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???

I think the gap between cheap supermarkets and the posher ones is closing weirdly as Duchy Organic mince is currently £5.80 at Waitrose.

Also similarly a bacon roll at some basic cafes is now so much (which I totally understand why), I feel like I might as well save up and go for a lovely meal at an independent restaurant where I actually come out with something special for the price

not from tax payers subsidies which then go to shareholders

I'm only half joking. 🫣

Plus M&S digestives are still 400g per pack as opposed to McVities now 360g per pack. No difference in taste.

The cost of living crisis was well underway before Labour got in.

I think two (more?) issues are being conflated. Prepped pots of chopped mango at M&S, McVities biscuits, Heinz soup - to my mind this is a non-issue if I can still go to the same shop and buy a banana or apple, own brand biscuit and 55p veg or tom soup.

However, the standard "basket" of goods which is used to measure inflation etc - that continues to go up above earnings and that is a concern because it reflects lower standards of living.

I run a food bank. We buy c200 tins of basic beans, toms etc a week. Prices of these have gone up, but not absurdly so. However donations from the public have plummeted, and there's less grant money around.

Your garden.

I’ve just come back from France too and i actually thought it was more expensive than the UK. Certainly for some things.

It really isn’t just us.

I have changed what I buy. I live in my own and only buy one meat thing each week - usually some mince or chicken. Sometimes fish but I usually use tinned sardines. For the meat, I stretch it out so I'd add vegetables, maybe lentils for a cottage pie or spag bol. If I buy a whole chicken (which is the most economical way) it'll last for many meals. I also make stock and freeze portions. The price rises are scary. I don't mind for myself - I quite enjoy the challenge - but I worry for my sons and other people who are struggling.

Who benefits from the supermarket profits?
Shareholders - I.e. pension funds and investment funds - Who benefits from them?
We do
Should we not have pensions and investments?

When we put up wages and taxes, we put up the costs for businesses - who have shareholders to report to.

I’m more worried about the number of UK farmers either giving up or having to sell up - And the land is being bought by foreign parties. We are literally giving away our food security to other countries

Living in a flat in large city?
Nice advice.

I think the food price issue is worse because it seems you can’t even shop around now
Years ago if Sainsbury’s was too expensive you could switch to another cheaper supermarket like Asda or Tescos
They all charge the same now

Plus can anyone actually say they’ve found Aldi to be cheaper because I really do not

It won’t change: prices will go up and up. We have to change what we eat. Meat is expensive. More beans and whole grains to fill us up.

So we go back to eating like I did as a child: lots of wholesome, repetitive vegetarian food with no ready-made snacks or treats.

I grew up on simple homemade fare like barley-based soups, bean or lentil casseroles, macaroni cheese, pasta with tomato sauce. Once a week a big meat roast and leftovers form the basis of meat dishes rest of week. Fish once a week (now very expensive but you could try fresh mackeral or basa I suppose).

We had fruit trees and bushes in the garden or community garden. Grow herbs on the windowsill; a tub of “cut and come again” rocket or chard growing in a sunny spot outside over winter. My mum dug a vegetable patch - she was very excited when we got a freezer (previously just one drawer in the fridge). What spare produce we had we’d swap or donate to our neighbours and receive back in kind - a pot of jam here or a bag of gooseberries there.

If you live in a flat you could try and campaign for a new allotment or community vegetable garden or community orchard (two of these in my town ). It’s a lot of work and my mum didn’t have a full-time job but spent a lot of time in her garden and making preserves, pickling onions and cabbage, laying down layers of apples for winter.

It's not Brexit. It's covid fallout and climate. Prices are high across the world.

Flag shagger 😂😂😂 that’s priceless, cheered me right up!

How much of railway subsidies go to shareholders do you think? Why do you think the government has had to take over the running of so many railways which frequently run at a loss despite such large subsidies?

Same :)

Privileged? Ffs. Get that chip off your shoulder and put your name down for an allotment

Aldi is cheaper. Even mostly on iwn brand stuff in the shops. Fill your trolly in an app and then cross reference. It’s never not cheaper. I do it monthly. The occasional thing is cheaper. The only places I’ve found to consistently beat Aldi/lidl are Hone Bargains and Farm foods.

If you've got soil, water and seeds crops will grow. There are optional extras like automating your watering cycle, collecting rain, mulching to keep the weeds at bay and extend your growing cycle, but the very basics I think everybody can do even if you've no experience.

You start your seedlings a month before last frost which for most of the uk is the first week of May, so get them in pots in April, succession plant every 2 to 3 weeks, and plant them out after last frost in a good sunny spot.

If you want to really give it a go theres so much knowledge at your finger tips about things you'll run into months/years down the line like soil quality and preserving, but even as a very beginner gardener you can just freeze your produce. Stick it in a sandwich bag, and bung it at the back of the freezer and take out what you need.

So not in a supermarket then - whoch was the point you were trying to make. Even basics have shot up in price.

Of course you are privileged if you have land to grow food. Do you not understand how densely populated the uk is?

As for allotments, Labour is selling them off too…

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/uk-world-news/angela-rayner-gives-councils-green-10397012

I find Aldi cheaper on the whole. Their proper Greek yogurt is far cheaper than elsewhere and the fruit and veg offers are good.

Allotments are few and far between in many places you will wait a decade to get to the top of the list
many are being sold off
and the rental on some is obscene
but hey it’s fine everyone get an allotment , it’s not a privilege at all

welcome to climate change everyone. Leads to failing crops, war, disease, mass migration and rising prices - all those things you want to stop but can’t give up your multiple flights and holidays for

People seem to ignore it but Brexit was the start of the price hikes.
I work in this industry and the UK is such a small island and we import most of our food.
Post Brexit tariffs and the paperwork for import (which is horrendous) and the fact that a lot of countries won't prioritise the UK when it comes to selling to us doesn't help either.
Then we have staff wage increases, energy costs, fuel hikes, packaging prices are awful, and supermarkets are not only struggling to access supplies from abroad but the costs have to be passed on to the consumer.
People seem to have this lovely idea that the farms of the UK produce our food but they really don't. And most people couldn't afford to pay the (quite correct) prices it costs for farmers to produce.
They always tout 'Buy British' but then buy their Polish chicken from Aldi or Lidl.