Page 7 | To think this increase in cost is going to break me?

Yummmyy · 2025-02-01T18:42:06+00:00

I earn a decent salary. Whenever I go to Tesco for a basic food shop, sone items are going up literally 50p plus within a matter of two weeks. Orange juice was 2.20 for Tesco’s basic, the most expensive 4.30!! Yes I know orange juice isn’t an essential but when you’re well above minimum wage and have to cut something like that out of your food shop it does make you question what’s the point… anyone else relate to this? I just don’t know where it’s going to end

Porcuporpoise · 01/02/2025 21:41

JudgeJ · 01/02/2025 21:36

The other problem with growing your own is that your harvest coincides with the product being plentiful and quite cheap. We grew corn on the cob one year and had hundreds!

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I'm really selective with what I grow on my allotment and grow things like soft fruit that are expensive to buy in the shops. So in a way we break even, but the truth is, if we didn't grow our own, we just wouldn't eat kilos of strawberries, raspberries etc

So yes, nice hobby but you'd have to be a he'll of grower to actually save money.

Elle771 · 01/02/2025 21:42

Truth25 · 01/02/2025 19:07

I'm originally not from here and one of the things I will always disagree on is the price of food. It's really dirt cheap and people must not have travelled or just lived only in this country to not know what expensive food is. Ironically a lot of fruit and veg is imported from my home country and dirt cheap if you had to buy it there!
Oh and there's things like yellow stickers, offers on everything going and so MANY different grocery stores not to mention farmers markets all over the place.

I've literally just said to dh the other day that I have done a full week food shop from M&S and it was around 60 and we cook Almost everything from scratch for a family of 4. I appreciate what you are saying op, as that's how you feel.
To me food is one of the cheapest things about this country.

What are you getting for £60 to feed a family of 3 for a week from M&S???

(Not snarky genuinely pls tell me haha!)

WhitegreeNcandle · 01/02/2025 21:42

strawberrybubblegum · 01/02/2025 21:39

@WhitegreeNcandle have things got better for farmers with supermarket contracts?

I had heard previously that the supermarkets put really unfair pressure on farmers to sell their produce at below-cost prices - taking advantage of their buying monopoly.

My impression was that this was the biggest thing we should pressure supermarkets over, not their cost to shoppers (which we know is much lower than in most countries)

Glad to know if that's got better!

They are much better than they were 20 years ago. To be fair, Tesco were so bad they have kind of gone to the other extreme. I won’t say they are generous but they do verge on fair now in my side of the industry. Sometimes the ones with the worst reputations have to work hard and turn out to be the best. Aldi and McDonalds are two others that do much better than they used to.

ghostfacethriller · 01/02/2025 21:42

I am in no way affiliated with Lidl and I don't have one too near me but I went into one with a relative in my home town last week and was blown away by how close to brand the own brand products I tried were. They seem to have really taken the time to perfect them. Their cream of tomato soup was as good as and much cheaper for example! My family eats gallons of it. I'd do my main shop there if I could.

rainbowunicorn · 01/02/2025 21:47

tinygingermum · 01/02/2025 19:45

Aldi and Lidl aren’t as cheap as some people always claim they are, I find very little difference in prices and neither are local to me so I would have to travel further to get to them.

The anti processed food brigade seem to be joining this thread to food bash, and I have no idea why because meat prices have also shot up along with fruit and vegetables.

I agree, tesco also price matches Aldi on a huge number of products.
You have to laugh at some of the previous response 'is it processed food that's gone up' it is just a thinly veiled attempt to show how much better they are than everyone buying processed food.
I agree about meat. We buy most of our meat from a local butcher and they are facing massive increases. This will filter down to the supermarket soon enough. Maybe then the smug won't be so smug.
I think as well supermarkets are slowly reducing quantity. What always used to be 500g of beef mince is now 450g, cooked delicious meat used to be 5 slices or 10.slices now 8 or 4, butter used to be 250g now 200g on some brands. People don't notice this shrinkflation.

StarDolphins · 01/02/2025 21:52

£2.59 olive oil was in Aldi, today £6.79😱 it’s ridiculous how much everything has gone up.

I’m eating very cheap teas at the. Min as I have huge vets bills but even beans on toast has gone up!

