Doubled in price in one week!

[PupInAPram]

I'm getting used to the creeping inflation on groceries of 10p more a week here, 15p there. But this week, a 5 pack of snack bags of apricots at Asda has doubled in price from £1.25 last week to £2.50 this week. That was too much for me, so I left them. Has anyone else noticed a big jump in a week like that? For some reason it's made me really nervous about lots of food items just being priced out of my basket.

I was shocked when I went to Tescos in the week. I swear 4 tins of Heinz Beans or soup used to be £2.50 for four or £2 on offer pre-pandemic. Then when the pandemic hit you couldn’t get 4 packs just singles. This week a 4 pack of Heinz Beans was £4.50!

I’m some things it’s actually gone the other way. I bought Cadbury instant hot choc for £2.50 for 300g before. At Sainsburys last week the packs were 400g for the same price. So I bought several just in case it’s a mistake…

I used to buy lidl salted butter, which last year was 1.60. And now it’s 2.20. Lidl don’t do special offers so I can’t even wait for it to go down. M and S have kept their prices for basics the same, butter for 1.75, eggs etc.

My very random example is Lime squash from Sainsbury’s. 1.5 litre bottle used to cost £1in February. It went up to £1.20 at first, now it’s £1.80.

Family of 3 here, we do a weekly delivery with Ocado, more or less the same thing over a month’s shopping so it accounts for the things you might get monthly or every other week, some snacks but not loads, just for packed lunch etc. We used to spend £250 each month approximately, now it’s £500. We’re reducing the amount of what we buy, and choosing cheaper alternatives but there’s a point where that only has so much effect.

I feel for those that are having to count every penny, I was in that position not so long ago. I am able to afford things at the moment so when I can I donate to the local food bank. Apparently they have seen a decrease in donations and an increase in referrals for help.

I don’t need an expert economist to tell me that things are already very bad for a lot of people.

@Bestcatmum

IF & it's a big IF they do happen, they should be short, rolling black outs. Short (like 3 hours). Your freezer stuff will be fine for a good few hours, just don't open it. Or if you really must, do it once, do it quickly!

Might be OP includes them as part of lunch or as a back up when they've run out of fruit, they're good for you.

Errr some people do need snacks. We’re not all made the same.

What a stupid comment.

It's going to get worse unfortunately.

There is a huge amount of cost inflation that's been 'stuck' in the supply chains for 12 months and just starting to emerge. Supermarkets negotiate hard with suppliers, but suppliers are starting to go bust - you can't supply if you can't cover your costs.
And supermarkets don't really have much of a business model if the shelves are empty..
Supermarkets make very skinny margins of 2-3% so they've not got room to absorb the price increases.
Energy costs a massive factor, either in production or movement of goods.
Plus.. there is often much support for workers to get paid more to keep up with with inflation.. guess what? The companies who are paying staff more, then need to put their prices up further to cover the cost.
The low £ exchange rate means companies importing goods are paying more. So they need to sell for more to make the business worth running.
And recently interest rates are a major factor. The retailers / suppliers all have working debt within their businesses. That's now costing more per month. So they need to raise prices to balance the books.

It's a really tough inflationary cycle we're in, and starting to see it bubble up in pockets here and there.

In 12 months things could be very tough indeed for many. Cost of living up, disposable income down.

The government may intervene at certain social / fiscal demographic levels, but 'government' money is our money. If they borrow / print more, it's actually going to fuel even harder inflation. And give the next two generations of a hell of a lot more debt to pay off..

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I don't know the answers really beyond 'be thrifty'. I don't wish to be alarmist, but facts are facts.

@alwaysmovingforwards I'm actually pretty frugal. Don't drink or smoke, walk the mile and a half to work, still working long hours in my sixties. Guess the way things are going, even a small treat like a bag of dried apricots will go. I grew up in the sixties and seventies and it's amazing how familiar this all feels!

Iv noticed a big increase in the last few weeks. Its mental to me that a tub of lurpak and just a normal size block of cheese is now ten quid for those two items.

yes, I agree that toilet roll is the worst thing I've noticed.
When there was the made stockpiling thing at the beginning of the pandemic, the big packs in Tesco were £6.00. This week the yare £10.35.

OP - it will be much cheaper to buy big packs of dried apricots and split them into portions.

6 tins of cat food has crept up from about £2.50 to £4.50 over the course of a year.
I've never seen anything double in price in a week. That's really bad.

During the lockdown when toilet roll was in demand you could get 4 packs of 18 rolls for £10 in Farmfoods. Last time I checked it's 3 packs for £16.

Was about to say the same! Always some unsolicited advice from someone 😃

After eight mints were £5 in tes co supermarket last week

What? The packets are small and they're not even very nice.

I can't believe someone commented about not needing snacks. I mean we could all reduce our bills by not eating at all....🙄

Switch to Lidl, you can get a 24 pack of soft quilted type for about £5-£7 depending on which one you get, it's one of the things they're still loads cheaper on.

I'm finding basics to be good value in m&s bread 70p , butter £1.65, milk £1.55, their own brand tinned soups are really good and 55p each as opposed to heinz £1.40 in Tesco!

@RewildingAmbridge butter £1.65! It's £2 for own brand in Asda. It never even occurred to me that M&S could beat Asda price.

I wanted a chocolate biscuit but didnt want to pay the 1.99 price for cadburys choc fingers that used to be a pound, so i bought the asda own version at a pound. They are yuck.

Ah well that's solved everything then...

Snacks are useful to keep in your bag, as there is no time/place for lunch. I see massively reduced small snack items and I stock up on them.

For the people worried about the cost of toilet roll, I think the best value is the Sainsbury's double roll paper, 4 for £2, but they genuinely are 2 times bigger than any other brand, maybe 3 times bigger than some brands.

Buy in weight, not packets. Shrinkflation affects snack and portion sizes more than anything, whereas going by weight of goods you're not easily bamboozled.

Punnet of grapes in Sainsbo used to be £2 now £3.

I bought the "imperfect" ones instead.

Next week am doing half my shop Lidl in person then the rest Asda online. I used to do all of it online but not any more. Asda getting too pricey!