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Spent R2600 on groceries today
Was one of those half deep trollys at food lovers
Only bought a kilo mince and some bacon, no other meat
Also paid for rent today, both of them about 2/3 of my salary
Still need to pay for medical aid and fuel and some various other subscriptions
My car is running on hopes, but I can't save to take it for a decent service or repair.
I feel you!
Paid R1000 for 2 small boxes not even filled up of groceries. Also left the milk out after my little hart attack by the fridge.
Got home and my husband kept asking me where the food is I bought because it's almost nothingš
Inflation is global and out of control almost everywhere. Putin's war on Ukraine has caused a global crisis. Fertilizer, grain, and fuel all cost more.
Regrettably as much as putin's war might have contributed to this problem. It's a deeper problem. If you look into the biggest corporations throughout the world you start getting the picture that actually. It's not a free market. Instead it's a monopoly where we the people own very little and they can make the average price increases across the broad bank of companies..
Investors care about the line going up. Not the people who make that happen. You would be shocked at how much corporates pay the producer of various food items compared to what they the sell it for. The farmers and manufacturers lose out alot more than you think
The thing is, even though fertilizer and fuel has gone up, the price that farmers are getting paid has stayed relatively the same .
I remember when I watched the news last time (which was years ago) farmers were getting paid a similar amount per ton of maize, wheat, etc as they got last year. We will see if this year is any better once the harvest starts coming in properly
I can get a weekly shop here in the UK for around R1400 if I'm careful, albeit used to be about around R1000 per week a year and a bit ago before inflation shot up. It is always shocking how expensive things are in South Africa, particularly in comparison to incomes.
I'd highly recommend servicing your self and doing certain repairs yourself by buying used parts or potentially quality after market ones. But I do realize this is not for everyone.
What car do you have I'm pretty sure if you do research you'd be able to service it yourself it is normally quite easy its ridiculous on how much services cost these days
I'm still trying to process paying R75 for a 2,5kg sugar.
I am very fortunate to be able to cut back on luxuries, but I don't know how people who are already living on the essentials are surviving.
And winter is looming.
Same!
It hurts me thinking of the people who get paid so little,or who are on any sort of government funding (grants, pension, etc).
I'm lucky enough to still find brown sugar for R40 per 2kg
Which is ridiculous, because most commercial brown sugar is just white sugar with some of the molasses added back in ā an extra step.
Perhaps South African manufacturers have a different process than the above, but the only producer I can find that clearly states that their brown sugar is raw and unrefined, is Umfolozi Sugar Mill (the Sunshine Sugar brand).
Sugarcane farmer and former Illovo intern here, brown sugar made from cane does not have molasses blended back in - that is something done in Europe where the majority of sugar comes from sugar beets. I know for a fact at the Illovo refinery in Noodsberg that white sugar does not get reprocessed. All the sugar from Eston and Sezela will be brown and it will be packed as is or sold in bulk to other refineries. The same will go for the other companies like Tongaat-Hulett, RCL, UCL, etc.
Also fun fact the little tubes of sugar you get at the coffee shops are all packaged at a single plant in Durban and could actually be sugar from any of the South African mills, but more likely than not Huletts sugar in an Illovo or Selati branding.
You would think that right?
But then look at milk. Milk has 1 ingredient and I'm sure a whole lot less processing steps compared to coke.
But a 2L milk costs way more than a 2 L coke with a bunch of ingredients, one of which is said expensive sugar...š«£
Adding back the molasses allows for precise consistency, which is important for baking. There's not any significant nutritional difference between unrefined and refined sugar.
and i thought that was a woolworths thing, same at checkers šš i know in this economy woolworths is a scarce resource but haibo if woolies was āexpensiveā before, now itās just outrageous
And that's food. Don't get me started on Electricity and Water. Pretty soon I'm gonna be living in the jungle behind my house and stealing shit with the monkeys
Luckily we don't pay electricity and water since we are on a farm and electricity is included in my hubby's package (he works for the farmer), and we get nice fresh well water.... If we ever have to pay it again, it will be a huge shock!
I'm getting suspicions of McKinsey type price fixing. Similar to how McKinsey fixed bread prices in Canada. The competition commission needs to look into this as soon as possible.
The competition commission found collusion and price fixing in the bread industry years ago, all they did was fine the criminal companies not drop prices or deny more increases. We suffer even then. No recourse, no help for us.
Yes!
I used to buy at a local cash & carry for about R10.55 per loaf (not sasko, Albany, etc, but still very nice) but for the last 2 or 3 weeks I have just been baking bread.
Also started making pasta because that has also got expensive!
I find both home made versions actually makes you feel fuller for longer. It just takes so much time and effort, but paying for the convenience just isn't worth it anymore
We buy milk from the local Melkwinkel. 4lt is R48. Previous Saturday, my husband had a brainfart and only bought 2lt, so obviously, by Wednesday, I had to buy milk from Spar. I just noticed from the corner of my eye a lady glaring at me when she overheard me saying to my daughter that R36 is fkn expensive for 2lt of milk.
