Page 15 | What is going on with food prices??

londongirl12 · 2025-09-17T19:58:30+00:00

A 500g packet of mince in Aldi is now over £5!! What on earth is going on???

MrsSkylerWhite · 18/09/2025 10:18

BleinhamOrange · 18/09/2025 10:14

They do.

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We also pay lower taxes than many European countries.

Bagsintheboot · 18/09/2025 10:19

HairsprayBabe · 18/09/2025 10:15

@Bagsintheboot you are right Supermarkets usually run on pretty slim profit margins — around 1.8% last year, based on reports from the CMA. That’s lower than it used to be, and they’re mostly trying to improve it by cutting costs rather than raising prices. Or thats what they report anyway.
For fresh meat like chicken, the typical markup is about 100%. So if it costs them £2.50 per kilo wholesale, it’ll probably be sold at around £5 per kilo. Prepped or marinated versions obviously tend to be more expensive because of the added value.
Packaged goods — especially long shelf-life or branded items — can have much higher markups, sometimes 300–500%. That’s why even when something’s heavily discounted near its expiry date, they’re often still making a profit.
Also worth mentioning: supermarkets often use loss leaders — products they sell at or below cost to get people through the door. Things like, milk, or bread are common examples. They lose money on those but make it back on everything else in your trolley.

Yes, this is all true. There are items with huge markups and items on which they will make a loss. Unfortunately that calculation is more complex than can be done in an MN post!

If you take the average shopping trolley, then the profit element will be small.

I think an awful lot of the public feel that if the supermarkets stopped making profits then their shop would be cheap again. It wouldn't, they would save a few pounds per weekly shop at most. And I don't know about you but paying £150 per week instead of £160 isn't going to make me suddenly flush with disposable income.

HairsprayBabe · 18/09/2025 10:20

@Aliflowers its not MN that thinks its greedy it is the advice from diet and nutrition experts 100-120g of chicken is a portion. If you eat more than that (assuming you aren't an athlete or a labourer) then you are over eating.

Greysowhat · 18/09/2025 10:20

BleinhamOrange · 18/09/2025 10:16

UK supermarket profit margins are significantly below those in the early 2010s and lower than pre-Covid,

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15 years ago? Really?? What about comparing them to more recently, 2019 for example, just before Covid. Then prices started to shoot up, Covid was blamed. Prices still going up... war in Ukraine blamed. It's all bullshit. Supermarkets profits are going up and up.

MrsSkylerWhite · 18/09/2025 10:21

Letskeepcalm · Today 10:18

spicetails · Yesterday 21:13
£4.50 per meal per person is insane.
What are you buying?

I thought same

Me too. Was this ready prepared meals or ingredients? Struggling to think of an average, homemade family meal that would cost £4.50 per person, unless you’re using fillet steak or cod loin?

Bagsintheboot · 18/09/2025 10:22

Greysowhat · 18/09/2025 10:20

15 years ago? Really?? What about comparing them to more recently, 2019 for example, just before Covid. Then prices started to shoot up, Covid was blamed. Prices still going up... war in Ukraine blamed. It's all bullshit. Supermarkets profits are going up and up.

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Please, look at the posts on the previous page and consider the actual maths rather than making ridiculous claims about profiteering.

There are very few companies which can survive on a 1.8% profit margin.

Ubertomusic · 18/09/2025 10:23

Loveduppenguin · 18/09/2025 10:05

I can almost still here my ex MIL saying things like this, “oh I managed” “oh I grew this and I grew that…we had very little left at the end of the month” “oh I went into the market every Thursday morning and bought my vegetables for the week…sometimes the veg would be cheaper if he needed rid of it” etc etc…I just wanted to scream…”YES…BUT YOU DIDN'T FUCKING WORK!!!!!” she had all bloody day to tend to a garden, make dinner and bake cakes ffs! Honestly!

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Yes, this! One PP was going on and one about their mum having done this and that with growing food and cooking... then casually said "she didn't have a full time job" 🤦‍♀️

Just LOL.

