Food Inflation Reaches 4.2%.

What I am trying to say in a cack handed way, is that at our age (older folk) it is important for really good nutritional value in our food and protein should be eaten at every meal, in order to support our muscular framework which declines as we age.

Protein can be got from other sources than meat, so even mixing plant protein with say a small amount of mince will save on cost.

MaizieD

^The real problem farmers have to deal with is cheap imports, when we left the EU any support of self sufficiency in food production went with it,^

It so often comes back to Brexit, doesn't it

I just hope that our Leave voters keep very quiet about rising food prices.

A quick Google shows that average EU food inflation was 3,9% in July 2025, just 0.3% less than the U.K.

Source tradingeconomics.com

You are perfectly entitled to believe that you have the answer, the "real" answer, David49.

However, in just the same way, I believe the farmers have been constantly let down, particular in the 1960's when the protection they had for on-sale prices was destroyed. This was not all bad. It was felt it would lead to cheaper food and, with the growth of supermarkets it did although the concentration on highly processed food also started about this time.

I'm sure similar attacks could be shown to have been done by Conservatives earlier than this but the trait we always see is that Conservatives are swift to destroy - in this instance farmers, particularly small farmers (on whose work, I would say, this country was built) were going out of business all around country areas. The Conservatives happily applauded the growth of industrialised farming but did next to nothing for those whose livelihood they destroyed - not just the farmers but hundreds of small shops too.

The 'right-wing's' chant is always "go big or go home" and yet this country has been built on the middle-class, the middle-income workers, they give people a credible goal to aspire to, they care about low-income workers often building SMEs that are the largest employer in an area and they are the part of the economy that grows new, innovative businesses, many started after a full day's work, in a shed, a garage or a kitchen.

Strangely, this middle-income group have often look to the Tories and there have been some right-of-centre Tories, old-fashioned Tories (?) who have stood up for this group - but where are they now ... buried under an avalanche of the increasingly further right!

The real problem farmers have to deal with is cheap imports, when we left the EU any support of self sufficiency in food production went with it,

It so often comes back to Brexit, doesn't it

I just hope that our Leave voters keep very quiet about rising food prices.

PoliticsNerd

GrannyGravy13

I hazard a guess that each link in the chain is putting up their prices as their costs have increased, NI, energy, raw materials along with the minimum wage increase.

The Farmers are still being held to ransom by the supermarkets.

The farmers problems all go back to Edward Heath, President of the Board of Trade, who abolished Resale Price Maintenance in January 1964 with the Cabinet's approval.

The real problem farmers have to deal with is cheap imports, when we left the EU any support of self sufficiency in food production went with it, the recent agreement with the US makes it even worse.
UK growers cannot compete with the large scale prairie farming that has little or no environmental controls and traceability goes out of the window. We’re turning the clock back to the 1930s where most food was imported

GrannyGravy13

I hazard a guess that each link in the chain is putting up their prices as their costs have increased, NI, energy, raw materials along with the minimum wage increase.

The Farmers are still being held to ransom by the supermarkets.

The farmers problems all go back to Edward Heath, President of the Board of Trade, who abolished Resale Price Maintenance in January 1964 with the Cabinet's approval.

LizzieDrip

David49

“Exactly who is raking in the profits? “

That’s easy Tesco declared £3 billion profit last year.

Precisely!

It's strange the things that really hit you. Generally "Free From" is expensive and my diet is necessarily protein rich which can also mean "expensive" Because they are originally expensive their percentage rise often makes them even more expensive than other foods. All this I have taken in my stride.

However, I buy two small (very small) lactose free bars of chocolate a week. When it went up from 50p to 70p overnight I was miffed. I could easily live without them but that price hike annoyed me for days - and still does!

Allira

butterandjam

Allira

Don’t believe Clarkson he is making money at £30, local pubs offer 2 courses at £20 or less.
Ignore the second time that posted! For some reason it kept repeating itself.

It was meant to be:

Last week Pork cost £8
How was that produced, do you know?
Was it free-range, ethically produced meat?

He could buy similar in Tesco

Tesco Finest pork is
sourced from British outdoor-bred pigs and comes from trusted farms with high animal welfare standards, certified by RSPCA Assured. The Finest range includes a variety of premium cuts and products, such as roasts, fillets, sausages, and pork belly.
Key details

Welfare standards: The pigs are outdoor-bred on farms that adhere to the higher welfare standards of the RSPCA Assured scheme.
Outdoor breeding: Sows (mother pigs) are kept outdoors in paddocks with plenty of room to root and explore their surroundings.

Why would he go to Tesco? He's supporting local farmers and also using his own produced freerange pork. The farmers want t by-pass the supermarkets which do not always give them a good deal; better to sell their top quality food directly to the farm job or pub.

Your post was really interesting, but you don't need to teach me about the difference in the pork sold in supermarkets- I know and the quality is reflected in the price. It was another poster who mentioned buying a large, cheap piece of pork which lasted several days and I realise not everyone can afford the better quality meat; years ago that was us.

