Brexit grocery bill inflation

tori.k

There is two sides to every coin the impact to the environment will be massive with a drop in consumerism, this is a opportunity with the call for more UK products will create more jobs it's a step towards a more circular economy.
It wont be comfortable change rarely is but long term it could be beautiful, consumers dictate the worth of things corporations wont out price themselves longterm which will see shift in disparity of income.

[Deleted User]

Primrose wrote: »

As an older contributor to the forum I remember how this country was forced to rely on home produced foodstuffs during World War II . I'm not suggesting we would want to forfeit the benefits of foreign produced foodstuffs but I can't help wondering why we should be buying continental cabbages and the like in our supermarkets when our British farmers are perfectly capable of growing such products.

Many years ago there was a "Buy British" campaign. Maybe we should all inspect our supermarket labels more carefully going forward for country of origin and start demanding our supermarkets source more British produced products. Apart from fuel and transport costs, that might give the manufacturers and supermarkets less excuse for a blanket inflation of their prices.

An excellent post, with many great points.I too am an errm... older poster :) and I agree .When you walk around the huge supermarkets that were unheard of in the early 1950s its not hard to see where folks money gets tempted to.

Do you really NEED so many choices of baked beans on a shelf.They are a normal part of some folks meals especially as a 'bulker out' for perhaps a cottage pie or even just egg chips and beans yet God know how many miles those tins have travelled just to be sitting on the shelves.

I think that perhaps going back slightly in time for our shopping habits wouldn't do any of us harm at all.
Obviously buying fruit like bananas and oranges will possibly cost more just because of the transportation costs as few are grown in the UK but fresh veg can, and is grown in this country, and buying British even if it cost a penny or two more would be a good start I live in Kent the 'Garden of England ' and can buy my fresh veg locally at very little difference in price to imported stuff from the huge Tesco's.

Last week I bought a bag of spuds , fresh cabbage ,cauli, and carrots from locally which in fact tasted nicer than the plastic bagged stuff you buy in the big shops.

I agree that its quite possible that prices won't go up this side of Christmas, but think of who is being forced to sell their produce for lower prices to the big conglomerates, the poor local farmer who is told how much of his stuff they will buy and at what price.

Perhaps its time the big shops discovered that we are not all sheep, and we can vote with our feet when it comes to shopping

The british shopper has untold power in those feet as Tesco,Sainsbury's,Asdas and Morrisons have found out The amount of people I personally know who have found that less choice in Aldis and Lidls means more cash left in their purses after shopping win-win situation I think.

Just look at the car parks full of shoppers in those stores and then ask them why they have changed their habits .OK often branded good aren't available, but who cares whats on the outside of a tin, its how the stuff tastes that matter

Whether their prices will rise or not is dependant on how the exit from the eurozone is handled Possibly even their prices will rise as well so it will be up to the careful British housewife or husband to make their choice of where they shop.

Personally I prefer to buy British but I only have to shop for myself I also,like most folk have an eagle eye on prices.

Perhaps we need another 'We're backing Britain' campaign to make us less dependant on imports, its true we cannot fully support and feed ourselves on what we grow but trying to lessen imports can only boost our prosperity in the UK. We survived before the Eurozone for a couple of thousand years and grew fairly well. I am sure we won't end up on the scrap heap when we leave it
The clue is in the title of our country GREAT Britain ,we are and can be again I'm sure

Wednesday2000

I keep getting a craving for Marmite on toast since it is being mentioned so much on the news.:D

I have recently stopped shopping at W*itrose and will now use A*da as it is so much cheaper. I want to start a stock cupboard again as it is running low. Tins of toms, baked beans, pasta etc...

Slowly57

JackieO wrote: »

I agree that its quite possible that prices won't go up this side of Christmas, but think of who is being forced to sell their produce for lower prices to the big conglomerates, the poor local farmer who is told how much of his stuff they will buy and at what price.

