I had to do a small top-up shop yesterday so visited our local Sainsburys. Whilst browsing I spotted these tins of soup...HOW MUCH? 😱 Now, I know Heinz is a good brand but £1.70 for a tin which will serve two people at the most is plain wicked, even with the price reduced to £1.50 if you have a Nectar card, it will be too expensive for anyone struggling to put food on the table......
....with the exception of Vegetable which was on offer at 50p. There were very few left for obvious reasons, I imagine. I'm perfectly capable of making a pan of veggie soup but bought 2 tins for the store cupboard for days when I just feel too tired to make any, or we need a quick fix for lunch.
How can this price be justified? It seems that Winter this year will be just as hard as last year for many people.
Has anyone else noticed that the cost of petrol & diesel is slowly creeping up again? Petrol has reached the dizzying height of 150.7p per litre in the village and I don't think that will be the end of the increases either. It looks like curtailing our driving even more.
Sad news: Barclays Bank in the village has closed 😢 There is no other bank. At the moment we still have a Post Office where we can draw cash, but it's a bit of a trek up a steep hill to reach it. Yes, I know we can use a card to pay for stuff but a case in point....when we went to the local plant nursery to buy a couple of things, they were in the middle of a power cut. They had no electricity across the whole site and therefore could not take card payments. It was cash only. G and I only had about £7.00 cash between us so we couldn't buy what we went for. We spent our cash on a scone and butter in the coffee shop ( and a free glass of tap water) hoping the power would be restored in the meantime. It wasn't. The nursery must have lost an awful lot of custom that day.
Are banks closing in your vicinity too?
Thanks so much for popping in and stay safe everyone wherever in the world you happen to be x
We lost our final bank a few years ago, one shop got a cash machine, but it takes a fee, so we don't use it, we have a post office, then Tesco express opened and they have a cash machine. I use cash in the village as small shops can't always afford the card fee's a few shops have notices asking you to use cash if you can. We were in B&M last week and commented on the cost of soup, we always make our own, and petrol is the same price here. Nothing is letting up, it's going to be a hard winter for loads of people.
ReplyDeleteIt sure is , Marlene.....
DeleteYes we were only commenting yesterday on our drive home that all the petrol stations had petrol and diesel at over £1.50 per litre now. Only a week ago it was below that by a few pence. Canned foods in general are very expensive now, even the supermarkets own and basic lines are creeping up in price.
ReplyDeleteSomething I did notice in Aldi the other day is that quite a few of their prices were lower than usual and marked as such with a big red price card on the shelf edge. It was pretty much all junk foods though.
We have one bank left in our town, all the others have closed down over the past couple of years, but two of them have a mobile version that come on different days and park in the town square. We try and pay by cash whenever possible as most of our shops are small independents and they appreciate actual cash and no bank fees for card payments. We have three 'free' cash dispensers.
Yes, Sue, the biggest offers seem to be on snacks and junk, don't they.
DeleteRe the banks: our Barclays, which just closed, has a staff member within the library for a few hours each day but just to answer questions. There is no actual banking service available. Useless.....I do try to use cash in small shops and charity shops but it's becoming harder to do so now.
Barclays have closed everywhere apart from small towns where they were the only bank. My nearest is now 15 miles away rather than 6 or 10. I opened a current account at another bank but it's getting complicated. We have plenty of free cash machines thankfully at supermarkets - also 6 or 10 miles miles away. Only a post office in the village.
ReplyDeleteLife is getting more and more difficult .
That is a crazy price for soup but it's not something I buy so don't know how much it was in the past.
Yes, Sue, it was Barclays bank in our village which closed and there is no other bank. Blimey you have quite a trek to get to yours.
DeleteI used to buy soup for the foodbank trolley because it was well under a pound and a warming meal to boot. £1.70 is a bit much, even with the rising costs involved in producing it.
It's going to be a tough Winter.
I noticed the price of Heinz soup this week also.
ReplyDeleteWhat really ticks me off is that the cans still claim 400g. I don't eat it any more but when I did, I'd split a can into two bowls, for lunch on two consecutive days, using scales which can be zero'd. I only EVER got 190g in each bowl, and that's using a silicone spatula to scrape the can completely clean.
If I thought it would do any good I'd report them to Trading Standards but I am sure the company would wiggle out of it somehow.
We only have one bank left, 15 years ago there were 5. Fuel also gone back up in price.
Blimey, I can believe what you say about the weight of product in the can. I once idly counted the number of teabags in a newly opened pack of 40 whilst the kettle boiled. There were 38 teabags :0(
Deletebeing driven steadily mad by having to travel 15 miles for cash its holiday season and the few in the coops are always empty
ReplyDeleteA nightmare, Kate.
DeleteI've started making more food at home from scratch. I also shop at Aldi (lower prices) but I don't know if you have those there. On the plus side, we will all be healthier if we aren't eating these processed foods.
ReplyDeleteThe beauty of my buying tins of Heinz soup for the foodbank, Sandi, was that the list of ingredients was healthy and it would be quick for someone to heat up at home. And I could keep a couple of tins in my cupboard for emergencies.
DeleteThere is an Aldi but it's a bit of a trek to get there and I always feel stressed trying to hurry up at the checkout. It flusters me somewhat.
Prices are really crazy once again. Fuel here has gone up to $1.64.99 a liter. Just crazy. I may be trying the shop once a month thing which would at least save on fuel.
ReplyDeleteGlad we set up our travel plans well before this overall increase happened.
God bless.
Yes, Jackie, things are changing so fast that it pays to plan ahead. A monthly drive to shop would be a good idea, I think.
DeleteI know I commented on your previous post, but, I guess my comment didn't go through!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm glad to see you blogging, again.
Sorry to hear that the bank has closed and you have to go tot he post office to get cash. Fortunately, no banks have closed in my city; I like to have some cash in an emergency because cards won't work when the power goes out.
Prices seem to keep going up; one can only shop the sales and grow what one can!
Hi Bless, I seem to be losing comments everywhere at the moment. You're not the first to get lost ! I've checked spam and can't find you there either.
DeleteI'm glad that you're not getting bank closures, it's very frustrating especially when the power goes off.......