£100 for salad and dog food

[Realscottishhaggis]

I got some salad bits, fruit, dog food which was only £10, cheap veg, pack of mince, milk and yogurt well that’s £100 rounded up gone, on what was essentially a top up shop. Yes it’s my fault for buying £5 blueberries, I know there’s frozen but it’s not as nice and nothing should be so expensive anyway. if it’s this expensive to be healthy I’m not surprised hardly anyone does it.
I am only venting as I’m aware I have bought expensive food just saying I don’t think it should be expensive

@Realscottishhaggis£7 for butter? Is this a typo? Even expensive M&S butter is only £3.50

Might be a big tub of lurpak? We buy blocks of real butter. Recently bought 10 for £10 from farmfoods and shared with my mum and sister

How much mince?
How much milk?
How much cheese?

You have never mentioned actual quantities.

For the astaxanthin (or whatever it's called). Blueberry or bilberry pills work out cheaper, though. And frozen blueberries, contrary to OP's opinion, are bigger and plumper with more flavour. They're very nice in my trademark chocolate cake.
I am now talking myself out of making a chocolate cake ...

Salad and fresh berries are not essential components of a healthy diet. Same goes for fresh avocados, tomatoes, and whatever else you bought fresh.

Frozen fruit and veg and tins of tomatoes are cheaper and just as nutritious.

Buy seasonal fruit and veg.

7 quid butter, why? Buy a block for 2 quid.

I love seeing other people’s shopping. You are what you buy.
I think food is cheap in the UK. But people do buy some rubbish. People have conveyor belts full of bottled drinks and snacks and ready meals and brand name stuff that is identical to own brand.
I am fortunate to be able to spend what I want on my food shop but am still conscious of value and seasonal veg/fruit. Blueberries in March are not a good value way to get the nutrients and fibre you need. If you’re cost conscious you should be buying root veg and citrus. And frozen berries.

My parents always moan about the cost of their shopping but they will only buy brands, so I can’t say i’m surprised.

Blueberries and avocados are not essential products.

Was it a Tesco Express? If it was, I can understand why it was so expensive.

Well I think it's been explained that the OP is one of those people who makes life difficult for those of us who care about such things by calling any old crap in a tub 'butter' meaning every time we're offered butter in a catering establishment we have to say 'only if it is real butter' to which they claim it is, only to them see them stick their knife into a giant tub of not butter so we have to stop them to check.

Of course they continue to lie through their teeth claiming it's proper butter, a bit like how the OP is still claiming her little top up shop was only a few bits of essentials.

I can’t get my head around £7 for butter, that’s insane? I buy Sainsbury’s own block of butter and it’s £1.99. I buy organic milk and that’s not £4! Blueberries are expensive and generally tasteless, I buy them when they are yellow stickered only and most of them go on my dogs dinner 🤣 I am always looking at what is on offer and basing my meals around what I can get for decent prices, using nectar/clubcard prices…also dog food is not economical in the supermarket, I buy my dogs food in the local animal food/farm shop and get a huge sack which lasts ages for two big labs.

How can that be £100 even if you buy £5 blueberries? How much was the dog food? Were ugh not talking a csn of pedigree chum are we? We pay quite a lot for our cat’s food as she’s in a sorcial diet but I don’t count it in the weekly shop (we have to get it from Amazon or the vets).it’s about £50 per ‘box’ so I reckon £70 PCM.

I’m not sure about £100 for what you’ve listed op unless you have bought 10 packs of blueberries. But you are right, food prices have risen massively. I stopped buying blueberries because they are always disappointing a mushy in texture. Frozen don’t cut it for me either.

Salad and berries are out of season, are imported, some things thousands of miles this time of year so you will pay more

Esp as fuel prices are increasing by the minute

I like my salads more than cooked veg, I just mix it up. I use cabbage - shred fine, I use gherkins instead of cuecumber, I buy sauerkraut , Polish grated beetroot ( sold in jars - no vinegar or anything ) use jars of roasted veg like artichokes and pepper , grated carrots , tins of beans - with a great dressing

I certainly dont buy stuff out of season if I can help it

Nothing wrong with frozen berries, especially if using for overnight oats or similar. I wouldn't even bother with the overnighting, I just add oats, frozen berries and greek yoghurt to my container as I leave the house - ready for tea break

Fresh fruit for us this time of year - apples, bananas and pears and satsumas . Maybe add kiwi or mango or plums if on the super six

I lost my earning power a while back so am used to reigning in the shop, more so since covid and COLC. So many things are no longer bought because of costs, but it doesnt mean to say I dont eat healthily, we just eat different and I think outside the box

Using "salad" veg from jars means very little waste and concentrated flavours.

Also look at the different minces available. Today 500gr of Pork 5% fat mince was on offer for just £2 in Tesco (NI) today. Ok it won't make the best lasagne , but it makes a wonderful Chinese vibe sticky pork mince using either frozen or jars or pastes of chilli, garlic and ginger, a touch of honey and soy, Throw in frozen sliced peppers and broccoli and serve on rice - fried or plain - feed 4 hungry people for £1 a head

Aldi’s fruit and vegetable is going off before you’ve even got it into the boot of the car

No issues at my local, I shop there weekly
eat the salad and soft stuff first then end of the week is bananas, apples etc

I don’t get how you spent £100, my budget is £50-60pw and that’s for a full shop!

I can still remember my first surprise £100 supermarket shop. It was in summer 2022 and I'd bought extra fish and nice things as we had friends round for dinner so I knew it would be more than usual but wasn't expecting that. At the time I thought "aye aye, something's afoot".

Little did I know that three and a half years later it would be an effort to duck it. Not a massive hand wringing effort, but no purchase can be casual now, if you like having even vaguely nice things and want to keep under that amount.

Meantime, employers seem to have no comparable problems wrt wage amounts.

If you’re cost conscious you should be buying root veg and citrus

Alright Therese Coffey. We don't all want to eat turnip porridge.

That doesn’t sound right - I’ve just done a pretty big Waitrose shop for 2 for £98

That's a tad nasty seeing this is the cost of living forum

Eating seasonal does mean forgoing strawberries and blueberries in March

But that's not how it works. Some food is more expensive. Fresh salmon will always be more expensive than tinned tuna or battered cod. Blueberries will always be more expensive than Golden Delicious apples. It doesn't mean nice food isn't accessible all of a sudden, it just means there isn't a way to make 1 kg or any food the same price as 1 kg or everything else

Don't eat salad in winter