Food is not expensive

[ragandbonewoman]

That is it really. I suppose I’m curious as to whether people agree or disagree with me. This follows a conversation I’ve just had with a friend where we disagreed on this point, but it’s something I’ve really noticed as things (life, not just food) have become more expensive. Lots and lots of people complaining that food is “so expensive” We are actually in the fortunate position of being able to spend less than the majority of the rest of the world (relative to our income) to follow a healthy diet.

Yes food has gone up. But (and I admit this is an anecdotal observation) food waste is prolific. I think we need to change our outlook. We should be prepared to pay more, especially for meat, to ensure that suppliers, farmers, animal welfare, are all getting a fair deal. I’ve always found it ridiculous that you can buy a whole chicken for £5! How?! And then people readily admit they throw half of it away.

Is this unreasonable? Food is important. People on the absolute breadline might have little choice, but for those that can take a little slack from elsewhere, they should. And stop complaining that you can’t get a tin of beans for 9p anymore! Stop throwing food in the bin because you feel like eating something else. Or AIBU?

Supermarkets have been recording record profits.

I agree. Food isn't expensive and should, in fact, be more expensive to ensure fairer prices for farmers and better quality nutrition for consumers.

A much smaller proportion of our income goes towards food now than previous times in history.

The problem is that housing is much too expensive. If we could all afford a roof over our heads for, say, a quarter of our income (as was previously the case) then we'd have no problem paying for good food.

It's a similar story with clothes. We're buying crap, cheaply made clothes rather than quality items that will actually last.

I spend 3 months each year in Catalunya for work, most items are a lot dearer than the uk, tomatoes this year are cheaper but brown onions and potatoes cost lots more as does washing powder and pasta items etc. And wages are lower over there and housing only a little cheaper.

I think food is expensive, especially considering the number of food banks required. Fortunately we’re not in that position.

What I do believe is cost is affordable for eating healthy compared to “unhealthy”, the problem is people often want/need convenience which is where cost/health is impacted.

I think food prices have been going down for years, so much that people just got used to them as normal. So now prices are going up again, people are going to feel the shock of it. I think we really need to think about food security and eating more UK grown produce - which will be more expensive. At the same time, I think what is happening to energy and water prices is a scandal.

People can argue otherwise but we objectively have nearly the cheapest food in the world comparative to our income. From memory on the US has cheaper food comparative to income. It is hugely subsidised by the tax payer.

Retired, on a moderate pension income, grow most of our own veg and fruit, but the only meat we can afford is mince and one chicken breast. 1 lb mince makes a tomato-y savoury dish (own frozen tomatoes) that lasts the two of us 3 days, served with potatoes, pasta or sweet potatoes (our own). Chicken makes a stew, with vegetables, or a Thai curry which lasts 2 days. A can of tuna makes a large salad, with carrots, lettuce, avocado (own), hard boiled egg, grated cheese. DH makes bread with wholemeal flour, and though liver is hard to get hold of, when he can, he makes a delicious liver and onions. I freeze figs, apples and pears in summer, and have them with yoghurt, and we have tons of oranges through the winter. I make all my own jam, marmalade and chutney from our own trees.
A lot of work, but we would never cope with the food bills otherwise.

I really don't know how young families cope. It really is a scandal that food is so dear, when we live in a land of plenty. I donate most of my fruit production to the community, as there are so many people in need.

Food expensiture will be dependant on your outgoings, for example,i was made redundant without warning ten years ago with a massive mortgage and not a penny assistance from the state, i took a few part time minimum wage jobs,was working around the clock and for 3 of us had little more that £30 a week for food,food came last after the bills hence i Dropped down to 7 stone, .. everyone is in different circumstances that’s what you have to remember

Why do you not eat free range meat, OP? What other expenses do you have that you prioritise over animal welfare?

But what kind of food do you buy that's not expensive ? Frozen and tinned foods.

I'm curious as to what diet you lead

YABU food has become very expensive, especially during the last 3 years and takes a much larger slice of many people's disposable income. In part this hasn't been helped by out of control energy costs. Even food banks are struggling to get donations so things must be bad and increasing numbers of people are relying on these services.
The OP's post is tone deaf.

I remember when I could spend £12-£15 a week in Asda, maybe 15-20 years ago

Admittedly I eat better now, but couldn't do less than £120 a month at Aldi.

The answer is eating more beans and lentils i.e. more vegetarian meals.

