News The Credit Crunch is really real

[russell]

I know it sounds like I am being particularly dense but I have just been food shopping and I am really shocked by price increases. (add £3 on to any meat/ £1 as average on everything and at least 30p on to lower price stuff) I know that the media always hype things up and we are always being told to 'tighten our belts' and that a recession(sp) is a- comin.... mwah haha Scary monster stuff!!!!

Well the monsters really are here it would seem. Overnight I have gone from an organic, 'finest', fresh home cooking mum to a bargain 'value' mum.

I have a family of 5 big eaters and it is really worrying me that a chart DVD can cost half as much as a lasange? What is going on with the world.

I am worried and I am hoping that all you Uk Freddy's might be a little more clued up on the Economy, and can re assure me that it will get better.

I am well aware that it is all liked to the price of oil, but where does it all stop?

Also how come all the crap food is still really cheap -pizzas, burgers, chips? Hello obesity.

Apologies if this has all been said before but ....Does anyone have any good news for me?

 

[Tom]

Know anyone with a business? Costco is pretty good for cheap food. For instance a Lasagne to feed five only costs about £10-£12

Also, theres nothing to stop you growing your own food.

 

[Damini]

Yeah, I just cooked dinner for Kieran. Curly Kale, potatoes, and broad beans all grown from my parents garden, with some turkey that had been reduced because it was the last day before its best before. I used to buy organic, free range, and now I can't even afford to buy the cheap chicken unless its reduced. So, I buy what's on offer, and I shop at places like the Barnham trade post, which sells discounted food, and I fumble through. Bruv, aka Arnie 2tone, refuses to buy prechopped chicken, and buys whole chickens to fillet himself, as it works out much cheaper. I stockpile when things are on offer (got a pile of cat food in the corner), freeze lots of stuff to stop it turning, and I'm trying to bulk out my earnings with ebay stuff.

It's not going to get better. Not for a long time. Best to start learning how to deal with it now.

 

[Jupitus]

Mrs J is baking home made bread now, to help save moneys....

 

[dysfunction]

Make your own Lasagne (and other peirce film food you buy) !! Its cheaper and tastes a million time better than the shop stuff!

 

[Damini]

Oh yeah. Home made lasagna > pre-made lasagna.

No doubt whatsoever.

 

[Jupitus]

Folks - familyof 5 does not equate to having time to cook every day....

 

[Damini]

Yeah, I know that, but lasagna does taste a lot better, and is a lot cheaper, to make yourself. Also, you can freeze it.

Other microwave meals are comparable to the real thing. Microwave lasagna never is.

 

[Rubric]

Yeah, I just cooked dinner for Kieran. Curly Kale, potatoes, and broad beans all grown from my parents garden, with some turkey that had been reduced because it was the last day before its best before. I used to buy organic, free range, and now I can't even afford to buy the cheap chicken unless its reduced. So, I buy what's on offer, and I shop at places like the Barnham trade post, which sells discounted food, and I fumble through. Bruv, aka Arnie 2tone, refuses to buy prechopped chicken, and buys whole chickens to fillet himself, as it works out much cheaper. I stockpile when things are on offer (got a pile of cat food in the corner), freeze lots of stuff to stop it turning, and I'm trying to bulk out my earnings with ebay stuff.

It's not going to get better. Not for a long time. Best to start learning how to deal with it now.

You shop in Barnham Trading post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Small world.

Head into worthing and Guildbourne meats some real bargains to be had there.

 

[RandomBastard]

My flatmates and I buy our meat from the farm shop, a lot cheaper than the supermarkets!!!

We do have to drive there cause we live in the centre of Sheffield but we buy a huge amount then freeze it.

 

[dysfunction]

or you could go here: Anima magnetism | Food and drink | Life and Health

 

[Damini]

You shop in Barnham Trading post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Small world.

Only to stalk you, my lovely, as you idly peruse the reduced price Lloyd Grossman sauces, and skip happily through the section with all the washing up powders written in Hebrew.

I SEE YOU.

And also only when I am visiting my 'rents, as I was earlier today.

 

[Yoni]

I cook everything from scratch at the weekends and use it in the week as my days are over 12 hours long and that is when I am not traveling. I spend about £30 a week on food (if that), and I have found that it doesn't take much longer to do this rather than use ready made meals and is certainly quicker than ordering in.

 

[Rubric]

Only to stalk you, my lovely, as you idly peruse the reduced price Lloyd Grossman sauces, and skip happily through the section with all the washing up powders written in Hebrew.

