‘Golden era’ of cheap food is ending, says ex-Sainsbury’s boss

edited 14 May 2022 at 5:31PM in Food shopping & groceries
33 replies 1.7K views
GingerTimGingerTim Forumite
1.4K Posts
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
Forumite
edited 14 May 2022 at 5:31PM in Food shopping & groceries

"King warned shoppers would have to start making hard choices on how they spend their money, particularly as soaring inflation – made worse by the ripple effects of the war in Ukraine – pushed up prices on supermarket shelves. The Bank of England said last week headline inflation was likely to exceed 10% this year, the highest since 1982.

“We have been perhaps through a golden era. We spend much less as a proportion on average of our household budgets on food than we had almost any time in history, and that’s been [on] a long, gentle decline. So I suspect what we will see is a higher proportion, across the piece, spent on food for the longer term.

“It won’t actually be that high in historical terms but it will require adjustments in terms of how we all prioritise our family budget spending,” King added."


https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/13/cost-of-living-golden-era-of-cheap-food-over

«134

Replies

  • Rosa_DamascenaRosa_Damascena Forumite
    5.2K Posts
    1,000 Posts Third Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic
    Forumite
    This always used to be the case prior to the 1960s/70s. A couple of graphs from the WEF to illustrate our immense privilege living with a higher proportion of disposable income, which is changing so fast its coming as a shock:




    No man is worth crawling on this earth.

    So much to read, so little time.
  • rhcprhcp Forumite
    2K Posts
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    Forumite
    I doubt it will be the end to the golden era of Sainsbury's profits.  All these companies seem to do well out of the cost of living crisis.
  • CornucopiaCornucopia Forumite
    16K Posts
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Forumite
    It would be nice to understand what Justin King is basing his comments on, because I'm not convinced he's right about this being a new long-term trend.

    ex Board Guide

  • arnoldyarnoldy Forumite
    451 Posts
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    Forumite
    But  the reality is food is astonishingly cheap still. Beef mince £1.89/0.5Kg, Carrots and onions 50-60p/Kg. Celery 39p. Bread 50p/800g. Potatoes 30-40p kg.

    Not sure what all the fuss is about.
  • edited 15 May 2022 at 1:57AM
    Rosa_DamascenaRosa_Damascena Forumite
    5.2K Posts
    1,000 Posts Third Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic
    Forumite
    edited 15 May 2022 at 1:57AM
    arnoldy said:
    But  the reality is food is astonishingly cheap still. Beef mince £1.89/0.5Kg, Carrots and onions 50-60p/Kg. Celery 39p. Bread 50p/800g. Potatoes 30-40p kg.

    Not sure what all the fuss is about.
    1kg of carrots has cost me btwn 40-48p for years now. It's a staple for me, and every time a bag goes into my basket I marvel at just how inexpensive they are.

    FWIW, I think Justin King is right. Prices may drop seasonally, but I'm pretty sure this is a long-term trend. One things is for certain though, and that is it's not going to be the supermarkets taking the hit.
    No man is worth crawling on this earth.

    So much to read, so little time.
  • rhcprhcp Forumite
    2K Posts
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    Forumite
    Peas have gone down in price as well.  A 1kg pack of frozen peas used to be about £1, now they are around 55p.
  • Rosa_DamascenaRosa_Damascena Forumite
    5.2K Posts
    1,000 Posts Third Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic
    Forumite
    I don't think anyone could argue that peas and carrots are unhealthy food choices. But will the nation change its eating habits?
    No man is worth crawling on this earth.

    So much to read, so little time.
  • MattMattMattUKMattMattMattUK Forumite
    5.7K Posts
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Forumite
    rhcp said:
    I doubt it will be the end to the golden era of Sainsbury's profits.  All these companies seem to do well out of the cost of living crisis.
    The supermarkets make fairly small margins, especially on food, the reason the headline profits figure of "billions" sounds large is because of the scale of their operations. The thing is, if they made zero profit food bills would only reduce by a few percent at most.
  • PennyForThem_2PennyForThem_2 Forumite
    1K Posts
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Cooking knowledge is crucial.  A kilo of carrots is useless/wasted if you do not know how to cook it into a meal.
  • London_1London_1 Forumite
    971 Posts
    500 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper
    Forumite
    A kilo of carrots will give me a large vat of spicy carrot and coriander soup for very little outlay a good five portions for lunch or as a startes before my evening meal 
Sign In or Register to comment.
Latest MSE News and Guides

Did you know there's an MSE app?

It's free & available on iOS & Android

MSE App

Regifting: good idea or not?

Add your two cents to the discussion

MSE Forum

Energy Price Guarantee calculator

How much you'll likely pay from April

MSE Tools