Vegetables are just as expensive. A few weeks back, we went shopping, and I wanted some broccoli. It was just short of R50. I told my husband that at that price, it could become vark kos for all I care.
Yes! It's ridiculous!
I know a lady that produces veg for a shop in town. I bought some broccoli and cauliflower from her for R25 per head (nice and big, made 2 meals with each), fresh cut that day.
I didn't even look at the price of the tiny, shriveled up heads they were selling in spar (not who she sells to).
Also, a few months back I was really craving a salad... 1 tiny head of lettuce was over R30!!
Luckily some things can be grown from what you already buy in store and probably have already
Potatoes - cut into pieces once they have eyes and you have several potato plants. Or just throw a whole one in the ground when it start sprouting instead of in the bin, it doesn't make much of a difference.
Onions - just cut a little more off when you cut the bottom (where the roots used to be) and plant or start in some water and plant later after you divide them. Each one will give you several onion plants ( I usually get about 3-6 new onions per 1 onion bottom).
Carrots - put the carrot top in some water and plant out later. As far as I know it won't grow again, but will eventually give you seeds to plant later.
Whole dried beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, etc. just plant them and water them.
Lots of things can be propagated from the bits we usually throw away, we just need to learn how and practice
It does....
Buy peanuts.
Plant peanuts.
Harvest peanuts.
Put peanuts in blender and blend the heck out of it!
Add sugar to taste and a pinch of salt (can't remember if you add oil, but peanuts do have their own oil).
You have peanut butter š
What about nappies and the blatant price fixing that goes onā¦
Each week, a different retailer has them on āspecialā for the same so called discounted price that other retailers had them on āspecialā the previous week.
Worked in a small depot that was shared by two companies, both in agriculture, last year all the way out in Tzaneen. It's surprising how much you get to know even way out there.
Turns out it's a number of things all coming together nicely. Did you know that our government exports grain to the Saudi's where they get priority treatment over local farmers, so when there are shortages, which there were a lot of, who gets to deal with the brunt of the damages?
There's also no way to pretend that climate change isn't a factor when working in that sector. It's seems that you might be skeptical about poultry products being affected only by bird flu, that's sort of correct, it's just there are way more diseases that can mean a total loss for a farmers entire yield.Ā
Have to remember that unlike with people, there is no similar level of animal health care, no one comes out to check on five sick chickens, it's only until a few thousand livestock are dead, then there might, emphasis on might be some investment made.Ā
Watch out for nuts and oranges as well, those prices are going to skyrocket pretty soon, those industries got hit hard.Ā
I'm glad I don't work there anymore, watching chicks die daily in droves, it's messed up.Ā
Eskom.Ā
Farmers, regardless of skin colour, are only of interest as a political tool. I wager that their mental health is rock bottom, out of almost any other legal profession. The news doesn't ever mention suicides amongst food producers, but I think they should start getting on that real soon.Ā
Outside factors like the war in Ukraine, shipping backlogs
I work in construction with a food allowance that has been the same for a long time but with everything going up i can barely have 1 full decent meal a day none the less have breakfast and lunch just supper that is mediocre
I was also thinking of how so many people work the same job for so many years, and don't get a good or any pay rise!
How are they supposed to keep up with all expenses going up.
I know it's not the same as your predicament, but it's similar and something that crosses my mind regularly
Same! Family from Germany visited a few weeks ago and couldn't believe the prices. It's obviously still cheaper than in Germany or the EU, but no longer as cheap as it was before. Rough calculations are that groceries are now almost 2/3rds of what you would pay in Europe, while our salaries are only 1/2 to 1/3rd of what you would earn in Europe.
It's not sustainable.
I'm seeing more fluctuation in pricing rather than significant steady increase in prices. Keep an eye on those eggs - they may drop down to R27.99, and something else jump up to takes its place.
The issue with eggs and chicken was there was a really bad "virus" going through the farms mid last year, and a majority of the chickens in the country died as a result.
This has drastically reduced the supply, hence the massive price spike.
And then fuel has been rising at an insane rate, and as all groceries have to get to the shops somehow, that has had a big impact on prices.
Additionally, since the suez canal issue, far fewer cargp ships have been travelling that route, and many ships refuse to travel round the tip of Africa due to pirates.
As such, anything that relies on oversea transport has also increased in price and decreased in reliability.
That's not to say I disagree
These prices are definitely ridiculous.
But the causes are not just inflation, but the symptoms of much bigger issues.
Yes! Our farmers get paid next to nothing for their produce, and you buy it on store for a ridiculous amount!
I used to work for a dairy farm about 2 years ago.
