To think prices are still going up almost weekly?

[MissMarplesCat]

Ocado being the worst to my knowledge.

I had a tray of organic chicken in my basket this morning at £8.80.
Loaded it up an another browser a few hours later (to rethink my list) and noticed that now it is showing as £9.28.

My last order of chicken went up by a whopping £2 last week. I am seeing this across the board, in other supermarkets, and also noticed that with Ocado at least, a good deal of it occurred after the new website reboot.

Has anyone else noticed this? The hikes I've seen at Tesco recently are often hidden temporarily by clubcard deals.

I think it depends what you're buying.

Dairy seems to be the same to me. As do crisps/snacks. But cereal has got really expensive. Chicken in Sainsbury's and Aldi/Lidl hasn't really changed since COVID. I've never on my life used Ocado!

Yes it’s absolutely appalling.

Yes - the Sainsbury's Stamford Street King Prawns were £2.80 last week and £3.20 this week.

I've really noticed it in the last month. I've batched a lot of freezer meals using my store cupboard basics so we might be eating those for the next couple of weeks until pay day.

Lidl has been pretty static on prices for months. Fuel keeps going up though!

Yes I agree op ...I'm noticing lots of increases

Do you have a company shop card? I get ocado chicken from there at half price... and freeze loads.. all breasts.

www.companyshop.co.uk/membership

I only use occasionally, not sure what their shop card is?
The chicken is often M&S so not sure if Ocado adding on or not. In store it varies by weight - online a fixed cost, which is irritating!

I am seeing it in crackers, coffee, olives, meat.
What bothers me is it never stops. I wonder if they have a 'ceiling' they have to stop at or lose custom?
I support realistic pricing for good quality but I can't pay almost a tenner for two small fillets. Will have to find cheaper.
Same chicken was around £6.50 early last year so it has incrementally gone up in price three times since then and doesn't seem to be stopping.

Company shop card seems to be means tested? I wouldn't' qualify but I still can't afford expensive chicken. I think it is the way it creeps and doesn't settle that bothers me.

And £3.50 for a handful of non organic figs!

I say this each time I read a thread like this. There should be a march on Westminster over the olive oil prices in Waitrose. Considering pulling my kid out of private school and stock piling the stuff, using the fees. It’s a middle class crisis. On recent occasion I’ve had to use blended olive oil, lord knows why more aren’t campaigning, stop what you are doing and write to your MPs.

This seems unnecessarily antagonistic.

I don't buy organic or shop at the more "fancy" stores because I can't afford to. I do my shopping at Aldi and Tesco... I don't buy figs or olive oil and I buy chicken legs and thighs because they are cheaper.

BUT I have noticed a huge increase in costs over the last 18 months. Our food budget used to get us decent food with various proteins and even treats for the weekend.

Now, I do things like grate carrot and add oats to make a pack of mince do more meals.

Prices are going crazy accross the board, and whilst I agree it seems a bit on the nose when people complain about luxuries being expensive, it's not only them being affected.

OP's complaint is parallel to mine, even though we are clearly in financially different situations.

The COL is terrifying and the question is there, when does it stop? Is there a ceiling on these prices? It is scary not knowing in 5 years whether we will have such poverty in our own country that the majority of people can't afford basic human necessities rather than the minority.

1 in 5 people (according to stats 2 years old) are in poverty. In the UK. In supposedly a rich and privileged country.

Yes we are lucky in many ways, but each year that passes is getting harder.

You have misread my sarcasm, I’m in agreement, food prices (at all stores) are absolutely crazy.

DH bought apple juice a few weeks ago, 99p and the next week it was £1.40

Yes I did an Asda delivery today (I am at that stage when I’ve gone down to the cheapest local one - no car either) and for £113 I only got two baskets full of shopping. Nothing really expensive in there. I could swear that money would preciously have for me 3 baskets.

A lot of the products you mention are driven by harvest and supply chain issues globally: high coffee prices stem from lower production and supply chain issues in the top growing regions, and olives / olive oil are deeply impacted by rising temperatures and severe droughts of Southern Europe in the past two years. Meat being expensive is about increasing global demand as well as low profitability for farmers (and if anything, should be more expensive: farmers often make losses on meat when they need to supply supermarkets who want to sell a whole chicken for £4.)

It doesn’t make things easier for consumers, of course, but things aren’t going to get cheaper whilst producing and transporting them continues to be more expensive. How can there be a ceiling price when an ever increasing number of people across the world want more and more, and the resources to support that cost money.

Shit, sorry. Autism brain makes things like sarcasm hard.

I'm really sorry!!!

Your comment is funny now I'm reading it knowing that ♥️

I suppose they are testing some of them to see how it pans out. If people still pay, they'll keep increasing or phase them out.

Our local Tesco doesn't sell organic meat at all now, their reason was nobody buying it. Same with spuds, good bread and dairy.

I don't think the solution to these problems is accepting low quality cheap food. Unless people can't afford to eat bread, milk and veggies, the gov will not give a damn. Organic is seen as a lifestyle choice for the well off. I am very much not well off! I just preferred things how they used to be - ie, not stuffed with palm oil.

I don't know how we solve these problems since we have a large population, many of whom are on a low income or struggling on a middling income. The quality of everything has took a nose dive to paper over the cracks created by growing inequality, so now many of us are stuck with the lowest common denominator : cheap tat and shipped in food. Unless we are lucky enough to live close to a well stocked store with diverse options.

The price of olive oil is a direct result of a poor harvest in 2023. The forecast for the 2024 crop is looking better and prices should come down. Poultry prices are getting hit by costs associated with bird flu, labour costs and the price of feed. General costs are going up - depot workers and distribution staff can charge a premium because Brexit has made it harder to get staff. The supermarkets are operating on tight margins and they are basically now having to pass on any cost increases to customers, particularly on premium lines. The cost of doing business has increased across the board and it’ll be a while before we see prices flattening.

Ive just got my asda delivery £111 got 4 baskets.
But i think it depends on what we buy.

Not just food. WD 40 has absolutely rocketted up in price. A small can cost me £8.50 earlier. Used to be under half the price.

My favourite yogurts are called Oykos. They used to be £2 for a pack of 4. Tesco - and other places - put them up to £2.50. Sales must have dwindled because they're a steady £2.20 now.

Luckily I'm okay for money.
I don't know what I'd do if l had to eat things l don't like or cheaper meat.. l don't like chicken legs or thighs for example.. but I've been known to make a meal out of " nothing" years ago. My Mum always said if you have potatoes and some eggs you have a meal.
A tin of Cornedbeef too.. make an hash or pasties.

The consumer is being ripped off big time. I reckon inflation is running at 20% because of the rise in supermarket prices.

It's a big old circle. NMW goes up which, let's face it, is the wages of an awful lot of people in the food production chain. So prices nudge up, then the government decides another NMW increase is a winner.