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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Cost of food 😱

42 replies

shellyleppard · 28/06/2025 14:45

Just been to our local fete at the park. Lady selling loaded cookies.....£14 for 4 !!!! AIBU to think this is very expensive?? There was someone selling churros 4 for £6, pick and mix £2.49 . These seem more reasonable prices or am I just getting tight fisted with money in my old age 🤣🤣

OP posts:
Laura95167 · 28/06/2025 23:12

SnowflakeSmasher86 · 28/06/2025 18:43

As someone with a baking business I attend a lot of these events and that sounds pretty standard.

As others have said, there’s a lot of overheads for small businesses. Bear in mind the stall probably cost £25-50 depending on where it is. So before they even start turning a profit they need to sell up to £50 worth of stuff. There will be fees to take out of each sale for using a card machine, the cost of a box, so maybe £1-1.50 on each set of 4 has gone.

Have you seen the price of chocolate these days? I buy bags of Belgian chocolate chips that were £25 last year and are £40+ this year.

If they’re putting Buenos, Creme eggs or Reeces etc in the cookies, that’s easily another £1 or 2 gone on fillings, plus butter at £2 a pack, brown sugar, costs a bloody fortune, good vanilla extract is £6-7 a pot for 60g which will be £1 a batch of 8 or 12 cookies.

Add that up and include even minimum wage for the baker (plus the time for their assistant to stand on the stall with them if they have one) and your cookies all of a sudden look cheap!!

If you’re comparing them to a pack of 4 from Tesco for £1.50 obviously they look like a lot, but it’s a completely different product and experience.

All that being said, nobody is forcing you to buy them, but if you want to support artisan bakers and entrepreneurs then maybe consider the value you get rather than the price.

A freddo pack now has 4 in (down from 5 last month and 6 18months ago) and it's £1.25

4 multipack of cadbury anything (whisper, caramel, dairy milk, twirl)is at least £2 now usually £3 I'm not surprised artisan cakes cost that when even the cheap ingredients are expensive

19lottie82 · 28/06/2025 23:14

AppleWhichWatch · 28/06/2025 22:49

Yes, I'm well aware of what they're like thank you & £3.50 IS ridiculous in MY opinion,

you are entitled to your own opinion, it doesn't make it fact.

Most loaded cookies I’ve seen are £4-5. So £3.50 is lower than average. Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

IwasDueANameChange · 28/06/2025 23:40

Im a decent homebaker and in all honesty can rarely justify paying to buy this sort of thing. The equipment required is stuff I (and most people) have at home already, i can save on energy by baking at the same time as our evening meal, and i don't need to pay myself a wage for my time. This means I can make something with the best quality ingredients etc for far less.

Wolmando · 29/06/2025 07:19

It's not really food that you have to have, it's a treat type food which is often expensive

Mikart · 29/06/2025 07:50

I bought 2 brownies at our local deli yesterday...£9.
They were sublime

MyCyanReader · 29/06/2025 07:55

I guess they're just for people who can't be bothered to make them themselves.

greengreyblue · 29/06/2025 07:56

tumblingdowntherabbithole · 28/06/2025 14:46

That's pretty standard for an independent bakery.

It’s a fete!

greengreyblue · 29/06/2025 07:58

To be fair op, this is not the cost of food. This is people trying to fundraise and get what they can for the cause.
Get yourself down to Lidl or make them yourself.

Bjorkdidit · 29/06/2025 08:00

I'd imagine loaded cookies are more fiddly to make than brownies, where you just melt the chocolate, butter and sugar together, stir in flour, eggs and nuts/choc chips etc and pour into a tin and bake so very quick and easy to make and not expensive using value chocolate bars, which are perfectly decent quality.

CeeJay81 · 29/06/2025 08:14

I bought 2 loaded cookies at Millies (Haven park) yesterday, 2 for £6. A local lady has a business selling simular products (which are delicious) at our local weekly market and sells them for a simular price. That price is pretty much the norm now for these products unless you buy from the supermarket. It does seem expensive but it's not something you buy every day. It's a treat. I'd much rather give a local lady the money, than a big corporation like Millies.

Fearfulsaints · 29/06/2025 08:21

It does feel expensive initially, but these loaded cookies use a lot of expensive ingredients. if its someone's business you also pay a bit of the other business costs.

I know the first time i made a cake for the school fair voluntarily, then saw how much they sold it for, it would have been more cost effective to just donate money as my ingredient cost was high for the cake I made.

dottiedodah · 29/06/2025 08:41

Well I have never heard of a loaded cookie before! (Need to try one now defo) These sort of outdoor events are normally marked up though, My friend says that they are no different from SB TTD or Tesco finest.You are paying for the experience of eating them in a nice place,someones home baking and some money for the fete

greengreyblue · 29/06/2025 09:33

A proper old fashioned church fete is usually cheaper . I avoid artisan or farmers’ markets as they are sooo pricey. I’m a reasonable cook so I’m not paying £10 for a pot of jam that costs pence to make! We call those events the ‘I saw you coming’ market in homage to that Harry Enfield sketch.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=AgysRim_zT4&source_ve_path=OTY3MTQ&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

tumblingdowntherabbithole · 29/06/2025 09:49

AppleWhichWatch · 28/06/2025 22:49

Yes, I'm well aware of what they're like thank you & £3.50 IS ridiculous in MY opinion,

you are entitled to your own opinion, it doesn't make it fact.

So presumably you don’t think the baker should make any kind of profit if you think £3.50 is a ridiculous price?

tumblingdowntherabbithole · 29/06/2025 09:50

greengreyblue · 29/06/2025 07:56

It’s a fete!

But the baker will still have the same overheads and costs. I think a lot of people on here have absolutely no idea how expensive it is to run your own business and make a profit.

greengreyblue · 29/06/2025 09:51

tumblingdowntherabbithole · 29/06/2025 09:50

But the baker will still have the same overheads and costs. I think a lot of people on here have absolutely no idea how expensive it is to run your own business and make a profit.

But it’s not my responsibility to pay their bills. I have mine to pay.

tumblingdowntherabbithole · 29/06/2025 10:01

greengreyblue · 29/06/2025 09:51

But it’s not my responsibility to pay their bills. I have mine to pay.

Of course it's not your responsibility, but that doesn't mean they're charging too much either.

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