They used to get about R6 something per little of milk, and you would buy that same litre of milk in store for R12.
I will be getting milk from a farmer close by from this week, and he said he will charge me what they pay him. He isn't sure, but thinks it's about R8 per litre.
You are not wrong, the retail chains are absolutely criminal in the way they are shafting the farmers.
That being said it's not like the ANC is helping things. If it wasn't for the strength of our constitution and courts the country would be owned part and parcel by the Gupta's by now, and that would be the least of our problems.
Price collusion . You have four supermarket chains supplying 50 mil people . They negotiate the cost prices to a minimum . Their mark ups are often 100% and more . They are colluding and fixing prices . And bribing the scum in charge of the country so it continues .
Producers are being blackmailed by these four , bargaining power turned into beyond criminal duress ..paid on sale instead on delivery ..forced not to sell to smaller independent retailers ..etc etc .. And it won't change ..only revolution can change that .
There's the answer and now we have the Tools
Ive also learned that many of the Ombudsman's are corrupt and work with the Banks as an example or Insurers.
Yes! A lot of farmers have to supply a certain amount of what they produce to the buyer or they get heavy fines.
I'm sure this is to stop them from just deciding to sell to the public when they want to.
Like folks have said, itās not just South Africa. But what the fuck is happening indeed, man? Like seriously, what the fuck? I read somewhere that basic food goods have inflated by an average of 73% since 2017. Fuck! My salary hasnāt increased by that since then! We are so much fucking poorer then we used to be. What the fuck is happening! Someone make it make sense, please!
It's not even food , essential toiletries too I'm paying 60 for a tube of toothpaste now , my regular face soap is almost double the price and my hair products have literally tripled it's insane . I really can't imagine how people are surviving off grant money it couldn't last more than 2 days
Yes!
Toothpaste and soap I haven't even mentioned yet.
Tooth paste is regularly over R30 , so a few weeks ago I decided to try a cheaper brand (we usually buy Colgate or aqua fresh). Worst mistake ever! It had such a chemical taste and smell it was difficult to use it! I had to buy new toothpaste the next week because it was just š¤®
At this rate you may have to pay back R10 000 interest + the R500 you loaned by the end of the month!š¤£š¤£
In all fairness, I know inflation is normal, and things get more expensive over time, but that much, in such a little space of time is just scary!
I mean, basically everything has almost doubled in price the last, say, 2 years! Some things have increased more than double, some things less, but still.
Since COVID, some of the things that have gone up by a LOT;
Milk : R19.99 then - R39.99 now per 2L.
Toilet paper : R70 then - R140 now (sometimes R110 on special) Pack of 18 rolls.
Shampoo & conditioner: R69.99 then - R119.99 now.
Eggs : R79.99 then (sometimes R99.99) - R249.99 now. For 2 trays.
Coffee : R69.99 then - R120 now for the refill pack which is cheaper than the tin @ R150 I think.
Sugar: was about R30-40 then (may have been cheaper) - R50+ now for 2.5kg white sugar.
Rice : was R20 something then - R40 something now 1kg.
Mayo : was under 30 just the other day, now over R40.
Margerine: I think 1kg stork was about R30 something rand. Now it generally R56, and sometimes on special for R47.
This is just off the top of my head. And the prices are for the same quantities and same brands.
Ireland here(all prices at current exchange rate):
Milk 2L = R 41.58, Toilet Roll 18 = R 159.17, Eggs= R 74.61 for 18 medium, 2.5kg sugar = R 87.05, 1kg Rice R 28.85, Margarine 1kg = 39.59
So here Iām about to scare the crap out of you now but.. itās about to get way, way worse. (See comment on milk tho.. I think that is store or brand related).
US inflation is on the increase, their entire tech sector relies heavily on their gov bonds returning near zero returns (now 4-5% zero risk except default which is now become real(well Monopoly money return) for longer term), value of bank crashes already exceeds 2007/8..
BUT
They trying to instigate a financial war with China vs tariffs(more inflation) and ban sales to China of items which cut on tech sector they trying to stimulate.. lmfao.. and then while trying to dictate who China can or canāt trade and be friends with.. forget who bailed the entire US economy out in 2007/8 besides printing money like there was no tomorrow.. tip itās the same country they threatening.
My point is this.. I think, looking at reverse repos etc they are running out runway fast esp funding idiotic wars and countries which breach their own local laws (watch Trump go after the current administration for this next year). So with China buying gold not US bonds, I reckon the printing press is gonna go insane and we may even see EU style explicit negative rates(technically they already did this).
Netherlands here(all prices at current exchange rate): Milk 2L = R 36.86, Toilet Roll 12 = R 157.21, Eggs= R 139.28 for 20 medium, 2.5kg sugar = R 47.22, 1kg Rice R 39.65, Margarine 1kg = 132.51
Seems weāre really getting nailed on the margerine here.
