AIBU to be shocked by the cost of four pizzas and basics?

[Merryoldgoat]

Guess how much my shopping basket cost:

2 x margarita pizzas & 2 x pepperoni pizzas (supermarket brand - in a box tho, not the cheaper cellophane wrapped ones)
2 x tubes toothpaste (oral B)
2 x tubs Vicks Vapo-rub

I have been to the doctor and stopped at Co-op as I needed a few things missed off the weekly shop.

Co op is very expensive compared to other supermarkets ,I get Sainsburys delivery we get some things reduced due to nectar points

I remember the good old days two years ago when the Cost Of Living Crisis was spoken about as an actual crisis, and the cost of food and heating was the number one topic of conversation.

Now everything is twice as expensive as it was then and we largely just seem to be sucking it up and all anyone talks about or gets vexed about is the fucking boats because that's the biggest problem in the UK, not £7 tubes of toothpaste and diesel at over £2 a litre.

I always buy President butter. I only eat it maybe once or twice a week but I love it. Dh has Benecol. 😅

i recently had a slice of pizza and a coffee in the cafe at Asda and then bought a book of 8 second class stamps. It all came to £15! I was shocked, a snack, a drink and some stamps, 15 bloody quid and that was before I went and did my food shop.

I stock up on the nectar points stuff.

Co op is a rip off for branded stuff like that. Go to savers or Poundland and stock up you’ll save ££££

Now you know the normal full-price cost of these things, you can look out for when they are on offer and buy them then, especially things that don't go off like toiletries, and pizza you can put in the freezer until you need it. I never buy toothpaste full price unless I have seriously effed up my planning. Also own-brand pizza or branded pizza on offer only. Basically, I assume the offer prices are the real prices and the inflated normal prices are a form of price gouging.

I was told by our dentist that the cheaper toothpaste is just as good as the more expensive ones as long as they have over 1200ppm of fluoride. so I now only buy the cheaper £1 tubes of colgate. we go through 1 tube every week in my house.

£32?

Very reasonable imo🤷‍♀️ you chose to shop at that supermarket. If you’d gone to an Aldi or Lidl for example you’d have got brand name stuff cheaper but you didn’t so you chose to pay that price

To be fair most of that cost would have been the stamps as they are £££!! I stopped sending Xmas cards once they got to the “how much?!!”😳😳🥴🥴😬😁 price

The standard pizza express ones are tiny though - 245g. The Tesco Finest type ones are all 400g plus. If I buy Pizza Express the kids demand one each, whereas I can fob them off with half each with the bigger ones.

@Merryoldgoat what pizzas did you get? I got 2 pizzas (in boxes but not the super fancy ones) and a tub of Ben and Jerry's for £5 at my co op last week!

It'll be the oral b toothpaste, it's ridiculously expensive now!

Two tubs of Vicks?? Are you bathing in it?

Sainsbury's own brand Margherita (fresh, in a box) which is perfectly serviceable is often only about £2.50 on offer.

I hate the Coop and refuse to buy anything in any of their stores...the prices are extortionate.
It does help that i live round the corner from an Aldi so can shop without being ripped off.

I used to buy those big oval boxed pizzas from Lidl/Aldi all the time, I thought they were the best value supermarket pizzas. I think they've about 4 quid now. But these days I hardly ever buy them, I make my own. I'm surprised more people don't, it's not hard, and it's less than a quid’s worth of mozzarella and a few pence worth of tomatoes. I am not feeding kids, though.

If she was in 'the South' this would be correct (according to the north v south thread). It would only be £1.50 in the frozen, deprived north.

Fair enough - of course you should buy whatever you prefer (as long as you can afford it!); but the brands largely rely on people never trying the own-brand options (or even cheaper non-own-brand ones that are rarely advertised, such as Daddies or Golden Fry) and just assuming that their own expensive ones must be the best or 'proper' ones.

They start very young, knowing that little children will absorb that message from all of their adverts and then pester/demand that their parents buy the brands that they're familiar with, having seen them on TV... and then many will go on as adults to do the same (as well as being pestered by their own kids), all the while never even looking at the shelves of the Asda or Tesco own-brand stuff.

I rarely do top ups - I just do the online shop so I’m not really sure how much things are individually. I just know how much my weekly shop roughly costs.

The Oral B was half price. The pizzas were 4.50 each.

Yes the stamps were a lot and i only got them as a few friends' children had birthdays coming up and I think its nice for them to get a card in the post but with the stamp now costing more than the card i may have to reconsider!

I do usually get those Sainsbury’s ones but they were out of stock this weekend.

The Vicks is an essential in this house. I’m asthmatic and my littler son still gets croup even at 8. There have been some occasions a steamy Vicks filled room and Vicks all over his chest and back that have enabled him to get any sleep at all.

Definitely try a b&m/savers/home bargains. I’m always googling prices and picking stuff up that’s half price to stash
i had one of those pizzas (mushroom and something) and I actually prefer the Aldi ones!

About £45?
5 per pizza, 5/6 each for tp and same each for Vic? DK though as size of Vic might be double that.

I've swapped to making my own too @moto748e as now DDs are getting older they can eat a whole pizza each and even four supermarket pizzas add up.

Pizza is my lazy dinner so I can't be bothered faffing and make the quick bases out of greek yoghurt and self raising flour and then add toppings. It costs less than a quid per pizza.

£55 to £65