Trying really hard to OS but the prices keep going up

cupid_s

I used to buy the cheapish butter in tesco, but that is now 98p. It's only £1.02 for the tesco finest extra special brittany butter with sea salt crystals so I only buy that now (and it's much nicer).

This alone has increased my monthly shopping bill by over £3. And with the price increases in almost everything else what chance do we stand. Luckily the basic rate tax changes will make DH and I quite a bit better off but for those who have to cope with rising prices whilst picking up less money (like my parents and half the people I know) it'll be a nightmare.

Bargain_Rzl

Previous thread on this subject here

By the way, cupid, I agree with you about the Brittany butter from Tesco I discovered how yummy it was last year when I bought it for a special occasion, but now I buy it as a matter of course as there's so little difference in price between it and the cheapie one. I only buy it for eating - when I'm baking I use the value stuff. And I get through a maximum of 1-2 pats for baking and 0.5 of a pat for eating every month, so a rise in the price of butter hasn't made too much of a difference to my spending.

The price of pasta on the other hand :eek:

Ben84

I do the huge majority of my shopping at the local Sainsburys, despite claims that the best way to save money is to shop at lots of different places, and that Sainsburys is one of the more expensive supermarkets. I don't entirely agree with these things, there's more to consider. I think we're saving money.

I buy mainly ingredients as we make most the things we eat, and the prices of things like milk, eggs, margarine and flour are similar, if not exactly price matched in the big supermarkets. The variations in prices mostly apply to convenience items and national brands, which I very rarely buy.

The difference between brand name products and supermarket own label is an important thing to consider. We've been very pleased with the majority of the Sainsburys own brand products. From automatic washing machine powder to their canned olives and basics butter, so we buy mostly own brand items and avoid the expensive branded stuff.

We've been to other supermarkets and found the complete opposite, the own brand isn't very good so if we shopped there we would likely end up buying name brand stuff. Name brands tend to be cheaper in these supermarkets, but they still cost significantly more than Sainsburys own label products.

So, weighing up all the options, and considering that Sainsburys is the closest supermarket and we can buy everything we want there, that many of the items like milk and flour cannot be found cheaper at other supermarkets, and that we can almost entirely avoid expensive brand name products and buy Sainsburys own label for much less, I'm happy to keep doing the majority of my shopping in one place.

Cleosmum

I work out what I need, then go to mysupermarket.com and select Tesco, I put all the items in that I need and see if its cheapest. I then check swaps. Then I go to the Asda tab and check if things are cheaper there, then Sainsbury. Some weeks Sainsbury is cheaper, some weeks Tesco, but never Asda lol. Then I print off my shopping list and head down to shop. For bread and milk, and fruit and veg top ups I go to Aldi which is 5 minutes on foot. I could probably shave a bit off by getting x in one shop and y in another but it would drive me insane, and cost more in petrol so not really any saving.

sammy_kaye18

Have been sat half the night trying to find extra money in our budget.

I already do alot of things to use less electric and gas (bar not having them on at all) I think im quite low at gas over winter was £147 and electric was £38.30.

I buy what i can discounted/reduced/save what i can when i can. mend things if needed rather than buying new and only then will i buy it new if i cant find it in a charity shop!

Bargain Rzl - i totally agree - was mortified a 3kg bag use to be £1 but its now £2.97!!!

I hate to say it but my £100 monthly shop looks like its going to be needing some added pennies to get us by and at the minute i cant find much but only about £20.

I also find that reduced butter is ok for cooking - i dont mind stork - but butter is always better.

bonnie_2

Value chicken went from £3.74 to £4.33 in a week. And ribena from a pound to 2. Fruits gone up and baked beans 4 pack went from 97p to 1.38 same with the spaghetti. Fruit which used to be 99p a bag is now well over a pound, i have had to increase my shop from £40 five years ago to £70 now a week and that is a value shop with very few treats if any. It includes toilet rolls and wipes but not cleaning stuff and toiletries.

Bunny200

Just saw this article on the BBC website http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7363970.stm
about Walmart US restricting the amount of rice customers can buy at any one time to stop them stockpiling due to increasing prices!:eek:
How long before Mr T does that here?

Pink.

Hi Bunny,

That's an interesting article. I've added your post onto a recent thread on increasing food prices to keep all the replies together.

Pink

sammy_kaye18

rice is still 43p for a 1kg bag

wonder if it is worth stockign up with it now. We seem to eat alot of it and the dog gets the leftovers occassionally to, and pasta is just ridiculously priced.

hmmm.................think its time to root in the cupboards and clear some space - my freezer is run down but is tiny after the other one went bang. and the replacement still hasnt arrived from my auntie!

think i might freecycle soem bits today and fill the under bed storage boxes with 'food items' or non perishables!

mioliere

Rising prices are driving me mad. They go up by so much in one go. I do hope the Government doesn't keep trying to convince us that inflation is still low. We, on the frontline, see increases every day. I prided myself on how low I had got my weekly shop down to but it's as though I didn't make all that effort, now! I can't see anywhere else where I can cut down nowadays. The thing is, it's not just that food prices are rising, the cost of the fuel to transport the stuff has shot up, too, and that is passed on to the customers. Plus businesses have seen their business rates and utilities go up. No wonder we're all feeling the pinch.

As for baking, I use the Co-op's own brand soft marg for cakes and they always taste good. I think I paid about .69p for a 1kg tub but that was a month ago. I need to buy some more tomorrow so I'll see how much that has gone up. I have managed to get my bread down to .16p a loaf for organic half-white-half-wholemeal, using my breadmaker. I use a 'soft rolls recipe to mix the dough in the machine, then take it out', knead it, shape it into two long oval shapes, let it rise again, then bake it for 25 mins, gas 5. It makes delicious bread and is a lot cheaper than the supermarket's own-brand stuff.