The Rising Cost of Food

Going4TheDream

Even the better off are starting to find it tough and even though people are doing what they can to cut back surely there comes a point where you cant do any more, I just wonder where it will all end?

anguk

I've got a clubcard and use that every time I shop there but I haven't got their credit card.

I'm wondering if it's because I never do a big shop in Tesco but we do pop in a couple of times a week to pick up odd little bits, for example OH has just popped down there to pick up a tin of anchovies for pizza tonight, he'll probably get a few other things too but will spend less than £10.

Maybe it's because we don't actually spend much but we do visit often? I'd happily never go in again because I hate supermarket shopping but OH likes it and it gives him something to do when he's bored.

adelight

GreyQueen wrote: »

In a way it's refreshing not to feel like an oddball, I've always joked that I was poor before it was fashionable, but they are getting in my way at the whoopsie sections.....:rotfl:

In all seriousness, some people at the whoopsie section drive me mad! At my local sainsburys there is one woman who takes everything. I know I conveniently shop at whoopsie mark down time and will check the section more than once, but once the reductions start she will stand in front of the shelves with her baskets on the floor and snatches everything as it's put on to the shelf. Last time I bravely darted my arm in past the face of the bloke doing reductions to grab two things for lunches, whilst she had two over flowing baskets and there were half a dozen people behind me waiting for the cow to move.
And then there's the blokes who will swoop the entire shelf of reduced lettuces into their baskets at budgens, they obviously work in a take away or how else would they eat a dozen gone off lettuces?!

GRRRR...
ANyway, I also don't have a TV and missed this but imagine it was the usual twaddle with lots of clueless people telling us to buy value fish fingers and a field.

Butterfly_Brain

Just watched it on itv player can't believe the twonk who blames everything on global warming ( Which is a con) !!!!!!!
And don't forget there is an awful lot of food that you have to pay vat on

notatvstar

hello all - I'm a newbie <... nervous typing with shaking fingers...>

While I have to agree that growing your own doesn't suit all, and 'initially' it WILL be a bit of an expense (buying seeds to try out, greenhouses, polytunnels etc) after the first year or so you do see you money back. Once you've found out which crops won't die and which breed of spuds, beans carrots and what-not, works well then you can save some money. Me and the boyf have hard jobs (I work at a Uni and he works for the Government - no not a spy or an MP...) so we have next to no time during the week and we're usually pretty knackered over the weekend so I can sympathise with those who say they are too busy... But it is possible. Me and the boyf now don't have to buy any veg or fruit (apart from Nov to April). The garden plot we grow veg on is rather small (although we cheat as there's loads of plum, greengage and apple trees in other parts of the garden - the greengages are MINE btw...).

Other ways of bring down out grocery bill are:

We buy cleaning products, toiletries, loo roll etc in bulk and only when it's on offer... Posh shoppers in Waitrose were a bit disturbed one time as they had a BOGOF on 12 rolls of luxury jojoba impregnated bog roll, so we stuffed the car with it. (MandS and Waitrose sometimes 'can' be cheaper than ASDA or Tescos.... seriously!) Same with toothpaste - well any cleaning product or toiletry really. Only buy when on a BOGOF and keep changing brands. No point sticking to just the one type if you have no allergies. The down side is that you need space to store 10x12 roll packs of 'nice' loo roll, and I have at least 8 more minty shower gels to go through, but hey . Boyf also buys his wine using those 3 for 10 deals at ASDA/Tesco. The added benefit is that you can also get additional discounts for buying 6 bottles (depends) - so he buys his wine once over 2 or 3 months (looks a bit alcoholic, but hey we have no shame).

You may have spotted us in the car park. We're the losers with two trolleys crammed full of just a couple of types of item. When we're not doing the bulk-buy thing we only bike to the supermarket with rucksacks so we can't carry too much back. We're not being eco-smug... we're just being tight and saving money on petrol, also limiting our spend.

The up shot is that the only things we usually buy on a weekly basis are milk, butter, eggs, meat, bread. Our weekly shopping bill can be about 30 quid. But then I do spoil it all by my biscuit and posh diluting juice (I don't drink booze) weaknesses. There are 2 of us, but I bike about 20 miles a day (no bus fare!) and he does a lot of fitness so we both eat like pigs.

I'd like to save more money. As we're saving for a house.

Uniscots97

notatvstar wrote: »

hello all - I'm a newbie <... nervous typing with shaking fingers...>


You may have spotted us in the car park. We're the losers with two trolleys crammed full of just a couple of types of item.

No, no sweetie..... that's not losers that called "sensible people"

Reverbe

Going4TheDream wrote: »

Even the better off are starting to find it tough and even though people are doing what they can to cut back surely there comes a point where you cant do any more, I just wonder where it will all end?

