Pasta is 95p for 500g at all the big 4 supermarkets… what even!!

[cheapertorent]

It was 55p for the exact same size bag in 2019 and 85p ‘price lock for 6 weeks’ two days ago, now it’s 95p all of a sudden? How does that even work?

I really despair. And worry for this country.

I use the Tesco quick cook fusilli and noticed the price had shot up as we had run out so had to buy yesterday. There isn't a value version, it's just Tesco though not a branded product. I could argue the savings in cooking time balanced off the extra cost over value but the difference is large so probably not. In any case I buy it not for this reason but because I am autistic and it's a sensory thing.

It’s possible that premium brands are more able to absorb price rises in supply but since they can only request that supermarkets up the prices of their products every so often it is more likely to just be a delay,. Some premium food manufacturers don’t make enough profit to absorb these cost rises and sadly we can expect some manufacturers to go out of business as consumers can no longer afford to pay for the premium brands. It’s a brexit/covid/Ukraine war/Trussterfuck.

Yeah Asda pasta was 45p for a bag last year(I checked an old online receipt) and now the same bag is 95p, more than double the price. They rarely have the value stuff in stock to buy online.

Supermarkets control on shelf pricing, not the manufacturer. The manufacturer can try and put through a cost increase to the supermarket, which they may or may not accept, but they do not have any control over what supermarkets charge.

Hubbards food store spaghetti I got for 45p?

Yeah. That’s Sainsbury’s cheap brand for those who don’t know.

Jack Monroe gets a lot of flack on here but she did some good work highlighting the importance of supermarkets continuing to stock their discount ranges and keeping up the pressure for them to remain competitive on those ranges, rather than just fighting for the middle and higher end consumers.

But when it comes to things like value pasta which is driven so much by the price of wheat and the price of oil to get it to your door there's a certain floor beyond which they can't drop nowadays.

I was shocked at the prices in the US after watching this yesterday

I thought our prices were bad enough in the UK, but they are horrific in the US.

I buy huge bags of pasta and store them in sturdy plastic boxes to keep them fresh - it would also keep the pesky mice out!

The cheapest pasta in tesco is 23p and you can buy 3kg bags of tesco normal brand for £4, so a bit cheaper per kg if you get through it quickly

Yes it's scary but you aren't pastaless.

We lost about 5 packs due to pesky mice 😡

It is really worrying how much the prices are rising. DDs are in Uni, one in NW and one in SW. The one in SW can’t afford to buy food this week.

I can see the same here in Ireland with rising grocery price's. Before this I have a general idea of the price point of certain items. I try and buy long life items ie tins, box's of Weetabix ect when they are on offer. I also do the same for clothes washing liquid, shower gel, shampoo, toilet paper ect.

I went into Dunnes stores a few days ago. I like their free range omega eggs. I bought 6 and they were 3 Euro. I have not bought them in a while but they were around 2.50 the last time.
A bottle of fry light was 3 Euro and that was always around 2.30 - 2.50.
I have been chatting to several people and they have said the same that food has gone up a lot in price. Any one I know with a family must be really feeling it when shopping.

That was 43p before this though!

Ukraine produced most of the world’s wheat, and Russia is burning and blockading that wheat, so anything using wheat is harder to get hold of -> more expensive.

Just be glad you can eat wheat! I can’t dogest it and gluten-free pasta is £2.40 for £400g 😔

Also, the pound is incredibly weak. We buy pasta from Italy etc.

Plus, import costs are much higher than used to be cos of Boris Johnson insisting on a ‘hard Brexit’ with no common market. Turns out the common market was quite good at keeping food costs down. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ If Boris had stuck with the deal negotiated by Teresa May (which he originally supported until he saw a chance to be PM), food in UK would be cheaper than it is now. Slow handclap for Johnson and his power-grabbing.

Those American prices are shocking. I think the problem in this country is we’ve had it good for years, with ridiculously cheap food. But that doesn’t make it any easier for us at this time with prices increasing so fast. My weekly shop has gone up from £130 last year to £180 now. Shocking.

Prices in the US are very location dependent though. I live in an urban area where there's lots of price competition, so you can usually shop around and find a bargain. At my local Lidl milk is $1.05 for a half gallon (1.9 litres), whereas the Lidl in the next town charges $1.80. My local chain supermarket charges $2.89 for the same product, and prices for organic milk are about $6.

A lot of the much cheaper brands of food in the UK are rarely available in practice.

It’s going to get even worse. Until last week Putin was allowing grain ships to leave Ukraine. Now he isn’t. If that isn’t resolved soon there’s going to be mass famines in large parts of the world and spiralling prices for the rest.

Not around here (SW London). It is now £2 for 500 gr. both in Sainsburys and Waitrose. It has crept up from £1.50 not long ago,used to be £1 on special .
Last week it was £1.35 on special in Waitrose.

Wow! I do agree prices here are cheaper than other countries and maybe that’s about to change permanently.

friend of mine has just back from NY and while she was probably paying tourist prices she said two coffees and two pastries for breakfast was $40. Which pretty much equates to £40. Would be less than half that even in London!

I just checked at Lidl here. Their cheap spaghetti was $1.67 for 907g (2 lb).

The price of good butter has soared here. And potatoes are definitely a lot more expensive than they were. Meat too, but I usually go to our local supermarket and get it at half price when they're about to throw it out.

But wages are much higher in a lot of other countries as well. So in real terms the food is cheaper. UK wages are low.

Lidl frozen apple strudels used to be around 80p. They're now about £1.80!

That's true where I live. But there are some places in the US where the minimum wage is very low ($7.25 an hr) and food prices have soared.