Cost of living shopping trends

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lancashire lass
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Cost of living shopping trends

Post by lancashire lass »

I can't say my shopping trend has drastically changed that much despite the price of food so high but I am cautious when out shopping. I think it's because I'd already established before the current crisis what is a "bargain" (only buy it if you use it, not because it happens to be cheaper), use cheaper alternatives (avoid brand names and some of the "cheap" versions are just as good or at the least, re-educate your palate and get used to the flavours, although I do avoid cheap baked beans and tinned tomatoes), buy what is essential (for me that's coffee!) rather than what you fancy and so on. More importantly, change to supermarkets that offer more value for money. Still, there are times when I have gone shopping and had to put some things back after seeing a hefty shift in price.
There's no doubt everything has gone up in price, some more than others. I always used to treat myself to a dessert from the chiller unit (such as a cream cake) in my weekly shop but the price these days is so jaw dropping, I no longer buy these. I'm not a Mr Kipling fan but I don't know how the price for 6 little tarts or cakes can be double what they were before (even the store brand versions have gone up but not as much) At the moment, frozen desserts don't seem to share the same price hike and even then, my choice tends to be the basic cheaper ones (like the frozen cheesecake, lemon meringue or chocolate cake - the trick is to cut them into portion sizes (as they are slightly thawed by the time I get home so easier to cut with a heavy knife) before popping into the freezer.
Before the current fruit & veg shortage, the price for fresh produce had gone up and I put that down to the usual (Brexit, staff shortages, transport problems, weather related problems) Many supermarkets have kept the price of basic fruit & vegetables down so apples, potatoes, onions and carrots have not been impacted too much, and the "wonky" vegetables on offer are fine to use. Frozen veg (peas) too seem to have gone up in price but again, not so much. However, when I fancied making a thick winter vegetable soup, I couldn't justify buying 2 little leeks @ £1.50p and even the price for a small savoy cabbage was scandalous but the big ball head cabbage was a bargain (and keeps well in the fridge) The price of swede has been okay (I like it mashed with potatoes) as have sweet potatoes.
Fresh fish & meat on the other hand depends on what you get. I do seem to be eating a lot more chicken (thighs with skin on are cheaper than say skinless breast), and more minced beef and pork than say steak (not that I ever did buy steak!) or medallions. This weekend I decided to treat myself to diced beef for a stew and even then I had to look at individually priced portions rather than grab the first one I saw. Lamb is so ridiculously priced that I don't know who could afford to buy it. There doesn't seem to be a reduced price section in my local supermarket so I can only assume unsold items either goes to charity or landfill when the use by date has expired. I have been visiting the frozen section for some meat (well, chicken breast, salmon pieces) as these are cheaper than fresh, but you get whatever is in the packet (some okay, always one which is rubbish) but the cheaper battered fish portions I used to buy (for my home version Friday night fish & chips) are no longer supplied and only the more expensive cod or haddock are on offer these days so these have fallen off my shopping list. I tried out the cheaper essential fish fingers out in the air fryer and have to say they make a really good alternate ... but are not my "traditional" fish & chips.
So that means a change in shopping trends also means a change in eating habits and meal choices. It's not enough to switch from your usual brand to a cheaper alternate one but have to really think about different menus and cheaper cooking methods. Even the "cheap" meals my mother used to make aren't that cheap to make anymore - the cheap cut of meat are no longer cheap or unavailable unless you visit a proper butcher, but the cost of cooking makes them expensive as often these are slow cooked, the thick vegetable soup being a classic example. To be fair I haven't bought any pasta for a while, but even dried ingredients have gone up in price too. So far, rice is still an affordable starch alternate and since getting the rice cooker, I have found myself eating a lot more than I did before.
Mo
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Re: Cost of living shopping trends

Post by Mo »

I'm lucky that I can be frugal from choice not necessity (partly due to being frugal all my life).
Haven't done the comparison recently as I don't buy meat any more except when cooking for others. But years ago i was impressed that a big shopping bag full of fruit & veg cost no more than a small piece of meat.
And 'greener' too. Not that I'm entirely vegetarian and certainly not vegan, but a change in the number of meat meals might be worth considering if economy is needed.
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Spreckly
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Re: Cost of living shopping trends

