The Rising Cost of Food

parsonswife8

sarahsarah wrote: »

Was I the only one looking in the woman's fridge who was saying she has to go without food and noticing the ready made (rustlers or similar) burgers and cathedral city cheese?

Some people just don't know how to shop effectively for food that is good for them, as well as relatively cheap and nutritious. It's a crying shame really. Education re this matter should begin in schools.

HariboJunkie

Growing your own is not always cost effective and it's certainly not as easy as the woman in the programme just made out.

I live in the Highlands and can't grow things like tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers without a greenhouse. Our land is also poor up here and needs to be fed. If you don't have access to natural soil improvers that's another expense. Plus pots and compost etc.
There is also the question of space to grow. Most people don't have large gardens like they did when Dig for Victory was all the rage. I can grow enough tomatoes and salad veg to see us through summer and a few extra toms for chutney. I grow enough soft fruit for a year's jam for us and presents and I forage alot too but there is no way I can grow enough food to make a decent dent in my grocery budget all year round, even with a few raised beds, a fruit cage and a greenhouse.
I do think that in order to make your money go further in the kitchen and garden you need to be very time rich which many people aren't.

Rainy-Days

parsonswife8 wrote: »

Some people just don't know how to shop effectively for food that is good for them, as well as relatively cheap and nutritious. It's a crying shame really. Education re this matter should begin in schools.

Allot of it you learn by example I was taught to cook by my mum and I learned to do things the right way. Ready made meals were ungheard of the most ready made we got was the Artic Roll - remember those? So I guess I have just followed on from that. You are right though home economics is crap these days and they wonder why we are becmoing a nation of fatties!

oldtractor

we have taken to growuing our own and eating less meat. hope to get hens next.

LJM

it is terrible and there isnt much difference really between stores anymore i tend to shop between 2-3 shops now just to get the better prices

HariboJunkie

oldtractor wrote: »

we have taken to growuing our own and eating less meat. hope to get hens next.

Eating less meat is definitely moneysaving. The hens will cost you a fair bit initially though. We've had ours two years and it took about a year to break even on the cost of their housing. I sell the eggs to the neighbours so that more than pays for their feed and we get plenty of eggs for ourselves too. They are really lovely to have though.

ladymarmalade

I have watched this....but there is one thing I don't understand. If food stocks are on the low side, why the hell does so much food get thrown away by producers. I have seen countless programmes showing things like, small eggs, smalle onions, wonky cucumbers etc get thrown away because supermarkets won't sell them. I would certainly buy odd veg anyway, especially if it drives prices down. I just don't get it!

[Deleted User]

To me the throwing away of food because it doesn't fit the 'norm' is obscene.With so many folk struggling to make ends meet at the moment putting food into landfill has got to be the worst thing of all.
In yesterdays newspapers all across the front pages were picture of some idiot trying to throw a plate of shaving cream into Murdoch's face yet around the world children are dying of hunger, a far more scandalous thing to get worked up about. No one will starve in this country, although we may not eat as much,(not a bad thing ) or in such great variety as we used to because of the shortages on the world markets and to say, as the big four supermarkets say, that folk won't buy it is rubbish.People will buy any shape of food as long as it fills their tummys I was brought up during rationing and some of the food that my Mum put in front of my brothers and me was no where like what I eat today, but we never went hungry ,maybe a bit bored with the stodge, but starving no.

j.e.j.

I didn't see the programme but I am really shocked at how much food prices have risen.

There's just 2 of us to buy for and i used to struggle to make it worthwhile getting an online shop at Sainsburys, as we didn't need to spend £40 (which i think was the minimum order). A few days ago I was buying roughly the same amount of stuff, again just for 2 of us, and in the end gave up, because it was totting up to £70+ :eek:

I guess it could be that for years the food prices were kept artificially low, due to growers being exploited by the supermarket giants, but still I wonder where the money's going to come from to pay for groceries now.

worried_jim

I shop at Aldi and it is getting cheaper. Most vegetables are 39p, I admit I don't eat much butter, bread or pasta. A bottle of diet lemonade is about 20p so if someone is paying £78p at Tesco there are massive savings to be made.