Inflation and the cost of living.

Charleygirl5

I read online we should stockpile cooking oil and kitchen bin liners among other things because of the impending WW3. I have done that so soon I can stay in bed.

I am spending my money on energy as being fairly immobile, over 80. I feel the cold. My Scottish hardiness has long left me.

Nobody should be cold, it's awful.

Allira

sixandahalf

Boz

sixandahalf

Boz

Yes, I think we have had it easy.

Two of you eating out is now about £50. A family of six will be lighter by about £250. For a meal!

And often, nothing special at all.

I forgot to mention that!. Very mediocre food as they are cutting corners.
I think the winners in all this will be those who cook.
I am happy with a 3 day stew - £5 of beef and topped up with veg.
I can also get four meals from a £5 pack of mince!

I notice eggs and bread feature heavily, both cheap ingredients.

I scored an own goal with Waitrose 3 for £12.00 though. Had to throw 2 of them away, nasty processed taste.

I scored an own goal with Waitrose 3 for £12.00 though. Had to throw 2 of them away, nasty processed taste.

Which 3 for £12? What tastes processed? They have always seemed find in the past. 😲
Waitrose used to do 3 sirloin steaks for £12 but no longer. They weren't large but enough for us nowadays; they were just plain steaks. I've just ordered 3 × lime and coriander chicken and 3 x gammon steaks (separate mango and chilli sauce) so I hope they'll be ok.

Thai fishcakes, unpleasant.

Seem to recall the gammon being tasty.

sixandahalf

Allira

sixandahalf

Boz

sixandahalf

Boz

Yes, I think we have had it easy.

Two of you eating out is now about £50. A family of six will be lighter by about £250. For a meal!

And often, nothing special at all.

I forgot to mention that!. Very mediocre food as they are cutting corners.
I think the winners in all this will be those who cook.
I am happy with a 3 day stew - £5 of beef and topped up with veg.
I can also get four meals from a £5 pack of mince!

I notice eggs and bread feature heavily, both cheap ingredients.

I scored an own goal with Waitrose 3 for £12.00 though. Had to throw 2 of them away, nasty processed taste.

I scored an own goal with Waitrose 3 for £12.00 though. Had to throw 2 of them away, nasty processed taste.

Which 3 for £12? What tastes processed? They have always seemed find in the past. 😲
Waitrose used to do 3 sirloin steaks for £12 but no longer. They weren't large but enough for us nowadays; they were just plain steaks. I've just ordered 3 × lime and coriander chicken and 3 x gammon steaks (separate mango and chilli sauce) so I hope they'll be ok.

Thai fishcakes, unpleasant.

Seem to recall the gammon being tasty.

Thanks!

We tend to buy unprocessed or hardly processed in the 3 for £12 offer. I ordered the sea bream as well.

ferry23

Our garden waste collection - 105 a year, the letter with the cost for next year arrived yesterday, I need to be in the right headspace to open it ☹️

OMG that's a bit much...my first permit was 2 years ago..£30...last year £40...now it's £47.50...I remember years ago, everyone only had one bin and everything went into it , you'd think council tax would cover it..

Council tax rise at 4+ a year means it doubles every 7 years.What do we get for it?

Whingey

Council tax rise at 4+ a year means it doubles every 7 years.What do we get for it?

More Potholes!

My son studied Economics and used to go on about Freddos, so he gets a bag of them every Christmas and birthday .

His birthday was recently and DIL asked about the Freddos, and son had forgotten the rationale - he thought it was because he liked them as a child. It's funny how these family traditions lose their original meaning, isn't it?

The bill I most deply resent is council tax. Poor value for money for single childfree people who are overtly subsidising families. To be fair the discount should be 50% (not 25%) and people should be paying something for eash child. Children consume huge resources and generate waste but put nothing into the community unti they are old enough to work.

Just another example of the lest selfish group in society subsidising the most selfish.

I just called into Lidl for some fresh ginger, they were selling off veg boxes, I think they’re £2.00.

I got, peppers, celery, onions, carrots, grapes, leeks,and mangoes.

So I’m busy making soup, then a vegetarian lasagne and after lunch my husbands going to make mango chutney.

Also their fire logs ( a slow burn briquette) were half price so we stocked up.

I feel as though I am winning today.

