It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

OrkneyStar

I think people often misunderstand what privilege means, @EssexHebridean has explained it really well and I try to explain it in a broadly similar way myself. @Tahlullah.H  your post is very powerful too. Often those who have privilege don't even recognise it, but it it was somehow no longer there they'd soon notice!

sammyjammy

EssexHebridean said:

Returning to "on topic" - using a second post because others may have more to say on the previous subject and I don't wish to appear to be closing that conversation down if that is the case... 

Further food increases this week - milk up £1.25 > £1.29 for a  4-pinter near us, add that to the recent increase in the price of butter of course. Not spotted what cheese is doing - I've not bought ordinary cheddar for a couple of weeks and always buy "on offer" anyway - but I suspect we can expect dairy products generally to increase because it's quite heavily subject to increased transport costs. 

I've not noticed an increase in Cheese prices but butter has gone up from£1.45 in Aldi to £1.75, interestingly the fancy West Country butter is now the same price so I bought that instead!

Tahlullah.H

Cat litter now costs more from Lidl than it does from Asda!  £1.65 from Asda and £1.99 from Lidl.  I really do need to shop around.

EssexHebridean

We’d noticed the deals on the bigger pots of Yeo Valley and similar yogurts had changed to £1.20 rather than £1, but last week the Clubcard price was back at £1 so it’s anyone’s guess what was going on there.

Rosa_Damascena

otb666 said:

I used £5 a day on electric last quarter 20 units a day.  This is for 3 adults with 6 PC (10 units )on continually, DW (3 units)used twice daily and kettle used ALOT.  I am not cutting back yet as we can afford it and just retired I have fixed fuel prices until feb 24.  I do think an increase was due as it had been cheap for some time The same with Food  However I do worry for the future as if it does increase further we would have to limit my hubbys and sons gaming as it would no longer be cheap entertainment.  I just hope the prices dont go up too much higher.  I am just being honest and not meant to be hurtful at all as if I had younger kids I would be very worried and I do worry about my children who have young families and will help out if needs be If i can afford to

Reading a chazzer-purchased book is the best value entertainment, second only to a library book. And depending on the choice of literature, can be improving.

London_1

Listening to the wireless this morning the cost of living increase is now 9.1% in April, so I think the 10% is a very small estimate as to what the real price of food increases will be come the winter time .

So I shall soon be squirelling stuff away with as many long dates as I can. If we think its tough now ,the longer the European war coninues the harder life will be come .

There will be many shortages of all sorts of stuff, not even wheat based. The cost of transporting goods will spiral along with petrol and staffing costs. Its a vicious circle, workers need higher wages to combat higher food prices, and higher food  prices are because workers need higher wages

But no doubt, our 'happy band of frugullers' will keep battling on and hopefully the recession won't last too long.

But I fear like all of the recessions I have lived through in my long life, the days of cheaaper food will never return I have found prices coming down are rarer than hens teeth.
So more streetching of our pennies and more digging out recipes that don't involve expensive ingredients..

The smaller shops will be hit first, a chap yesterdsay on the wireless was saying how at least a third of fish aand chip shops and small food outlets will go, because who will be able to buy fish aand chips at around £10.00 a portion. Fish itself is becoming expensive to buy.

Once I have defrosted my freezer I shall go to my local wet fishmonger and restock what I can, he has a great fresh supply but even his prices have started to rise.

I do try to use local shops as much as I can and living in Kent, I can get to farm shops at least. My local Dobbies fresh meat department buys all of its meat locally from Brogdale .

I use the supermarket for things like tinned stuff or tea,flour,rice etc, but even then I have Tesco,Aldi,asda and Sainsbury's websites on my laptop and go to each one to find the best price when I go shopping All four shops are in easy reach for me and if Tesco or Sainsburys have price matched Aldi's then I go to them for the loyalty points. Every penny is used to its best advantage now. 

I have a zero waste policy in my kitchen if its not going to be eateen within a day or so its frozen or cooked then frozen until it is. 