Sunshineandrainbow · 01/02/2025 21:53

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Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Sorry to burst your bubble but I can still get a frozen pizza for 97p in Asda. Think it's likely to send it the other way.

herbetta · 01/02/2025 21:53

ilovemyhamster · 01/02/2025 19:26

The price rises are shocking. I
I normally shop in Aldi but popped ti my local Sainsbury's for custard for the fruit crumble I'd made. A small carton of birds custard. £2:40. What the actually f**l

Buy the custard powder - Birds is £1.35 for a big tub in Home Bargains. Much better value for money and takes almost as little time to make / heat.

NotsosunnyShropshire · 01/02/2025 21:53

Thegoatliesdownonbroadway · 01/02/2025 21:21

I don't eat meat, either. You have no idea what animal you are actually getting. I stopped eating meat 15 years ago, when there were rumours that horse meat was getting into the food chain. I quit eating fish when I heard rumours that the tuna were eating humans who had died in a Tsunami.

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Bonkers!

Beesandhoney123 · 01/02/2025 21:53

We make our own bread, we cook from scratch, we are clever with left overs.
We shop with a list and meal plan. We don't buy alcohol, fizzy drinks, I'd say our luxury is cheap coffee, we could always drink water from the tap.

We shop around - but some things are higher at lidl than tesco. Not poncy staff, just normal things!

We shop at the greengrocers in our village because they are cheaper, we like supporting them. They in turn support local smallholders. If their prices go up, then we will have to vote with our feet. We can't afford not to.

There are 4 of us. I'm growing lettuce and tomatoes this year. And garlic. Can't remember last time had olive oil!

When nics go up, it will be worse across the board. Mortgage rates have to come down. Our council tax is going up, food is going up, water bill going up. Wages static because of the nics increase.

We have a freezer in an outbuilding. It will be utilised properly this year, because we are going to meal plan for autumn winter soon and buy special offers where we can.

AyrnotAir · 01/02/2025 21:56

I went to Aldi on Monday. Got my weekly meals in, but had got a new fridge freezer as the other broke so also needed to restock everything so added in loads of extra stuff and had a full trolley and it was 101. Ive noticed Asdas increased quite alot though so will be sticking with Aldi. Tesco is extortionate as is Sainsburys and Morrisons.

Hazel665 · 01/02/2025 21:58

We are thinking that we can't afford meat really now.

IfOnlyYouWouldListen · 01/02/2025 22:06

Housebuy1 · 01/02/2025 18:47

Shop at Lidl or Aldi if you can?

Orange juice has gone up there too! It was 1.60 2 weeks ago for 1 litre, now 1.65 (and it was 1.35 only a few months ago so that's not the only rise)

TaupeMember · 01/02/2025 22:08

tilypu · 01/02/2025 19:49

That's just not true.

The massive profits are because it's a massive business.

In terms of gross revenue, it's the third biggest business in the world. When you look at profit, it's the ninth biggest business in the world. It drops six places - which goes to show that it's profit margin is much lower than the businesses above it.

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Is this a joke?

herbetta · 01/02/2025 22:13

Don't buy everything in one place. Know your prices / research. Buy what you use a lot in bulk when cheap (if you can). Yellow Sticker. Vegetarian. Seasonal. Cook from scratch. Meal Plan.

Use Home Bargains, Farmfoods etc. Buy discounted supermarket shopping vouchers through employee schemes. Use ALL the apps, particularly Nectar / Sainsbury's.

Keep meals, lunches & snacks simple.

We picked enough blackberries to last at least 6 months. Just bought Cauliflower on offer in Morrisons this week - chose the biggest one, but also with the most amount of leaves / stalk etc on. Will use those to add in & make a Cauli Cheese Pasta Bake. Don't waste anything.

Ilovecrispstoomuch · 01/02/2025 22:18

YABU @Yummmyy for posting about food on mumsnet! You’ve awakened the batch / scratch cooking competitive beasts who think life should be a race to the bottom. And let’s not even mention how bad it was in the 80s 🙄🙄🙄

YANBU in general. It’s mental! We should all be able to feed our families decent meals without this level of worry. It’s out of control and feels like it will never end.
orange juice really should be be a luxury!

randoname · 01/02/2025 22:22

Truth25 · 01/02/2025 19:07

I'm originally not from here and one of the things I will always disagree on is the price of food. It's really dirt cheap and people must not have travelled or just lived only in this country to not know what expensive food is. Ironically a lot of fruit and veg is imported from my home country and dirt cheap if you had to buy it there!
Oh and there's things like yellow stickers, offers on everything going and so MANY different grocery stores not to mention farmers markets all over the place.

