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???

We've had three water butts that fill from the gutters for a long time now (10+ years?), but are upping our game since the last two summers have been so dry. I have managed to get another three so far, but will gather as many as I can fit down the side of the house. In our last house we had a proper greywater system that collected water from the washing machine outlet and diverted it to flush the toilets. I would love to get a similar set up again. Just seems illogical to flush shit away with clean water.

@MrsBobtonTrent that makes so much sense.
Im convinced there must be lots of tricks we are missing. Like hot water from showers/baths not being used to heat floors, waste water for loos etc
I know someone who set up their water intake to the boiler to be warmed up by the water flowing out. So once the hot water was running it heated up the water heading yo the boiler and that meant less fuel used. Clever really.

I'm amazed and alarmed at the volume of grey water you notice once you change your habits. I keep a jug under the kitchen tap for every time I wash my hands or scrub vegetables. It's a 2l plastic jug and gets filled several times a day, it's just such a shame that, like you say, it's not rigged up to flush the loo.

Anything baked at home is way higher quality than just about anything available in supermarkets, you'd literally have to pay £££s for artisan/professional cake maker products to get anything comparable. If you're used used to home baking, commercial cake is virtually inedible.

All the supermarkets do fairly cheap basic chocolate bars that are fine for baking. They used to be 30 p, but the only price I can see online now is 75 p at Sainsburys.

It’s a birthday cake, cut across and then into fingers - easily get 30 pieces of cake. The dark chocolate balances the sweetness and it’s not being eaten every day

I’m glad you only buy it once a year because the ingredients aren’t gonna be doing your child any good. Emulsifiers mess with your gut and that cake has loads of them. The ingredients in shop-bought cake versus homemade are worlds apart.

Yes my DD only has one birthday per year as she's not a reigning monarch, so I don't need to buy multiple birthday cakes.

I think in the grand scheme of things to get worked up about, this comes pretty low.

Sorry @MikeRafone I work in a bakery and literally look at ingredients every day, so it just jumped out as a tweak i would make! It wasn't a judgement on how much sugar you should eat or how often. Apologies it came across that way.

@Bjorkdidit if you're want8ng better quality home baking I'd not go for that 75p dark chocolate. The main ingredient is sugar and its 44%. The next one, at £2.30 seems better, where the main ingredient is cocoa mads. And suddenly you can see why a cake may cost quite a bit, whether home made or shop bought.

It’s a big initial outlay but you always have ingredients left over after the first cake you make or muffins or whatever so I think it’s well worth the effort and expense for a cake that will taste much nicer than anything shop bought (and free of some nasty UP stuff).

This is such a lovely thread, so refreshing. On the negative side of things I dreamt about grey water last night and cleaning with snide jif and rinsing away with my watering can. On the plus side I have put in my spring bulbs but have decided not to buy any more because well, it's just spending isn't it.

I'm wondering what to do about this last seasons lily and dahlia bulbs. Can the lilies stay in the ground over winter?

The dahlia is still flowering and producing new flowers so I'm wondering at what point to dig it up and look after it for the winter. Should I do this with my dahlia bulb or view it as a one season thing?

Speaking of baking I got the reminder it's Macmillan coffee morning on Friday and school are wanting baked goods - For these I generally use premade mixes - its cheaper than buying (and I want to send in something nice not essentials plain buns) and I will sub half oil for butter etc. if needed.

I won't begrudge charity baking even though some people moan about it - and deep down I am a show off so I will!

Depends where you are in the country. I leave dahlias in. Sussex.

South Yorkshire, it's not all that cold over winter generally.

I am extremely low effort with the garden and just leave all bulbs in situ. No one is digging them up in wild, right? I take a no-nuture approach. If it doesn't survive, it isn't meant to grow there - natural selection and all that.

The fruit and veg gets a similar approach, and the ideal is something I plant once that lasts years. The yields are variable and some years I get next to no runner beans (this year!), but it makes the project manageable. Not many people have time to spent 6 hours per carrot, and it doesn't currently make sense.

We dig a hole twizzle in blood, fish, and bone, some fertilizer. Stick everything in, backfill, water well regularly, then order them to crack on and thrive. It works most of the time 😄

Dahlias are at risk of rotting if its wet , don't think they mind the cold too much.
I just lift mine out and wrap in newspaper and shove in a box under the green house bench .

I leave other bulbs alone pray the squirrels don't find them
Tulips tend to fade a bit in subsequent years so I usually add a few every few years

And you’re biting my head of because….???

I think I'm a big over waterer and I'm trying to curb my profligacy.

I wouldn't say I bit your head off, but this comment

I’m glad you only buy it once a year because the ingredients aren’t gonna be doing your child any good

seems unnecessarily sanctimonious and judgemental.

She had a slice of shop bought cake on her birthday for heavens sake...

Only on Mumsnet do you stick a candle in a lump of tofu 🙄

I didn’t see it as sanctimonious, I was just stating a fact. There are countless things in everyday foods that contain unnecessary and harmful ingredients and not all of them are as easy to recreate as a cake, that’s why I pointed it out. ‘xcuse I.

Looked at pricing uk some Christmas stuff yesterday: pretty eye watering!! Hot chocolate knew would be up on last year,but 30-40% is a lot when you see it written down. Smoked salmon holding up ok. God knows what the lot will cost by Christmas

It was unnecessarily judgmental

She was very restrained.

DH was doing the rounds of the farmers recently. They're all holding back on sending their beef to auction. The grass is still going so food costs zilch. Come November Christmas shopping time they'll send them to market where they'll get daft money for them. Unfortunately it's meant we're paying more for beef just now