Since my last blog highlighting the US trend of companies selling us smaller products for the same price – known as short-sizing – the claims of UK shrinkage have been coming in thick and fast from msn users. You see, size does matter. So here’s your supermarket sweep of shrinking items…. Thanks for all your feedback. Let’s keep the list – and awareness – going. Send me a message or leave a comment below…. Basics…
- "Tescos have changed the packages for their Bakery "Tiger" bread – you now get 600g instead of 800g."
- Shredded Wheat – many of you pointed out that there are 27 in a pack instead of 30. All for the same price.
- "Muller Vitality yogurts were 150g they have just shrunk to 125g and are still at the same price."
"My wife used to buy Onken Lite fruit Mousses. These are now 1/3 smaller but are still the same price." - "Organic Weetabix has recently reduced it’s ‘biscuit’ size. Because it’s sold as a multipack, there’s no need to put a weight on the pack, but the nutritional information has changed and the pack is slightly smaller – but there are still 24 biscuits in a pack and that’s how it’s sold – very cunning!"
- "The obvious one is Pringles. They still come in the same size tubes but now hold 170g rather than 200g. There are still a few flavours with 200g in the tubes but most are now 170g."
- "Tesco sea salt that was in a 500g container was 93p is now sold in a 350g and is the same price."
- "Streamline jam was 480g for £1.19 is now 350g and is the same price."
Meat, fish, poultry, ready meals…
- "Tesco barbecue wings used to be 14 pieces–it’s now 10."
- "I’ve bought Waitrose minced beef for years and it always used to be 550g but now all their minced meat is 500g for the same or more price."
- "ASDA ready meals was 6 for £4 now 5 for £4."
- "Birds Eye packs of what used to be 36 fish fingers have shrunk to 30 but the price has stayed the same."
- "Tesco changed their battered Cod fillets from 6 packs to 4 packs. They’ve changed the prices too but the net effect is an increase in price."
- "Look out for minced meat; beef, turkey and pork. 500g used to be the standard size but this has dropped to 450g in Asda. I also think salmon fillets have become smaller in Sainsburys but you don’t notice because it 2 in a pack so you look at the quantity rather than the overall weight."
Alcohol, soft drinks, water….
- "Beer and lager from supermarkets is a culprit. I normally buy cases for cost effectiveness but the case size had already dropped a while ago from 24 to 20 but now it has reduced even further to 18 or 15."
- "The beer companies have been at it for ages with bottles. First it was a 24 pack of 330ml then it went to a 20 pack of 300ml, now its packs of 270ml and the price stays the same."
- "Strongbow have recently dropped from 18 to 15 cans in a case."
- "Tesco own brand cordial that used to be a 1 litre bottle had shrunk down to a 750 ml bottle but gone up in price by 20p."
Non-food…
- "There is more water in own brand items such as bath foam and shampoo to keep size and price the same."
- "Timotei has just changed the packaging of their product so that the cap is at the bottom – it looks smaller and costs 40p more."
- "Toilet rolls are now about three times the diameter and much thinner. The sheets have got smaller and by puffing them up with hot air in manufacture they are not as thick, and there are not so many on the roll."
- "Tesco value kitchen roll that I used to get 4 for 99p had shrunk down to just 2 rolls claiming that they are jumbo rolls."
- "A cheeky one from Tesco’s as the hayfever season got under way..Tescos own brand of hayfever pills..I used to buy a box that lasted a month – one pill per day. One pill per day. The box had 2 blister packs each with 14 pills. NOW.. Same box but only HALF of the spaces are filled with pills.What a waste of packaging, what a bad consumer deal."
- "Rennie’s is another brand that has shrunk package size. You used to get 96 in a box, now only 72 for the same price. And all this stress is giving me indigestion!"
- "Fairy liquid has an offer – buy 2 for £2. If you check the content its gone from 500ml to 400 ml. So we save 50p but lose 200ml."
Biscuits, cakes, sweets, chocolate…
- "I am shocked at how small Tracker bars have become, a little like the Wagon Wheel, they seemed so much larger when I was younger!"
- "I went to pick up a multi pack of Smarties and it was always a pack of 4 but this time it was a pack of 3. The price was the same though."
