What is going on with food prices??

[londongirl12]

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

Why do you feel the need to be so offensive? I have said I use one large chicken to feed three people twice, not 5000

Food costs are a huge issue for us, I work 20hrs on NMW. My DH can rarely work now so relies on SSP ( hes waiting on a op - 3 years so far, perhaps he will get it before he gets his pension ) So of course I have to watch the pennies

But the prices are what they are so I cut our cloth to suit

I dont buy olive oil, haven't for years, I buy cold pressed rapeseed oil - produced locally - its £3 a bottle and lasts about a month

Stopped buying. butter about 3 years back, still get a pack of lurpak spreadable for mother when its on offer , I never pay the RRP

My shopping basket is very much what it used to be in the 70's, cheaper cuts of meat , fish , and vegetables and some fruit - whatever is on offer

I shop around, I use Lidl, home bargains, savers and some things Tesco . We eat what is affordable , I cook from scratch

Really thin burgers, have become popular with the young uns. They are really tasty though!

"Smash burgers are hamburgers made by pressing a ball of ground beef firmly onto a very hot griddle or skillet, resulting in a thin patty with a crispy, caramelized crust and a juicy interior. This smashing technique increases the surface area for searing, which intensifies the Maillard reaction for greater flavor and creates a distinct texture that differs from the thicker, traditional burger patty."

@XiCi Supermarkets run on pretty slim profit margins — around 1.8% last year which is lower than pre-covid and much lower than pre 2008 - The reason the ££ amount of profit is so massive is because they have such an enormous stock turn over - not due to price gouging.

I use a large chicken to feed five twice. The second meal often bulked out with veg - so something like a stir fry or in a pasta sauce.

Hobnobs are 1.60 online at Morrisons

@Maghullyback 3m x 75cm trough - how much did that cost because retail is several hundred pounds for that

How much was the cost of the compost.

I'm not just jealous of your success (only a little bit) but the initial outlay to start growing can be quite high.

I wonder if you would have had the same success trying to dig in clay soil in a shady garden.

Were using The Fat Butcher.
They have loads of bulk buy deals. Just got two massive boxes delivered today actually. Quality is great :)

I've an average terrace house back garden. No greenhouse. No poly tunnel.

This year I've grown tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, beetroot, Spring onions, garlic, shallots, onions, cucumbers, french beans, strawberries, loganberries, grapes, celery, mini pumpkins, carrots, Pak Choi, parsnips, courgettes......and many herbs.

Leeks......

No netting. Potter around in the evening picking off caterpillar or snails......

Supermarkets revenue model is interesting. The handful? of large supermarkets arguably price gouge their suppliers like farmers and any supplier who supply unbranded commodities. More powerful suppliers who provide items that customers demand (enough customers will insist on branded ketchup, cola and so on give Kraft Heinz Coke and so on some balance of power).

Supermarkerkets working capital is effectively provided by their suppliers - customers pay for goods immediately or even earlier if home delivery. Suppliewrs get paid three? months later. That float funds the business the last set of accounts for one supermarket I looked though it might have changed.

Don't let a supermarket advocate use the remarkably low margins convince you they are not price gouging IMO - look at the cash. If a supermarket extracts £.1 billian pa in profit from its customers and that from a business deploying £2bn of working capital then that is extra ordinary IMO.

look at the cash. If a supermarket extracts £3.1 billian pa in profit from its customers and that from a business deploying £2bn of working capital that is provided free by their suppliers rather than borrowed from banks then that is extra ordinary IMO.

Yes just adding to the mince disbelief 🤣 I paid £9.50 for a kilo of mince from Sainsbury’s the other day. I was so shocked I messaged my DH with this info, who was equally shocked! Ten pounds for mince!!!

It's UK farmers I feel badly about - subsidies eroding after Brexit (I'm genuinely astonished at the farmers I know who voted for Brexit) - now a return on capital of sometime less than 1%? and effective wages for non-NMW self-employed working 10-12 ours 365 days a year of less than a pound an hour? for the farmers who grown commodities, either sometimes tenants or have millions of pounds invested in land and millions more in machinery. Some farmers I know drive Range Rovers but more work as hard as any city worker I know for a lower return than any business sector I've seen. Cultural and family factors drive refusing to leave and sell up, just working harder to increase output and depress prices further.