NamechangeNightNurse · 18/09/2025 10:23

Spookyspaghetti · 18/09/2025 09:53

I agree on veg. But a small fruit tree is very useful. There was one here when we moved in. (average to small garden, never had one before, thrilled!) All I’ve done was prune it once at the right time of year and water a couple of times in the heatwave and it’s got probably 50 pears which can be stores for quite a long time or made in to pudding, salads and what not. One pear is 50p at Sainsbury’s today or 52p at Tesco, which is quite a lot for one.

I don’t buy peppers very often as at around 80p for one it’s quite pricey but I imagine growing peppers would take more time and effort. Trees mostly take care of themselves.

We spent a lot of time blackberry picking last year (as it’s also a good activity for the kids) but sadly global warming caused them to come too early this year and they were gone over very early too.

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Peppers are easy to grow
Save the seeds, sow in a medium pot, stake, water and feed once a,week
I keep mine in the greenhouse but with the hot weather we have had they have gone ballistic this year

usernamealreadytaken · 18/09/2025 10:24

padronpepper · 17/09/2025 22:58

We have just come back from France.
Prices are on a par with UK prices.
Dairy, meat, fruit and veg - all similar to here.
So nothing to do with Reeves.

And equally little to do with Brexit, which frequently gets the blame.

askmenow · 18/09/2025 10:24

TartanMammy · 17/09/2025 23:09

I haven't bought olive oil since 2020, we had to switch to veg or sunflower oil, just cant justify the cost.

Tinned soup is another thing that seems to really expensive now, used to be cheap lunch but heinz tomato soup is £1.70 per can! We're a family of 4 with 2 teen boys so a tin of soup won't go very far.

Aldi soup 63p/ tin. Sainsburys 63p/ tin inc the tomato soup.
Or buy a soup maker and challenge them to be inventive and make their own. Takes minutes and makes a good quantity.
The Morphy Richards 1.6l is brilliant and sell reasonably on EBay.

Reeves has stuffed farmers, businesses, employers with exorbitant costs so what do we expect.
Ned Silliband has given us the highest energy costs in the world and it’s projected to get worse yet.
Rachel from Customer Complaints has royally buggered the economy. No wonder she shed tears of woe on the front bench.

Letskeepcalm · 18/09/2025 10:25

suki1964 · 17/09/2025 21:23

What's 3 basic meals to you ?

I feed 3 adults, and a chicken will feed us two days - roast on day one, a Chinese / Indian style dish the next - so the main protein - £1 a portion

Day one roast will be half a cauliflower made into a cauliflower cheese, a bag of carrots and parsnips mixed, a green cabbage and spuds and stuffing using old bread and sage from the garden and an onion. Add the milk and flour, a few seasonings - Im getting change from a fiver

Chinese/ Indian - rice, a few tablespoons of this and that, a tin of toms, a couple of onion ions, a pepper ( depending on what the dish is going to be ) another couple of quid

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I've cooked like this all my life.
I don't need to save pennies now ( no mortgage or loans, plenty disposable income) but its ingrained into not to be wasteful

isthismylifenow · 18/09/2025 10:25

Inkytreasure · 18/09/2025 09:17

I really wish I didn't have IBS - packing out smaller portions of meat with beans or lentils is such a great cost cutting idea but spending the rest of the day on the loo is not.

We do our main shop in Aldi and manage to keep it at around £120 for a family of 4 that's two adults and one and a half teens (ds usually eats his dinners at his girlfriends) but due to my gut issues and need for some free from foods I have to do a top up in other supermarkets with wider ranges of these foods. It often ends up costing me an extra £30+ per week.

IBS sufferer here too, and I totally agree. I wish it could bulk things out with lentils, but it really is an absolute no-go.

For those blaming the government, it really is not just the UK, but it is a worldwide issue. I am in a SH hemisphere country and it us hit as just as bad.

I do think though that on top of this issue, many people are eating according to trends. There is so much information out there now about needing this, that and the other every day for good health and wellness. These include things like eating fresh berries every day, just for one example. Grinding up flaxseeds, or adding chia seeds to a daily meal as another.

These are pricy items, but these days are promoted as 'essential' on social media.