- Many of you report that Cadburys dairy milk large bars have shrunk from 250g to 230g. "This was cleverly disguised by a simultaneous change in packaging."
- There have also been lots of comments about Mars bars – size and quality – but nothing firm on shrinkage for the same or higher cost.
Photo: www.mothercare.com
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I suppose the thing to do is to change our behaviour. If something\’s more expensive than before – buy less or different. If you can treat the current difficulties as a challenge or a game. Getting one over the producers is fun. It\’s better than feeling they\’re ripping you off and you can\’t do anything about it.
I don\’t think downsizing is the entire problem. We used to buy a morrisons chicken slices and the last time we purchased them my wife said they didn\’t look right – i tried one just to make sure – it was disgusting! They had changed the ingrediants to show that it was made almost entirely from chicken skin yet had not made this difference obvious on their packaging. If it was \’new and improved\’ the would have said so in bold lettering. Replacing meat with chicken skin was clearly nothing more than deceit.
The same can be said for their new 50p range. Yes, the item may only be 50p but the bag (potatoes in our case) was half the size. The price hiking by supermarkets is rediculous. Why has a bag of potatoes shot up from £3.49 to £5.99? Are they now producing potatoes to use in the manufacture of Bio Fuels? Each time we do our grocery shop we seem to be cutting back on items and couging up more of our hard earned cash.
While it is looking bad for the British, it could be much worse, like in the south of Ireland where you get 1 item for the price of 3.
They just thought they would be different than the English with their " buy 1 get 1 free"
Well i am not use to to go to TESCO and ASDA, i heard they ware cheaper but there some more shops cheeaper then them.Like LIDL, ALDI etc.
Well if you looking for quality i suggest you to go to CO-OP or Sainsbury\’s, they are bit expensive but their own products are high standards and good, and i think they dont rip customers like TESCO and ASDA doing now a days.
we should go back to using the local markets. these tend to sell local produce which stays fresh for longer cos it hasn\’t come half way across the world in a chiller. the markets sell seasonal produce. who the hell wants brussell sprouts all year round anyway? if you do you need medical attention (guess which veg i hate – hehe). but anyway… back to the point… i\’ll have 4 apples please. is that a kilo or 2 lbs? do you want them to be all the same shape and size? shall i wrap them now in a polistyrene (?) tray and cling film? no? you\’ve brought a bag from home? gosh!!!!!
we don\’t all go out to work so we can drive a flash car and impress the joneses. we go out to work to be able to afford to shop at supermarkets who keep trying to kid us into believing that they are doing all they can to help us out. what a load of tosh. believe that and you\’ll believe that new labour is good for the country (anything).
so buy yourself a lovely brand new Cath Kidston shopping trolley and amble round to the local market (the idea is to leave the beemer at home too). i\’m thinking of getting a cheap old one on ebay and revamping it with some flash fabric that i will probably also get on ebay.
lidl\’s great!
Who else has noticed you get a smaller portion of McDonalds Mcflurry for the original price!!!
Ah yes I have been aware of this practice for some time. I first noticed it last Christmas with the tins of chocolates being sold at around a fiver by most of the supermarkets. The crafty so and so\’s quietly reduced the quanty that went in the tins. As I had some of the older tins to keep odds and ends in this was very eassy to confirm. Another trick to watch out for is the so called "Manager\’s Special"…… A well known supermarket reduced 5Kg bags of charcoal down to £1.44 a bag, which at the time was good but the last two weeks the price has gone back up to the normal £2.89 BUT it is is still being billed as "Manager\’s rip off"…..sorry "Manager\’s Special"……..they must think we are all idiots……..that\’s probably the worst thing. On a another point about 18 months ago I got sucked into buying a couple of electric toobrushes. At the time you could get a pack of 8 or 12 replacement heads for these things but now it seems you can only get them in packs of 2 or 4……except most supermarkets only seem to stock packs of 2, at a rediculous price too. So when you buy something that needs spares…THINK…will they be available at a sensible price in the future..
