Doing an online Tesco shop and I actually feel suicidal

[HowDee]

Granted I have MH anyways. Anxiety, depression, PTSD as well as physical illnesses.

Every month it just goes up. Tesco own brand potato waffles used to be £1,

Last month they were £1.60 now they're £1.85

A bag of tescos own fries are £2.50 now.

I don't have the fucking money to pay more for EVERYTHING. Rents gone up. Gas, electric.

I put the heating on TWICE over winter. Twice.

I've just shut the app crying because I'm just so sick of it all.

Where do they think we can get the money from? Where?? For everything going up?

And before you tell me off for buying frozen fries and waffles my child has ARFID and autism and has a very select amount of things she will eat.

Tesco is expensive now, I actually find sainsburys to be cheaper than even aldi. Although you have a delivery pass for tesco could you look to switch it? If the waffles are tesco brand would someone be able to pick them up for you and then do the rest of your shop somewhere else?

Can you cancel the Tesco delivery so you can switch to Iceland? I find them much better value on everything.

I spent 90 on a tesco shop the other day and was shocked how little there was. I have to do top ups through the week also
Tempted to go back to shopping at aldi and see if we can save money.

I know people are posting with the best intentions with ideas of food swaps etc but with ARFID that doesn’t work sadly. A person with ARFID would starve before eat the wrong thing. Obviously like with anything there is a bit of a scale of severity but to give people an idea Ds is actually primarily tube fed due to his ARFID.

Iceland also a good shout, they often do free delivery too and lots of deals on frozen stuff.

For AFRD farmfoods is probably the best you can bulk buy chicken dippers , nuggets tenders very cheaply and you get discount codes.

I can't claim DLA as she is undiagnosed 'officially'.

Dr says ARFID but has to be diagnosed by CAHMS or dietician. Neither of which she can get in to see.

Multiple CAHMS referrals from myself, school, GP and social workers and all rejected.

They said unless she starts self harming of making herself throw up they aren't interested.

It is brutal and it’s all the shops now. I noticed all my freezer basics in Aldi had gone up. Frozen pizza, French fries, potato waffles, cauliflower cheese. I actually put back a bag of battered onion rings when I spotted the price £1.49 they were 85p last year. Cream cheese used to be 39p a tub cost has doubled. Milk was less than £1 for 2l now nearly doubled. On the upside I’m definitely looking thinner.

@HowDee I’m sorry, that’s terrible. You don’t need an official diagnosis to claim dla though, my son was entitled to it before he was diagnosed. Just have to prove that your child’s needs are higher than those of a child their age. Is their autism diagnosed?

Arfid isn't picky eating. It's an eating disorder

It is really crap op

If you cant switch brands etc due to dcs needs can you cut costs elsewhere? Cheaper wifi or anything maybe?

If you claim a means tested benefit, then you could look to join one of these https://www.companyshopgroup.co.uk/our-locations/community-shops . I regularly shop at a Company shop and get some absolute bargains, e.g. whole chicken thighs 1kg £1.50. 4 pack of lamb chops £1.75. 2kg bag of red onions 20p. They have the big brands too. Its like food shopping before this inflation madness i.e. affordable.

What were Theresa May's famous words. There's is no magic money tree. However the ironic thing the ordinary(AKA living in the real world) Joe and Jane public have to miraculously find one.

Do apply for DLA, you don’t need a diagnosis to claim it.

Can you request a referral to somewhere else out of area such as the Maudsley who has a specialist ARFID clinic?

Poor pet.

I'd never heard of ARFID and I'm not a kick in the arse off 60.

I reckon I have it though. There's some things that I just could never force myself to eat - quite a lot unfortunately! - and I'd sooner go hungry.

So sorry OP, it's truly shit isn't it.

If it helps, we are in this together. Sending hugs x

I didn't know you didn't have to have a diagnosis. I will look into it.

We're currently in the process of another CAHMS referral with her school but I'm not holding out much hope.

I've just placed a frozen shop with Iceland. We will see how that goes down with DD. They had her usual pizzas and such. She can be OK with fries, she smothers them in peri salt so she might not notice. The waffles, we will see, funnily enough she doesn't like birdeyes version so maybe Iceland own will be similar enough to Tesco.

No fresh stuff but it was definitely cheaper.

And also cheaper for DDs main food staples (pain au chocolates and crepes)

@HowDee definitely worth applying for I’d say, for evidence you can ask school to back you up, GP, social workers. If they’ve all put in CAHMS referrals for you then they must also acknowledge there are some issues. You can also go into detail yourself about your child’s needs on the form. If you call up and request the forms they will also backdate the money (if awarded) to the date you called up for them whereas if you print them yourself they will only backdate to the date they received your returned forms so worth phoning up for them if you can. Good luck x

Said with no disrespect intened but That's a close minded statement. She could be in a contract with her WIFI supplier. She may be on the cheapest tariff. She may not even have WIFI it could be data from her phone that she's using. Most people have cut all they can. They can't give anymore or try and harder. .
. If she were on here saying boo hoo I can't afford my yearly holiday to the Seychelles I'd be in agreement with you but this is about people who can't even afford the basics.

Use the Cerebra guide to help you complete the form.

I'm sorry op - it's truly awful. The thing is that, for the very basic items, inflation has been running far higher than the average rate of inflation - it's been about 20% for essentials. This means that the people at the bottom have been hit the hardest.

OP try Iceland online shop. They have lots of offers on at the moment and have a good range of fresh and frozen - same day delivery was £3 the other day and if you spend over a certain amount delivery is free. I stopped shopping at Tesco because their prices seem to have gone from reasonable to ridiculous in a short space of time. Hopefully inflation will be on the way down when the lower gas/electricity costs filter through.

I understand and could have written your post. I have the same conditions as you, can no longer drive, have 3 dc, two with asd and afrid and one with a gluten free diet.
I also shop at tesco because dc will eat it, have a delivery saver and can get gf foods.
I've no answer I'm sure like me you're buying the cheapest brands you can get that dc will eat.
Not a long term solution but have you accessed any council support (in my area they send out cheques you can cash at the post office if your on certain benefits as a top up) but they send a leaflet advertising extra support you can apply for if needed. I'm too proud to apply but if you can might be worth looking into.
You could try applying for dla without diagnosis I got it for one but not the other without a diagnosis so might be worth a try.
Are you getting pip, esa, uc ? That might help you get other support but a lot seems to be area specific.
I haven't got any answers really just saying I really do understand.

Asda do Mini Potato & Carrot Waffles 1.50 and McCain Naked Oven Chips Straight 1.75 both healthier versions and cheap.

https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/get-information-and-support/support-someone-else/

They do an Endeavour programme you don’t need a diagnosis and can self refer

My son has few foods he eats it’s traumatic. I wish he would extend his choices.