Yup. And it all has to be unblemished, uniform in size and ready to fit their packaging method. Last year there were precious little amounts of sprouts and broccolli to be had on the wholesale market here for the local market folks to stock up on at Christmas. It was all sitting in Teskies (at 10p less per pound to the consumer - so who knows what the growers were getting paid) going yellow.

I am trying very hard not to shop in supermarkets but to take every advantage of our fantastic local produce market. And I'm up-North so it isn't a fancy foodies kind of place lol. I can only think of four items that I regularly buy in supermarkets that I couldn't replace in there - and two of them I can buy cheaper in a local shop.

Slowly57

westcoastscot wrote: »

We don't have a lot of choice about where we shop here, but shall resume my price book for when I'm in the city..

westcoastscot - can you tell us more about your price book? Is it like this
http://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2014/06/grocery-budget-basics-creating-a-price-book/
or price checking on my supermarket?

http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/buying-and-supplying/categories/fresh/fruit-and-veg/
is an interesting resource for anyone interested in the 'business' of what goes on around food

VfM4meplse

baroley wrote: »

I am doing my Lid* shop today, and although I will not go crazy, I will stock up on staples, tea, oats, butter, etc. Not that this will help a great deal in the long run, but might provide a bit of a cushion for the coming months. Because of this I will be spending more on groceries this month, but just store cupboard items.

I might take another approach, and that is to eat less. It's a bit of an alien concept when we have lived through times of plenty but it's actually good for my health.

[Deleted User]

I've got a fairly extensive collection of World War 2 cookery books and pamphlets which are choc full of wonderfully frugal ideas for good nutritious food from the mostly home produced and limited rations at that time. I've cooked many of them and I am continually pleasantly surprised at just how palatable most of them are. A lot of the recipes have many of the same ingredients in them but with little differences in flavour and they fill us up wonderfully. A limited food pallet doesn't have to be boring and I believe that the nation had never been so healthy as under rationing and has not been so healthy since rationing was ended. We have no real reason to suppose that foods will disappear from the shops, we might not so readily get Barvarian ham, Dutch cheeses or French wine at the same prices we do whilst a member of the common market but we do produce wonderful Bradenham Ham in East Anglia, Stilton and Cheddar cheeses and English wines and Beers and Ciders, we do have some of the best growing land in Europe and some of the most innovative and adventurous producers of comestibles of all kinds in the world. We may pay more, we may be able to afford smaller quantities but we definitely will eat as well if not better than we currently do and in all probability be a great deal healthier in the future after Brexit.

maryb

One reason I like Lidl/Aldi is not just the fact that the prices are so reasonable, but they seem to have relatively short supply lines and a lot of their fresh food is UK sourced

Slowly57

If anyone would like to back British farmers
http://www.nfuonline.com/back-british-farming/
"The UK food self-sufficiency is now just 61% - down from 75% in 1991" - that's scarey
And this was an eye-opener
http://www.nfuonline.com/back-british-farming/how-can-i-back-british-farming/where-can-i-buy-british-food/choosing-british-fruit-veg/

westcoastscot

Slowly my price book is a wee notebook that I write down the prices of our commonly shopped items and how much we need for a particular length of time, particularly those things that are seasonally priced, and those that go on offer periodically. I mostly shop very locally, but go to our nearest town (75 mile round trip) which has a tesco every couple of months, and to the city two or three times a year. If the prices when on offer are good locally I buy here, otherwise I buy in the nearest town or city, or occasionally online. For some non-essential things we only have them up to a certain price-point.

Jackie, Unlike most we don't have access to supermarkets locally, except the co-op, so use that and local shops. This means that a lot of choice isn't available to us and newly marketed stuff just doesn't make it here. Most people here cook from scratch with whatever is available, and the shops are stocked seasonally, so little will change in that regard I shouldn't imagine, other than the prices of imported stuff, when we can get it. We just don't have that year-around availability of stuff.

It'll be interesting to see what happens!