Doodledog

My son studied Economics and used to go on about Freddos, so he gets a bag of them every Christmas and birthday .

His birthday was recently and DIL asked about the Freddos, and son had forgotten the rationale - he thought it was because he liked them as a child. It's funny how these family traditions lose their original meaning, isn't it?

How sad that inflation and the cost of living seem to have hit even the Freddo fairy - shall we organise a whip round?

I bet the Freddy’s have got smaller as well!

Babamaman

I bet the Freddy’s have got smaller as well!

They're just chocolate tadpoles now.

I nearly treated myself to a standard sized Daim bar on Saturday, until I realised it was £1.10 😬 I left it on principle

fancythat - I think we will have a change of government soon but that it will be Reform governing & I dread to think what that will bring.

Hmm. Those shrinking chocolate bars...

There's a sad piece on the BBC website today about the plight of Ghanaian cocoa growers. The price for cocoa has dropped considerably. Ghana is a major producer of cocoa and it accounts for about 70% of its exports. both its economy and the cocoa growers are suffering.

The reason the price has dropped is not only because harvests have been better in the 2 years since the prices rose sharply, but also because demand for cocoa has dropped because manufacturers have been making their chocolate bars smaller 😱

A bit ironic, isn't it?

Still. I'm sure our waistlines are all the better for it. 😆

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93jdk1yy3zo

The price ofmy weekly groceries (Ocado) have gone up substantially over the past couple of years. I'm not buying any more processed food or ready meals, it seems to creep up and up. I've bought myself a small pressure cooker and plan to cook more cheap meat and pulses - fortunately we both love stews and curries.
When I look in my cupboards and fridges I find I have more jars and packs of herbs, spices and flavourings: tarpenade, chilli paste, pesto and others - all of them expensive and probably not things I used to buy.

Freddos are not a good comparison. The price of coco beans reuired to make chocolate has spiralled in the last year. The price of cocoa uadrupled last year, although it has dropped a bit because of poor harvests and disease.

You would be better off comparing the minimum wage with a product which is grown and processed in the UK. Potatoes for example. The price of potatoes has increased by only 75% since 2005 (RPI: Ave price - Potatoes, new loose, per Kg).

In 2005 the minimum hourly wage would buy less than 6kgs of potatoes. At the end of last year it would buy 8kgs.

So that is a positive movement in relative prices - and potatoes are so much healthier to eat than poor uality chocolate bars.

Freddos are not a good comparison. The price of coco beans reuired to make chocolate has spiralled in the last year. The price of cocoa uadrupled last year, although it has dropped a bit because of poor harvests and disease.

You're completely contradicting the BBC news article I linked to, MOnica

The Freddos were used as a symbol of shrinkflation - yes, they are teeny now, and cost lots more than when my son was a child.

In my day inflation was measured in Mars Bars. I assume they are so much smaller now and the chocolate coating so much thinner that it is no longer possible to make a valid comparison.

M0nica

Freddos are not a good comparison. The price of coco beans reuired to make chocolate has spiralled in the last year. The price of cocoa uadrupled last year, although it has dropped a bit because of poor harvests and disease.

You would be better off comparing the minimum wage with a product which is grown and processed in the UK. Potatoes for example. The price of potatoes has increased by only 75% since 2005 (RPI: Ave price - Potatoes, new loose, per Kg).

In 2005 the minimum hourly wage would buy less than 6kgs of potatoes. At the end of last year it would buy 8kgs.

So that is a positive movement in relative prices - and potatoes are so much healthier to eat than poor uality chocolate bars.

Please, really we are supposed to be uplifted by the price of a bag of spuds?

Freddos don't have to be a good comparison.
They just make a points -well about wages and Shrinkflation.
Potatoes are a comparison that looks more positive- but now we virtuously eat the organic vegan ones (yes they do advertise them as that!) available from the 20 miles away farm shop they aren’t cheap.

Totally agreewith you. Now this war with Iran that Trump has caused..The price of everything isgoing rocket!

ferry23

Our garden waste collection - 105 a year, the letter with the cost for next year arrived yesterday, I need to be in the right headspace to open it ☹️

We haven't had our renewal notice yet, but last year it was £72 - it was £49 when we started (at the beginning of lockdown, when we realised we had a lot of pruning to do & were unable to get to the tip); we've already decided that we're not going to renew again this time

@Allira 🤣