THIS IS THE NORM FOR THE LARGER SUPERMARKETS….THAT\’S WHY I SHOP AT ALDI\’S!! THEY SELL NO \’BRANDED\’ HOUSEHOLD NAMES [so I\'m not paying for - generally - their stupidly over-done advertising] BUT THEIR QUALITY IS SECOND TO NONE.I
I HAVE USED MY NEAREST STORE FROM THE DAY THEY OPENED – PROBABLY 5-6 YEARS – I HAVE NEVER YET HAD A COMPLAINT.
I think one or two people are missing vital points here. There are TWO issues here.
The first is that the food SUPPLIERS craftily re-package with smaller weights, although the supermarkets will be well aware of this, of course the general public at first will not. Personally it would be better to retain the weight and put the price up, we are not all fools!
The supermarkets are more guilty because they in effect are ripping their customer off by NOT reducing the price to compensate. The likes of ALDI and LIDL maybe better value but only if they are reducing their prices to compensate. With supermarket "own brand" items yes they are guilty on two accounts because they are instructing their suppliers to re-package less then charge the same price or more.
I noticed this but I guess for someone like me it\’s okay- the size they used to do was way too big it would feed me and my partner for two and a half days now it\’s for two days!
Why don\’t people learn to roll with these things?! Why don\’t you all just think \’okay so I guess I won\’t waste it I\’ll cook it all and freeze it?\’
I bet you half the people who moan about this are people with way too much time on their hands- do what the first guy said- play them at there own game- have fun with it! Just stop moaning! Gosh!!! Ha!
Plus it might do England a little good to eat a little less- dont ya think?!?!?!?!?!?
Show the supermarkets your unhappy with this – shop somewhere else! I\’m a big fan of my local market. I went there on Saturday and got 5 pork steaks, a pound of cherries, a pepper, 6 salad potatoes, 3 carrots, 2 small turnips, 10 peices of babycorn and some ginger, all for £4.60! OK I did haggle a bit, but the saving is still huge. And of course, buying fresh means you cant be shortsized!
Lets get one thing clear – supermarkets areonly interested in making maximum profit from the consumer. Nothing they "offer" or advertise as saving you money actually does – it simply increases their already obscene profit figures. Tesco are by far & away the "market leader" in ripping off the consumer by claiming to be "green" and "in touch" with so-called organic produce etc etc. I know first hand how Tesco operates its buisness – and claims to hand on savings to its precious consumer.
If you want fresh, value for money produce use your local baker, butcher, grocer, fishmonger and be sure of putting something back into the environment and community that the likes of Tesco make claims to do over & over again.
Me ? I have lived in Spain for the last 10 years and not been near a supermarket in that time.
Tesco = R.I.B - Rip off Britain.
Adios.
another thing to watch out for is when your local supermarket moves all the departments and displays around, shoppers are too busy trying to find what they want, half of the time they do not notice the price increases which have been subtley adopted .morrisons are prime culprits for doing this
Also have you noticed how dear bread is these days and doesnt last very long.
Noticed from Asda,Morrisons a fresh sliced loaf is off white around the edges and not very fresh.Even their own fresh baked bread not that good.
Steve
im 13 and may not know the world as well as adults but i have noticed that when supermarkets do buy one get one free offers the products are damaged or near the best before date or sometimes it is to encourage you to buy food/drink or whatever it is on offer because nobody is buying it and they need to get rid of the stock so they can replace it with new stock! the asda \’smart price\’ and tesco \’value\’ ranges are only cheaper because there is often more water or a cheaper ingredient used.
If you make home-baked potato scones they taste a lot nicer compared to shop-bought potato scones is because in the shop bakery they use more flour and less potato because flour is cheap and potatoes are dearer!
Watch out for a number of much more subtle changes. I have recently resigned as the Environmental Manager of a large household product manufacturer who supplies all of the major supermarkets. Their strategy is to respond to what the branders are doing. The recent changes to fabric softeners, claiming to take lorries off the road is really a dilution of their previous concentrates. They used to sell at approx 16-18 % strength, now they sell at 10-12% strength but with fancy new (unrecyclable) coloured packaging. Washing Up Liquid is now being supplied in 450 ml at a lower strength than the previous 500 ml varients. My previous employers have followed suit so the likes of Tesco et al are stealth ripping the consumer off as well. Tesco also display the "carbon footprint" on a number of products. I can\’t speak for all of them but the claim on washing powder & washing liquid is total bunk. There is no science whatsoever that would stand up under scrutiny in a court behind their claims. They are a poor guess at best. The supermarkets are trying to cash in on consciences and I\’m afraid that the gullible British public is falling for it hook line and sinker. Once my contractual arrangements are completed I will be challenging the science behind Tesco\’s carbon footprint claims – can\’t wait !
