World food prices at record high

JonnyBravo

DervProf wrote: »

World food prices at record high ? :beer:

Ooops ! Wrong market.

Hang on a second, I`m sure there must be some link between rising food prices and rising property prices. OK, I'll give it a go......

If a loaf of bread goes up in price, then people who are looking to sell property will ask for more dough, because their property must be worth at least the same as 124000 medium sliced wholemeal loaves.

So, rising food prices = rising house prices. Hurray ! :beer:

I'm sure the hungry [STRIKE]'000's[/STRIKE] '000,000's would be laughing at just how clever you are to bring your usual digs at people on this forum in to this thread as well if only they could see it.
:T

bendix

Why wouldn't food prices be at a record high? Given inflation is a cumulative gauge, how could it be otherwise?

Surely it would be more surprising if food prices WEREN'T at record highs?

DervProf

JonnyBravo wrote: »

I'm sure the hungry [STRIKE]'000's[/STRIKE] '000,000's would be laughing at just how clever you are to bring your usual digs at people on this forum in to this thread as well if only they could see it.
:T

Do I feel guilty or ashamed ? Not really. Yes, it was a subtle dig at those who welcome HPI and mock those who rent their homes in the UK. It wasn't a joke at the expense of those who are unfortunate to not have enough food, well it wasn't supposed to be anyway (you just read it that way).

I'm not the one who boasts about a lavish lifestyle (I`ve seen some posts from forum members who like to brag about what's on their menu). I am grateful to have enough food in the cupboard, and a roof over my head, I don't go rubbing other people's noses in it (like some on here). Maybe you'd like to remind some of those who have made £££, or who are trying to make £££ out of property that they should be grateful for what they have, and remind them that there are millions in the world who struggle to find shelter, let alone a square meal.

lostinrates

Cleaver wrote: »

My quick opinion is that if you live in England and you buy bread from a baker or supermarket, any frozen ready meal under the sun, any pizza, lasagne, pasta dish, any sauce for pasta, curry etc. then you're not really that concerned about the price of food.

For example, a nice pizza from a supermarket will be about £3.50. You could spend around a fiver on ingredients and make about three pizzas. Bread is the same. You can chose to buy one loaf for £1.50 or you can buy yeast and flour for about £2 and make five loaves. You can buy a tomato-based pasta sauce for £1.50 for one meal or make a massive batch of your own for around the same price that will last two or three meals. There are loads of examples like this. I saw a woman being interviewed the other day for some news programme saying how wrong it was that bread was so expensive. Do something about it then and stop buying it ready made!

I know people will say that they haven't got time to do all this, but in reality what they are saying is that they can't be bothered due to the perceived small amount of gain. We make pretty much all of our bread and although the whole process takes a long time, the actual work involved probably adds up to about 6 or 7 minutes.

Fully agree with Graham though, these massive rises in basic foodstuffs must be awful for a lot of people in developing countries who use them day in day out for all their cooking.

There are people, of course, who don't have access to cook from scratch. e.g. people being housed in hostels or B and B...who are the people who culd most save money. Also, I think its also worth pointing out, even as a cook-from scratch devotee, that cooking isn't free. The electricity or gas costs. (old stylers recommend filling the cooker everytime its on, but it isn't always practical.) Then the bigger freezer...and the bigger freezers running cost. And room for the bigger freezer.....

JonnyBravo

DervProf wrote: »

Do I feel guilty or ashamed ? Not really. Yes, it was a subtle dig at those who welcome HPI and mock those who rent their homes in the UK. It wasn't a joke at the expense of those who are unfortunate to not have enough food, well it wasn't supposed to be anyway (you just read it that way).

I'm not the one who boasts about a lavish lifestyle (I`ve seen some posts from forum members who like to brag about what's on their menu). I am grateful to have enough food in the cupboard, and a roof over my head, I don't go rubbing other people's noses in it (like some on here). Maybe you'd like to remind some of those who have made £££, or who are trying to make £££ out of property that they should be grateful for what they have, and remind them that there are millions in the world who struggle to find shelter, let alone a square meal.

Subtle? Yeah, sure. :rolleyes:
People don't die through having to rent in good ol' Blighty, cos the house prices are too high you "silly billy".


I'm all up for a bit of banter (as I'm sure you're aware) on a thread which is crying out for it.
That would be one about house prices, rent or something in the least bit connected to shelter and how some people are disadvantaged in the UK.
IMO.


