Does anyone else feel like there has been another large increase in food prices lately?

Nelliegrace

The problem with a 400g block of cheese is that someone cuts great slabs of it for his sandwich or extra snacks. I was buying it most weeks. 
Now he gets his weekly ration of 2oz, just over 50g, less if I have used some in a meal for the two of us, and when it’s gone it is gone. The rest is in portions in the freezer.
Ready-grated cheese might be an easy-to-use alternative to cheese slices? @badmemory.

Would this help with the prunes? With the natural fibre they do reduce the amount you choose to eat. I put some out on the breakfast table in a jam jar rather than the whole packet. 

MattMattMattUK

ChihiroSen said:

Thank you everyone for the insight.  I think I’m going to have to find other places to shop to try and reduce my bills. For fun I decided to do a comparative shop with what I ate at university 20 years ago.  (I ate the same things every day for a year, no meat) it was four times the cost, and still not nutritious. I don’t think the food prices are going to come down, and this is unsustainable for me so I imagine it is for the majority.

It would be highly unlikely that we will experience food price deflation, we may get deflation at some point in 2025 or 2026 due to overshoot, but that would likely be in goods and service, rather than grocery.  Perhaps it is time to review your budget overall and work out rationalise your costs. I tend to find it is worth it every year or two even with a solid budget. 

annieb64

I do an online order about every 2-3 weeks and have noticed that a lot of the basic cheaper items  such as butter and gammon steaks have disappeared from the website although when I went into the town centre branch of the supermarket they did have the butter and the gammon.

PipneyJane

Sadly, while a couple of things have come down in price, I think current prices are here to stay.  I track my grocery purchases religiously, as part of the monthly grocery challenge and the only things that have decreased in price are the milk that I buy - 1L skimmed lactose free milk price spiked at £1.19 in 2023 but is now back to 99p -  and cheddar (800g was £3.59 for years, hit £4.99, and is now £4.79).  The prices are L!dl’s.

The big things are to shop carefully, plan your meals, and to not waste any ingredients.  Where possible, we buy our fresh veg loose, because I noticed how much they sweat in plastic, which means they wilt and go mouldy faster.  For example, if you buy wrapped broccoli, make a note of the location of the sweat spots.  That’s where the first mould will appear.  (Guess what?  My loose broccoli doesn’t go mouldy.)

- Pip

MattMattMattUK

PipneyJane said:

Where possible, we buy our fresh veg loose, because I noticed how much they sweat in plastic, which means they wilt and go mouldy faster.  For example, if you buy wrapped broccoli, make a note of the location of the sweat spots.  That’s where the first mould will appear.  (Guess what?  My loose broccoli doesn’t go mouldy.)

This bit is quite important, bagged veg is often washed a lot so that there is no soil on it at all, but that washing process damages the outside of the vegetable making it more likely to go bad, mouldy, start to rot etc. I understand that some people want the convenience of not having to rub something under the tap before peeling or chopping, but it does dramatically shorten the storage life of the goods. You are also right that for most vegetables a sealed plastic bag is just about the worst storage conditions possible. 

London_1

I think higher food prices are sadly here to stay. I now live with my daughter and son-in-law so only purchase odds and ends, as either of them do the weekly shop. I prefer fresh veg and like its seasonality and much as we all like broccoli the times its been more woody stem than florets seems to be the norm .We do use all of it in cooking but sometimes its like a mini tree so we then use cabbage or any other green veg thats less expensive. but at a push some frozen will suffice.

When it comes to cheese I have always taken it out of the plastic wrapper and wrapped in tin foil.Then every few days I will spend ten minutes or so grating it into a box ,a chunk at a time ,enough for the three of us and the rest of the block rewrapped and put in the fridge.
I only ever bought pre-grated cheese once, and found it went mouldy very quickly and to be fair I do have plenty of time to sit and grate a Tupperware box of it for the fridge

When it comes to eggs we do like a decent egg and luckily living where I do now we can buy eggs from the local farmer along often with some decent veg. Spuds seem to vary quite a bit depending on what type you buy and where

We have some in the garden growing but nowhere near enough for us through the winter I may see if we can get a decent sized sack from the local farmer as my son-in-law has just bought a larger garden storage box so they could go in there or even in the cupboard under the stairs during the winter months.

