We collected my new glasses today, and it was lovely to have clearer vision the minute I put them on!
However, I was not wearing them when we went shopping, but that didn’t stop me noticing a few things.
We had quite a bit to do in a variety of shops, so I did some comparisons, mainly on carrots as I refused to pay what was asked in three of them.
They’ve gone up from 29p to 57p locally since Christmas, but in some of the larger supermarkets were 60p or £1 for a kilo bag. I could have got a kilo and a half for 79p, but they didn’t look that good and would probably have gone off before I got to use them.
Maggie’s food was on special offer at £5 a bag instead of £6.50, but the interesting thing was toilet rolls.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I’ve got a thing about toilet rolls, but it’s something used every day and I want to get value for money.
The roll size is now 200 sheets not 210 as my last ‘survey’, and they come in packs of 4, 9, 12, 16, 18 or 24 now. Not all supermarkets stock all outer sizes by the way.
Today, a four pack was £2.00, and the 9 pack I usually buy £5.25, though I buy them at £3.50 or less on special. A 16 pack was £8, but a 12 pack was……………….. £4.50.
Kitchen rolls are something else I buy on special, like £5 for 6 large rolls, but at the moment my preferred brand is £3.50 for 2, £4.50 for 3 or £6 for 4. We’ve tried cheaper ones, but it really is false economy because they don’t absorb anything very well and I get through a roll in 2 or 3 days compared with a week of the ones I like.
Breakfast cereal was next as our neighbour had asked us to get her some Weetabix.
Hubby used to like this and we tried a cheaper alternative but it was, well, gross is being kind, so I don’t usually buy it now. However, a 12 pack was £1.50 and a 24 pack £2.80. The 48 pack was £5.50, but you could buy 2 packs of 24 for £4, so you can guess what we bought for her.
Some things have come down though, grapes for instance obviously weren’t popular with the recent hike to £1.49 and have reverted back to £1.24 for a 500g pack, and the stew packs were reduced to 79p this week instead of their usual 97p. We’ll be having that over the next three days, so more meat free dinners.
I bought some frozen sprouts at £1.10 for a kilo (up from the 89p I paid at Christmas, but I haven’t been able to find them elsewhere and fresh ones are over £1 for 500g). The basics of yogurt, eggs, milk, bread, dog chews and the frozen fruit I like are all the same as my last purchase.
All in all though, the food sheet is looking pretty good for January, slightly less than last year, but I did buy toilet rolls, milk and dog food that I didn’t really need this month so that will save on February.
Note:
I’m in the process of preparing my sheet for Brexit before and after as it might prove interesting…………… or not!
pensitivity101 
I agree with cheap kitchen towel, it doesn’t save you in the end, compared to certain other brands, as I tried that once.
I use kitchen towel just for cleaning hamster cage or when I had a cat then the cat litter tray, so being just for that I thought I would save, but like you, I found I went through more.
Sometimes the cheapest option is the one that makes best sense.
I must admit we have found some cheaper stuff better than the branded options.
Pingback: Finish the Story 2020 #3 – Teresa Grabs
Thanks Teresa. Will get on it asap.
I agree that prices went up between Christmas and the New Year, but I started going to Lidl and they try to keep their prices down all year round. The food quality is just as good as the big brands and much better than the big supermarkets own branded stuff. Now that the supermarkets are getting back to normal (a huge shout out to all the drivers getting the food back on the shelf as well as items in short supply after some people had been panic buying).
I hope you are all keeping safe and won’t be rushing out to meet with others tomorrow after the mixed messages from BoJo, I think what he meant to say was do what you want and try to stay alive, otherwise die because I and my chums won’t shed any tears for you.
We have a Lidl, but the shelves are stripped of what we’d usually buy when the holidaymakers arrive (and we have some) or we can’t get in at a sensible time due to queues. We shop 20 miles away now with a choice of 4 supermarkets, including a Lidl and Aldi, which is where we do the bulk of our shopping anyway as we prefer most of their products and pricing.
As for BoJo’s speech, I think that’s fair comment. We’re going to carry on as we have been, avoiding everyone, masking and gloving up when we have to go shopping, and staying within our property boundaries. We’re both ‘retired’ so work doesn’t enter into it, have no family though are friendly with our neighbours and fellow dog walkers, but the thought of what’s planned in the coming months is not doing much for my anxiety or blood pressure.
Keep safe Dave.
Thank you, you both stay safe and remain healthy as well. I will carry on as I have been doing (exercising indoors so I don’t meet stupid) there’s never any accounting for stupid is there?
It amazes me how lax people have become in 24 hours!
Even worse today, we have the highest death toll in England and there were people descending on beauty spots here this morning paying no mind to the locals and definitely not social distancing. There seems to be an awful lot of people who don’t care if they die a horrible death with difficulty breathing or continue living by staying at home. I know stupid people do stupid things but some of those arriving today are well educated with no idea of the damage they are causing to neighbourhoods where people have been indoors for longer than the country has been locked down.
It’s not as bad here as we thought it might be, but 20 miles away it’s a different story. We still have a few in denial who say it’s just flu, and a local couple who were tested which proved negative are going around as if everything is normal. We intend to keep our distance from those we know and avoid everyone we don’t.
Even those who test negative can still catch it from someone who has it. The worst thing about this virus is it takes up to 14 days for symptoms to appear but you are contagious throughout that period, and you are still contagious for about 2 months if you recover from it. Funny how people interviewed after being discharged from hospital after being in ICU can hardly put two sentences together, yet BoJo was able to give a press conference on his way out of hospital. What was it he had, because it definitely wasn’t covid.
We both thought ages ago that 14 days wasn’t long enough and should be at least a month, if not longer.
Locals who have tested negative are still being a wide berth by us, but then we are avoiding everyone as far as possible anyway.
When we shop it’s masks and gloves.
Agree with you that it’s funny about BoJo.