Noticeable signs of inflation

[Nefertiti2]

https://twitter.com/NoContextBrits/status/1582474547911004161?s=20&t=08gZRd1yB9jzCefNlptq4A

[Nefertiti2]

https://twitter.com/JosephineCumbo/status/1582616150684291074?s=20&t=rdXBicR3JaNF9bI5YZLjBQ

[Nefertiti2]

https://twitter.com/GeorgeDibb/status/1582618933999243270?s=20&t=6bjuFjjSpdyvZe7neyNQBg

[Balderdasha]

In my local Co-op/Nisa shop there's an aisle of miscellaneous tat running up to the counter (it varies every week, pads of paper, dog treats, hairbrushes, packs of pens, that type of thing). Previously everything on those shelves cost £1. Overnight they now cost £1.50. That is not 11% inflation. Inflation for the poorest members of society is running closer to 50%.

[Levin]

Plantain is now 3 for £2.50.

[Sporting]

Plantain is now 3 for £2.50.

Here all fruit and veg is sold by weight and not by the number of oranges etc.

[ad hoc]

Even avocados?

[Sporting]

Even avocados?

Some yes.

[Levin]

You can't get three plantain for a pound anywhere near me any more. It's jumped up to 3 for £1.40 or £1.50 pretty much across the board.

I should have quoted this post from all the way back in September, with my 3 for £2.50 update.

Most of the market stalls sell by number of items or have a bowl of x for a set price rather than by weight.

[Sporting]

I don't see any advantages of selling per piece compared with by weight.

[ursus arctos]

Obviously simplifies things for the seller

[3 Colours Red]

They've finally realised they can't keep making grab bags of crisps any smaller to keep them at a £1 price point without them ending up failing to justify the "grab" part, so now they're all £1.25.

[Eggchaser]

First week of heating the house since the price rises, and combined with the shorter, wetter and colder days meaning less solar and drying clothes indoors or in the tumble dryer. £54 on the smart meter.

Fuck!

[Ginger Yellow]

Apparently the National Grid has told suppliers to get ready to implement the demand flexibility service tomorrow, although I can't actually see anything official.

[Balderdasha]

This is just getting silly now.

So, we do an online shop about every ten to fourteen days. We don't buy exactly the same amount or exactly the same stuff every time but it's fairly similar and we usually buy between 95-110 items, mostly groceries but it will also include things like shampoo and cleaning products.

Not that long ago, I used to try and keep this shop under £100. Then I relented and tried to keep it under £150. Now I'm struggling to keep it under £200.

We've already switched from occasionally shopping at Ocado to always shopping at the supposedly cheaper Morrisons and having a delivery pass which makes delivery free on Tuesdays to Thursdays.

Back in June, we had a delivery of 105 items that cost £165. The order we've just put in, which does not include any major extravagances, no alcohol, not much meat, is for 101 items and costs £191.

That's not 11.1% inflation over a year. That's 15.8% inflation over six months.

It's getting to the point where it is probably cheaper to get a taxi to the Aldi in the next town, do the weekly shop there, and get a taxi back. But that takes about three hours that I don't have spare.

[Balderdasha]

I'm now hunting for evidence of specific increases. Since June:
- The packs of pain au chocolat the kids like for breakfast have gone up from £1.60 to £1.79.
- 2 litres of Morrison's diet lemonade has gone up from 40p to 69p.
- 500g linguine has gone up from 70p to 75p (and that's only when you buy it on the 2 for £1.50 deal)
- kefir has gone up from £1.50 to £2.75 (I don't view this as an essential but husband insists it's good for his guts)
- pork loin steaks up from £3.33 to £4.25
- 4 pints of milk up from £1.29 to £1.65
- cucumber up from 45p to 69p
- grated mozzarella up from £1.75 to £2.75
- 12 eggs up from £1.69 to £1.99
- the same variety of stonebaked cheese and tomato pizza up from £2 to £3.49

All deeply depressing, though this is reassuring me that I'm right in thinking we haven't become wildly more extravagant, it's just that the price of the same things has gone up hugely over the last six months.

[Balderdasha]

1kg of frozen petit pois up from £1.27 to £1.69.

Bastards.

[Fussbudget]

Yes we've noticed the same thing. We normally get a big online shop every 3-4 weeks, for years it was fairly consistently around the £120 mark but in the last couple of years (and especially the last few months) prices have spiralled up so much that it's never under £200 anymore even though I've stripped out all the most expensive and least essential stuff from it.

I let out a proper howl when I saw this (didn't order it, obviously):



The same bottle was £3.40 in March

[Balderdasha]

Yes we've noticed the same thing. We normally get a big online shop every 3-4 weeks, for years it was fairly consistently around the £120 mark but in the last couple of years (and especially the last few months) prices have spiralled up so much that it's never under £200 anymore even though I've stripped out all the most expensive and least essential stuff from it.

I let out a proper howl when I saw this (didn't order it, obviously):



The same bottle was £3.40 in March

A litre of Morrison's extra virgin olive oil is currently £5.15. Still outrageous, but one of the reasons we're shopping there instead of Sainsbury's.

Aldi is selling 750ml for £2.99 which works out as £3.99 for a litre. Which is why it might be cheaper to get a taxi there and back.

[Patrick Thistle]

I don't see any advantages of selling per piece compared with by weight.

Well, say there are 2 apples for £1 and there are two of you and you both want an apple and you have £1, then you instantly know you can afford it. Whereas with £1 per kilo you're not going to know.

Also, it reduces the likelihood of being ripped off by the seller having his finger on the scale. It's easier for the seller because they don't have to keep their scales calibrated and you don't get people picking up apples, getting them weighed, then deciding its too much money and balking on the purchase, leaving the seller to return the handled apples to the shelf.

[Sporting]

In most shops here plastic gloves are obligatory when picking up fruit and veg.

[Sporting]

I've never come across or noticed the finger on the scales trick. That's not to say it doesn't happen.

[George C.]

50% price rises even in Lidl, in fresh food items in the last year...

[Patrick Thistle]

In most shops here plastic gloves are obligatory when picking up fruit and veg.

Hard to find that here. The little plastic bags for fruit and veg in supermarkets have been phased out.

Supermarkets prefer to sell packaged fruit because then the bag has a barcode on and it reduces stock wastage. Plus they can change the weights of the bag and keep the price the same (shrinkflation).

[Greenlander]

The Lidl Plus reward system changed recently. Before, once reaching a £200 spend in the month meant a £10 off voucher but now the level is fifty quid more and it's 10%. I'm definitely reaching that total earlier in the month but also have to ensure I'm going to do a big shop to make full use of the voucher. Which is a shame as I used to love doing a shop for the weekend that might come in at something like £10.08 and only having to hand over a few coppers. And doing a massive shop to get a similar discount as before just isn't my thing. Little and often for me.