Topic: Food prices

[jjt]

Chwarae teg Baccyman but I gotta say for someone with a free bus pass you get a fair bit done   ;D

[Baccy Man]

And is all that cheaper than the supermarket ????

Yes.
The biggest expense I have is seeds & the bulk of those are bought for produce which will be sold at the farmers market so they go down as a business expense & don't really count. My own plants & seeds are paid for out of what I make on plant sales & as I only sell tobacco & strawberry plants both of which are grown from saved seeds in compost I have made & planted in pots which cost less than a penny each in effect they cost me nothing to produce. Even if I wasn't selling plants the costs of my own produce would be minimal. I only started selling tobacco plants because it seemed wasteful discarding millions of seed each year & the strawberries followed because there was a demand for them most of the money those plants generate is spent on clothes, make-up & whatever else my wife decides she needs I don't get to see much of it & don't need it for the small amount I spend on plants, seeds, tools etc...

It is not the cost that interests me though I prefer to grow more interesting varieties of fruit & veg that actually have some flavour unlike most of the stuff you find in the supermarket. I also use a large area to grow hops, grapes, cider apples, perry pears & 6 varieties of elderberries for homebrew and another large area for my tobacco.
Fruit & veg cost me next to nothing to produce. Tobacco costs me £0.02 per ounce as opposed to £5+ an ounce in the shops. Alcohol is obviously the most expensive thing to produce as there are things which I have to buy in (sugar, yeast, steriliser etc...) & depending on what I make it may be cheaper to buy certain drinks but again with alcoholic drinks I am more interested in quality rather than cost.

Before you ask "what about the time spent growing things?" I can't put a price on my time because I enjoy doing it. Yes I could pack it all in & work 9-5 doing a job I don't like & buy a load of flavourless food from a supermarket but personally I would rather spend my time doing something I enjoy & produce food that is worth eating in the process.

[Ishard]

I buy cooking bacon (great for sandwiches) every week from the foremost leading supermarket and it has gone up from 70p to 1.18, thats a 48p rise IN ONE WEEK!!!

This is way above any inflation or price of grain to feed the pigs.

And bear in mind this is a supermarket that has made a 2.8 BILLION pounds profit last year, greedy b***ers!!!!

[Columbus]

I always say,"For poor people we do eat very well"  ;D

If it wasn`t for  the allotments I simply wouldn`t eat much fresh fruit at all and I`d stick to basic veg. With the plots I`m able to eat fresh fruit in season or from the freezer, and fresh veg of all kinds in season or from my own stores. I make my own jams, chutneys and pickles which I eat every day. The fruit in particular is a high value crop. I worked out that last year I grew £250 worth of redcurrants from two "stick in a bag" bushes from poundland. My fruit cage must supply me with £1000 worth of soft fruit every year and thats set to increase. My strawberry patch is looking to be at its best ever. I used to consider strawberries as a luxery food. I am about 90% self-sufficient for food and I buy mostly dairy, vegetarian protein foods, and things like sugar, vinigar, and flour...and chocolate  ;D

One project for this year is to grow beans for drying in huge quantities.
I`m also working on secure, hidden and underground storage for food as well as tools. Root veg store very well the old fashioned way.

I live and eat better because of the allotments.  ;D

Col

[springbok]

I boycott supermarkets completely.

I have found it cheaper and more waste effective to buy from local butcher for meat, and veg from market (as none available that I have grown yet).

Only thing that does come from supermarkets is nappies, wipes, washing powder and conditioner...and my best mate gets those when she goes shopping on a Saturday for me :)