This purchase this morning made me realise just how expensive food is becoming

M and S apparently are pretty cheap for their own brand beans. 45 p I think.And taste OK

That’s the conundrum, Goldenage. We like cheap food but someone, somewhere, is always paying the price, in poor wages or living conditions or similar.

There’s a chicken processing factory a few miles from me. It employs a lot of people but the appalling conditions that some of the migrant workers live in is shocking, crammed into caravans which must be hellish in a Scottish winter.

At the risk of boring everyone (and myself), just back from an Aldi shop. Went to pick up tomato ketchup, a very infrequent purchase, we don't eat it, but our DiL does. Heinz classic ketchup £3.59, Aldi own £0.77. Same size.

I forgot to buy Heinz vegetable soup which is normally £4 for a pack of four in Asda and Tesco.

Called into the co-op for a tin and was astonished to see the price per can was £1.95. Cheeky or what?

Being housebound I can only shop on line. Mainly .Sainsburys. I like fresh fish. However their ‘fresh’ fish is frozen and thawed. So I don’t buy it. For interest this week I looked and two small pieces were £8! Some of their fish is processed in Taiwan!. So I stick to salmon but that is now farmed!
Regarding canned beans etc. Supermarkets own brands are often as good as branded
Because of the drought this summer the pea crop in East Anglia was down hence the high price.

But those very same people who produce food, make clothes etc, are still being paid so poorly they won't be able to afford to eat either soon.....

My shopping home delivery bill was just under £100 yesterday. I had a slightly bigger order than usual, with things like laundry items and cat litter, but we have mostly the same basic items delivered each week, and buy fresh fruit and vegetables every few days. Looking back over the orders, the same items cost around £70 - 75 a few months ago.

I do agree GoldenAge. We commit to spending as much as possible on fair & ethical products, whilst recognising that it doesn't always work out!

However, my Coop supermarket is not expensive, so win-win! I think it possibly because I don't buy much there, and only certain products. I haven't done a price comparison because I rarely go into other supermarkets, but it hasn't gone up much.

Here here GoldenAge!

The Co-op has always had different values from other supermarkets - thank goodness. It subscribes seriously to the notion of fair trade. The big problem is that we have all become used to the cheaper prices of the larger retail players who have frankly only paid lip service to the idea of fair trade. We don't pay enough for our food and we happily close our eyes at the thought of people spending x hours a day in fields or factories and earning very little so we can have cheap food on our plates. Why should food be cheap? Why are the people who produce food worth less than those who cut our hair, make our clothes care for us in hospitals? It's always the person at the chalk face who suffers when we hop from one supermarket to another to get a cheaper tin of beans. Capitalism of course.

My cats love Dreamies and last year a pack cost £1. Yesterday I went to buy a pack and the cost had risen to £1.96. That was in Morrisons. No more Dreamies for the cats I'm afraid!

I occasionally visit our Co-op because I go there for petrol. When I do, I can’t believe the prices there compared to our only other major supermarket store.

Yes, I agree Nannagarra. M&S certainly has some bargains if you look carefully. I got beans there today for 50p, although that’s up from 35p this time last year. Their tinned toms and soups are also good value. M&S butter was cheaper than anywhere else round here as well.

I do very little supermarket shopping, and the one I mostly use is our local Co-op supermarket about once a month. There are big price differences between Co-op supermarkets and Co-op convenience stores.
However, I only buy leaf tea, porridge oats, dried milk, a few things like baking powder; and yes, frozen peas! Sometimes, if I'm going in anyway, I'll pick up an odd thing I'm low on.
Occasionally, if we are on our way home from somewhere, or in a minor family emergency, I will rush round any old supermarket that is handy. I am always astonished at how much it all costs!

Same bag of peas is £2.45 in Tesco. I buy Tesco’s own petit pois, £1.50 for 1kg. I found there was no difference, taste-wise between the Tesco and the Birds Eye.

SueDonim M & S beans are well worth buying in terms of quality and price, in fact many of their products compare favourably against bigger supermarkets.

NanaAng14

Went to buy hot chocolate powder the other day, it used to be about £2.99 / 3.50 ,.
Same brand - It was £4.50 !!!! I thought it was a mistake ,. But it's the same price
in another supermarket.

I couldn't buy hot chocolate anywhere the other day (probably been bought by all the firework party people.
So I took a look around Amazon - £8.99 for 1Kg tin - will be looking around for other non-perishables if needed in the future.
The usual shop - before price rises would have been £10.50 or thereabouts for the equivalent weight!! But now around £13.50.
But in general prices are changing everyday - it is
worrying!

Birdseye fish fingers at Tesco, £7.75 for a pack of 30!

Went shopping in Lidl today and butter was 16p dearer than Tesco. Same with some meat products. I usually shop with one eye on the price but I have to admit that with the increases I would probably not buy a lot of the things we see as staples. Worryingly with the level of increases less people will be able to afford to make contributions to Foodbanks.

Went to buy hot chocolate powder the other day, it used to be about £2.99 / 3.50 ,.
Same brand - It was £4.50 !!!! I thought it was a mistake ,. But it's the same price
in another supermarket.

I don't usually notice as I hurl stuff into my trolley in Aldi or Lidl, but sometimes I stop and blanche at a price. Today was such a day.

My mum swears by the Coop where she lives. She housebound and doesn’t use the internet (she’s 95 today!) but the Coop take phone orders and deliver for free. She’s always been a good money-manager, though.

I like the Coop’s own stuff as they are committed to fair trade, but I wouldn’t do an entire week’s family shop there.

Having said which, I was in Morrisons yesterday - £1.29 for a tin of Heinz Beans! Other regular items were similarly priced up. I left them on the shelf and will go elsewhere.

You are right though HousePlantQueen, the rate of inflation on food is 14.6%, with no end in sight.

Co-op has always been expensive. 3 or 4 years ago a tin of tomatoes was £1.69. I didn't buy them.

I too find the Co-op expensive and also the quality of their veggies is variable to say the least.