I have not eaten a single berry since April, until last week. Because April to September is not berry season. And I live in a hot fruit producing country, and we cannot even get these items out of season. We eat what is available seasonally, and really that is our only option.

I look at threads on here where a young parent has been absolutely annihilated on a thread as she gave her child a packed lunch of a jam sandwich, a yoghurt and an apple for lunch. The comments incoming are how dreadful jam is, the child is going to suffer long term damage because they were given sliced shop bought bread and yoghurt... well that is upf to the highest degree according to some. Then they continue to bully OP while listing what their child ate, which is 4 types of berries, a thinly sliced nectarine and prawn salad with homemade dressing.
So OP feels shit, next time she shops she buys 5 types of berries and a bunch of lunch food that they feel pressurized to buy. Cue Tesco's now seeing how many berries they moved, and order in more for demand.

So yes, food is going up everywhere in the world, but supermarkets are businesses, and if a product is in demand, they will supply it but hike the price as it is now a sought after item.

I am an outsider to what is normal on food threads here. I know not everyone gives in to this pressure, but I think many do.

TheQuirkyMaker · 18/09/2025 10:27

DavidKeanu · 17/09/2025 21:02

I fear this is it for the foreseeable. Stagnant wages, rising taxes, food that's borderline unaffordable for many or completely unaffordable for some. Quality of life in this country has fallen and is continuing to fall. The government is bankrupt, and we're all at each other's throats. I love this country (not in a flag shagger way but genuinely) and I think we are heading towards some dark times.

Edited

Personally, I think Brexit was the start of the decline. And the irony is, although it was touted to end immigration (impossible and stupid anyway as we need a skilled workforce), it increased it to by about 10x! And instead of fellow Europeans, we have welcomed the new millions from all around the world.

floraldreamer · 18/09/2025 10:27

The only thing I've noticed is olive oil

But i don't eat meat so I guess I'm largely unaffected.

BleinhamOrange · 18/09/2025 10:27

£4.50 per meal per person is insane.

It is very easy to reach this level with some of the prepped meal items which can cost over £6 for two (salmon encroute, hunters chicken, pork kebabs etc). Add on veg and a pudding and you are quickly heading over £4.50 per meal without feeling particularly luxurious. I used to buy prepped food for maybe once per week but recently it seemed to jump hugely in price and I have stopped now.

spicetails · 18/09/2025 10:29

BleinhamOrange · 18/09/2025 10:27

£4.50 per meal per person is insane.

It is very easy to reach this level with some of the prepped meal items which can cost over £6 for two (salmon encroute, hunters chicken, pork kebabs etc). Add on veg and a pudding and you are quickly heading over £4.50 per meal without feeling particularly luxurious. I used to buy prepped food for maybe once per week but recently it seemed to jump hugely in price and I have stopped now.

It’s still insane.

MrsSkylerWhite · 18/09/2025 10:30

BleinhamOrange · 18/09/2025 10:27

£4.50 per meal per person is insane.

It is very easy to reach this level with some of the prepped meal items which can cost over £6 for two (salmon encroute, hunters chicken, pork kebabs etc). Add on veg and a pudding and you are quickly heading over £4.50 per meal without feeling particularly luxurious. I used to buy prepped food for maybe once per week but recently it seemed to jump hugely in price and I have stopped now.

If someone is eating prepped meals most days, they’re really not doing themselves any favours in terms of additives and salt.

TartanMammy · 18/09/2025 10:31

Ladydish · 18/09/2025 09:04

I’ll never understand anybody buying tinned soup!

I’ve just made a huge pot of minestrone to use up veg. It cost me nothing but if I was buying the ingredients it would be about £5 if that and it’ll feed me for dinner and lunch tomorrow (with bread) and DS for 2 lunches.

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Time! Tinned soup is a quick and easy (and used to be cheap) lunch for one. I work full time and we have busy lives.

Making a pot of soup (I do it sometimes) is a completely different thing & quite a bit of effort and sometimes skill, i.e. 'cream of' anything is tricky to get right.

