Cost of food

[Sadless]

I have just been to asda and can't believe the prices. How are people supposed to be able to manage like this. I haven't had my heating on since the 1st of April and electricity is about £7 a day on prepayment and I switch off all appliances at Wall now when not using.
Why do the government think its OK to let people struggle and some how think they will manage to get votes next week.

Sal

They are getting crazy. I have just stupidly paid £3.20 for a jar of pesto that my dd especially wanted, but it is tiny. Then an elderly lady that I know came up to me and was putting a tiny quiche back as the price was £1.80, it was one of those individual sized ones and she couldn't afford it. I would have offered to pay for it for her but knew she would be embarrassed if I had offered. I feel so sorry for families on low incomes and elderly who are on low fixed incomes.

We stopped having cafe lunches and coffees last year when prices started going up. Started taking packed lunches instead, albeit nice packed lunches. The cost of putting together a nice packed lunch is almost as expensive as a cafe lunch was a year ago 😮

This is what we think about take-aways. We tended to have a turkish takeaway on a friday but they put the prices up form £7.50 a dish to £9.50 and as there are 5 of us in the family it was costing £50 a week. So last week , dh did his own marinated chicken and tried to recreate the rice and salad and found a similar type of bread like the takeaway one !! It wasn't quite as good but a fifth of the price and still felt like a treat.

This is what we think about take-aways. We tended to have a turkish takeaway on a friday but they put the prices up form £7.50 a dish to £9.50 and as there are 5 of us in the family it was costing £50 a week. So last week , dh did his own marinated chicken and tried to recreate the rice and salad and found a similar type of bread like the takeaway one !! It wasn't quite as good but a fifth of the price and still felt like a treat.

Then again I read somewhere that the cost of chicken is going to increase hugely !!

Just about everything fresh will be up and soon dried and cupboard items will rise.
It doesn't help anything but the reality is some foods have been artificially cheap for years.
It's unlikely there will be help from government so now is the time to learn or brush up on home cooking and making the most of your food budget.
Provided you can afford the fuel to cook with of course which the government absolutely could help with.
It's the start of some tough times for poorer people.

@Babyroobs

We always take DD out at the weekend. Always used to have a cafe meal. Something like a soup and sandwich, plus a coffee and a kids meal. As soon as it went above £10 I started taking a packed lunch but with nice stuff in. I think it will be cheese sandwiches and an apple from now on ☹️

Then again I read somewhere that the cost of chicken is going to increase hugely !!

Unless we start importing the cheap American ones. I think they were banned under EU legislation.

Cookingcheap cheerful stuff here today-

Banana loaf (bananas still seem cheap)
Lentil dahl- (in packs to heat with fried eggs in the week)

Being veggie helps- meat seems to be on the rise.

We are now veggie in the week. I bought a couple of veggie cook books last year. Meat is now a treat for weekends.

It's genuinely astounding. DH and I spent around £70 on a very basic fresh shop today. I've always been a decent cook but now I'm having to batch cook and cook smart with the fresh meats and veg we have to make it last as we simply can't afford to continuously go back for more.

I'm pretty sure that there is a link between sunflower oil productions and soya production so I am expecting all the soya based products to go up in price sharpish.

Yep.we kept buying less and less.couldnt understand(stupidly now) why are shop kept the same price,to more ,to now often not being able to get it up to 40 odd lower for the same shop! It's horrific.and not just like u can say oh we can do a few swapsies.its cutting frigging meals.

Download the TooGoodToGo app - you can buy a 'magic box' of food from supermarkets / car very restaurants etc for a few quid. The food is nearing or up to sell by date, but is still perfectly edible / freezer able.
£3.09 for a box from Morrison's - it must have had £30 worth of food in it. (You don't get to choose what goes in it other than vegan / vegetarian / no special dietary requirements)
... definitely worth a look to see what they offer near where you live

Certainly in London, TooGoodToGo app is only food for people who can walk/bike to places a couple of miles away (using a car would be pointless due to cost of petrol) and often at unsociable times (when the shop closes - could even be 10pm ). This rules out many vulnerable people who are housebound by their personal circumstances.

Thanks, yes we don't use a lot of soya which is good.

Basic value items are going up hugely overnight.

Beware of price match, these prices are usually hiked.

This government is doing almost zilch to mitigate the cost of living crisis. Useless.

We urgently need to cut our costs. It's been creeping up on me.

Our usual weekly food bill had crept up to £200 a week. Madness. I've spent £65 today and am determined to stick to it until next week. No shop bought snacks, junk food etc. Homemade everything and batch cooking.

Menu:
Sausage, mash & peas
Chicken baked in cheese with cherry toms
Jacket potatoes, beans, salad
Chilli beef
Spag bol
Pizza (freezer)
Mac n cheese with bacon

Breakfasts - porridge, toast, eggs
Lunches - sandwiches, fruit

Not the most exciting but we have to do something, we can't afford the kids clubs this month.

I don't really know what the government can do. We spend a lot more than we take via tax already, we've just increased tax for 'health and social care'.

Interest is low, and inflation is high. It's lining up for a rough few years, I think people will have no choice but to cook back on meat and cook meals from scratch a lot more using seasonal food... it's going to be very tough for many

Then again I read somewhere that the cost of chicken is going to increase hugely !!

I'm not surprised as I think the cost of chicken must have been artificially low for a while now. How can they raise an animal to adulthood, slaughter, butcher, package, chill and transport for £3?

Brexit started this, add in fuel, crop issues set to get worse, food is relatively cheap, other factors such as rent, fuel and other stuffs make it more un affordable .
we have got used to meat rich diets too

I've been noticing this recently too. I shop online and often buy the same things regularly and really notice they are creeping up by 20pm, 25p, 50p... and the basic ranges are disappearing so you are forced to buy the £2.85 branded one instead of the £1.50 own brand range.

I also used to cook a fair bit in the oven but have drastically cut down on that now. I used the oven lots around Christmas time and saw an immediate increase in my electricity bill.

Its madness! I did my shopping order online yesterday (works out cheaper for me as I can literally see the total take things out that pushing up the price too much as well as not being tempted in the shop!) and literally everything has had 20p plus added as the PP says. It soon adds up. Even basic bread costs a bomb now./

Yes, it is truly shocking and my heart goes out to those who will fall into the grip of food poverty.

Sainsbury's has made huge profits this year as I am sure have many of the others. The matter of passing anything onto the consumer does not even come up - you get the dishonest pre-prepared answer about their own margins being really narrow due to 'the usual four reasons excuses'.

Asda prices have been volatile ever since slimy Stuart Rose took over (I have personally dealt with him in the past and I would not trust a word he says). This week, they have literally added a % onto everything on the website.

So much for the "oven ready Brexit deal". It has ground all other oven based activity to a halt. I wonder what noxious ingredients were lurking beneath the foil lid?