Supermarkets are raising prices by 7%

[Si Hunt]

Oh how we are lambs to the slaughter. Having all but strangled local business, supermarkets are ramping up their prices...

Supermarkets in the UK are raising food prices faster than inflation, risking another competition inquiry, investment bank UBS has warned.

Commodity price inflation over the past few months would justify a 3% to 3.5% increase in processed food prices, but supermarkets have increased prices by 6% to 6.5%, according to a report by the bank.

UBS economist Paul Donovan, who co-wrote the report, said: "That suggests there may be margin expansion in the supermarket sector. Prices are rising in excess of justifiable cost increases."

He added that price increases by supermarkets were adding 0.3 to 0.5 percentage points to the official consumer prices index of inflation, currently at 4%.

The research also showed shoppers were seeing steeper rises in food prices than any other member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

According to UBS, food prices in Britain are rising at an annual rate of 4.9%, compared with 3.6% in Germany, a Eurozone average of 1.8% and a United States increase of 1.5%.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20110301...e-6323e80.html

It's not too late - support your local shops when you can!

Si.

[Perry Vale]

No surprises there to me. I've had to be very economical of late, living on JSA, so buy very little from Supermarkets now. Although perhaps depressing to visit, the Poundlands/99p stores have a surprising amount of 'bargains', and I buy all my fruit and veg from 'scoop' stalls which are far cheaper and often better looking quality.

I've noticed the prices go up too, and they can be very sneaky. I often buy a pack of six sausage rolls from Tescos, £1.49 for six, but noticed last week that they've brought in a pack of five....for the same price! I've also become increasingly frustrated at Tescos (at least) where they do their best to hide the prices of certain items (such as baked beans and sugar) where they're stored on those wheeled stackers. In both cases the 99p stores are much cheaper on those items.

[Si Hunt]

I noticed some kind of offer on something on Sunday in Tesco - 2 for £2.50p or something. But clearly noticed that they'd bumped up the individual price since last week to compensate - so it's now the same price as it was, except you have to buy two or pay more.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

There are big savings to be made by going to Aldi. For all the basics, everything is cheaper. The only problem is that we have to go to another supermarket as well to finish off the weekly shop.

Still, it's worth it because it saves us £20 or so.

[SiHart]

That sort of saving does mount up.

I'm not at all surprised by this report. I've noticed the price of the weekly shop creeping up bit by bit over the last year or so. What used to cost us £30-£40 is now £50-60 week on week. We don't shop outrageously either. Well not too outrageously.

So we'll be carrying on the Aldi/ Morrissons shop for the time being I think.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

I like Morrissons, sadly we're sort of restricted by location. I have a Tesco right near Liverpool Street, and the nearest supermarket to Home is a Tesco. I'd like to support local shops more but there's simply no way is there?

Si.

[SiHart]

Our local shops are a Londis, a little Tesco, Sainsburys and Aldi. They're all chains. We simply don't have any local shops here at all to support.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

We are lucky in that we have a local butchers and a couple of others, but sadly the thing about local shops is that they only open when you're at work! So unless you work right near where you live and can pop out at lunchtime, surely the only people who can use them are people who work in other shops nearby and old folk.

Sadly our modern society, where everyone works a long way from home, just can't facilitate local shops... unless they all start opening into the evening or something.

Si.

[Alex]

I moaned on Facebook that Sainsbury's lasagne had leapt up from £3.00 to £3.40 back in January, and now it's up to £3.70. Which is just taking the p*** really, there's no way the ingedients could have gone up by that much in such a short time. It's getting quite pricey across the board now I've noticed, but my only major alternative is Iceland, which is even more rubbish.

As for local shops, there's about five within a 5 minute walk for me, but all of them are much more expensive than supermarkets, so I've no urge to support them sadly.

[Si Hunt]

The trouble is Alex, that the supermarkets are cheaper but they are throttling the life out of local shops - then when there are none left, they will put their prices up and we'll be left with high prices AND low quality. I believe that's what we're starting to see now.

I appreciate, however, that you have to go where the affordable prices are in the short term. But if you can stretch, I find that the quality and taste improvement in local food makes it worth the extra.

Si.