@ragandbonewoman lots of food is expensive, we have stopped buying ceetain foods as age prices have just increased hugely, and we certainly woukd not throw away half a chicken, we hardly have any food waste.

I agree with OP. Food as a proportion of household spending is actually really low compared to other times in human history. There is an incredible amount of food waste. I don’t see why animals should suffer to lower the cost of food for everyone else. There are alternative sources of protein which cost less.

The thing I find tricky is that while as a country our food costs are lower than others, we also have far higher other living costs and lower wages. Additionally it seems to have become cheaper to eat UPF crap ready meals and snacks than to buy ingredients and cook / bake from scratch - how has that happened? Another issue is that back along the average family only had one working parent, with the other at home with plenty of time to prepare and cook food. Nowadays most families have to have two working adults just to make ends meet so they are also time-poor. We are educated, understand nutritional needs and are mid-income, fairly financially comfortable and yet I still find I end up buying occasional ready meals and often buy a few pre-packaged snacks for lunches most weeks. I do also bake as well, but only when I get time, as we are a very busy working family with children at school. I try to mostly cook from scratch but it’s simply not always possible.

Food costs have increased dramatically over the past 5 years and maybe it depends what circles you move in, but I don’t know anyone who regularly wastes food as it is too expensive!

You are right. Food is cheap in the UK. However, poverty is such that it's still a problem for some people.

my expenses aren’t out of the ordinary. Take home is somewhere around £3200 between us. We’ve got monthly mortgage repayment of £1k, and some debt we’ve shifted to interest free credit cards that we are repaying, £170 council tax a month, £90 water rates plus the variable gas and electric, pretty much the same as everyone else!

I buy the same as the majority of others, a mixture of pulses, fruit, veg, meat, fish. We only eat meat/ fish twice a week so more vegetarian food.

my point is not that it’s a breeze for me, or I don’t feel the expense. I do. But I don’t think it’s “expensive”. I think it should cost this much, for the producers and suppliers on the way, to pave the way for higher regard for animal welfare, to stop the squeezing of costs further down the food chain that will only lead to a reduction in quality. It’s excellent value in this country, more so than the the majority of others

@ragandbonewoman - I was more meaning non-essentials, like, I don’t know, Netflix, etc.

what do you spend on non-essentials that you could spend/choose to spend on animal welfare, if you choose to eat meat a couple of times a week?

This is spot on. Unfortunately I think a lot of people don’t have proper cooking or nutrition skills or very much time. I also think a lot of people in uk have got very fussy & are reliant on processed or more fancy foods.
we need to make cooking quality low cost food a priority in schools and spending a lot more time than 1 hour a week of the school curriculum on it. It takes a lot of practice if anything like me to learn how to chop things up safely. I could use some lessons.
Im not really a fan of royal family but Charles has been advocating for these cooking skills for decades. There will always be people who will be low income the most positive life skill would be to teach cooking and money management & reading electricity meter type stuff and repairing/sewing skills rather than learning about rocks higher maths skills etc.

also have to add when I was poor single mum I was healthier on porridge twice a day and boiled eggs tuna sweetcorn jacket potatoes than a much more extravagant food shop 6 years on.

I also literally cannot understand how so many takeaway shops there are & still thriving. they are expensive & we earn decent money but still couldn’t afford them without serious cuts elsewhere. It’s only very recently that the average Brit has bought so much food from meal deals to takeaways to meals and coffee out. Thus wasn’t normal in 70s 80s or 90s. And the health of the nation is poorer it has had to have had an effect

I disagree. Food is a lot more expensive. My food shop has probably doubled. 4 years ago I paid £7.95 for a tin of baby milk and now with my son it's £10.50. We spend about £20 a week on fruit though as my children live strawberries, blueberries and yogurts. I like to make lasagna or stew and make it last a few days but the price of mince has gone up a few pounds and so has things like cheese. I've also noticed a lot of things has less in. Cat food has gone from 100g to 80g.

Why are you buying them expensive fruit? These are seasonal- bat shit crazy

YANBU
In the UK, the proportion of income spent on food has significantly decreased over the past six decades, from about 33% in 1957 to around 16% today (ONS stats).
We cannot expect quality food that’s also cheap.

I bought some loose ginger today from Sainsbury’s , about the length of my hand (two bits but roughly added up to length of my hand) and it was £1.20 ish 🤷‍♀️

This.