Lets be honest a good proportion of us go to work, to make ends meet, lately, the ends seem to be getting further apart. For a long time, I have not looked at the price of supermarket food, but I am now and it\’s frightening. The shopping bill is going up by the week, I always write a list and only buy the necessary groceries. Shopping takes longer because I am now comparing prices and I always come out of the shop depressed. How are we going to cope if prices keep rising, we\’ve got to eat, they know we have to but they use all this inflation stuff to hike the prices even higher. We\’ll never win, so we\’ll have to go with the flow, ride the waves etc.
There\’s a shop we all know well where I go to buy the monthly necessities of washing powder and other essential personal items. Take deoderant, for instance. Look at the way the small bottles are displayed. Don\’t just chuck one or two of them in your shopping basket; have a look at it. How many people have been caught out by the shape of the bottle? For the same price, or even dearer; you get a bottle that looks the same size as what you\’ve always bought but half the back has been cut out. This is the way things have been going for far too long. I\’ll just bet others can give similar examples.
Sainsburys seem to be cashing in on the retail food frief of the moment. Their peeled Jumbo King Prawns were 2 x 220 gm packs for £4.99. Then the price jumped to £6.00. Now, the price is £4.99 again, but the pack size has reduced to 180gm…. 20% or thereabouts! The prawns come from Honduras and so the source price to the supplier will be paid in US dollars, and the dollar to pound exchange rate is very much in our favour at the moment. Sainsburys also sell Twinings English Breakast Tea Bags in 100 boxes. In May 2008 the price for this item was £2.84. The price today is £3.34, an increase of 50p, again approaching 20%. Again, tea sourced from the Indian subcontinent will have been paid for in US dollars at source! Come on Sainsburys, don\’t think we are all stupid! I can and will shop at Tesco in future, where I can still buy their Twinings tea bags at £2.84!
Brewerys have been doing it for about the last 10 years since the Govt introduced a sliding scale on duty.They have over time reduced the ABV on certain beers such as Carling and Carlsberg, so they don\’t have to pay as much duty. Then they also reduce the size, 500ml to 440 ml,330 ml to 275ml.So you are getting smaller amounts with less volume
LOL i cant belive people are whining about this yes things are getting smaller and more expensive but at the end of the day year on year we or at least the people who work for a living are getting paid more and more each year as the cost of living goes up.
So it\’s does\’nt really matter as it offsets the changes and price rises you all really need to get out more and start enjoying your lives instead of whining and moaning about things that dont really matter……………….
Has any one else noticed the general price increase of all foods. one whisper from the newspapers that a credit crunch is coming, and up go the prices. Milk is now £2.12 for a 6 pint. and bread well, we laught when russians were forced to pay £5.00 a loaf, but its now nearly £2.00 a loaf here in the UK, it will get worst.
My baby milk went up a whole pound this month, from £5.98 to £6.98 thats disgusting. All this hype about a credit crunch is just an excuse to put prices up and make the little people suffer. Gordon Brown you should be ashamed. let the government members take a pay cut and give it back to the people.
Ruth
Besdeal4baby
Selling recycled baby clothes and equipment, protecting the envirnoment and saving you money.
It is always best to look at the price per gram or litre that supermarkets are obliged to display – this gives the best comparative indicator of prices between goods and rising prices
Tescos sold steak mince for a small pack at £1.10p. This price had stablised for sometime and remained the same until quite recently. This then crept up within a few weeks to £1.24; then within a week it rose to £1.35. Within a few days this then rocketed to £1.69 and today I noticed that the same price pack was £1.75. This is a rise of 63% within a few months. How on earth can Tescos or any retailer justify that sort of price rise? I would be interested to know.
