Grocery Price Increases - What's the Biggest Hike You've Seen?

RobM99

arnoldy said:

I think the price increases will accelerate the trends towards simple ingredients based seasonal cooking. Yes at the moment Brussel sprouts, apples, parsnips are expensive but that's because its July!! For example new potatoes/mince/runner beans should be healthy/nutritious and economical at this time of year.

Personally I can never understand the hysteria about branded products such as Kellogg's/Heinz/Lurpak - buy them if you can afford them and think they are good value for money - if you don't there are plenty of other alternatives. It does feel a bit odd people complaining about the cost of living piling their trolleys high with expensive branded spreads, ketchup and coco pops.

Cheaper brands not going up as well? Thanks for that.

London_1

I am away at the moment from my house and I do have a system in place that I have done since January of this year. I literally write down everything I buy and the price every month (I try to shop only twice a month as living on my own its quite feasible.

I have a set budget per month, and at the end of three months, what's left goes into a seperate account. so far from Jan-June I have around £68 odd in there. When I go ome at the end of next wek I know there is enough there to use to help restock my freezer with meat ,fish etc as I ran it down and defrosted it the week before I came away on holiday. I have a pretty good stock of tinned and dried goods and have no need to buy a great deal when I go home.

I will have half my July budget left to use for fresh fruit and veg, as I used the first two weeks to help stock up with bits while at our holiday house.

I have noticed the prices rising as I went around the shops before my holidays, but as I was running down my fridge it wasn't a problem.
I do buy fruit and veg seasonally, and keep a good eye out for reduced veg for curries and veg lasagne or soups.

By shopping with my list, and more or less sticking to it. I have found that perhaps I am actually buying less, and using up more of what I have in stock already. After all it was bought to be eaten, plus I will adapt stuff in recipes if I can, to use up the odds and ends indoors.

My shopping bill has risen a bit, but I too will buy unbranded stuff ,as to me a tin of beans, is a tin of beans, and I'm not eating the tin just the contents
 If I think the price is absurd, then it just won't be bought.  I don't compromise on decent coffee,but my eldest DD usually brings me some nice stuff back when they return from the USA when visiting my DGS which keeps me going for ages.

I will probably have to up my budget in the autumn a bit as I'm sure things will still keep going up for awhile yet, but on the whole I'm not coping too badly, but who knows what the future might bring

JackieO xx

arnoldy

"Cheaper brands not going up as well? Thanks for that"

Yes cheaper brands are going up, but they are still an awful lot cheaper for a similar product, and the data (plus anecdotal experience) says they are not being price gouged as much as the big brands. eg supermarket beans are still about 25-29p a tin c.f. £1.20 now for Heinz.

supermarkets have increased prices much more slowly on their in-house ranges. Own-brand salted butter at Sainsbury’s, Asda and Tesco increased by 28pc, 18pc and 18pc respectively in the past year, well below Lurpak’s 33pc jump.  

Butter was not the only kitchen staple to rise sharply. The price of Happy Eggs’ pack of six large free range eggs has increased by 12pc to £1.91, according to Trolley. Meanwhile, an own-brand pack of six eggs at Waitrose has remained the same at £1. 

A 400g pack of Hellmann’s Mayonnaise has jumped by 33pc in the past year to £2, compared with a 7pc rise in a 500g of Asda’s Real Mayonnaise, which costs 75p. Elsewhere, a two litre bottle of Irn Bru has risen by 20pc to £1.50 but Asda’s own-brand “Iron Brew” has risen by just 15pc, to 60p.

The brands raising their prices five times faster than supermarkets (msn.com)

arnoldy

GaleSF63 said:

Lurpak spreadable 500g is £3.59 in Tesco at present. In a few hours who knows!

Check out the ingredients of these types of spreadable butter though about a third of them will be rapeseed oil which is relatively cheap (about £1.75/Kg) and water (effectively 0p/Kg).

TheAble

Tonic water up to 70p/litre in Tesco and Sainsbury's now. Only 45p last year. Seems crazy but the hot weather called for gin and tonic so I was forced to stump up...

Kaylataste

Tesco milk up another 10p also teabags up 10p,week on week my online shop is getting more and more expensive for the same amount of groceries.

mandy47

Asda cheese up 35p and milk 10p.

YorksLass

Spotted yesterday in a local Nisa store - 4 pts semi skimmed milk £1.85 and 250g block of Co-op lard 69p.  Prices in local Co-op are £1.70 and 55p (I think) respectively.  Prices in Sainsburys £1.45 and 39p.

Kaylataste - you're right, it's definitely a case of less for more!  This week's increases: litre of veg oil 20p, 400g block of mature Cheddar 15p, pack of 6 pork shoulder steaks 40p, pack of wafer thin beef slices 10p, large tub of Greek yogurt 10p.  So, 95p more since last week.

I always try to look for an alternative if I can but that's becoming more difficult, especially when the cheaper items are out of stock.

Wednesday2000

I buy my husband these white chocolate and raspberry Trek bars occasionally as I usually do him a packed lunch for work and they are relatively healthy as a snack with his sandwiches. I just bought some from Asda and I swear they are half the size as they were before! I looked and they said they were new as they are higher protein but I tasted it and they taste exactly the same to me, just shrunk down to a smaller size. I can't remember how much they used to cost annoyingly as I don't buy them all that often but I think they have just made them smaller to cut costs.

Slinky

I remember reading on one of these threads that somebody was buying Heinz Ketchup at £3 for a large bottle. The Tesco equivalent is £1 (or was the last time I bought it a couple of weeks back). There may be some difference in the taste? I don't know, but I know whatever that difference is, it's not worth £2 to me. By the time you've eaten your way through a kilo bottle of ketchup, your tastebuds probably won't register the difference anymore.

I forgot to see how much it is on the shelf now in Tesco after their 'issues' with Heinz.