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?

Sorry you felt it was passive aggressive, that wasn’t the intention. I think one vegetable that doesn’t create a whole meal should be less than 60p, because I just do… because people have to live.

Still waiting to hear what the OP expects to be “done about it”.

The government enforcing lower energy prices? The government ensuring fuel prices are lower, the government easing other pressures for people such as raising the personal allowance for the first time in forever?

I find fresh healthy food cheaper
When I am being healthy my food bill is much cheaper.

Foods coming from the EU (like most fresh vegetables) have increased in price significantly sine Brexit. The reason is bc now, UK food buyers have to pay tariffs to import food from the EU and have additional non-tariff costs. Yess, food costs have increased in the EU too but not remotely as much as here.

Totally disingenuous. Vegetables are only this cheap for about 7 days a year as a loss leader. Normally a bag of carrots would be about 80p, a turnip about 70p and onions about 80p. I make soup often and you need herbs and pepper, just vegetables and a stock cube make a very bland soup.

Normally a bag of carrots would be about 80p, a turnip about 70p and onions about 80p.

Ok so normally closer to £4, it’s still lunch for 3 of us for £1 a day, I can’t buy processed crap to feed us effectively 12 meals for £4.

At my local supermarket in France these are the prices for standard versions of veg (price in Euros) :
Red pepper 3,99/kg (I got two for 1,67)
Broccoli 3,19/kg (until v recently it was 4,99/kg)
Cauliflower 3,59 each
Savoy cabbage 2,95 each
Carrots 1,99/kg
Potatoes 1,60/kg
Avocado 1,89 each or three pack for 2,45
Onion 2,59/kg

I think we have got used to paying far too little for food in the UK.

All I’ll say is I’m staggered by the amount of sanctimonious and judgemental comments. Just wow

But surely you won't be feeding 4 on 1 Iceland ready meal.
You need 4. So that's £4 assuming no big appetites.
So that is not a 75p lettuce and 25p onion.

That's 2 cans black beans 59p ea, 1 60p courgette, 1 60p pepper, 1 25p onion (but cheaper ones will do) 2 30p sweet potato, a 40p can chopped tomatoes, tablespoon harissa.

We have a really good weekly market in my town (a normal working French town, not a tourist destination) but even that's changing. Fewer people using it and it's becoming much more of a niche organic market than a place to buy good value locally grown stuff.

When I was at uni in 2000 I could barely manage on £20 for a weekly shop and that included buying value for almost everything and cooking from scratch.
So if you were spending the same in 2017 it shows how little things went up in those 17 years and how massive price adjustments were needed

@updownleftrightstart or maybe the things we need to survive, such as food, shouldn't be a source of huge profit for supermarkets? Sure the branded items etc., makes sense, but the basics like fruit and vegetables, real good bread etc., shouldn't be so expensive that it's £50 a week to shop for one person

How many?!

I got four organic ones in Waitrose earlier for £10…

I don’t live in U.K. but here for Easter. Horrified at £35 for a leg of lamb in Sainsburys.

I bought a leg of lamb in Sainsbury's this morning for £11. I was more horrified by the half-leg at £14.

I’d say 4 in the pack?

FFS peppers do not in any culture constitute a staple food!
"People have to live" what laughable bollocks!
You're making out that this one non native vegetable is some kind of essential to our diet

And name me ONE vegetable that constitutes a "whole meal"? Chips?

@BMW6 it's part of the wider picture.

When fruit and veg can cost £30 a week and it's not a fully meal, it's obvious why people head for lower quality food.

I often make soup. You still have no herbs or pepper and salt added. If you are getting 12 bowls of soup from a turnip and a bag of carrots and lentils, it is a fairly liquid soup. Absolutely fine for lunch, but not that many calories. You can get a pizza for a £1 to share that has more calories and uses way less energy to cook.

I am in the category of poorer, but not bones of my arse. I cook a lot from scratch and I know that cooking from scratch is cheaper than buying ready made healthy options. I also know if I had less money, I could not afford to cook like this. I can pay my energy bills. I am not on an expensive pre pay meter.

I think well off people playing at cooking healthy cheap meals have zero understanding of the real costs, and of how cheap processed food is. They compare processed food you can buy in Waitrose with cooked from scratch, rather than processed foods from Heron Foods or similar.

Aldi's quite good value. They had 15 pence veg when I last went there.

Value apple juice doesn’t count as 1 of your 5 a day. Loads of fruit and veg is cheap - any essential range apples, carrots, broccoli etc. it’s what food should cost. UPFs should have a heavy tax, used to make healthy food cheaper.

Where and what Fruit and Veg are you buying that can possibly cost £30pw? Seriously?

I really want to know how this is such a problem.

@BurgerBuns Really!!!
Is that the only time you have been to ALDI? Do you not know it is an offer before Easter that is repeated before Christmas? So for about 7 days a year you can buy super cheap veg. It is a loss leader.

@BMW6 literally any shop! It's okay to not be affected by the cost of living crisis but it is a thing.

@BMW6 Very easy if you buy expensive fruit like berries. I have porridge in the morning. If you see people on MN talking about porridge they nearly always add berries or other nice but expensive fruit.