Food Prices Increasing Already?

[Arwen Thebard]

Has anyone else noted any food items increasing in price recently?

For example olive oil seems to have gone up a lot.
In November we paid £1.89 for a 750 ml bottle of Extra Virgin Olive at Aldi. (£2.52 per litre)
In early December the price was £2.09 (£2.78 per litre)
The same 750 ml bottle today (11th Jan 2019) was £2.19. (£2.92 per litre)

That seems to be (approx) 16% increase in just three months.

By way of comparison, a 5 litre can from our local wholesaler was £9.99. (£1.99 per litre) Also Extra Virgin - not light olive oil.

Value of the pound going down as the cost of imports is going up I guess.

[PrepperMum]

This is really interesting and sadly, not surprising.

I have been meaning to start a Price Book for ages and your post just illustrates the need for this.

I sometimes wonder if a run over to France would be a thought and stock up from Hypermarkets.

[PrepperMum]

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kin ... -inflation

[pseudonym]

Never let a crisis go to waste.

[jansman]

Meat is moving up rapidly.We deal in UK beef and lamb and the price is rocketing. Looks like in 2019 we will all be belt- tightening.

[Arwen Thebard]

Meat is moving up rapidly.We deal in UK beef and lamb and the price is rocketing. Looks like in 2019 we will all be belt- tightening.

I naively assumed that the imported meats would increase in price first, but thinking about it why not UK meats? Well If we have to pay a higher price lets support UK businesses while we still have a choice.

[grenfell]

Googling brings up that the cost of Christmas last year was 0.4% lower than 2017 although 2017 was a re expensive than 2016 . On a recent news report on the high street it was saying that with growth slowing or even stagnating ( why do they never replace that word with stable? Much less negative conertations ) supermarkets might potentially be beginning a price war and we could see prices dropping. I'll be convinced when I see it.
Watching one of the "back in time" programmmes it was saying how mmuch we paid for food in previous decades . It was a far higher percentage in the 30's 40's 50's and so on than it has been recently so perhaps it's less food getting more expensive and more food getting back to its natural level. Certainly lower food prices encourage more wastage . It also tends to discourage people from growing their own. I've mentioned it in the past to friends who have replied " not worth the efffort when stuff is so cheap in the supermarkets " .

[Arwen Thebard]

".....not worth the effort when stuff is so cheap in the supermarkets"

I feel guilty saying it but we would have to agree with that statement.

Putting aside the question of how the supermarket produce is grown (fertilizers and pesticide use etc) for now, we dont think we can grow our own for the money once you factor in everything involved.

Recently we have been buying LOTS of veg from Aldi (Spuds, carrots, cauliflower, swede, parsnips, cabbage, sprouts)
at 19p / 29p / 59p, so much so that we have been able to freeze, can and dehydrate enough for at least six months, probably much longer. It's hard to calculate exactly how long it will last but we now have a 3' long chest freezer full of 'semi-prepared' veg and shelves full of packets and jars in the pantry. We still have a good stock of seeds for the future, but at these prices we have decided to concentrate on our perennials and higher cost fruits and nuts rather than the basics this year.

[grenfell]

I know what you mean about the guilt thing as I do begrudgingly concede he had a point especially if one factors in the time that is spent although arguably that can be discounted unless that time could otherwise be spent earning money . If I spend a day in the garden I could look at that at around £150 of labour I've spent which buys an awful lot of potatoes. Then if one factors in tools , seeds , fertilisers and even the cost of the land be it a purchase price or rent for an allotment then supermarket food starts to look disgustingly cheap.

[DundeePrepper]

100% I’ve seen much of my weekly items increase and lots of products out of stock across multiple stores, I use ASDA, Iceland and Tesco all by delivery, for normal weekly shops and preps too. Occasionally I use Booker Wholesale through my work for personal things too - frequently seeing items out of stock too.