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???

Mutton used to be so cheap. Now it's restaurant food. Ditto oxtail, sweetbreads, fries which my husband loves. Brawn another favourite of his once upon a time.

I have just been to Sainsbury's local and got an organic chicken on yellow ticket for £3.25. What a bargain.
It will go in the electric pressure cooker at 11am tomorrow (half price Scottish Power price) for 30 mins then left for 15 mins before I open it. Stock in a jug and chicken on a plate to cool. Stripped down when it is cold.
With a rinse out the overnight soaked dried peas will go in for the same time.
That is about 5 days chicken for me (I live alone) and will be used for different meals or frozen well wrapped. Same with the peas - 2 portions in the fridge and the rest 1 portions in the freezer.
Soup with the stock and the small bits of chicken plus lentils or chickpeas and lots of veg. If I needed to I could live very cheaply, infact going on from this thread I think I will do a week of "how much did I spend on food this week"

@FishPie2 it's actually a good challenge. Some weeks I like to spend as little as possible, it makes me really think out of the box and often make some of my nicest food when I have to be creative.

My courgettes did quite well this year. Small, but I got quite a few. I also chucked some sprouting potatoes into a raised bed and got loads from that!

I've just remembered at the end of the month pre payday, I used to buy faggots from the butchers. Tasty but cheap. Haven't seen those for many a year

I love potatoes like that so much taste

I have been shopping in Sainsbury’s for a while now, and only buy whatever is on offer through nectar prices-luckily mince seems to be on there most weeks, as well as sausages so I stock up when they are on offer. It’s the only way to keep the food bill for three of us at about £120 a week.

Cooked a chicken. It was on the kitchen counter with foil and a tea towel over it, then I saw a fly buzzing round. There were gaps in the towel/foil and I can't face eating it just in case. DH is up for it though. So annoyed.

Tbh I'd just wash it, could you try that?

I'm actually feeling really inspired by this thread!

I've realised that I just unthinkingly do an online shop, which has to get to £50 to be delivered.

Whereas if I actually hunted through the fridge, freezer and cupboards maybe I only actually need a couple of things or just think outside the box.

I remember reading something about 'don't be afraid to run out' ie why are there 6 tins of beans, tomatoes, kidney beans in my cupboard?

I'm going to shop more thoughtfully and check whether I can make a meal from what's kicking around before restocking.

DH is doing the shopping at the moment. Six cans of baked beans, three cartons of passata, four tins of tomatoes, two tins of chilli beans. We've had words about sticking to the shopping list.

I’ve also noticed the big supermarkets are doing less own brands and so can’t make a saving here and there by getting some own brands anymore. This is Tesco, I do online food shop because I don’t have time to go anywhere cheaper.

Tescos have been awful for this recently.
So many of their own brand items unavailable

Not just this but some of the budget brands at tesco are pretty much the same price as tesco own, the growers harvest tinned tomatoes are 45p and tesco own which i find to be less watery are 47p stockwell flour is 70p tesco own which is in a thicker bag (that rips less often) is 75p, the budget versions of these items used to be around half the price of tesco own.

I’m going to do my shopping today! I’m in Ireland and I feel like some of the prices here could be similar…if not cheaper than uk at this point. I’ll be back with receipts 🤣

Does anyone put off going shopping? For example we are down to our last two slices of bread and I'm kidding myself that we can make it last!! 😜

I make a bit of a game of it (and we are ok financially, fwiw). Random dinners, what can we make from… and so on. Also, my kids love random “bits of” dinners.

Honestly, no I absolutely adore taking an hour or so on Saturday morning doing the shopping and having the fridge full for the week. I meal plan so I’m ready to go with my list every Saturday morning.

We haven't been paying enough for food for years. Go to France - prices are almost double what they are here

I think they meant stretching it out and using everything up.
I love shopping, meal prepping etc but I try to skip a shop and use up what we have and keep the money I didn't spend in the Christmas budget.

And in France yheir housing is considerably cheaper, and overall cust of living relative to wages is lower than in the UK.

I’ve noticed that too.

@Dogaredabomb definitely don't be afraid to run out! I have a friend who has 3 of everything. 1 in use, 1 spare, 1 spare spare. She always complains she doesn't have any money/cant afford to buy a house etc. I find it madness when shopping is so easy these days.

That said, I do try to make sure we dont run out of things that I know are expensive in the corner shop. So loo roll, washing powder, cat food etc are on the 'buy if have spare money in budget' list.

The prices are more expensive, but not double. I spend about the same shopping for a month in normandy as I do in uk grocery shopping - other than im buying wine every 4/5 days which I wouldn't in uk and that is €3 a bottle instead of £4.99 here - for the same bottle of wine

I have had a friend return from France though as his marriage broke up and he contemplated staying in France but it was a tough call as France has its own issues.

Yes, I’ve found the same. I’ve been in France for the past three weeks. We used to expect a big shop to be twice as much as we’d pay here in the UK, but for the past couple of years they’re broadly similar. Some things are a lot more expensive (fruit and veg), some cuts of meat and fish are pricey and some cheaper (I got half a side of salmon for €6!), and other things are much cheaper. It really opens your eyes to how much our shopping has gone up when you’re pleasantly surprised at the cost of a french supermarket shop!