Comparing prices

 

I checked a Sainsbury receipt and compared prices from February 2022 to now.   I did this back in September and found my food inflation was 12%.  

Once again I have excluded anything which I bought in 2022 but can't get today.  And I do most of my shopping at Lidl but use Sainsbury when I can't go to Brigg myself.

	2022	2023	% increase
2     Young's Admirals Pie 300g	£2.00	£2.50	25
1     Sainsbury's New Zealand Lamb Mince 500g	£4.00	£4.00	0
1     Mary Ann's Dairy Mature Cheddar Cheese 600g	£2.66	£3.12	18
5     Semi-Skimmed Longer Lasting UHT Milk 1 Litre	£2.95	£3.45	17
2     Sainsbury's Light Evaporated Milk 410g	£1.30	£1.30	0
1    Frozen Cooked & Peeled Coldwater Prawns 250g	£2.50	£3.50	40
1     J.James White Fish Fillets 520g	£2.20	£2.50	14
1     Sainsbury's Salmon Fillets 360g	£3.30	£4.00	21
1     Sainsbury's 7% Fresh British Turkey Mince 500g	£2.80	£3.00	7
1     Sainsbury's Buttersoft Spreadable Butter 500g	£2.50	£2.75	10
1     Sainsbury's Celery	£0.43	£0.57	32
1     Mary Ann's Dairy Mozzarella 125G	£0.43	£0.69	60
2     Sainsbury's Aubergine	£1.38	£1.70	23
1     Sainsbury's Sweet Potato 1.25kg	£1.11	£1.24	12
1     Sainsbury's Young Spinach 260g	£1.50	£1.50	9
1     Whipping Fresh Cream 300ml	£1.20	£1.25	4
1     Sainsbury's Cherry Tomatoes 500g	£1.25	£1.35	8
1     Bisto Turkey Gravy Granules 190g	£1.85	£2.00	8
	£35.36	£40.42	14

As you can see my food inflation is now 14%.  It was 12% in September.  Almost everything I use is Sainsbury's own label apart from the fish pies and the gravy granules.  Mary Ann and J James are Sainsbury budget range labels. 

Year on year

  

Way back in April 2022 I said I was going to try and reduce my grocery spend.  I gave my figures since 2018 and said that in 2022 I was going to reduce the weekly spend from £44.17 per week to £35 which I called "a very considerable reduction".  As inflation has been so high I thought that might be an understatement!

But I managed it.  In fact I cut it from £44.17 to £31.85 which has amazed me!

I've put the figures below and have also listed my eating out spending.  Eating out includes coffees and snacks as well as the occasional meal.  In 2020 and 2021 such treats were very curtailed because of the pandemic and I felt a little anxious that once the compulsory restraint was over my spend would once again soar.  That hasn't happened - I still take my own snacks if I go out for the day and I have reduced the frequency of meals out with friends.

                                2018                2019            2020            2021    2022

Av grocery               £56.81            £52.92        £47.17          £44.17    £31.85   

Eating out                £15.45            £17.77        £5.27            £0.49        £3.23

Total                        £72.76              £70.69        £52.44        £44.66        £35.08

So the big question is, how did I manage to spend so much in 2018?