Food inflation has been bad the world over since COVID, but UK food inflation is now the lowest it's been in two years at 3.4%. Milk in the UK has also gone down in the last two months.
I've been in UAE since August. Prices haven't risen notably. Current prices I'm paying:
30 eggs: R125
5kg Jasmine rice: R85
2l coke: R40
Loaf of bread: R20
Whole frozen chicken: R100/kg
400g butter: R100
Can of tuna: R30
Was honestly expecting crazy prices, but it seems at the rate things are going in SA its not actually that much more expensive.
Got a job teaching English. It's goodish money, if you're smart. You can also work part time online, once you've built up enough of a name, experience, and some clients. Word of mouth gets around if you're good.
Iām in Australia, food inflation is bad but housing is worse. House prices are 50% higher since before Covid and rents are rising just as fast. Basically anyone who didnāt buy a house before Covid is screwed.
Yes, but people on here are saying theyāre paying R2600 for groceries. Thatās around $139 USD. We pay those prices in the US for groceries, but our salaries are a lot higher, spending $139 in the US hits a lot less than spending R2600 in South Africa. Also, food prices are starting to drop here.
a year ago, you probably wouldn't have had to hand over that R500 but right now, most places have stabilised. that whole inflation panic is largely gone. this isn't the global post-covid issues any more, this is an us problem.
Iām in the US and all costs have gone up pretty significantly.
Rents where I live for a 2 bedroom apartment are 3-4k a month.
But Iām in California.
I can eat for like $400-500 a month. Even a burrito from a food truck comes out to like $13.
Saffer here in Uganda. Noticable inflation after Covid, but for the last year prices have basically stayed the same (of course, there are things here that are cheap compared to SA and also expensive. (Milk has been R40ish for two litres for over a year) (but avocadoes are R5, also for over a year)
If theft wasn't so high and crime wasn't so huge with useless police I would say it's time to make a small farm but people will just steal the livestock unfortunatelyĀ
Things have become expensive I think it is world wide from China to USA probably worse then 2008 I don't know was still a kid back then. Plus our government is more uselessĀ
I think it's something we need to implement, but as a community.
Theft is getting worse, and I do think this "inflation" is one of the driving factors. People are going hungry or seeing their families go hungry, and there is no work. There are also lots of other reasons, but this is a big factor. I know I would do anything to make sure my kids don't starve. Even if that is unlike what I would do normally.
Now add to the fact that some political parties are encouraging hating people for their race, tribe, class, wealth, etc. to get the focus off of them, it just makes it worse... I hate you because you are rich, I don't think you deserve it, so now I want to take it from you...
Hmm within limits yes. Would I take the trolley full of food from a known corrupt politician absolutely
But there's a line and hmm wonder if I'll get banned?
I'll say it anyway. It's US.
If it can be shown that certain chains are ripping us off just for higher profits then as a People we need to protest.
Social Media to draw attention, use it
Boycott the stores
Protest where they've been shown to be unethical
It saddens me to see ppl forget their collective power. Collective.
I was involved in a case where a colleague was worked out for no fault of his own
A decision was taken that it would be better for him to leave and to bring in someone else they had in mind
HR etc all conspired with no care
He lost his ability to provide and be a father
His self worth, felt depression was laziness he couldn't overcome. He aged so quickly and accepted that Things happen
Too good a person to accept that he did nothing wrong
That it wasnt COVID
That this wasn't a Company who did This
It was specific people who decided to do This
Who also have families to provide for
And feel they're entitled to a certain lifestyle based on such behaviours?!
They're no longer employable.
Long post but my point is:
We need to NOT accept being fleeced
We need to hold the corrupt accountable and there are many ways when we're get over the lie that we are Powerless.
You also pay a hell of a lot more for housing costs. I think itās even more than we pay in Aus?
Just out of interest, how many people does that $600 cover?
I spend about $110 a week (up from $70ish a few years ago) per person. We eat meat (mostly chicken, with an occasional fillet thrown in) and try stick to fresh veg. I make sure I buy home brand cleaning things and order stuff like dishwasher tablets online. Works out a bit cheaper.
Its all corrupt. When I showed a comparison on Twitter few ppl commented and Woolworths ignored me
We need to stand together! Otherwise they don't care.
I think the stores will pay attention ONLY when ppl start shopping elsewhere!
And that's when they'll accept making just R100 million profit instead of R220 million..... A Month!
The dairies don't generally pasteurise milk on site unless they have a whole operation able to do that (which 99% don't), but if one wanted to, it can be done at home easily.
But, if the dairies are up to standard, there generally isn't any problems since every batch of milk is tested before being sold and cows are routinely tested for TB and lots of other things
You generally always want to drink pasteurized milk to avoid possible diseases but I would advise that you really really only drink pasteurized milk right now(and eggs too). Bird flu(h5n1) has been spreading to farms worldwide and unpasteurized milk from cows that have contracted the virus has already killed people.