Happyjoe · 18/09/2025 10:31

Confusdworriedmum · 18/09/2025 10:11

Mince used to be cheap. We used to have it in different things a couple of times a week. It's almost the same price as chicken now.
We did consider going vegetarian but actually that seems just as expensive.
Something is going to give sooner or later.

Am vegetarian, since 10 years old. Veggies are cheaper than meat, as a little goes a long way. For example, I may a big vat of veg chilli, 4 carrots (30p), 1 whole broccoli (82p) small packet of green beans (85p), 1 red pepper (45p), small tin of supermarket own sweetcorn (50p), 2-3 tins of plum toms (£1-1.50) 1 large courgette (60p) and £1.79 for a kg rice, more than enough for 4 meals. Same for when make veggie curries etc, soups.

So just around £6.70 makes 4 meals. That's cheaper than a packet of mince it seems. It's the fake meat stuff that is expensive, luckily don't like that ultra processed type of food and rather stick to vegetables and fruit.

spicetails · 18/09/2025 10:32

askmenow · 18/09/2025 10:24

Aldi soup 63p/ tin. Sainsburys 63p/ tin inc the tomato soup.
Or buy a soup maker and challenge them to be inventive and make their own. Takes minutes and makes a good quantity.
The Morphy Richards 1.6l is brilliant and sell reasonably on EBay.

Reeves has stuffed farmers, businesses, employers with exorbitant costs so what do we expect.
Ned Silliband has given us the highest energy costs in the world and it’s projected to get worse yet.
Rachel from Customer Complaints has royally buggered the economy. No wonder she shed tears of woe on the front bench.

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Why do we need a gadget to make soup?

JoyClark · 18/09/2025 10:33

Barney16 · 18/09/2025 06:39

I'm thinking of stopping OH for a bloke who eats less and doesn't think a diet should exclusively consist of meat and bars of fruit and nut. . It will be a sad day but needs must. I have massively reduced our food budget because the cost was unsustainable which means by Thursday it's either jacket potato or something a bit dodgy looking from the bottom of the freezer. On the plus side I'm almost cured of an M and S chocolate covered custard cream habit which was becoming concerning.

Jacket potatoes are still cheap. Not so much the butter to go in them.

Holluschickie · 18/09/2025 10:33

Happyjoe · 18/09/2025 10:31

Am vegetarian, since 10 years old. Veggies are cheaper than meat, as a little goes a long way. For example, I may a big vat of veg chilli, 4 carrots (30p), 1 whole broccoli (82p) small packet of green beans (85p), 1 red pepper (45p), small tin of supermarket own sweetcorn (50p), 2-3 tins of plum toms (£1-1.50) 1 large courgette (60p) and £1.79 for a kg rice, more than enough for 4 meals. Same for when make veggie curries etc, soups.

So just around £6.70 makes 4 meals. That's cheaper than a packet of mince it seems. It's the fake meat stuff that is expensive, luckily don't like that ultra processed type of food and rather stick to vegetables and fruit.

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Agree. Being vegetarian is not as expensive unless you eat fake meat. Which we don't.

Unpaidviewer · 18/09/2025 10:33

HairsprayBabe · 18/09/2025 10:20

@Aliflowers its not MN that thinks its greedy it is the advice from diet and nutrition experts 100-120g of chicken is a portion. If you eat more than that (assuming you aren't an athlete or a labourer) then you are over eating.

I believe a 100g portion is around the size of a deck of cards. Most people I've said this to have been shocked and can't imagine eating such a small portion.

BleinhamOrange · 18/09/2025 10:33

Greysowhat · 18/09/2025 10:20

15 years ago? Really?? What about comparing them to more recently, 2019 for example, just before Covid. Then prices started to shoot up, Covid was blamed. Prices still going up... war in Ukraine blamed. It's all bullshit. Supermarkets profits are going up and up.

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Profit margins were higher in 2019 just before Covid too.

HairsprayBabe · 18/09/2025 10:35

@TartanMammy what are you on about soup is literally the easiest thing in the world to make: Pot, water, veg, stock cube, protein, blend if desired that's literally it - I have never made a bad soup and we use up all our left over bits and bobs at the end of the week to make ours usually gives me lunch for at least half the week.