Upping the up

You’re probably getting fed up with these sorts of posts, but I bet not half as fed up as I am with rising prices every time I shop.

Last week it was gingernuts, which incidentally are now back in stock at 300g but up to 53p from 49p.
They are not the only things to see a hike in price this week though.
Our UHT milk in Aldi has risen another 10p a litre to 79p. I priced fresh milk in Lidl and 4 pints (2.272 litres) is £1.65. This equates to 72.6p per litre. However, at the moment, their UHT milk is still 69p, but probably not for long.
Chicken breasts have risen too and I paid £4.29 for 3 and a half chicken breasts today compared to £2.89 for two breasts not that long ago. The fourth piece was obviously to make up the weight, but I’ll be able to make a small curry with it.
Minced beef with 5% fat was £2.89 for 500g and I got four packs out of that. The last tray I bought cost me £4.59 for 750g which works out just a little more expensive pro rata than what I paid today.

Reading an article in the news today I extracted this (source)
(ignore the typo further down re Asda and Sainsbury at the same price stated as the latter being cheaper)

Percentage price rises of the UK’s major supermarkets between November 2021 and November 2022:

• Iceland: 9.4%
• Tesco: 6.3%
• Aldi: 6.3%
• Sainsbury’s: 6.1%
• Morrisons: 5.4%
• Asda: 5.3%
• Waitrose: 4.9%
• Ocado: 4.8%
• Co-op: 1.8

Now Hubby and I do most of our shopping in Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl and Tesco, but on the items we buy, the price increases don’t match the percentages shown (UHT milk at the beginning of 2022 49p per litre, now 79p, Instant mash 23p now 35p, Mature cheddar cheese £3.59 for 800g now £5.19, 500g Flora light £1.19 now £2.30 plus, yeah, gotta mention gingernuts 23p now 53p, single baking potatoes 15p each, now 23p each, stock cubes 39p for 12 now 52p, eggs £1.18 for 15 now £1.79, bread 99p now £1.25), but then the experts writing the article take an ‘average shop’ of various items, many of which we don’t buy anyway, for their calculations so I can only comment on what actually affects us.

At the end of the day, a lot of ‘basic’ items on my current spreadsheet will be moved to a new column of ‘other’ as I will have to modify not only the way I shop, but what I buy in the first place.
It’s not only food though as cleaning products are up, especially washing detergents and bin liners, some toiletries such as mouthwash have seen a hike of over £1 a bottle, dog food and treats, but you can still buy 16 paracetamol tablets for 29p to soften the blow of life’s permanent shopping headache.

The worst bit is there is nothing I can do about it apart from take it on the chin like everyone else and opt to buy less.  I know I am not alone in my way of thinking either.

Advertisement