This is not the only item that has gone up in price. Ironing water that sold recently at 56p is now 85p per 1 litre bottle. On the other hand there are a number of reduced prices. Logic dictates that the "offers" at these reduced prices are being offset by the more essential items of food that are normally purchased for day to day consumption.
in response to
SA-80-UK AKA Paul22 July 10:22
(http://cid-cb0223efd6ed9863.spaces.live.com/)
LOL i cant belive people are whining about this yes things are getting smaller and more expensive but at the end of the day year on year we or at least the people who work for a living are getting paid more and more each year as the cost of living goes up.
So it\’s does\’nt really matter as it offsets the changes and price rises you all really need to get out more and start enjoying your lives instead of whining and moaning about things that dont really matter……………….
I would point out that not EVERYONE gets a pay rise – i work as a trainee solicitor and my firm did not give any pay rises this year due to a severe lack of busines. and before you say it, there are two reasons why i wold not leave my job – my training is fantastic and all other firms in this area are in the same boat!
its a little inconsiderate of you to suggest that we are all "whining and moaning about things that dont matter" just becuase you have assumed we ALL have pay rises every year.
in fact, i have my own house and on a trainee\’s wage – i am beginning to panic so i am now looking for a second job and actually find it quite worrying about how supermarkets are still maintaining their profits every month by increasing prices like this
so perhaps if you are going to LOL again, maybe try and think before you add such comments that, to put it simply, are ignorant.
"ASDA ready meals was 6 for £4 now 5 for £4."They was that price yeah?! Haha, says it all really! But honestly think the supermarkets are just playing games and are very very cunning. Assuming they\’re that bothered they\’ll stop reducing the size, start advertising that they\’re doing this and start saving money another way. I\’d do they same! : D
Just one piece of advice – boycott the over packaged, over priced, devious supermeatrkets and buy loose groceries and veg, if possible from your local shop. You know what you\’re getting and you save on the motoring cocts at around 70p per mile!
in respnse to eveleen at 10.22am today…………..proably you have not had a rise due to the fact that you cannot spell lol
yeah nor can i !
I read with interest about the price of food petrol etc. and the weather, This is just a comment to make your mouths water. I came to live in San Salvador, El Salvador, Central America about 16 months ago. here we buy 100 oranges for $5 , which is about £2.40. Pineapples 5 for about $2 Melons,Banans,Platanas, all types of fruit all at similar prices. and the fish is just the same. Oysters 12 (very large) for $10 and the weather it is about 30c all the year round, we are in the winter season , or wet season at the moment but it is still 30c. beautiful sunshine every morning. Oh how I miss England!
why dont these supermarkets realise that it is the customer they should be putting first,and not the people who are already being payed to much by putting the prices up,on thier products.
What amazes me is why everyone is so surprised, is this really news< lets face IT all anyone in Uk is bothered about is fLeecing the public and that starts at the top with this corrupt scheming 2 faced Government, i mean come on did anyone really believe the inflation figures theY have manipulated for years!!!
3 words sum this country up
RIP OFF BRITAIN
""I WOULD RATHER BE A FOREIGNER IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY THAN A FOREIGNER IN MY OWN COUNTRY"
Sainsbury\’s have halved the depth of their large prawn containers so you now get a single layer of prawns instead of a jumbled box full. Forget it sunshine, I now buy at places where that aren\’t blatantly screwing me and I suspect Sainsbury\’s are doing it on many other products so I\’m off to Asda where prices are 15% cheaper like for like.
I\’ve not bought Shredded Wheat either since they started packing biscuits longways instead of sideways, reducing biscuits from 30 to 27 whilst increasing the price. Do they think we are too stoopid to notice? I haven\’t bought again on principle.
They treat us like scum so scum they become!
So which is the best value overall, including service?
Sainsbury\’s by a mile.
Tesco\’s impersonal, last
I went into Sainsburys the other day and the price increases are becoming outrageous now. The other leading supermarkets wont be much different.Do yourselves a favour – swallow your pride and get your basics and staples at Lidl – just because they are cheaper does not mean all their products are \’cheap\’ they are all sourced from Europe, sure, but their products are decent quality. You wont spend anything like you would in any of the big supermarkets.Remember the greengrocers, the shop we all used to go to for fruit and veg? They\’re way cheaper than supermarkets!As for people posting on here saying we are all whinging and moaning – WTF? Why are you even posting on this blog?! Are you on like £100,000 a year, where price rises dont affect you? Are you convinced that everybody\’s salaries are going up with the rising costs of living? GET REAL. GET A LIFE.