As for the topic, it is, of course, only going to get worse. Whilst the increasing population is largely responsible it is the increasing numbers of "middle class" in the world that will really mean food prices rise and rise. And "middle class" in the world includes nearly all in the UK.
We are hugely wasteful as a society. We demand fine foods and throw more and more away. It is cheap for us and the ever increasing numbers of "middle class" in the emerging economies.

Everyone who throws away food adds to this and is partly responsible. I urge everyone to think about it next time they shop.

diable

The Food Bubble

DervProf

JonnyBravo wrote: »

As for the topic, it is, of course, only going to get worse. Whilst the increasing population is largely responsible it is the increasing numbers of "middle class" in the world that will really mean food prices rise and rise. And "middle class" in the world includes nearly all in the UK.
We are hugely wasteful as a society. We demand fine foods and throw more and more away. It is cheap for us and the ever increasing numbers of "middle class" in the emerging economies.

I agree.

At what point does someone in power finally say something like "hang on a second, this planet is struggling to support it's population - food shortgages, oil reserves running low, climate change causing more and more natural disasters." ?

Mr_Mumble

Bernanke just addressed this:
Bernanke: Don’t Blame Me for Higher Food Prices

Short version: don't blame me for printing money! Blame the new middle-classes for moving from rice to beef and other people's central bankers for not dealing with their own inflationary pressures.

Cleaver

lostinrates wrote: »

There are people, of course, who don't have access to cook from scratch. e.g. people being housed in hostels or B and B...who are the people who culd most save money.

Not sure I really understand this LIR. The way I'm thinking, you either have access to cooking stuff (i.e. fridge, freezer, oven / grill) or you don't. For example, if you decide to eat a pizza then you're going to need an oven whether that's a frozen Iceland one or a homemade one.

lostinrates wrote: »

Also, I think its also worth pointing out, even as a cook-from scratch devotee, that cooking isn't free. The electricity or gas costs. (old stylers recommend filling the cooker everytime its on, but it isn't always practical.) Then the bigger freezer...and the bigger freezers running cost. And room for the bigger freezer.....

Do you know what, it's strange you've made that point as this very day we had one of these nPower electricty monitoring thingymabob. I hooked it up when I got in from work and I've spent the last few hours playing the fun game of working out how much stuff costs. The monitor shows you cost per hour and with pretty much everything in the house off (aside from fridge, freezer, radios on standby etc.) we appear to use 3p per hour. We've got two sets of spotlights in the kitchen, turn one set on and we move to 6p and hour and with both sets we go to 9p an hour! Then I tried the toaster and kettle and although they're obviously not on that often we appear to use a whopping 27p an hour to use them.

But where this relates back to the story, I made a loaf of bread this evening and the oven was probably on for a a about an hour. Now, I used about 600g of flour (about 60p worth), and a satchet of yeast which cost about 10p. So 70p for the loaf. But the oven cost me around 20p an hour to use, so that's around 90p for my loaf. Or in other words, the oven was 22% of the production costs! So your point about cooking lots of things at the same time is very valid.

halight

Cleaver wrote: »

My quick opinion is that if you live in England and you buy bread from a baker or supermarket, any frozen ready meal under the sun, any pizza, lasagne, pasta dish, any sauce for pasta, curry etc. then you're not really that concerned about the price of food.

For example, a nice pizza from a supermarket will be about £3.50. You could spend around a fiver on ingredients and make about three pizzas. Bread is the same. You can chose to buy one loaf for £1.50 or you can buy yeast and flour for about £2 and make five loaves. You can buy a tomato-based pasta sauce for £1.50 for one meal or make a massive batch of your own for around the same price that will last two or three meals. There are loads of examples like this. I saw a woman being interviewed the other day for some news programme saying how wrong it was that bread was so expensive. Do something about it then and stop buying it ready made!

I know people will say that they haven't got time to do all this, but in reality what they are saying is that they can't be bothered due to the perceived small amount of gain. We make pretty much all of our bread and although the whole process takes a long time, the actual work involved probably adds up to about 6 or 7 minutes.

Fully agree with Graham though, these massive rises in basic foodstuffs must be awful for a lot of people in developing countries who use them day in day out for all their cooking.

The old style bords on this site have some great tips on cooking and make your food and money last longer.