groceries

I now have less money than I've ever had and my lifestyle is no more extravangant than it was a few yrs ago when I seemed to be able to save a few quid.

Well there's not a lot can be done about price rises in an individual context.
It is worrying though, I'm not sure if it's happening hee I tend to buy in the market so prices are fairly low but fluctuate.

Arf

Yeah i noticed some of the items in yesterdays shop had increased from the previous week on the basics like milk and bread. I haven't yet noticed an increase in non-edibles or more "luxury" items like pizza. Am monitoring it tho like you.

Yeah - I feel like I have less money now than I ever did and I earn over twice what I did when I left university. Mind, most of that is the cost of now living in London and the hugely increased costs of housing.

Supermarket food is a right rip-off. Except when Sainsbury's was doing nice bottles of whisky for a tenner the other week ...

But things like bread, eggs, milk, etc, are loss leaders marked down cheap but designed to get you in the store to buy all the other stuff you don't need. Now that Xmas is coming the stores don't need to try too hard so up go the prices.

Also - has a store nearby closed down? Supermarkets price according to how much competition there is and the demographic profile of local residents.

Yes, there is some bad price inflation on food at the moment. Aside from the reasons Mal outlined above, there's also the rising cost of oil. Basically the price of most of what we eat depends on oil, be it in the form of fertilizers, or transport.

My advice would be to shop somewhere where there's some competition - any town or suburb that only has one supermarket will be a rip off. Use markets if you have them near you. Don't buy too much and avoid processed foods and ready meals.

It's not just here, either. There was a national "boycott pasta" day in ITaly recently over rising prices.

Regards,

Martin

I think he means between shops, not with bald guys trying to get as many avocadoes as possible for a pound.

Though of course Lewisham market is excellent value.