I've literally just said to dh the other day that I have done a full week food shop from M&S and it was around 60 and we cook Almost everything from scratch for a family of 4. I appreciate what you are saying op, as that's how you feel.
To me food is one of the cheapest things about this country.

Can you share some meal ideas?
I cook from scratch and agree that although prices have gone up, it’s not been as dramatic. But £60/4/m&s is impressive!!!

PassingStranger · 01/02/2025 22:25

GreyCarpet · 01/02/2025 19:11

We shop at Lidl.

My partner does the weekly shop and it's been pretty standard for the last year in terms of what we buy.

When I first started shopping at Lidl, what he bought would have cost around £35. Then for a while, it went up to around £50. Then £75.

£101 it cost last week!

Not even Aldi and Lidl are cheap options anymore.

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You can't get everything you need at lidl or Aldi.

It's the bloody bills keep going which is a nightmare.
I wish people would stand up and refuse to pay the increase in water charges and council tax that we are hearing about.

Areolaborealis · 01/02/2025 22:26

hjfoau · 01/02/2025 19:17

@Truth25 I agree, even in the 90s we were paying a proportionately larger amount of salaries on food, I think it's quite dangerous how much we are wanting to drive down the price of food and it's pushing people to unhealthy options. BUT, I don't blame people for that (big business and shareholders I do) when housing costs have risen as much as they have here people are having to look at where they can make up the cost.

In the 90s you could buy a sack of potatoes and they would keep for a month in the cupboard - now they're sprouting within a few days. The price keeps going up while the quality goes down.

Motharunner · 01/02/2025 22:28

It’s a joke, Tesco say ‘it’s the cost to us, that’s why prices are rising’… but they’re literally making more profit than they’ve ever made!

So no, it’s not the costs to them, when your shareholders are benefitting like never before. It’s not just costs going up is it? I don’t know why we stand for it.

CharlotteCChapel · 01/02/2025 22:29

Antsinmypantsneedtodance · 01/02/2025 19:05

YABU for shopping in Tesco. I've swapped my full weekly shop to Aldi. Apart from 2 items i can't get there everything is Aldi. My weekly food bill for a family of 3 including extras like washing stuff etc. Has gone from.nearly £130-£140 a week at tesco to ~£90 in Aldi. I meal plan and cook from scratch.

Not everyone lives near a discount supermarket, we now live in a town that has a Lidl. Previously to go to Aldi or lidl would have cost £7 plus an awkward bus journey.

strawberrybubblegum · 01/02/2025 22:30

Motharunner · 01/02/2025 22:28

It’s a joke, Tesco say ‘it’s the cost to us, that’s why prices are rising’… but they’re literally making more profit than they’ve ever made!

So no, it’s not the costs to them, when your shareholders are benefitting like never before. It’s not just costs going up is it? I don’t know why we stand for it.

See above. Tesco's profit is 2% turnover. That's not high.

Unpaidviewer · 01/02/2025 22:32

Motharunner · 01/02/2025 22:28

It’s a joke, Tesco say ‘it’s the cost to us, that’s why prices are rising’… but they’re literally making more profit than they’ve ever made!

So no, it’s not the costs to them, when your shareholders are benefitting like never before. It’s not just costs going up is it? I don’t know why we stand for it.

Why shouldn't shareholders benefit?

Bellavida99 · 01/02/2025 22:33

I’ve been so shocked at supermarket prices in the states and in France the last few years I think it’s everywhere and the uk doesn’t seem so bad but it is scary. Butter has gone up nearly £1 more in about a month in Asda

Lilactimes · 01/02/2025 22:33

randoname · 01/02/2025 22:22

Can you share some meal ideas?
I cook from scratch and agree that although prices have gone up, it’s not been as dramatic. But £60/4/m&s is impressive!!!

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I also think water bills are cheap. Mine is around £300 a year which feels good value to have water on tap (!) whenever you want it.