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“TAKE JACOB’S RICE cakes,” a reader writes.
A packet of six chocolate-covered rice cakes cost €3 at the start of this year, she recalls.
Then they jumped to €3.50. Now they’re €3.75 in both Tesco and Supervalu (though currently on special offer in the latter, and still €3 in Dunnes).
With a hungry teenager in the house, this family used to buy three packets a week – but that 75c increase adds up to an extra €117 per year.
“We’ve cut them out completely,” the reader told us. “It’s the same story with a lot of meats and fish. We just don’t buy them any more.”
Grocery prices are climbing, and have been for some time. Increase after increase adds up to a substantially more expensive shopping bill for most people compared with just a few years ago.
Eating out has become much more expensive too.
We asked our readers to tell us how higher food and drink prices are affecting them and received many responses.
Our thanks to everyone who got in touch. Here’s what you told us.
The reader with the teenage son said that, for her, food shopping has become a real source of anxiety. She and her partner both work full-time.
“I’m often genuinely afraid that when I get to the till, I won’t have enough to cover what’s in the basket. And we’re not talking luxury items, just the basics to get by,” she said.
Another mother, a 41-year-old with two children, said her family reduced spending in a number of areas, including by using less electricity and by reducing car trips to save on petrol.
“Definitely the supermarket is the most difficult one,” she said.
One of her children is autistic and has sensory issues with food, meaning it’s not possible to change the brands they buy.
The supermarket pizza they used to buy for less than €1 is now almost €2,
“Every week, one or another item goes up by a few cents, which adds up at the end,” she said.
The family may soon need to ask St Vincent de Paul for help, she said.
It’s not just families feeling the pressure.
A 22-year-old woman from Clondalkin in Dublin said she skips breakfast or other meals if she isn’t genuinely hungry, as her weekly food shop won’t last through the week otherwise.
She said she has sometimes used city centre soup kitchens “just to have something in my stomach”.
One 36-year-old single woman living in the midlands told us she has all but given up on buying meat, sweets and alcohol because of the cost.
In any given trip to the supermarket, she might buy just one or two branded goods – usually tea and cheese.
She is single and saving for a house deposit, and has a weekly grocery budget of €50 – but struggles to stick to it. Being careful with her money allows her to still be able to afford to socialise, though less often than she used to.
Many readers pinpointed the beginning of grocery price inflation to a point in time somewhere around the pandemic, stating that their average shop seems to be 20% or 30% more expensive than it was then.
These readers are on the money.
In the five years to last month, prices for an average basket of food and non-alcoholic drinks increased by 23.4%, data from the Central Statistics Office shows.
Damian O’Reilly, lecturer in retail management at TU Dublin, said: “There’s been a paradigm shift in the cost of food, and that cost is staying. The prices are not coming down any time soon.”
He said significant price increases in the past year in the price of beef – partly due to increased demand from abroad for Irish exports – and dairy are likely to be followed by stabilisation over the coming months.
CSO data indicates the price of a pound of butter is up almost €1 in the past year, with two litres of milk up 27c. Some consumers are switching from beef to chicken, or making other changes to their basket, while supermarket margins on these products are likely to be eroded, O’Reilly said.
Cocoa prices have been high for a year, driving up the price for products like the chocolate rice cakes mentioned earlier.
Tesco said it’s trying to absorb price increases but when they are sustained, this has to be reflected in the retail price to consumers. It said it offers an extensive range of rice cakes including good value own-brand products.
O’Reilly emphasised that stabilisation does not mean the recent upward trend will go into reverse. Whether it’s €11 for two steaks, or €10 for Lavazza coffee – just two of the products our readers mentioned as having been subject to significant recent price increases – this could be the new normal.
Many readers told us their response to increasing grocery prices is to try to stick to discount retailers, and to avoid convenience stores as much as possible. This is borne out by market research firm Kantar’s data, which shows Lidl and Aldi are growing their Irish market share.
Even when shopping at discount supermarkets, people try to keep their costs down by buying less. One woman said she never takes a trolley around Lidl to stop herself impulse buying, opting instead to fill a bag and then leave.
Readers said the increasing price of groceries has made them much more conscious of waste. People said they are batch cooking, freezing food before it goes off, and sometimes treating use-by dates as discretionary if the food passes the ‘smell test’.
One 34-year-old mother of one from Dublin said: “If we bought it, then we have to eat it.”
No more changing our minds mid-week and ordering a takeaway instead of cooking.”
It’s not just food and drink increasing in price. Readers are also grappling with steep increases in the price of non-prescription pharmacy products, sun cream and pet food.
One reader, whose regular sun cream now costs €25 from Tesco, said this essential product appeared to be priced for the privileged.
(Tesco told us it offers a wide range of sun cream options starting at €5, or €4.40 with a club card.)
One reader said the cat food she usually buys has almost doubled in price since before the pandemic adding: “I’d strangle her, except the cremation fees are so high.”
It’s bad news for restaurants and coffee shops from our hard-pressed readers.
Many readers told us they have cut back significantly on meals out and on fancy coffees.
Some readers said this was partly because they were trying to save money given the increase in the price of groceries. Most said eating out was just too expensive now, in and of itself.
Many readers told us they loved eating out, but they just can’t afford to do so with the frequency they used to.
A 45-year-old man from Co Mayo said he used to love eating out, be it for lunch during the week or for dinner at the weekend. Now he does so just once a month at most.
He acknowledged that food businesses are under pressure but said the quality of the product often just didn’t match the price.
Recently he had soup, a wrap and a cup of coffee which came to €21.50.
“Could I say it was worth one hour of my work? Absolutely not,” he said.
Pub-goers too are feeling the pinch. A number of readers said they’re more likely to enjoy a drink at home now than in the pub. Several readers remarked on the price of a glass of wine often being close to €10, putting this luxury out of their reach.
One 62-year-old man said: “Drink has gone up to a ridiculous price so that I have stopped having my two to three pints on a Saturday afternoon.”
Some readers said they still try to find the budget for eating out, to the extent that they can afford to do so. Some older readers said going for a coffee helped them get out of the house. Many people said they have switched to more casual, less expensive locations, as well as reducing the frequency at which they eat out.
One reader in her 60s, living in Dublin, told us that meeting friends for a meal out is more expensive than it was even one year ago.
“Two weeks ago I had three glasses of wine and a main course and, with tip, it came to €70.
Glasses of wine are rarely less than €10 now.
“I met family for brunch in Avoca, Rathcoole and my three salads with bean something-or-other and an Americano was €23.50. A banoffee slice was €8.50.”
She skipped the banoffee.
A 56-year-old man in Co Louth said: “Dinner out is a real treat, once every five to six weeks maybe, or celebrations only.”
He added that he’s also buying less food at the supermarket and eating smaller portions. “Don’t laugh. My waistline and health is thanking me for it!” he said.
The reader with the teenage son who has stopped buying rice cakes said her family has downgraded their occasional treat of eating out from dinner to breakfast or brunch.
“Celebrating with a dinner out used to be a treat. Now, it’s just stress,” she said.
“The fear of the final bill hanging over the evening makes it hard to enjoy.”
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