Tuesday 2 November 2010

Cost of Food

I have just been talking with one of our teachers, N, about the cost of food both here in France and in the UK.
It seems as though the prices seem to be climbing higher and higher.



I do my weekly shop in Lidl and Leader Price with the odd thing being bought from one of the big supermarkets.
Last week I was looking for a cauliflower to make Jamie Olivier's Cauliflower Mac and Cheese.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/cauliflower-macaroni-chicory-salad-with

The week before I had bought one in Lidl for 1€20. When I shopped around last week the cheapest I found was 1€50 and that was small. I even went to the market to check the price. I found a lovely one, asked the price and was told 2€80 !!!!!!!!!
In the end I bought a kilo of frozen cauliflower for 1€19.
I think the prices of things have gone up a lot lately, especially the fruit and veg. Another reason for planting more and earlier next year.

When I look at the adverts for the supermarkets in the UK the fruit and veg always looks cheap but maybe that's because of the special offers they have. We do not get any of the special offers on fruit and veg, sometimes there are bogoffs but not on many of the things you would use every week, more on treats.

Our cheapest plain flour is 27c, if you try and buy self raising it is way over a euro, so I use the raising agent with plain flour now when I need self raising flour.
The cheapest butter is over 2€for 500g.
Milk is about 57c a litre - that's not fresh milk, that is about double the price.
I am not moaning about the prices just asking if anyone else has noticed the increases.

I am also waiting to see what happens to the price of fuel. It is a lot higher than before the strikes and now there seems to be fuel in all the service stations, so it will be interesting to see if it goes back down in price or whether it stays at the higher rate??



6 comments:

Diane said...

Its very scarey. I heard that cauliflower is so high priced now because no one wants it as we go fo Broccoli instead, so they grow less. How have your chickens been since the attack - have you managed to keep the dog away? xxxxx

Living the frugal life in France said...

We haven't bought any yet, we have to get the fence put up first. Nahla is still coming round but she has a very strong muzzle on which she is constantly trying to get it off. I have to say I feel quite sorry for her, she is obviously very uncomfortable.
Thanks for asking.
Sue

Unknown said...

I keep seeing huge hikes in prices, ketchup, for example has nearly doubled. I was umming about getting a greenhouse, but i think it will pay for itself in one year

Manchester Lass, Now and Then said...

Prices here are very high. We have a specials brochure every week so I try to purchase as many items as I can while they are reduced in price.

Living the frugal life in France said...

We are seriously looking at a small polytunnel. We have the room and it is not much more expensive than a large greenhouse.It also means that we can grow more food for the animals.
I have planted some lettuce seeds in a tray on the windowsill to see if they will grow and provide us with leaves through the winter

Pomona said...

Quite a few things have shot up in price over the past eighteen months or so. Sometimes it's a shock when you buy something in bulk and then a few months later it costs a lot more.

There's still quite a discrepency over where you buy stuff. Something that is cheap in one store will be expensive in another. I think some things are priced more to do with the customer's buying habits than the cost/value of the item.