May sound a bit odd and OTT but with the prices rising faster than ever its important to get the best value you can. 

I was speaking to a friend of mine who works in the local Greggs, and she said that a great deal of their food stuff now gets sold off at the end of the day via the Olio app as because so many people are working from home, the footfall has dropped considerably . I suppose its better sold off even half price, than binned and she said where there was usually a queue for stuff the shop has been a lot quieter since Christmas, and the staff do a lot less hours as well  so their livihood is affected as well.

A worrying time for us all I think  

JackieO x

Rosa_Damascena

Tahlullah.H said:

This topic on this thread is just too sad.  I don't really know how we got onto this subject, the issue of privilege - which as said above, is usually denied by those who have it.  It is just too easy to state that white people also have it bad.  But, if it gets really bad, you can pack up and move, run away and start again.  Yes, you may have no money but by the very essence of whiteness, you will be given concession, you are perceived as just down on your luck.  Others will instinctively help and support, because you are not perceived as a threat.

A black person cannot run away, because they are black.   They cannot run away from the first thing tht you see when speaking to them, their skin colour.

And why should they be made to feel that they want to? (I doubt any inherently do). Prejudice is horrible but making people feel bad for their mere existence is just repugnant. Its the world that needs to change, not the individual.

(I take the opposite view for sex offenders).

Living_proof

JackieO I think Greggs sell off their products with Too Good to Go app at the end of the day. 

Olio is a different app whereby excess food and goods are given away totally free. 

London_1

Living_proof said:

JackieO I think Greggs sell off their products with Too Good to Go app at the end of the day. 

Olio is a different app whereby excess food and goods are given away totally free. 

Sorry that's the one I meant,I know she said it was an app that was used. I'm sure they are excellent for those who need them ,but not being a pastry person  not much use to me I bake my own cakes and biscuits and pastries  

JackieO xx

Woolsery

London_1 said:

Listening to the wireless this morning the cost of living increase is now 9.1% in April, so I think the 10% is a very small estimate as to what the real price of food increases will be come the winter time .

So I shall soon be squirelling stuff away with as many long dates as I can. If we think its tough now ,the longer the European war coninues the harder life will be come .

There will be many shortages of all sorts of stuff, not even wheat based. The cost of transporting goods will spiral along with petrol and staffing costs. Its a vicious circle, workers need higher wages to combat higher food prices, and higher food  prices are because workers need higher wages
JackieO x

I'm glad it's you who has raised this; I wouldn't dare be so explicit in case it was seen as fearmongering. Some of us have been squirrelling for almost 2 years now. We decided this was sensible when the extended lockdowns and excessive money printing began.The country cannot afford to pay people to do nothing and squander resources in other ways without there being  consequences, war or no war.

Many of the problems, like the shortages of components from a troubled China, have nothing directly to do with the Ukraine situation, but the realignment of trade will create difficulties, particularly with regard to energy and food, like the wheat you mention. I wouldn't wish to endure next winter in some of the colder European nations, which may suffer badly because their energy policies have focused on carbon reduction at the expense of security. Rolling power cuts look increasingly likely, even here.

I don't see people starving in the UK, but when others talk of recession I'm thinking more in terms of a depression. People would do well to study the last time the world had one of those and consider how folks coped then, or indeed how they managed with the disrupted supply chains of WW2. I can see new demands for allotments and families coming together more to pool resources, including living space. One of our children is about to move back home, rather than pay another landlord £1200 a month. Her current one lives abroad and wants to sell as he feels the housing market here is about to implode. It's wheels within wheels and as one thing affects another it's very likely some will fall off!

Monetarily it seems most are in for a very rough ride, but socially there's still everything to play for provided we aren't sucked into the usual blame game. I can think of one group who will still do very well, but if this post is to survive I'll just say the answer lies in Eisenhower's final address in 1961. I don't remember it, being only 11 at the time, but I've kept it in mind since I was about 40.