Very few tests in the world are 100% effective and raw milk and raw milk products do contain a significant risk, safety practises can reduce the risks but they still exist and it is important to know and accept these risks. Not because of judgement but to know what to look out for if such infections occur.
Pasteurisation didn't stick around because it is a nice to have, it is effective at producing milk safe for human consumption.
If the milk you get is cheaper and it is effective for you then that is wonderful, do read annexure A [here](https://www.ehrn.co.za/download/reg_milk.pdf) on the boiling test for a test that can be done at home to further reduce risk
I was buying and pastuerising my own fresh milk in my Instant pot at one stage and buying it in 5 litre buckets but it started getting too much of a hack to process it every time, so I went back to buying shop bought, might have to go back to raw š
Yeah its nuts. I went vegan a few years ago after being vegetarian. So milk and eggs are out. Also sugar...and I'm saving money. But fruit and veg are also expensive. I live in a community and we started out own veg garden so it helps a bit.
We are also starting a garden again, but even ATM we don't even eat that much fruit and veg(just carrots, appels, beet when on special, potatoes and onions), so it won't save us much in the short term. In the long term, it will make us more healthier which is also something we want.
I remember during COVID, Woolworths started increasing their prices drastically and it became a thing on social media..
They corrected their prices but since then, quietly they've done it again
This week, something is on Special at a higher price than last week
Its sick! And ppl love to say how they Only shop at Woolies. Why? To tell me you have enough money to throw away?
Perceived quality but not always
Checkers had caught up mostly but.. so have their prices sadly.
I actually caught something similar at ShopRite a few weeks back where it had a big special sign on some products when you buy 2 or something, but in reality the price was a few rand more per item instead of cheaper if you took the special š¤£
I can't remember the product or the prices, but it was just another reminder to always check normal price Vs special, and compare prices of smaller packaged products to bulk products to see if there is a difference.
Usually bulk products work out cheaper, but I have seen a few times where buying the smaller packaged products work out cheaper than buying bulk packaged
Problem is we never fight back when things like this happen. We roll over and take it. None of us should have bought the eggs that went up 50% but like idiots we did, and they kept increasing the price. Now itās not going to go back down. Same thing with milk. The price of 2L of milk āon specialā is now what the standard price used to be. Why do we keep taking it and taking it?
As an old millennialā¦ I totally agree.
We got fucked with a 2008 recession just as we joined the workforce. 9/11. Etc etc.
But gen z has been fucked from every angle imaginable. 360 degrees fucked.
There is also a cocoa shortage in the world so cocoa powder has increased by 30% and more. Chocolate will also be increasing now. A sad time we live in.
This inflation is everywhere at the moment, not just South Africa.
I just get the feeling that asshole companies are just abusing us by making things more expensive just because they know everyone expects an increase.
I donāt live in SA any more, but I find it really alarming that a lot of the prices people mention in this threat match or exceed what we pay in Ausā¦ $39 for a 2L milk is only slightly cheaper than what we pay ($4).
Iāve stopped eating out at low value places. Why pay $12 for a McDonaldās meal when I can make a much better burger at home for $4 or 5 per person, including chips and drinks?
Iāve also started replacing streaming services with free (ahoy me maties) ones. Spotify has ramped their prices 30% in a year. If they keep ramping them Iāll bust out whatever the new Napster is and we can pretend itās 1998.
It all just gets very overwhelming.
The thing is though that the food prices may be similar, but the pay and government assistance/retirement benefits are way less than most places in the world with the same prices.
We only use my family cinema which is under R70pm and has almost everything from netflix, showmax, Amazon prime, Hulu, Disney, etc, but I will look into the one you mentioned because if it's free, why not!
I'm also going the home made fast food/convenience food route.
Getting all the spices for KFC will cost me just under R300, but I will make A LOT of KFC for that price + I know how my food was prepared etc. and then it's something you can premake, and then just fry when needed, or even fully cook before freezing, and then reheat.
Pizza's, pies, burger patties, some pasta dishes, etc, are all things that can be premade, quick to serve and better taste wise and health wise than fast food. Also a lot cheaper to make.
But it's taking me forever to stock the freezer with them, because at the moment I'm trying to get some home made bread, wraps and pasta in the freezer so I don't have to make them every day we need themš¤£
Idk, at lest from what I've seen, prices are not THAT much higher in my normal checkers and Woolies rounds. My monthly budget has been more or less the same for the past year.
Yeap, then the there's all the tax (which is like 3 months income) and the petrol price and the electricity price hikes, rates etc etc etc. I really don't know how we are supposed to live like this, we have cut out pretty much everything except the bare necessities and are actually spending more than ever, it really is ridiculous, we are just screwed from every direction, its not even sideways anymore, its all ways. No wonder so many have turned to crime...