[Larry]

Our local shops are a Londis,
Si xx

problem with those sort of shops is there prices are much higher than a normal supermarket they are ok if your shopping fotr just yourself but you simply could not afford to shop there if you have a family.

When my dad was alive and my brother still lving at home we were easely spending nearly £200 p/w on shopping but now it's just me and my mum we're much more carefull in what we spend. Instead of just going to Tesco, and randomly filling up the trolly with the usual stuff we make sure to look in the cupboards before we go to see exactlty what we do and don't need. At least that way you are not wasting money buying a pack of 4 tins of baked beans when you already have some on your shelf.

Certainly now we have cut back on what we spend each week and we are always looking out for the special offers of buy one get one free - being able to buy 2 boxes of gfelix cat food for just £5 is a real help. But having said that I can easely go up to my local Waitrose, buy a 4 pint flagon of milk, loaf of bread some thing for the dinner and not have much change from £20.

[Si Hunt]

£200 per week?!

I think the maximum you should spend on a meal for two people, that is on days when I go in an "buy off the shelf", is £5. That's not unrealistic these days, by the time you've bought a pie or some kievs or meat (£2.50p), some potatoes or rice (£1) and some veg (£1 - £1.50). That said, if you think ahead and use long-term ingredients like rice or pasta you should be able to rustle up a meal for £2-£3 for two people.

So some milk, bread and a meal shouldn't cost you more than about £7.

We saved £17 in offers at Tesco yesterday! That said, I know that's a false saving in many ways because the prices are so inflated to start with. But I guess we could have not bought those things and paid £17 more.

Si.

[Larry]

£200 per week?!

well as I said that's when there were 4 of us living at home and we would be getting stuff when we didn't really need it but that £200 was made up of one big weekly shop plus various other visits to Waitrose during the week

So some milk, bread and a meal shouldn't cost you more than about £7.

probably a bit of an over exageration on my part by Waitrose, is a bit more pricey then most other shops and the costs for just a carrier bag of stuff can soon mount up.

We saved £17 in offers at Tesco yesterday! That said, I know that's a false saving in many ways because the prices are so inflated to start with. But I guess we could have not bought those things and paid £17 more.

Si.

the irony is what you save in the shopping is lost in filling your car up with petrol.

[Alex]

The trouble is Alex, that the supermarkets are cheaper but they are throttling the life out of local shops - then when there are none left, they will put their prices up and we'll be left with high prices AND low quality. I believe that's what we're starting to see now.

I appreciate, however, that you have to go where the affordable prices are in the short term. But if you can stretch, I find that the quality and taste improvement in local food makes it worth the extra.

Si.

I know what you mean, but I think it's a bit different for me being based in London, alas we don't have a local butchers / greengrocers, just lots of mini-markets that sell the same products as Sainsbury's but at a much higher cost - a can of Heinz beans is 90p, for example, rather than 50p in the supermarket. If I lived back in Reigate full time I would definitely do more to support local shops though...

[Perry Vale]

a can of Heinz beans is 90p, for example, rather than 50p in the supermarket.

Not in Tescos they're not! 70p each, or 60p if you buy a four pack.

Anyone remember the beans "war" in the 90s? Didn't they come down to about 2p a tin?

[Si Hunt]

Anyone remember the beans "war" in the 90s?

When we all stocked up on cans of Heinz and had a huge food fight?

Si.

[Larry]

Anyone remember the beans "war" in the 90s? Didn't they come down to about 2p a tin?

well my brother has tasted those cheap economy brand beans that Tesco, used to do and said they tasted discussting..

[Perry Vale]

Quite probably, but they flew off the shelves. Just checking the internet, I now see that they came down to 3p a can, and the supermarkets had to ration sales to four tins per person!

[Anthony Williams]

Over here, we've found that it's not worth shopping in Publix or Kroeger (probably the two most prominent supermarkets) unless it's for name brand items. For staples of our diet, we either use Aldi, or the Mexican or Asian Supermarkets.

Then, if we find we still want to get Coca-Cola, Tropicana or whatever, we head to Publix afterwards. Brings down the cost of our shop significantly!

Ant x

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Who would shop at a supermarket called Pubix anyway? Yack!

[Llordllama]

You're just splitting/spitting hairs Mike