I do know how supermarkets screw down farmers- my family farmed.

The person who wrote about buying pork for £8 was GN poster David, describing his own shopping/cooking /menu, not Clarksons.

"Last week Pork cost £8, 3 Veg plus potatoes all fresh plus £6
£14 for 2 of us, cold meat Monday with veg, cold meat with salad Tuesday, curry or sweet and sour with remainder Wednesday.
With a few extras £16 for 2 of us over 4 days, around £2 per day and we eat well. We rarely eat out, mainly because I resent paying for a meal that I could cook better myself"

If there is one basic human right, it is to be able to obtain food and water.

Some cannot afford it, others are deprived of it.
But they should both be available for all.

Furret

Since when has cheap food been an entitlement?.

I agree with your sentiment to a certain extent but cheap food must be vital to the 14 million Brits who are living below the poverty line.

Since when has cheap food been an entitlement?.

butterandjam

Witzend

And yet at the same time, we read or hear about so many tons of food being wasted every day.

Not in my house.

Just seen on TV some festival in Spain, La Tomatina, where they are throwing tomatoes at each other, literally wading through them. DH and I both looked aghast at it 😯 and said 'what a waste of food'!

Apparently it's an annual event.

Businesses have to make a profit. Tesco is a huge business and the headline figure is huge but net profit is only about 5% of sales which isn't unreasonable really. If it was the local butcher with turnover of £100k a year and his net profit was £5k a year no one would say that was obscene. It is just scale that gives us a figure that seems obscene.

Witzend

And yet at the same time, we read or hear about so many tons of food being wasted every day.

Not in my house.

Cost of living in UK is shocking!

Of course the retailers are making a fortune, just go on line to see how much profit they make it's obscene.

I was listening to an artisan chocolate maker on the radio who was saying that last year he was paying £70 for 10 kilos of raw chocolate, since then it has risen a number of times to what he is now paying £210 per kilo. Thank goodness the price of chocolate in the shop hasn't risen by 300%.

Climate change is going to continue to affect food prices. my daughter is researching ways of future proofing crops - faced with farmers who had their early seedlings flooded out in the spring and then the ones that survived were roasted in the heat.

job
Shop

I am going to have to turn off Autocorrect!

butterandjam

Allira

Don’t believe Clarkson he is making money at £30, local pubs offer 2 courses at £20 or less.
Ignore the second time that posted! For some reason it kept repeating itself.

It was meant to be:

Last week Pork cost £8
How was that produced, do you know?
Was it free-range, ethically produced meat?

He could buy similar in Tesco

Tesco Finest pork is
sourced from British outdoor-bred pigs and comes from trusted farms with high animal welfare standards, certified by RSPCA Assured. The Finest range includes a variety of premium cuts and products, such as roasts, fillets, sausages, and pork belly.
Key details

Welfare standards: The pigs are outdoor-bred on farms that adhere to the higher welfare standards of the RSPCA Assured scheme.
Outdoor breeding: Sows (mother pigs) are kept outdoors in paddocks with plenty of room to root and explore their surroundings.

Why would he go to Tesco? He's supporting local farmers and also using his own produced freerange pork. The farmers want t by-pass the supermarkets which do not always give them a good deal; better to sell their top quality food directly to the farm job or pub.

Your post was really interesting, but you don't need to teach me about the difference in the pork sold in supermarkets- I know and the quality is reflected in the price. It was another poster who mentioned buying a large, cheap piece of pork which lasted several days and I realise not everyone can afford the better quality meat; years ago that was us.

I do know how supermarkets screw down farmers- my family farmed.

Food inflation in France is 1.6% yes Brexit has bound to affect food prices whatever Brexit lovers say. We import 60% of food, most from the EU. Trade barriers , checks restrictions have added up and affected our own farmers and producers.

And yet at the same time, we read or hear about so many tons of food being wasted every day.

Maybe if ANY government encouraged food production, animal rearing and sustainable processes rather than insisting on concreting over our countryside things might be different.

On a short journey today I looked at the construction sites that were once fields and it occured to me that the end of "Jerusalem" should probably be changed to

"Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's brown and concrete land"

Allira

^Don’t believe Clarkson he is making money at £30, local pubs offer 2 courses at £20 or less.^
Ignore the second time that posted! For some reason it kept repeating itself.

It was meant to be:

Last week Pork cost £8
How was that produced, do you know?
Was it free-range, ethically produced meat?

He could buy similar in Tesco

Tesco Finest pork is
sourced from British outdoor-bred pigs and comes from trusted farms with high animal welfare standards, certified by RSPCA Assured. The Finest range includes a variety of premium cuts and products, such as roasts, fillets, sausages, and pork belly.
Key details

Welfare standards: The pigs are outdoor-bred on farms that adhere to the higher welfare standards of the RSPCA Assured scheme.
Outdoor breeding: Sows (mother pigs) are kept outdoors in paddocks with plenty of room to root and explore their surroundings.