I agree. I seriously worry cos the next thing is stop eating.. I already only eat one meal a day and count on things like freebies. The Foxs biscuits the postie took out the box would have done me for a meal:mad:

3v3

Spendless wrote: »

We were hosting a garden party to celebrate my eldest leaving Primary school last night so I didn't see any tv. Sounds interesting though. Could I watch it on catch-up do you think? :cool:

...

ITV Player: http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=257994

Going4TheDream wrote: »

Even the better off are starting to find it tough and even though people are doing what they can to cut back surely there comes a point where you cant do any more, I just wonder where it will all end?

Hopefully (maybe I'm an idealist?) the "me,me,me," society will revert back to "help thy neighbour" one?

Instead of people going out for meals, maybe, going back to having people round for supper will make a come-back? I'm at Uni and I invite my friends over to mine to eat once in a while. I've taught them they do not need to spend £1.?? on a jar of pasta sauce when they can spend far less on tinnned tomatoes, a slodge of tom puree and a sprinkle of dried herbs. Likewise, as we are all of different nationalities, they will come with a traditional dish and we all get to share and experience new things.

To be honest though, when you say there comes a point where you can't do any more in cutting back, that's subjective based on what "cutting back" means. Some people wouldn't (and others couldn't!) live without a mobile phone for instance. People have to reassess their priorities:
Shelter - food - warmth are the priorities.
Everyone posting on here is very fortunate - we all have internet access

I remember discussing "life" with friends a few years ago and stating that we, as people, are de-skilling ourselves. Too easy to reach for a ready-meal/take-away and even a few people who professed to making a roast meal from scratch were using "Aunt Bessies" roast spuds and yorkshires!! :rotfl:

In the same vein, too easy to pop to Primark and pay a ridiculously cheap price for a pair of trousers/top/jumper/dress. My parents would have darned/patched/repaired clothing. How many households have a sewing machine these days? Although, admittedly there has been a revival of interest in sewing/knitting/crochet/crafting in the past few years.

The price rises in fuel means this winter, instead of central heating and wearing lightweight clothes ... its back to the older times and wearing layers!

Hopefully, no one is going to end up on the streets; however, on that note, our Country have people surviving on the streets and have been for years. Wonder how they are going to cope when charity donations go down, the bins are no longer rife with discards?

GreyQueen

adelight wrote: »

In all seriousness, some people at the whoopsie section drive me mad! At my local sainsburys there is one woman who takes everything. I know I conveniently shop at whoopsie mark down time and will check the section more than once, but once the reductions start she will stand in front of the shelves with her baskets on the floor and snatches everything as it's put on to the shelf. Last time I bravely darted my arm in past the face of the bloke doing reductions to grab two things for lunches, whilst she had two over flowing baskets and there were half a dozen people behind me waiting for the cow to move.
And then there's the blokes who will swoop the entire shelf of reduced lettuces into their baskets at budgens, they obviously work in a take away or how else would they eat a dozen gone off lettuces?!

GRRRR...
ANyway, I also don't have a TV and missed this but imagine it was the usual twaddle with lots of clueless people telling us to buy value fish fingers and a field.

I'm onside with you, there. I make a real effort not to take more than my "share" of any whoopsie haul as I know I'm not the only one on a low income out there. I'm horrified about how rude and grabby some people are, the ones with their baskets so heaping full that stuff is falling off the top and who grab EVERYTHING of every type as soon as it appears. I only take what I will eat, in quantities which I can eat, and keep in mind that other people need a look-in.

One of the worst experiences of my entire shopping life was when a pal told be that our M & S reduce food at a certain time and I went in and nearly got trampled and disembowelled-by-wire-baskets by these posh old ladies who were fighting over stuff as if they were refugees who were starving to death. Scrub that; I've seen better behaviour among the destitute.

It was vile and I never went back. I'm no wilting violet, btw, nearly 6 foot tall and a jumble-sale veteran, but those particular M & S whoopsie shoppers were beyond the pale......

ceridwen

lessonlearned wrote: »

I have a small garden and am trying to grow as much as possible, every container I can find, cabbages wedged in the flower borders, I've even got french beans in the front garden, next to the geraniums:rotfl:
Who cares, bean flowers are quite pretty.

.

I read that runner beans were actually grown originally...hundreds of years back when....as an ornamental plant. It was only fairly recently, I believe, that someone discovered one could eat the runner beans on them.

**************

Re Thrilla's comment - I recall reading some article by an economist back at the bout of Quantitative Easing (aka printing money) that the Government knew very well this would devalue our currency and this was part of the whole "game plan" for just that to happen. I think it was summat about it being deemed easier for Britain to pay its debts if each £ wasnt worth so much - so was done quite deliberately. They knew this would mean things would then cost us all a lot more - but its a side effect they were prepared to have happen.

I DO worry about the way they keep muttering about maybe having a second bout of printing money (dont forget that posh phrase they dreamed up for it - it aint printing money - its Quantitative Easing:cool:).