I SEE YOU.

And also only when I am visiting my 'rents, as I was earlier today.

What you are the shifty looking one hiding behind those big 24 bags of walkers crisps and pretending to look at the big tubs of butter that go out of date the next day??????

 

[Rubric]

What you are the shifty looking one hiding behind those big 24 bags of walkers crisps and pretending to look at the big tubs of butter that go out of date the next day??????

By the way have you noticed that the milk they sell may be cheaper than the 4 pints you get in tesco but it is not actualy 4 pints it is 2 litres. Sneaky bastids.

 

[Damini]

What you are the shifty looking one hiding behind those big 24 bags of walkers crisps and pretending to look at the big tubs of butter that go out of date the next day??????

I'll never tell.

Oh, and I don't buy any milk there. Milk and a two and a half hour journey back home doesn't bode well. Hell, my arm didn't survive the journey home, as it's turned a lovely shade of Trucker's Red, so I don't fancy the curdled clots that the dairy section would offer.

 

[Trem]

What you are the shifty looking one hiding behind those big 24 bags of walkers crisps and pretending to look at the big tubs of butter that go out of date the next day??????

No you fool, shes the one covered in cat pooh doing lots of spinning and clapping.

 

[Ch3tan]

Lol

You aer teh win Trem

 

[Bugz]

ALDI/LIDL/NETTOS are still somewhat cheaper than most supermarkets.

 

[Rubric]

No you fool, shes the one covered in cat pooh doing lots of spinning and clapping.

yes there does seem to be alot of inbreds orking there.

 

[Raven]

Shopping at Aldi now and getting a veg patch ready in the back garden, though i guess its a bit late to do anything with it this year.

Also I cook for four now and freeze half to get two dinners out of it.

Some of the Aldi stuff is a bit naf but a lot of it is actually better than tescos, everyday stuff, breakfast cereals, crisps, cooked meats/cheese for sandwichs etc

 

[bob269]

ALDI/LIDL/NETTOS are still somewhat cheaper than most supermarkets.

I have a mate that does market research or some bollox for Tescos head office, anyways the current trend is they've won a lot of new upper class custom from M & S and Sainsbury's whilst at the same time losing their working class custom to the likes of Aldi, Netto.

 

[Furr]

My local walk to Supermarket is Waitrose which for price is quality is still though, but the next nearest is Sainsburys but that requires driving to.

Iceland nearby though for all the name brand stuff, but I can't stand their meat. But its not just meat, Pasta, Rice, Bread are unbelievable at the moment.

 

[pez]

Credit Crunch/Recession isn't making food more expensive. Maybe fuel price increase is and under supply but thats all.

Recession could be making you feel poorer though.

 

[ECA]

As pez says this is inflation + fuel price increases, not the credit crunch.

 

[dysfunction]

As pez says this is inflation + fuel price increases, not the credit crunch.

And the two are not linked in anyway at all

 

[TdC]

hmm I think I spend about 30~40 pounds on food per week because supermarkets absolutely shaft people trying to cook for 1 and don't have a freezer

 

[rynnor]

Credit Crunch/Recession isn't making food more expensive. Maybe fuel price increase is and under supply but thats all.

Recession could be making you feel poorer though.

The big problem is that the credit crunch + fiscal mis-management by the current government has meant that there is no room to maneuver to tackle inflation without causing a nastier recession.

Theres not an awful lot you can do about food costs rising other than switching to cheaper shops - beyond that you just have to ride it out.

Despite much media hype food prices have mostly risen due to market speculation and the supermarkets sensing an opportunity to boost their profit margins with a convenient excuse...

 

[russell]

All good advice.

My father in law has a vegetable patch which we will be using alot more in the future.
I can home cook batch stuff like lasagne (mind you the ingrediants are now more expensive too!).

And I guess it will just be back to making cheap meals like jacket pots and pasta. It is not impossible by any means, but what amazes me is how we all just sit down and accept it.

I will go to Aldi's and Lidl's and stop being a food snob. Its just the meat that concerns me. I worry about all the fillers and additives and crap that goes in to cheap meat.

And it really pisses me off when the government are going on about an obesity epidemic and it will soon be cheaper for my family to eat at Macdonalds every day than have good home cooked food.

Grrrrrrr...

 

[DaGaffer]

I'm going to eat poor people. I see it as my civic duty.