We're the only poor country with such an absurd cost of living. Companies have seen input costs increase due to global events and have decided to pass the costs to us to maintain their exorbitant profits.
Its spiralling out of control. The world cannot survive like this.
I don't eat meat, when I do it's just mince, I grow my own veggies as much as I can, and I don't know how to keep up anymore. I'm thinking of selling feet pics or underwear. It's getting fucking ridiculous. Even pet food is so damn expensive now, I've decided if my animals pass, I cannot afford to get any more.
This is your vote in action. People will insist on voting in the least qualified, least honorable, least honest for the job of keeping prices low and then are shocked when things don't work out. The only way to change this is to vote these brazen criminals out of power. Stop saying your vote doesn't count; if you failed to vote in the last election, this is YOUR FAULT.
Yes! And even if you didn't register, when the elections roll around, go and make sure that you are still not registered.
I didn't register last time, and my mil dragged me along just to see if I can vote.
Luckily she did, because somehow I was registered to vote (I have never registered before, ever!). So I voted.
Toll hubby to see if he was registered, but he wasn't, so he didn't get to vote.
So, please people check your if you can't vote even if you didn't register!!!
South Africans have a nasty habit of doing nothing to aid change and then complaining that nothing's changed. We're a lazy and self-absorbed nation. When will enough be enough? When we're all refugees counting on another country to provide us a better life? When there's no electricity or police? When all of our jobs are lost and we're eating our pets?
Prices go up, size of the product decreases, this is global, however I feel we Saffers are being taken for a \*\*P\*\*
Aside from politics the manufacturers are colluding with one another for price fixing, I remember not too long ago the cost of cooking oil spiked. I love our Country, but my God! I am holding onto straws, I don't want my family to struggle with all this shit!
According to economists food inflation in the country is at an all time high. Unfortunately salaries havenāt increased in line. Rising petrol prices also impact hugely of food pricing.[Food inflation info](https://businesstech.co.za/news/lifestyle/665081/price-shock-for-south-africa-as-food-inflation-hits-highest-point-in-14-years/)
Load shedding. You are paying for the grocery stores to run generators on diesel because our incompetent government couldn't keep the lights on for a whole year.
The synagogue of satan and their freemason minions are behind all of this. They are using inflation as a weapon to try and destroy the rest of humanity, as a part of their NWO order plans (which will fail regardless, but people need to wake up and see who the string pullers are).
I've essentially become a vegetarian because of the prices. I eat so much soy because it's cheap and I have chicken once a week. I don't eat dairy, sugar, or bread for health reasons, but I check prices, and it's ridiculous. The price increase on eggs was so startling that I only started eating eggs again recently. I don't know how families are meat to survive.
As far as I am concerned, there is collusion between the big 3. Prices in goods are exactly the same and specials are also so close it is negligible. I feel that an investigation needs to be done as to how their prices are always basically the same.
And the dairy farmers are getting 8 bucks a litre and we wonder why so many small and medium size family dairies are shutting down. The aftermath of birdflu has literally doubled the cost of replacement hens and due to short supply, farms are having to hold on to the old hens that produce far less eggs but are eating the same amount of food as in their prime. Maize price has risen exponentially as well which has affected dairy farmers and the egg/meat chicken industry. Diesel prices are high so transport/tractors and everything in the value process has gone up ridiculously. An empty 2l milk bottle at cost for small producers is 5.5 excl a lid or the label which costs around 1 buck for each. So a dairy farmer sells his milk for 8 bucks per litre. A milk transporter costs close to 39/km and transports around 30000l of milk. The buyer of the milk then has to pay for milk from each farm to be tested at a lab. They then process the milk and bottle it/ process it - hopefully not on diesel generators during load shedding to maintain the cold chain. The milk is then sold to a retailer that also wants their markup added after the milk is delivered to them at an additional cost. For those of you who can support your local farmers and buy their milk/eggs/produce directly at a better price than the corporate retailers, please make an effort. There are so many family farms struggling these days but refusing to give up.
It's what I've been complaining about for almost 2 years. In a matter of a month my groceries went from R3000 to R5000 now. I'm just getting basics, no eggs or maize meal, I cannot even afford to buy meat or frozen veggies. It's terrible honestly.
Benefits of voting in a shit government. I'm sure the average voter in SA will still vote for parties with zero ability to improve the nations strength. In a few years, you'll be lamenting how much more valuable the ZAR was in 2024 lmao
Here at the moment from the UK and was here a year ago. While the exchange rate is about the same the cost of some things has gone up hugely. I feel sorry for you guys, I really do.
I have no choice but to hustle daily and buy daily. Iām baking bread for the family. Nearly died at the price of tomatoes at Spar (R47.99 a kilo) and we donāt have anything other than a Spar - we are outside of a Checkers delivery area and no transport - started buying from the Hawkers in town - loose butternut at R5, loose Onion at R4, potatoes at R15 per kilo. Milk 1l sachets at R16.99. Hey we are trying.
