Cost of Living Crisis UK 2022 - where to go for food ideas

 Happy New Year 

All the Christmas leftovers have finally been used up and with return to school came the first biggish shopping trip of the new year.  Not good.  I bought less than normal to judge by the size of the pile in the trolley and even though we are now one adult person down (R is in Chichester at Uni) it was still over what I would have spent for 5 of us previously.  The BBC had a claim (backed by ONS) that the average family is now spending £15 a week more on food than previously and that is not hard to believe.  That is before National Insurance goes up, travel costs go up and fuel bills double - all to look forward to later in the year. 

So out of curiosity I had a look at a few items which where on my £15 a week experiment 

This was February 2021 so not quite a year ago and the cost was £14.96 how much would it cost item for item now?

500g margarine - was £1 now £1 but only because there is now an own brand one - otherwise same brand was £2!

500g mixed veg was 85p - now 1 kg is 89p ((500g bags only available in branded lines and over a quid)

Passata - last year 2@35p - now  49p ouch - even the tinned tomatoes (which were in short supply) were 45p a tin.

1 kg onions - was 65p now 99p

500 g red lentils - was £1.15, now £1.20

loaf of bread was 49p now 59p

2 pints milk was 80p now 89p

500g pasta was 45p now 55p

head of garlic was 39p now 39p

6 eggs was 75p now £1.09

1 kg sugar was 65p now 69p

baked beans last time 2@30p this time 2@30p

500g plain flour was 45p now 49p

1 kg frozen cauli and broccoli was 99p now 99p

350 g cheddar was £1.89 now £2

100g curry powder was 65p now 69p

mixed herbs was 95p now 95p

sausages was £1 now £1

tea bags was 55p now 55p

Total now £16.53 an increase of  10.4% - that really says it all doesn't it!

With my wage not having gone up since 2019 (and having the additional cost of homeschooling my autistic teenager (just don't ask!)) now is the time to revisit those savings goals  and look to making tweaks on our spending and I suspect it is the same for many on the lower end of the economic scale.  At least I have a job and can afford to save a few pennies here and there unlike many.

Not to be all doom and gloom here are a few UK style sites that give cheap recipe ideas.

Money saving expert forums OLD STYLE -  however a lot of their links are to old posts so don't trust the costings work it out for yourself, there are also other forums for getting yourself out of debt etc.

https://cheapfamilyrecipes.co.uk

https://thriftylesley.com/