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Cost of living

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Original poster

To be annoyed how much groceries cost?

99 replies

justkeepswimingswiming · 15/04/2025 13:24

10 years ago I could do a full shop for 4 people with £50 for a week & a bit.
Today I spent £70 for 3 dinners, a little bit of fruit & veg and a box of cat food!
My wages haven’t gone up, my bills have increased by a ridiculous amount. My child benefit went up all of 1 percent.
I can’t even scrimp on food as I have a diabetic in the house and need to have food in the house!
😟 I just can’t afford to live anymore, yet the goverment are handing out millions in forgein aid and taking away from the poor. What do they expect us to do?
can’t use food banks, there’s a limit of 3 times in so many months.

OP posts:
Grimbeorn · 15/04/2025 16:59

You could eat different food types, if you wanted. It's time consuming to learn to cook from scratch if you aren't used to it, but once you have some regular recipes it's quick.
Pasta with tinned tomato, onion, peppers, cheese
Veg and lentil stew (choose the cheapest veg like turnip, carrot, leeks, and don't chop all the green off the leeks!)

You get the drift I'm sure. Some foods are still cheap, you just aren't eating them.

And regardless, as pp said, food is very very cheap in the UK related to income. Housing, on the other hand...

Chewbecca · 15/04/2025 17:18

Have your wages really not increased in 10 years? Time to look for a new job if that is the case.

overthinker001 · 15/04/2025 17:37

pinksheetss · 15/04/2025 16:49

A Tesco Clubcard doesn’t really knock money off. Tesco puts the prices up to then say oh it’s cheaper with a Clubcard

Show quote history

yea I know but it made me feel better in that moment lol.

anniegun · 15/04/2025 17:41

A legitimate moan about food inflation , but apparantly its because of foreign aid? The Dail Mail is really achieving its objectives with some people.

Budgetquery · 15/04/2025 19:50

€3.75 for 18 eggs in Ireland! And that’s in tesco
im starting to think England is more expensive than Ireland these days!

BlondeMummyto1 · 15/04/2025 19:58

Every single thing has gone up. I feel like they all jumped on ‘the cost of living’ as a sneaky way to get away with it.

BlondeMummyto1 · 15/04/2025 20:03

justkeepswimingswiming · 15/04/2025 13:52

Yeah your right it’s not forgein aid, it’s the government and their buddies thinking they deserve a pay rise when they’re smashing this country into the ground further & further each day.

I have a child on the spectrum who only eats certain foods, and a child whose diabetic so needs more decent meals so it doesn’t chuck his blood sugars up to high but I just can’t do that with the prices now.
we tend to have things like pizza, pasta, salad, jacket potatoes, roast dinners, chicken nuggets, chicken & veg. Nothing special at all.
I remember I could go into Iceland and fill my massive freezer under £70 and it’d last me months now I can’t afford to shop in Iceland. 😕

So you have a Farmfoods? They are doing 10 items for £10 atm. All Birdseye or McCain.

MrsEverest · 16/04/2025 01:09

justkeepswimingswiming · 15/04/2025 16:33

Dear lord, remind me to never rant on mumsnet. What a horrible forum! Ugh.

Unfortunately you chose to use a racist trope to make your point.

Momtotwokids · 16/04/2025 02:31

justkeepswimingswiming · 15/04/2025 13:54

£5.05 for 12 eggs?! We got 12 eggs today for £3 and I thought that was dear.
Even ham has gone up, £4.50 for two packets… for bloody ham that’s mostly reclaimed meat. 😒

I live in PA and paid $5.44 for one dozen of cage free non- organic brown eggs last week. The cost has gone down.

LifeExperience · 16/04/2025 02:53

flyoverstate · 15/04/2025 13:59

Food in the UK was very cheap for a long time.
Brexit was always going to make food more expensive.
Covid and world wide inflation added to that.
Food in the UK is actually still pretty cheap compared to many developed nations I think? Eggs in the USA have been around $9 for a dozen recently.

According to the US Dept. of Agriculture the current price of a dozen eggs in the US is 6.23 USD or 4.70 GBP. I paid 4.97 USD (3.75 GBP) this week for a dozen Grade A large.

juggleit · 16/04/2025 03:08

justkeepswimingswiming · 15/04/2025 13:54

£5.05 for 12 eggs?! We got 12 eggs today for £3 and I thought that was dear.
Even ham has gone up, £4.50 for two packets… for bloody ham that’s mostly reclaimed meat. 😒

£5 are organic eggs. Yours sound like a good deal in free range eggs
£3 for 6 lunches for DC so 50 pence a meal. That’s bloomin cheap!!
Its energy prices that drive food inflation - UK is stuffed in its total lack of investment into competitive energy supply.

SapporoBaby · 16/04/2025 03:22

Foreign aid isn’t the issue. Selfish businesses who have stagnated wages for 15 years are.

