couple of generations of lots of cheap food. That's not the norm, really, in human history.

I definitely buy peppers - all colours but green , cheapest custard creams as teen inhales them .

i don’t think my household is that unique in that I do try cooking from scratch but we also eat processed food .

I do agree with pp.. often unbranded tastes great very little I buy branded now

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

I’ve just bought carrots, onions and turnips for 45p, couple with lentils (half a £3.00 bag) I’ll make soup which will cover lunch for three of us for under £2 plus a stock cube. There’s no processed shit that would give me 4 days of lunch for that amount.

Another question. Should anyone ‘have’ to buy only tinned fruit and veg, if you work and earn two decent salaries? Why has it got to the point where peppers and spinach etc are for the rich.

I'm comparing to the price of a pepper. The OP just picked a more expensive fruit and veg item, there are plenty cheaper.

A pack of custard creams gives you nothing, absolutely nothing, except empty calories. Unless you are seriously underweight then it's just a waste of money. As a treat, something to have with coffee if you are skipping meals, yes, for nutrition, no.

4 pack of orange juice from Asda was £3.50 not too long ago and it's now £5.50. I'd love to know why.

I don’t buy tinned and frozen because they’re cheap, I do it to save food waste. I can use exactly what I need without having half a cauliflower left over. I’d buy fresh peppers if I needed them for a recipe, and have something cheaper another day to balance out the cost.

I think it is a pretty rich lifestyle if your buying fresh fruit and veg out of season for every meal.

I'm a lone parent on one low salary and I buy those things. I'd say the issue is elsewhere in your finances.

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

Seasonal is the key. 🤷 It is that simple. I always go after seasonal and non seasonal are just an add on. Fruit and veg are still cheap in UK. Even though people keep moaning about cost because they are buying blueberries in January....

I got 2 leeks for 32p this morning in the bargain bin, looking forward to making a nice chicken soup from the easter sunday chicken carcass !

Food where I live (rural) is and has been a lot more expensive than those prices for a long time, but agree with those that say the cheapest way (and best for the environment) is to shop in season, and locally.

As for the 20p ham, unless it's decent ham reduced then no thank you, I'd rather eat something else!

I can afford it. I just think the prices are horrendously too high.

What do you think is reasonable to pay for a pepper if 60p is too high?