£195 for a beef wellington!

[Blueskybird]

Just that really, are supermarkets now taking the absolute Micky?? I know I don’t have to buy it. I know no one is forcing me to. But seriously how can they actually think it’s ok to demand that price for a Beef wellington that serves 6. Granted it’s in the celebrity chef Christmas range and I’m well aware that we all have different budgets and I absolutely expect to pay for quality but come on, that’s a scandalous price. AIBU to think we have lost the plot with food pricing or would you pay it?

I made one last week and the ingredients came to £118. I would buy one for 195 just to avoid the faff of making it tbh

They’ll be security tags on them 😂

They won’t need security tags, they are going to be hand delivered into the hands of the person they were made to order for, direct from the aga of Tom Kerridge by Santa’s finest elves!

There will always be things in the shops/on-line that people can't afford.

I mean: We were never allowed Cornettoes when I was a child because they were 45p (you have to say that in the right tone of horror) which df thought was ridiculous. I mean ice cream's were only thre'pence when he were a lad.
Should Cornettoes have been banned?

And when you go on holiday, do you think that that holiday's abroad shouldn't be allowed because there's people who can't afford them?
Or what about expensive bottles of wine?
Or expensive cars
Or houses? Maybe people shouldn't be allowed to own a house over £300k because we couldn't afford that...

There seems to be an indignation when "I" can't afford something but no problem when it's something others can't afford.

And I wouldn't pay that amount for a meal, but Beef Wellington is a faff to make, and, if it's got good beef in, may well not be making a lot of profit for M&S, so it may be a fair price for it.

I am now imagining the Gregg's version!

😂😅😄

DH bought a whole fillet of beef earlier this year (daft idea) and paid about £135. We gave a party of eight fillet steak for dinner, after we had eaten two steaks ourselves. And we had sandwiches and a beef strogonoff for 4 people out of the leftovers. Of course it was extravagant, but it produced about 20 adult meals, so I don't consider it really expensive per meal.

It’ll only be bought by people who can afford it. I don’t think the average Lidl shopper (like me) is going to buy it in order to feel like the bees knees. To some people £195 is like a tenner to others (or even just £1).

Yet another example of how you’re not allowed to critique the prices of anything on Mumsnet now (or any social media) or you’ll get the “Nobody’s forcing you to buy it” brigade 🙄 Yes I think OP is aware she isn’t being forced to buy it! You don’t need to be forced to buy something, in order to comment on the cost of it! Goodness me

You only have to look at the packed bars and restaurants to realise that plenty of people have lots of money to splash about.
Walking through my town centre and in London everywhere seems to be doing a roaring trade.
I wouldn’t spend that much on a single dinner. We are a £20 turkey family and a bit of smoked salmon.

It's not the criticism of the price, it's the ridiculous "How dare they charge so much, in a cost of living crisis?" and the even more ridiculous responses suggesting that M&S are somehow desecrating the spirit of Christmas by selling expensive food.

If someone called a poster an idiot for buying cheap food because that's what they could afford, they'd be - rightly - dragged over the coals. It seems to be fine to call people daft for paying 180 quid for a beef Wellington though.

I’ve not seen said wellington (and obviously not tried it) but I can 100% guarantee it would be nicer than my attempt to cook it from scratch 😂

You are allowed to criticised anything that's too expensive for you, but others are allowed to tell you you are ridiculous if you start banging on that it's unfair, out of order in the COL crisis and how dare supermarkets sell anything but the most basic low-range cheap everything.

When you ask AIBU, fair to expect people to reply : yes, yes you are BU

For a supermarket one it’s pricey… but considering the price good quality piece of beef enough to feed six people if you were to buy it from a butcher, it’s not that unreasonable. We buy a wellington from our butcher at Christmas and the prices start at £80.

Leaving aside the cost of the ingredients for Beef Wellington, making a good one is actually technically quite a challenge. I've eaten a few that were made by experts for significant events, and none of them has wowed me. In my opinion, a beautiful piece of beef is not improved by being wrapped in pastry and baked.

What the OP had failed to mention is that Tom Kerridge actually comes to your house to cook the beef wellington for you.

Haven’t read the full thread so don’t know if this has been mentioned.
The whole Wellington weighs 2100g.
It’s £92.90 per kilo.
And, for the huge sum of £195 you are getting 32% beef.
Yes, a total of 672g of beef. So, 110g per person.
I’ve got a barrel of fillet (the middle thick part) weighing approx 1kg on order from my butchers for Xmas . It’s £60 per kg.
No way on gods earth would I pay £92.90 per kg for gravy, mushroom duxelle and pastry.
It’s an utter rip,off.
32% beef??!

It absolutely is about the price it’s not at all about whether they should sell expensive items of course they should - maybe read my post again

For a grotty supermarket beef pie? Not in a million years

So what’s your issue, they sell ine for 60, one for 85, others in between and top end at 195. You don’t make logical sense, if you think they can sell expensive items, and factually they also sell the same item much cheaper, then why are you all het up. Do you want it or something.

I am so glad I am vegetarian: I make a lovely homemade wellington for under £10

Yanbu: that cost is obscene

I make it twice a year - for DH's birthday and for Christmas. My local butcher sells centre cut 28 day aged fillet beef for £58 per kilo currently. I use the Gordon Ramsey recipe and it is a faff to prep. The mushroom duxelle takes ages to dry out properly so I prep it the day before and it remains clingfilmed in the fridge overnight before being decorated/eggwashed and shoved in the oven with thermometer for approx 40 mins. (medium rare/rested for 30 mins!) It's not hard but definitely time consuming and the finished beef fillet is a lot heavier once a kg of meat is encased with the mushroom/chesnut duxelle, prosciutto & butter puff pastry. This serves 6 generously with leftovers! I reckon all the ingredients this year will come to no more than £80 up about £10 from last year.

Thank you

Read your second post again.

"Yep M&S honestly in the middle of a cost of living crisis!"

Charging what they like and it seems to be totally unchecked a single pensioner gets what around £200 a week ? Yet a single dish for a single meal costs the same.

It's a ridiculous comparison. What does a single pensioner getting £200 a week have to do with a high-end supermarket charging a similar amount for a premium product?

People who are watching the pennies won’t be buying it. Just like they won’t be getting a Fortnams hamper or buying their Christmas dinner from Harrods.