Post by Spreckly »

My computer whooshed, so here goes at a second attempt.
I am spending as much each week as I did before Ted died. For tea I sometimes have a sandwich or a couple of pikelets instead of a proper cooked meal
I often mash potato, carrot and swede together. I does turn out lumpy sometimes, as the swede takes ages to cook, and I only have an old fashioned potato masher.
Last week I bought a tray of chicken thighs, I think about three pounds which I put in small freezer bags. They are really tasty done in the air fryer. I also buy supermarket own brand for lots of items, even baked beans.
My cheap porridge has more than tripled in price over the last few years, starting at thirty pence, it is now seventy.
I have fancied a melon for a few weeks, but they have shot up since the summer.
lancashire lass
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Re: Cost of living shopping trends

Post by lancashire lass »

Spreckly wrote: 06 Mar 2023, 11:12 It does turn out lumpy sometimes, as the swede takes ages to cook, and I only have an old fashioned potato masher.
I cut my swede into small cubes (about 1 cm cubed) which I put in the bottom of the pan and pour boiling water in. As soon as the water comes back up to a rolling boil, I add the sliced potato and cook on as normal. The swede is cooked by the time the potatoes are done.
Not quite a cost of living shopping trend post, but cutting vegetables into smaller pieces will cut down cooking times (for example, if you normally leave potatoes to simmer for 15 minutes (after bringing it up to the boil) until cooked, thin slicing the potatoes increases the surface area which means they cook much quicker so will only take 7-10 minutes.
Mo
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Re: Cost of living shopping trends

Post by Mo »

lancashire lass wrote: 06 Mar 2023, 12:26 .., but cutting vegetables into smaller pieces will cut down cooking times (f
Yes, worth doing this to cut the cost of fuel.
Chicken can be cheap, but I would be careful not to buy the factory-farmed product.
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lancashire lass
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Re: Cost of living shopping trends - loyalty cards

Post by lancashire lass »

I noticed there was a news report about loyalty cards which I had already sussed out some time ago. I first spotted it in Tesco last year - I had popped in for a couple of things and noticed that the price of foods were much more expensive than elsewhere but with the loyalty card, they were about the price that most shops charged (without the loyalty card) anyway.
Then I noticed the same thing happening in my local Co-op (more a mini supermarket near where I live) - again, one off customers pay much more than at say Asda or Aldi (I don't shop at Sainsbury's - more a geographical issue than personal choice) but with a loyalty card, the price is about the same as non-loyalty food stores.
In the report, it mentioned how the loyalty cards now work. I used to have a loyalty card with Tesco which replaced the old Christmas stamp scheme (you used to buy £1 stamps whenever you shopped which you stuck on a card and the total saved (+ a generous bonus usually better than the interest if you had used a bank saving account) would come off your shopping in December / early January) With the loyalty card assigned as a Christmas saver, it meant that it couldn't be used for shopping during the rest of the year. I have to confess I had stopped going regularly to Tesco (and Asda) during the pandemic (when opening hours changed and people had to queue to limit the number of shoppers inside the store) and preferred to shop at the local Aldi which was relatively new in my area so still not well known and queues were dramatically smaller at the time. The new usage of the loyalty card to charge customers "less" at the till is just a big scam in my opinion and I would prefer to go where they don't have them.
The downside with Aldi is lack of choice - you can usually buy whatever you need but there's only one brand (their own) or reduction in variety (yes, they sell frozen pizza but only have say cheese or pepperoni or whatever they have in stock at the time. I like their frozen chicken & veg spring rolls but for the past month they only have veg spring rolls so it is all a bit hit and miss type of shopping which you can't plan for) For the most part, Aldi has been significantly cheaper than say Asda where I used to shop before the pandemic. There are some things I just get hold of locally so now and again I do still go to Asda now and again and bulk up on those items - I didn't fancy doing 2 supermarket shops so the last time I went, I had decided to get some foods from their chiller units at the same time ... and mildly surprised to find most of the prices were quite comparable to Aldi. So even if you don't have a loyalty card, still worth shopping around rather than being loyal to a specific supermarket.
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