Prices still going up every week?

[heartbroken22]

Asda Aldi 6 salad tomatoes 99p today
Asda own brand tissues £1.20 last week £1.10.

It's ridiculous. It's little but it all adds up.

Typically the lids have gone up to £2 and delivery is £4.

HB deliver????

Sorry my HB is between Lidl and Tesco so id never think of delivery

Yes, they do.

Unfortunately it’s not going to ease any time soon. Cost of raw materials continues to increase, some at crazy levels (e.g. cocoa) plus both food manufacturers and retailers have an increased National Insurance bill to pay.

Sainsburys also have stretchy lids, which were £1 a pack a few weeks ago.

Yes, 20 - 50p here and there and everywhere. Butter up again. Coleslaw. Ground coffee. Porridge oats.
Picked up a Star Bar duo as a Christmas stocking filler. £1.60!
I have been having supermarket deliveries for over 10 years, would dread reading old emailed receipts.

Not living in the UK but used to visit London once per year work related. Although I have seen the rise in price of food, still cheaper than where I live. olive oil fe is about 16 quid for a litre here, so I always do a little shop whenever I travel for work to the UK or Europe. Had to travel end of October so stocked up on chocolate etc for Christmas as that is ridicously expensive here, same for coffee etc. for us it is part and parcel of where we live, but can imagine the impact it has on people all around the world.

My Tesco shop used to be roughly 100 items for £100... now it is a third to a half more expensive. Some things which we had as a standard shopping item such as Honeydew melons at 89p are now £1.89 and a rare treat when on offer (offer is currently still £1.19). I know its out of season but it's the same in season!

If you are time rich though then there are so many things you can do to mitigate the prices, but you DO need to be time rich , and have garden space and those factors cut an awful lot of people out.

I've really been working on our self sufficiency for the past 12 months, but I know this is impossible for most people. We live in a rural area, have a large garden and I'm time rich which is a total luxury.

I grow as much of our own veg as possible - including things like peppers and sweetcorn, beetroot and French beans. I'm hoping to up our growing space next year.

We have 2 apple trees and September is spent coring, peeling & blanching 100s of apples which go in the freezer. I make compote every couple of weeks with added foraged blackberries and we eat this with home made yoghurt every day.

Foraging - blackberries, sweet chestnuts, wild garlic, sloes - you name it and preserving them.

Yoghurt, I use a large whole milk at £1.45 and that will make about 2-3 litres of yoghurt.

I also have a contact who is about to start providing us with rabbit and pheasant! He has permits for farm land where numbers need to be contained and using the barter system, they won't cost us anything (but I will have to learn how to butcher!)

I love the lifestyle and it's hard work, going back to skills we've all lost - but I know that I am very privileged to be able to do it. Our society and economy isn't set up to allow most people this freedom.

Stretchy lids are only moderately airtight on a thin plastic pots, unless I'm doing it wrong, and don't fit square pots at all. I've now resorted to buying cling wrap so where's the environmental benefit?

Yes I do find myself reverting to skills that we've lost before. Also noticed time is important. If you're working you tend to lose a bit of money here and there in prices but you have that extra cash from working. If you're not working you don't have the money but have the time to look for discounts etc.

I'm going to look into growing our own items.

It's a shame it's coming to this because we were living quite frugally before. But I'm always looking for new things to incorporate in our lives. Me and my daughter walked to her club today and she really enjoyed using maps on my phone as opposed to the car. Baking biscuits and cakes I've been looking to do for a few weeks but it's hard with young children.

Yes. Packaging has taken a nosedive. I’m going to have to buy jugs and decant the milk into them at this rate- the plastic bottles cave in and barely stand up on their own!

I put mine in plastic boxes I already have.

Baking with young kids is a messy but fun thing to do over the festive season. Think how proud they'll be 'helping' you, and cutting out their own little biscuits!

It's also a good way of showing them how food is made.

How do you make yogurt?

Agree, with @Desperatelyseekingreason I bought those silicone stretchy lids and found I never had one the right size for whatever I was trying to cover, they were a pain to wash, had this weird white residue on them which worried me was going in the food and if left damp went mouldy, much like the silicone grouting in bathrooms. Threw them away so environmental impact of those not good either🤷‍♂️

Was wondering whether some sort of waxed wrap (like the ones meant to wrap sandwiches in) held on with elastic band would work but not tried that yet as they are rather expensive. Maybe glass jars are the way forwards, either recycled or ikea sell cheap ones that look like old fashioned kilner jars.🤔

@heartbroken22 my children's favourite food when little was pizza, I've always needed to be frugal so made them from scratch, its actually really quick and easy when you get used to it as well as healthier. The dough can be thrown together in 5 minutes in the morning, then rolled out in the evening and everyone puts their own toppings on, little kids love playing with bread dough although you do get some weird shaped bread rolls😂

Where are you buying them @Fillyfrog

They are 89p in Aldi for party rings , cookies , jammy dodgers for small party packs of 5 bags and usually 6 biscuits in a bag

I use a slow cooker. Tip in the whole of a 4 pint bottle of whole milk in. Heat on high for 3 hrs then turn it off for 2 hrs . Add about 3-4 tablespoons of my previous yoghurt (this is a starter) when the milk is still warm but not hot - equally you could buy a small pot of live natural yoghurt for your first batch and then save a bit back from there on in.

Stir the yoghurt in, then cover the slow cooker with a thick towel to keep the heat in (still switched off) and 12 hours later you should have yoghurt! Sometimes if I take a peek and it doesn't seem to be thickening I might switch the slow cooker back on for about 10 mins to give it a boost - but not for long or you'll end up with cheese!

You can see the yoghurt separate into curds and whey when done. I then strain it through a square of muslin and leave it dripping over the sink for an hour because I like very thick Greek style yoghurt but you can eat it as it is if you're not fussy. Stores in the fridge for a couple of weeks in a glass jar and makes a huge amount!

It's really very easy... the first few times you might have it not quite as you'd like it, but it's one of those things that once you have the timings which work best for you is very simple and you can just leave it to do its thing while you do other stuff. I usually make mine in the afternoon for the first part of the process and then leave it overnight!

DH and DC have all requested selection boxes. Went shopping to pick some up and I'm appalled. Sainsburys only have unbelievably tiny crap ones. The Cadburys ones were either mini-funsize or a couple of bars and a few mini ones. Utter rubbish

I know selection boxes are mostly packaging and a bit crap, but since when have they been so tiny?! I remember buying much bigger ones with at least 6 full-size bars not that long ago??!

And I eat loads of Greek yoghurt so am definitely trying that recipe @PrimalScreaming 👏👏

I saw washing soda crystals at one of the cheapy shops for £2.30ish ... and was horrified. I assumed they'd be cheaper at morrisons.

They are £2.35 at morrisons. I've just checked. Quite horrified.

I know! It was around £1 for years and it's more than doubled.

Looking back to pre 2020 things were much better. Historical low interest rates, food was cheaper , I don’t remember being careful about spending then.

Most working people have had pay rises but that’s been totally swallowed up by higher mortgage payments, higher food shops and higher energy bills.

What with what’s going on with farmers , I don’t think things will get better.

Nothing will ever get to how things were pre pandemic. Interest rates will never drop below 3% I doubt , and food won’t go down either. See above what I said about farmers.

Thanks @PrimalScreaming! DH eats vast amounts of plain Yoghurt so if I can make it that’ll be a saving for us :)

I need to give the yoghurt making a go that @PrimalScreaming describes. Sounds pretty easy and much cheaper. Yoghurt isn't cheap these days.