Meat is definitely higher in price and it also depends where and what you buy, we don't eat pork but beef chicken and lamb, especially lamb chops are a bit of a luxury treat. but we had roast lamb last night for dinner and there is more than enough left over to make a decent sized shepherds pie this week, so the half leg will do at least 6 meals with maybe some left over shepherd's pie. Beef too is utilised so every scrap is used, its far too expensive to bin.Chicken too gets stretched to a second meal ,usually a curry

We do try to buy less tinned stuff unless its something like tomatoes or beans.Soup I can easily make from any past its best veg so nothing gets wasted at all.
Coffee is bought usually when on offer, as with detergents, loo rolls etc. Lots of cleaning stuff to use up yet from our joint move so not had to buy it yet although bleach and disinfectant seemed to have increased in price. 

What I have noticed is the increased price of actually eating out, not that I do that often but even the smallest cafe a cuppa is rarely less than £1.50 which is a bit strong for a tea bag and a cup of hot water

Last week I was in Newport and thought I'll treat myself to a light lunch ,it was very nice and to be fair Newport is the capitol of the IoW.I had what I thought a reasonable lunch a pot of loose leafed tea with an extra pot of water and milk (it made four cups ) plus a slice of wholemeal brown farmhouse toasted cheese with a poached egg on top. It came to £8.95 which I was OK with as I did enjoy it and the chap in the restaurant was lovely ,and when I'm back to town I will go again. But I think the days of cheap food eating out are long gone We were in Sandown yesterday afternoon and they went off with the dogs on Yaverland beach and I walked into Sandown to buy a paper from the Coop.I walked past a small cafe that looked fairly busy and looked at the prices. Cooked all day breakfast £7.00 tea extra £1.50 the majority of the meals were from £7.00 upwards even fish and chips I think was about a tenner.Not that I wanted anything but I do like to check out the prices.

It doesn't seem that long ago that the big chain pubs were doing meals for around a fiver but now it seems to have doubled in price. I guess its rising costs for everyone and business's have to past on these cost to the customers. Rates, wages, increased food prices it all accumulates, being reliant on holiday makers for trade over here also means that the winter months many close down as it's just not economical to stay open.

I will still treat myself now and again to a light lunch out though, as footfall is important to local restaurants and cafes

JackieO xx

luvchocolate

I hope I'm wrong but think prices will start rising due to the recent budget and the rise in NI for businesses and the increase in minimum wage increase 

subjecttocontract

We always shop in Tesco. We have a Clubcard and get vouchers which we always save for Christmas. Tesco have just issued our total years vouchers this week and it looks like our total grocery spend this year compared with exactly a year ago is up 16%. 

badmemory

I have been more careful where I buy this year & I am already at more than for last year but this includes things like toilet rolls etc not just food.  So almost 20% up.  It does seem to depend on what you spend on.

twopenny

Last year I started eating ready meals because the cost of fuel, cooking for one, made them cheaper.

This year I'm back to batch cooking and freezing because the ready meals keep going up in price and down in protein levels. Again they think we won't notice.

Cheese, this month mine has gone from £3 - £4! So I only buy when on offer and freeze.

The buns I have with a cup of tea have gone up by 20p so now nearly £2 instead of just over a pound. Going to bake today instead.

Sausages, used to be the cheap option are now £3.50 for 6 or -£5 for 4 in some cases.

Fish is now expensive, used to have a fish monger that would advise on the cheaper ones. All but one or two small shops left in nearby villages as the supermarkets have taken over.

I too am lucky that we have small farms nearby and I get fresh free range eggs, Jersey or grass fed milk cheaper than the shops. Going to keep my eyes out for more roadside stalls. A honey farm and two small butchers that is now the same prices as supermarkets and makes some wonderful items out of cheaper cuts of meat.

Been better for my figure though   less cheese, less meat, fewer sausages or cake.

NB this has reminded me that if I order it you can still get scrag end of lamb which is delicious stewed. That's what we used to have, not beef. Perhaps time to look at some of the old recipies.