When will you people learn you can screw these large companies who try to screw you by a simple garden plot in your own garden if 75% of british done this next year and you swap your fruit and veg excess with neighbors N relatives for there excess eventually these companies will be crippled after a couple of years and will have know alternative but to drop to rock bottom prises to win there customers back all it takes is a couple hrs in the garden weekends so you might not have a good looking garden growing your fruit and veg and if you one of those who moan about prises and like nice gardens just carry on whinging and paying rip off prices just learn from your grandparents who had rationing during WWII we have nothing rationed nowadays so the food will be still as tasty and not like the WWII apple and potato crumble desert and you will be alot fitter and when you do this you will have pride in what you have achieve a sort of national pride that you will not and cannot be taken advantage of.
But alas my words here will just drift of into the ether and from now until the world ends you will all still be sitting in your sun loungers with your beautiful gardens a glass of wine or a tin of beer with your laptops still whingeing your being charged to much for to less and like doomed sheep follow the doctine of comercialism to certain financial death.
"I have know excuse for my action they are just animal instinct the humanside of nature for the animal will feed its own and help others to ensure there survival and will never kill there own for greed." J.P.Bone
I agree with the chap who says we should all start growing our own fruit and veg. Can he give me any tips, as I have been contemplating this for a while now. I don\’t have a particularly large garden, but a plot of about 8 sq feet, which I could utilise.
I\’m disgusted at this government, everyone that voted for them should be thoroughly ashamed!
p.s. Veg that I like, but don\’t know how realistic it would be for me to think of growing, are: carrots, broccoli, courgettes, onions, spring onions, sprouts, potatoes, turnip, beetroot.
p.p.s Can the gentleman also advise on how to escape to hotter climes, where the cost of living is realistic. In Spain apparently, £600 per year covers all utility bills, including the Spanish equivalent of council tax and water!!! Car tax is only £60 per annum max!! I\’m curious to know why the chap who decamped to El Salvador, felt the need to go so far??!!
Fruit: blueberries, pears, apples, strawberries, raspberries.
p.p.s To anyone who is really suffering from the "credit crunch" and all the hiked up food prices at the hands of this government, have you considered earning a second income? Something which will not affect your present job and which you can do as much/little as you wish and earn as much as you wish from it? For a free information pack (and I\’m absolutely 100% serious – it\’s no scam!) telephone: 0191 3504863 and a "free" no obligation, information pack will be sent to you. You really have nothing to lose by asking for free information!
Hi Jean, It wasnt me that went to El Salvador but I retired to Tenerife. All my outgoings don\’t come to what I used to pay in rates in the UK. Fuel is cheaper and road tax is 78€. The food is better quality, especially the meat and fish. With permanent sun on tap I have no wishes to return to the UK. You can buy English foods in the supermarkets but the local equivalent is often better and cheaper (VAT/IGIC) is only 5%. It also doesnt have the property/ land grab problems as mainland Spain. Be aware when eating out as the portions are twice the size of the UK for less money! I went back to the UK recently to do some work for my old outfit and thought my hire car had a hole in the tank when I filled up! I would certainly have had to downsize in the UK to cope with the cost of living. No wonder 5000 Brits are leaving the UK every week.
Hold on all, just think about it. When you have the likes of the leeches like Alan Hansen, Kerry Katona and all the "C list" celebs advertising for Morrisons and Iceland earning six figure sums for a paultry few hours work then who do you think pays for it, yes the good old consumer. Its typical of this Government when in the mire, I know lets put the prices up on everyday items that 99.9% of us use, food,drink,petrol etc etc, its a win win situation.Its about time we all stood firm and boycotted all these stores and went back to the good old fashioned baker and butcher etc where to be honest the prices are around the same but the produce is superior quality. Ok you might have to walk a few extra yards to the different shops but so what. You`re being clobbered by these stores for convinience shopping with it all under one roof.