With good harvests then prices drop. With bad harvests and supermarkets buy more from abroad so there's just less to sell at depressed prices. International competition has greater scale efficiencies, lower wages, lower welfare standards and greater mechanisation and pharmaceutical dosing of livestoick.

If someone designed a market structure to generate supernormal profits by super markets and depress prices for UK farmers then they possibly couldn't have achieved more. Hmmm...

The left, under the last Labour gov improved schools and NHS for children, they introduced 'Best Start' (have a google) helping children and families so much which is still ongoing. Under the Blair years, the Labour party reduced child poverty considerably. They've just started rolling out the help for nursery spaces, to help families costs, keeping a pledge. Life for children under the Tories has been harder, just this last lot (insert many Tory leader names here) child poverty has shot up stupid amounts, not to mention the many many food banks that families have to rely on to eat.

People go on about the flipping immigrants and the left without any facts and as if that is all that is important. Easily lead sheep. It's this stupidity that is going to be the demise of this country, not people who have come on a boat.

Did farmers in recent history say that they had fruit/food rotting as nobody to pick it? What a waste.

Sainsbury and Tesco make £300million profit from selling the data on loyalty cards

I am finding the cost of food really problematic.

I have switched form olive oil to vegetable oil for most things.

Meat? Usually only what I can find in the reductions section. Chickpeas and Tofu are generally my most commonly used source of protein these days.

Meals out more than about twice a year? Forget about it. The only place I could afford these days would be Wetherspoons, and I'd rather save my money than have a microwaved hard jacket potato and a few watery beans.

I used to be able to eat better as a student than I can at the moment!

We feel as though we're being forced to be vegetarian, but that diet doesn't work for some people. I was recovering from a bug (I'm ill more often now funnily enough) and felt really weak and awful. Went to the shop and bought a pack of bacon and had bacon and eggs for tea. Next day felt much better. Ds2 feels the same about meat and needs some for a protein boost in spite of me buying cheese and cheap protein drinks from Lidl as a meal replacement as he often misses meals due to autism.

I can't eat tofu or quorn due to gut pain and beans spike my blood sugars. I relied on meat for a good protein boost. I've also gained weight as I'm relying on carbs more. Chicken isn't too dear, but it makes me feel sick. I relied on beef mince and bacon. Can't afford salmon and the tasteless white fish they sell is horrible. Will have to get some tinned sardines or something. Perhaps mackerel.

I think they're trying to get people off meat and fish and are planning on feeding us bugs soon. The cat that I look after who's fed on bug based food is always throwing up, so I'm not hopeful.

I was going to buy mince in M&S to make a cottage pie and it was too expensive but a large Cumberland pie was yellow stickered for £5 so it was cheaper to buy that! A local ‘posh’ butchers does a fantastic deal of 12 items for £45 - 450g of low fat mince counts as one item as does a dozen free range eggs. Huge choice and most things can be frozen. It’s worth looking about.

Or they are getting us ready for lab grown meat.... actual meat from animals will be for the super wealthy

Every time I go the supermarket I come out in shock at the prices! Mince is going up and up. I’ve been mixing pork mince with beef for meatballs and bolognese as pork is a bit cheaper. I’ve also been eating chickpeas and beans and trying to save the meat for my children and husband. I’m trying to reduce how much chocolate my family eats and thinking of making homemade snacks to reduce the costs. It’s hard because we’re going back in standards and my children are soon not going to be able to have the chocolate and treats I had growing up. I suppose it will be healthier at least.

I'm 59 and that's bollocks.

I wasn’t having a go at Labour, I was just pointing out that recently on MN anyone that even slightly calls out Tommy Robinson, CK, etc gets automatically labelled as “the left”.

Surely there’s people across all political parties that can see thugs for what they are.

What's bollocks?

Because your family didnt buy half a pig means mine didnt?

Or that chicken was extremely expensive?

Or that Im 62

Or that I send cockerels off for processing and then eat them?

Is it completely wholemeal or do you mix it with white?

Very likely. I'm not sure how I feel about lab grown meat. I'd be glad it'd be cruelty free, but is there anything in it which would affect human health? Everything has a catch it seems.