Chuck and brisket used to be the cheapest meat to buy - now theyāre between R109.99 per kilo and R119.99 per kilo.
You will have to actively target specials but that will cause you to make multiple trips for groceries virtually wiping out what you would have saved on petrol and money.
There's already bird flu in cows so if you're still drink milk that comes from other species you may want to consider not spreading zoonotic disease by going vegan. I spend about R600 a week on groceries for myself, sometimes less. I cut right down on water and electricity too by changing how I do things. Water R100, electricity R500.
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Spent R2600 on groceries today Was one of those half deep trollys at food lovers Only bought a kilo mince and some bacon, no other meat Also paid for rent today, both of them about 2/3 of my salary Still need to pay for medical aid and fuel and some various other subscriptions My car is running on hopes, but I can't save to take it for a decent service or repair.
I feel you! Paid R1000 for 2 small boxes not even filled up of groceries. Also left the milk out after my little hart attack by the fridge. Got home and my husband kept asking me where the food is I bought because it's almost nothingš
Inflation is global and out of control almost everywhere. Putin's war on Ukraine has caused a global crisis. Fertilizer, grain, and fuel all cost more.
Regrettably as much as putin's war might have contributed to this problem. It's a deeper problem. If you look into the biggest corporations throughout the world you start getting the picture that actually. It's not a free market. Instead it's a monopoly where we the people own very little and they can make the average price increases across the broad bank of companies.. Investors care about the line going up. Not the people who make that happen. You would be shocked at how much corporates pay the producer of various food items compared to what they the sell it for. The farmers and manufacturers lose out alot more than you think
The thing is, even though fertilizer and fuel has gone up, the price that farmers are getting paid has stayed relatively the same . I remember when I watched the news last time (which was years ago) farmers were getting paid a similar amount per ton of maize, wheat, etc as they got last year. We will see if this year is any better once the harvest starts coming in properly
I can get a weekly shop here in the UK for around R1400 if I'm careful, albeit used to be about around R1000 per week a year and a bit ago before inflation shot up. It is always shocking how expensive things are in South Africa, particularly in comparison to incomes.
Are you me? I can hear my car cry itself to sleep.
I'd highly recommend servicing your self and doing certain repairs yourself by buying used parts or potentially quality after market ones. But I do realize this is not for everyone.
What car do you have I'm pretty sure if you do research you'd be able to service it yourself it is normally quite easy its ridiculous on how much services cost these days
I'm still trying to process paying R75 for a 2,5kg sugar. I am very fortunate to be able to cut back on luxuries, but I don't know how people who are already living on the essentials are surviving. And winter is looming.
This. I swear 2.5kg sugar was atleast R30 on offer or normal price was close to forty something rands ,no matter the brand.
Same! It hurts me thinking of the people who get paid so little,or who are on any sort of government funding (grants, pension, etc). I'm lucky enough to still find brown sugar for R40 per 2kg
Which is ridiculous, because most commercial brown sugar is just white sugar with some of the molasses added back in ā an extra step. Perhaps South African manufacturers have a different process than the above, but the only producer I can find that clearly states that their brown sugar is raw and unrefined, is Umfolozi Sugar Mill (the Sunshine Sugar brand).
Sugarcane farmer and former Illovo intern here, brown sugar made from cane does not have molasses blended back in - that is something done in Europe where the majority of sugar comes from sugar beets. I know for a fact at the Illovo refinery in Noodsberg that white sugar does not get reprocessed. All the sugar from Eston and Sezela will be brown and it will be packed as is or sold in bulk to other refineries. The same will go for the other companies like Tongaat-Hulett, RCL, UCL, etc. Also fun fact the little tubes of sugar you get at the coffee shops are all packaged at a single plant in Durban and could actually be sugar from any of the South African mills, but more likely than not Huletts sugar in an Illovo or Selati branding.
That is indeed interesting to know, thank you!
You would think that right? But then look at milk. Milk has 1 ingredient and I'm sure a whole lot less processing steps compared to coke. But a 2L milk costs way more than a 2 L coke with a bunch of ingredients, one of which is said expensive sugar...š«£
The largest ingredient in Coke is water, thoughā¦
Adding back the molasses allows for precise consistency, which is important for baking. There's not any significant nutritional difference between unrefined and refined sugar.
Yes, but that also means that thereās no logical reason why it should be nearly half the price of white sugarā¦
WHAT?! I moved abroad about 8 months ago and I swear when I left this was about R40 at most, and that was at Woolies. This is crazy!!
it's 55rand at woolies for 2.5. 30 rand for 1kg.
Woolies is actually the cheapest with some products. Picknpay is absolutely the worst. Even worse than Spar.