We have disgusting wages in this country and they need to go up… at all levels

Yachtinggwoman · 16/04/2025 03:26

Yes @justkeepswimingswiming prices are shocking and it’s everything. We have a child with coeliacs and absolutely everything for her is more expensive. Who knows how we are going to pay our bills? It’s all very worrying.

babasaclover · 16/04/2025 03:32

@justkeepswimingswiming I’m with you OP. Fruit is the kicker. Strawberries which my child loves are expensive and go off quickly. It’s a constant juggle to keep the fridge even a quarter full lately!

do you visit the butchers? Ours is great as meat is better quality so eg chicken breasts massive and. O shrinkage when cooked as no added water

Thatsinteresting · 16/04/2025 08:44

It is dull but you need to spend some time looking at what you're eating and making swaps as well as cooking from scratch. Strawberries aren't in season right now so will be expensive. We're a family of 5, food and other groceries cost £145 a week. We are vegetarian, have organic animal produce whenever possible, and green cleaning products. I bulk buy, cook everything, including snacks, and use my freezer a lot.

Food is still cheap compared to a lot of countries. It's only going to get more expensive so worth looking at some alternatives now

OutandAboutMum1821 · 16/04/2025 08:48

If it’s any help OP try switching to ALDI and buying non-brand stuff, I can do a full weekly shop for 4 of us there for £80 a week with a few extras from ASDA/Tesco we especially like.

westisbest1982 · 16/04/2025 08:51

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

siblingrevelryagain · 16/04/2025 10:12

The world has changed - we've had 14 years of Tory austerity, and then Brexit and Covid and a war in Europe.

Expecting to do what you've always done - eat how you've always eaten, shop how you've always shopped, work how you've always worked - is not realistic.

Do what many have to do that are struggling to make ends meet and have people with specific needs.

  • Plan ahead and buy the thing they will eat when it's on offer
  • Learn to make it yourself cheaper
  • Spend time when not at work planning meals, cooking ahead etc
  • Those in the household who aren't neurodivergent get to eat the less expensive/non-specific foods more to save the expensive, processed stuff for a child who has specific needs. For the diabetic, I imagine they would benefit from not having lots of ultra-processed carby stuff like pizza, nuggets, potatoes all the time too (or if they need these carbs, making them yourself will always be healthier)
  • Buy fewer cleaning products; we don't need fabric softener, or specific cleaners for every room in the house. Good reusable cloths, standard cleaning spray and disinfectant for floors instead of loads of different things that are marketed to us mainly for the smell.

Your ire should be directed at the corrupt politicians lining their own pockets and their donor mates, spaffing our money up the wall in PPE, culling provisions that help families and those in poverty, billionnaires and large corporations that spend a fortune all to avoid tax, not the poor sods in other countries who barely receive a dime

OneAvidHazelQuoter · 16/04/2025 10:14

No you're not unreasonable to be annoyed. At all.

Lampzade · 16/04/2025 10:47

peppermintcrumble · 15/04/2025 13:32

You lost me when you started whining about foreign aid. The UK is reducing spending on foreign aid from 0.5% to 0.3% of gross national income, compared to about 10% on benefits.

YANBU to find groceries too expensive.

YABVU to think money is being taken away from the poor to spend on foreign aid, or that this is the reason your groceries are expensive. YABVVVU not to do some basic research before posting, but why let the facts get in the way…

This
Op lost me at the mention of foreign aid.

SugarPlumpFairyCakes · 16/04/2025 11:00

Wonder what Tesco's profits are Q1 2025?

Unexpectedlysinglemum · 16/04/2025 12:23

Why haven't your wages gone up? They all should do a little! Mine have a ring but bit not in line with inflation sadly

flyoverstate · 16/04/2025 14:04

LifeExperience · 16/04/2025 02:53

According to the US Dept. of Agriculture the current price of a dozen eggs in the US is 6.23 USD or 4.70 GBP. I paid 4.97 USD (3.75 GBP) this week for a dozen Grade A large.

Show quote history

I’m guessing costs vary but this is my nearest supermarket

To be annoyed how much groceries cost?
Montea · 16/04/2025 15:37

What were you all having that it was £70 for 3 dinners

herbetta · 18/04/2025 21:27

justkeepswimingswiming · 15/04/2025 13:54

£5.05 for 12 eggs?! We got 12 eggs today for £3 and I thought that was dear.
Even ham has gone up, £4.50 for two packets… for bloody ham that’s mostly reclaimed meat. 😒

You can make your money go further though, by careful buying. 10 FR eggs in Sains are £1.74, and at £4.50 you'd be better off cooking up a gammon / ham joint yourself 👍

Take a little time to work out who has the best deals for the things you buy regularly & use the budget supermarkets, Home Bargains, Farmfoods etc. Also take full advantage of the supermarket apps etc.

Morrisons do a brilliant massive pack of 'cooking' bacon for £1