To be annoyed how much groceries cost?

[justkeepswimingswiming]

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.

And they have money-off vouchers, available to all, in addition to the great prices. Their Colliers Cheddar @ £1.99 for 350g is lovely.

Yes things are jumping up 12 pence or more. Yet we are told lies such as inflation is now at 2.6%!

Do you have a community shop near you OP.

I live in a deprived area, the local council have tried (and are succeeding) to have a community shop or pantry or similar in every ward.

My local one aims that a family of 4 can be fed for £50 a week. It doesn't have the variety of somewhere like Tesco but for fresh fruit and veg is excellent.

They also have a 'free cupboard' for things that are, well free. These are things like food from multipacks that can't be sold but are perfectly fine.

Have a look at your local council's website you might be surprised.

I got an Iceland delivery this week, they are doing a 10 for £10 deal too.

having spent the last two weeks in the US food is cheap here ridiculously cheap

Oh btw your foreign aid comment is a joke - go check yourself

They are paid much higher salaries than here.

If you buy a packet of yellow split peas, soak them while you boil the ham, then when you roast the ham add the peas to the stock with onion/carrot simmer until soft then blitz, lovely filling pea and ham soup for about 60p, when the ham is roasted add the liquid from the roasting pan too.

Top tip! Thank you 🙏

OP is getting a hard time here by “pro foreign aid brigade”. You are not wrong OP. Unfortunately, it will get much worse. More inflation and massive drop further down in living standards

It's terrible op. DH had a very decent pay rise a while back...but we actually have far less money because so much is taken up by our food bill.... probably £1000 a month. I used to do it for half that...we are managing and not struggling but it means we actually have far less disposable income for extras like going out, clothes, beauty treatments, all those types of things. It's shit.

Farm Foods is not my thing. I don't survive off frozen foods. Very bad for the health.

That seems quite a lot? How much did you think that would cost?

In my head I'd be thinking about:
£8 per dinner for family (meat or pulses, 2 x veg)
£2 per lunch for me (omelette, salad, soup, or sandwich)
£2 for 2 kitchen rolls
£4 peanut butter
£2.50 cheese
£3 dozen eggs
£1.50 each for babybell and kids crackers
£2-3 salad items
£2 50 6 cans flavoured sparkling water

... so closer to £50.
I'm sure I'd have got it for these prices just a few years ago.

That's a great idea 💡

I lived in the Midwest in the early 90s and was shocked at how cheap and wonderful food was. 7 ears of corn for $1 - I ate a lot of corn 🤣

I would be more annoyed that your wages haven't went up, maybe time to change career?

Don't buy kitchen roll!!! Use cloths.

And for cleaning I only buy washing up liquid and vinegar. I buy persil powder but only use a couple of tablespoons per wash.

Another bloody rediculous statement

frozen food , my freezer is stuffed to the gills with frozen veg, meat and fish. I’ll buy it at Iceland, home bargains , wherever it’s cheap

a frozen burger has less bloody e numbers and additives then a fresh burger from a supermarket for example if burgers are your thing.

frozen fruit and veg often contain more nutrients then fresh as they are frozen within hours of harvesting. You fresh can be months old before you buy it , shelf life extended by chemicals and gasses

Frozen food has a weird taste and texture once defrosted/cooked

Both the US and Australia supermarkets are far more expensive than the UK. We have Home Bargsins, Poundland etc that really do help with the overall cost.

I don't know about Australia but the US has much high wages than here

I feed a family of 4 adults for less than £100 per week. So one day's work at minimum wage earns more than we spend for a whole week feeding 4 adults.

We eat well and healthily, with an emphasis on scratch cooking and seasonal ingredients.

I think food is very affordable in the UK tbh.

It’s not food it’s housing
thw uk has cheap food and expensive housing

I agree that food in the uk is cheap compared to other places. In Canada and USA it can be about twice the price. Problem is their wages are much higher as well. We are a real low wage economy.

And the issue we are noticing currently is that benefits, nmw, public sector wages are going up proportionately more than a lot of private sector wages. I guess this is fuelling inflation?

That's your perception experience

I personally use a lot of frozen fish and vegetables. So I know we dont like frozen broccoli, but frozen cauliflower is great and I buy frozen berries which ALWAYS have taste - unlike fresh most of the time

Even Jamie Oliver uses frozen fish in his recipes , affordable and healthy eating