The cost of food

While we have all been in a credit crunch for some years,  but this is the first year that I really began to notice this myself, despite the constant flow of bad news, the excellence of the PM programme Upshares, Downshares and, of course, the new doom and gloom inflicted on us by a banker-preserving government.  There are some reasons for this – it is only in the last eighteen months I have been a householder.  I don’t have a mortgage.  I am not a rich person who has savings.  But most of all, I did not used to do food shopping.

Food does not really constitute a huge part of one’s budget, but the increasing cost of food, coming at a time when money is short, and when luxuries have been cut, is really beginning to pinch.  The first thing that struck me when starting to shop again, was just how expensive some of the basics are – milk, bread, eggs.  Conversely,  plain local vegetables are cheaper – potatoes, carrots, onions.  The pack of long life milk I buy was £3 in June 2010.  Now it is £4.20 – a rise of 40%.  Food over all, according to this article has risen by 7.5% in 2011.  But, as the article highlights, coffee has increased by 21%, wine 14%, butter 20%.  Some items have clearly frozen, or even gone down.  Others have increased enormously. 

This, of course, has made life that little bit harder.  I by cheaper brands, and eat less meat and dairy than before, instead having more carbo-hydrate, and more vegetables – probably all a good thing.  I do not spend hours checking prices, but if something I regularly use is buy one get one free, then I will.  The supermarkets are all at war, and checking each other’s prices.  Today, being at home, I took the Mother to Sainsbury, and they gave me a nasty little printed slip with my receipt, informing me my shopping would be cheaper at Tesco (which does not surprise me, I thought their prices were high).  A money off coupon for the difference was on it, but, of course, I am sure they hold their prices higher so they can do this.  The average shopper, coming out with a coupon, feels happy.  I am not the average shopper and would rather have not paid more in the first place, nor be given a coupon so I have to visit again.

So, with wage rises cancelled out by rent and food increases, we all need to be a bit more careful.  I shall give you some tips on how I have managed to cut costs – although I guess one is Good Food Does Not Cost Less at Sainsbury’s.