At the root of it all is the cost of delivering to the stores. Cutting down the fat cat wages would be the biggest help, who is worth all the millions of salary the bosses are getting~~~ thats why Robin Hood became famous, these supermarkets etc are more like Dick Turpin.
No wonder theres a mass exit of Brits to warmer climes & cheaper living. Me ~~ I headed for Florida!!!
I have to say, I agree with the fact that costs have shot up, this whole thing about inflation being 3.5% is a complete farce. Did you know that the Government base those figures from familly weekly shoppong from the 1970\’s, who buys Spam these days. In fact the truth is that costs have gone up by over 10% in last year alone. I usually shop in Tesco for all my staples once a month, and use the local Grocers on a weekly basis. My Tesco shop has gone up around £30 in just over a year.
Last month I visited our Local Sainsburies, and as the had recently expanded to the enormous scale that i have only ever seen with the likes of the American Wall Marts, (Its HUGE!!!), I went back and did my monthly shop there. Big mistake, I actually did not have to buy as much as usual and it cost me nearly £90 more than Tesco. So as for the dude who said Sainsburies is better value – think again… There is no excuse for charging this much. So Lidle and Aldi this month to test out the other Ladies theory in that department. We are both teachers and are off for the next 6 weeks, so will be eating double the amount of food at home. am I to pay £200 extra???
And as for the gentleman who says we are all getting paid more, and thus we should have nothing to worry about. Granted, yes we are getting paid more, but the actual cost of living is way above our pay increase\’s so we are actually worse of than befor. Gas, Electric, Fuel, Car Tax, Insurance, Water, Phone, Braodband and i have not even got to the food yet… What next, oxygen duty?
WHEN GORDON CLOWN AND HIS HENCH MEN START SPOUTING INFLATION PERCENTAGES WHAT EXACTLY DOES IT MEAN TO JOE PUBLIC?NOTHING!THE TROUBLE IS MOST OF US ARE NOT AS GREEN AS HE THINKS. LETS HEAR THE REAL FIGURES AND TRY TO COMPREHEND WHERE ALL OUR HARD EARNED CASH IS ACTUALLY GOING. LETS GET REAL AND WAKE UP TO THE FACT THAT THIS GOVERNMENT IS TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL AND INCOMPETENT.HOW CAN THE PREVIOUS PRIME MINISTER OF THIS COUNTRY WALK AWAY FROM THE SHAMBLES HE LEAVES BEHIND AND EARN MILLIONS SELLING HIS BOOKS, AQUIRING DIRECTORSHIPS WITH LARGE COMPANIES AND AFTER DINNER SPEAKING,ALL HES INTERESTED IN IS LINING HIS OWN POCKETS ON THE BACK OF HIS FAILURE TO RUN THIS COUNTRY. ALL THE CLOWN HAS INHERITED IS BLAIRS MESS AND WE`RE PICKING UP THE TAB……….GOOD LUCK TO ALL WHO JUMP SHIP FOR SUNNIER CLIMES BECAUSE I CAN ONLY SEE MORE AND MORE PEOPLE DESERTING THIS ONCE GREAT ISLAND.ITS A SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS IF YOU ASK ME.
Comment #38 –Jean
An 8\’sq plot is quite ample to start with the ground needs to be prepared first so it drains well for what you might want to plant that means abit of digging in some good compost or manure so that the soil is like a good rhubarb crumble topping , starting about this time of year so the is prepared for next spring as a good winter will break down all the compost so the nutrients leech out into what is probably a dead soil plot you might have started with.
When spring comes a bit more digging to prepare for seed planting and to mix a little more manure , carrots, broccoli, courgettes, onions, spring onions, sprouts, potatoes, turnip, beetroot will love this type of soil but you must remember to rotate you crop every year thats to say never plant potatos two consecutive years running the soil needs to rest a year from that crop as all plants use different amounts of nutients.That is why heavly harvested crops what are planted year in and year out on the same soil become bland in taste.Also put a small paint pot in the ground with about an inch sticking out with a few inches of beer in keeps a majority of slugs and snails away from you crop.
