£1.25 for a Wispa!! What grocery prices have given you a shock lately?

[Lougle]

I nipped down to the shop this morning to buy some tea bags. In the opposite aisle, all the chocolate bars were lined up. I don't buy chocolate generally, but a Wispa bar winked at me. I took it to the till - £1.25 for a Wispa bar that is easily 2/3 of the size of the Wispa bars of my childhood.

I exclaimed to the cashier, who I know, and we had a nice conversation with another customer about rising prices, the cost of cereal shooting up, fuel, of course...it got me thinking.

What prices have you been shocked by when you're doing your shopping? My tins of tomatoes seem very stable at 47p per tin (I could get them for 43p but can't be bothered to get the tin opener out so I'm happy to pay a 4p ring-pull tax).

WTA!

I don’t eat chocolate anymore, but yes that’s shocking. I remember when a bar was £60p not that long ago. And a Freddy was 10p, but you’re going back years.

Eggs are very pricey, stamps - for first class is bonkers and it’s hard to trust second class will get there!

Get own brand, it’s half the price. As DS said in Tesco ‘why would anyone spend the money on actual weetabix?’ The Tesco version was almost half the price of branded and that’s what u bought.

Where are you shopping? My local M&S does two pots of EVOO hummus for £2.50

I saw a giant one in m&s garage ..£75

Yes an agree about Greggs. I used to love the occasional sausage roll from there. Bought one a few weeks ago and I couldn’t finish it. It just tasted of salt! So disappointed

Mini eggs. I made some brownies the other day and it cost me about £15 in the end! Even Aldis own ones were about £4 for a 250g bag

I need washing powder today, home bargains seem to be not to bad for prices. And coffee!! I use a lot, it's expensive now.

£1 for a cucumber in big Tesco the other day! Thunderstruck.

Teabags have rocketed in recent years. I try to buy Yorkshire in budget shops where it's £5.49 for 210, it's over £8 in Sainsburys for the 240 boxes. We can't stint on tea, we really can't, so pay the ransom. It is awful though!

We used to do the "I remember when Mars bars were 32p", "I remember when they were 16p!" but my mum always wins with "I remember when they were 1 shilling and thruppence"

@Bikergran why don't you save the remaining bars for when you want another treat later on. If they're individually wrapped there's no need to bin them but if they're not, just wrap and freeze as individual portions.

The individual Ferrero rocher bar is now £7.50 in my local shop instead of £2 ish at my local shop. 😮

I don’t buy soft drinks, squash, fizzy, juice, cans - whatever. I don’t drink it and the dc like water. But when we have parties etc I always buy stuff in for guests and I’m always surprised at the cost of things like San pellegrino and the belvoir type drinks. It’s literally water with added crap!

The one thing I’ve really noticed is baking ingredients - I bake a lot and take stuff into the office as a little midweek perk. Nothing seems to cost less than £20 to bake anymore. £3 for 100g of dark chocolate, I think my brownie recipe has around 500g chocolate, 6 eggs (sort of free as we have hens but obviously they have their own costs!), a whole block of butter, whatever else. Same for millionaire shortbread, 2 packs of butter, 200g chocolate, it’s now getting a bit silly. But I do enjoy baking so I’ll keep going. Just annoying really.

Mini eggs . I love them but they’ve gone up so much. Probably better for me but still!
Eggs. Seem a ridiculous price for a staple. I’m sure the hens are not charging more.
I’m currently in Spain and was impressed last night that 5 litres of supermarket water was €1.08. Seemed so cheap. The face cream I buy every year has been €5 for the last 7 years. Cheese for bolognaise (could not decide what but looked like Parmesan or similar was €1.60 for a big packet. A tiny packet is over £2 at home. I’m bringing some home (no doubt someone will be along in a minute to say I can’t)

I bought the stuff to make easter nest buns with DGD yesterday. Small box of rice crispies, bar of dairy milk, 2 bags of mini eggs, Over £7 for 12 buns, roughly 60p each!

My youngest is growing veg this year in the garden, haven't the heart to mention that it will be much more than shop price once everything is factored in 💔

I was shopping the other day and overheard a lady loudly exclaim "why the fuck are stock cubes so expensive now?"

I bought my daughter a 500ml bottle of peach iced tea and it was £3.95!!! This was in a central London train station admittedly but £3.95!!!!!

The difference between the cost of my Aldi basket versus my Tesco basket is shocking. If Aldi can keep prices down then why can't the rest of the supermarkets? Presumably they are all subject to the same supply cost increases due to the oil prices, so I think the others are honestly taking the piss.

Also prices will never come back down, once they're up and consumers adjust where is the incentive for supermarkets to pass on the savings when the oil crisis passes?

Lidl granola and muesli are the nicest I've found and I've tried them all! They are around £2-£3.

@Lougle that doesn't look like regular Pond's? Thank you though!

@NippyNinjaCrab with granola, make your own! For real. I make this recipe about once every 10 days. It is really nice and you can vary what nuts and seeds you use. Or golden syrup instead of maple.

The trick is to tip it onto a cold tray as soon as it comes out of the oven as that helps it crisp up. I also bake it at 140 not 130.

It is super easy though.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/good-you-granola

M and S is surprising good value for basics. Their ketchup is £1 and it's really not bad.
They also do bargainous packs of chicken legs and thighs which are great for pies, curries and casseroles.
I can't believe the price of steak. 😯.
Unless it's a yellow sticker, steak is off the menu for us now.

It was at a local theatre ( with London west end prices ) but I paid 2.90 for a can of water! It was nice and I needed a drink , but I can’t get over how much it was. I should have bought a bottle of water in , but forgot. A pricy mistake there.

Some things are very cost effective once you have the equipment and seeds. Also your local library probably does a seed swap so you can get some value from a packet with too many seeds.

Encourage your dc to plant a herb garden and grow chilli peppers under glass. I get abundant free parsley, sage, rosemary, chives, marjoram, oregano, 3 varieties of thyme, bay leaves, common mint, peppermint, wild garlic. Most of these are year round; some I harvest and dry as they die back and regrow.

Seasonally I grow basil and dill and coriander with mixed success but that’s probably just me!

Also worth growing rocket - it will run to seed eventually and you can replant the seeds next year. Radishes and dwarf green beans and runner beans, ditto. These cost me nothing at all - I move them round the garden and I don’t improve the soil, seems fine.

Chocolate bars are £2.49 in WHSmith at the airport! I looked twice cos at first I thought that was the price of them as part of a meal deal, but no, just for a kitkat! Mind you, that was a few months ago so probably £2.99 by now.