Hope this helps a little Jean
"I have know excuse for my action they are just animal instinct the humanside of nature for the animal will feed its own and help others to ensure there survival and will never kill there own for greed." J.P.Bone
i just buy wot we need live like they did in war stew a dumplins a pancakes a meat pie sum people eat two much fast food a wast food if they eat like us they put ther food prices down
Come on Labour – keep sending money overseas to every Tom,Dick and Harry countries. Why not give the money to some very hard up pensioners who have spent their lives contributing to the national pot. But they\’ve got a free bus pass -BIG DEAL
Hmm loads of comments about the crafty re-packaging and price increases. In a nutshell the reasons are two fold, a) the increase in the price of oil and b) increase in demand for food.
As for the oil price rise as I understand it there is no real reason for the price to go up, except the stuff just can’t be refined quick enough into petrol and diesel. The other key problem is the speculators are just “talking” the price up to make money. As the price of gas is linked to oil, (why is anyone’s guess) that of course has gone up to.
So here are a few tips on how to save when shopping:
Obtain a freezer, this will allow you to store left over food and take more advantage of the BOGOF’s etc.
Buy an “A” rated freezer, preferably a chest type, (that way the cold air doesn’t roll out of it when you open it up). Uprights have a key problem in that they loose the cold air when you open them up because cold air is denser than warm air, more energy is then required to bring the temperature back down. All this results in more ice build up, which in turn helps to destroy the plastic freezer drawers. With a chest freezer the cold air stays in the freezer. Cost to run should be well under £30 per year for a 4 Cu Ft freezer. For most people I would think 4Cu ft is large enough not to "loose" anything in there, plus of course you need to put it somewhere, e.g. the garage.
So when you shop and see freezable BOGOF offers you may initially spend more money but over the course of a year you should save money.
There are some key things to remember with BOGOF’s. Ask yourself, a) will I use it and b) will it keep long enough. This generally applies to the non freezable items of course, which brings me to the next key point, CHECK the use by date! Fine, if you’re going to use it quickly but no good if the use by date is nearly out.
I cant stand the way big cat bosses and firms in this Country can get away with any excuse to rip us off all the time!!!!!!! GAS, ELECTRIC, WATER. COUNCIL TAX, FOOD, CLOTHING Its happening with everything – I used to buy lots of shoes maybe for around £40 – now all of a sudden the prices have shot up to £70, £80, 90 bl**dy pounds for a pair and still its the same old shoes being sold – I would rather save a get a super duper pair of designer at least then you know you are getting a quality made pair..FOOD well I have noticed in my local Morrisons that the food I normally buy are being desplayed as an \’offer\’ when infact they have put the rrp price up and then \’discreetly\’ discounted as being sold at the normal price I use to be paying for these items!!! Surley thats illegal? I now buy all my fruit and veg from local shops (although there are not many about anymore) How can we buy from you if your not there==== BOYCOTT the supermarket then really hit them where it hurts!!!!!!!!!!!!
Im also fed up with hearing on tv about non working families who cant afford too much food and god knows what else!!! MYself and husband have not had a payrise in a few years and we have a mortgage, insurance, water, food, gas, electric, council tax, all childrens activities that WE HAVE TO PAY FOR BECAUSE WE WORK!!!!!! When are we gonna be cut some slack – it bogs me down when we have to support people who dont want to work and would rather walk the streets drinking cans of larger or sit in bingo and the pub as often as possible..its the case now that girls get pregant and get a flat/house and have no need to work or the father of the child does not need to support his child as they now IT WILL ALL BE DONE FOR THEM!!!
Thats why as another professional family we have been forced to seek to live abroad so we are off th Dhubai for a few years then we are looking at living in Spain…. I used to love my Country but now its just became a shadow of its former self…POLICTICAL CORRECTNESS GONE MAD..
Botcott the product you find unfair/unworthy. If necessary, boycott the shop too.We can make a difference as consumers if we stand firm.
Hi, I dont think it has anything to do with this category however it is about saving money! I had a sweet craving 2 days ago and decided I wanted some retro type sweets. To my shock I looked at some shops online and they wanted to charge me £2.40+ P+P!!! To my outrage I called my sister and she recomened a website called http://www.sweetcredconfectionery.co.uk who sell all of the quarters at only £0.89p per 110g and the p+p can only cost 55p! So I stuffed my face and was very happy with their service!