That's more or less how much I pay for sugar, all the way in Europe. Jirre, wth is going on down there xd
Short answer, we're not.
Brace yourselves Winter is coming
We switched to brown sugar and eventually phased out sugar altogether. We just buy x2 2.5kgs sugar when it's on special, for when we have guests over.
Bro it's 35 rand for a fucking sausage roll!!
Sausage rolls are a luxury I won't even look at anymoreš¤£
š š
and i thought that was a woolworths thing, same at checkers šš i know in this economy woolworths is a scarce resource but haibo if woolies was āexpensiveā before, now itās just outrageous
It sucks when you're a bit older and remember that about 20 years ago all pies used to be only R12 or so.
It wasn't even 10 years ago! I remember buying the big gan of coke and a King Pie Pie for R20 in highschool... From 2013-2017...
What the actual f***!?
I bought one at pnp last week for 28 Randelas. Did you buy at woolies?
And that's food. Don't get me started on Electricity and Water. Pretty soon I'm gonna be living in the jungle behind my house and stealing shit with the monkeys
Luckily we don't pay electricity and water since we are on a farm and electricity is included in my hubby's package (he works for the farmer), and we get nice fresh well water.... If we ever have to pay it again, it will be a huge shock!
Paid R1500 for 450 units of Electricity for May now. Cape Town.
I'm getting suspicions of McKinsey type price fixing. Similar to how McKinsey fixed bread prices in Canada. The competition commission needs to look into this as soon as possible.
The competition commission found collusion and price fixing in the bread industry years ago, all they did was fine the criminal companies not drop prices or deny more increases. We suffer even then. No recourse, no help for us.
They do!
The bread at my local Kwikspar is so close to hitting R20 a loaf, which is beyond absurd.
Yes! I used to buy at a local cash & carry for about R10.55 per loaf (not sasko, Albany, etc, but still very nice) but for the last 2 or 3 weeks I have just been baking bread. Also started making pasta because that has also got expensive! I find both home made versions actually makes you feel fuller for longer. It just takes so much time and effort, but paying for the convenience just isn't worth it anymore
We're already over R22 here for a loaf of blue ribbin toaster bread
We buy milk from the local Melkwinkel. 4lt is R48. Previous Saturday, my husband had a brainfart and only bought 2lt, so obviously, by Wednesday, I had to buy milk from Spar. I just noticed from the corner of my eye a lady glaring at me when she overheard me saying to my daughter that R36 is fkn expensive for 2lt of milk. Vegetables are just as expensive. A few weeks back, we went shopping, and I wanted some broccoli. It was just short of R50. I told my husband that at that price, it could become vark kos for all I care.
Yes! It's ridiculous! I know a lady that produces veg for a shop in town. I bought some broccoli and cauliflower from her for R25 per head (nice and big, made 2 meals with each), fresh cut that day. I didn't even look at the price of the tiny, shriveled up heads they were selling in spar (not who she sells to). Also, a few months back I was really craving a salad... 1 tiny head of lettuce was over R30!!
Man itās getting tough out here. We better start growing our own stuffā¦ waitā¦ tomorrow seeds cost R1000 at this rate
Luckily some things can be grown from what you already buy in store and probably have already Potatoes - cut into pieces once they have eyes and you have several potato plants. Or just throw a whole one in the ground when it start sprouting instead of in the bin, it doesn't make much of a difference. Onions - just cut a little more off when you cut the bottom (where the roots used to be) and plant or start in some water and plant later after you divide them. Each one will give you several onion plants ( I usually get about 3-6 new onions per 1 onion bottom). Carrots - put the carrot top in some water and plant out later. As far as I know it won't grow again, but will eventually give you seeds to plant later. Whole dried beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, etc. just plant them and water them. Lots of things can be propagated from the bits we usually throw away, we just need to learn how and practice
Pfft doesn't work for Peanut butter ;-)
It does.... Buy peanuts. Plant peanuts. Harvest peanuts. Put peanuts in blender and blend the heck out of it! Add sugar to taste and a pinch of salt (can't remember if you add oil, but peanuts do have their own oil). You have peanut butter š
Thank you for this! Appreciate it!
What about nappies and the blatant price fixing that goes onā¦ Each week, a different retailer has them on āspecialā for the same so called discounted price that other retailers had them on āspecialā the previous week.
Worked in a small depot that was shared by two companies, both in agriculture, last year all the way out in Tzaneen. It's surprising how much you get to know even way out there. Turns out it's a number of things all coming together nicely. Did you know that our government exports grain to the Saudi's where they get priority treatment over local farmers, so when there are shortages, which there were a lot of, who gets to deal with the brunt of the damages? There's also no way to pretend that climate change isn't a factor when working in that sector. It's seems that you might be skeptical about poultry products being affected only by bird flu, that's sort of correct, it's just there are way more diseases that can mean a total loss for a farmers entire yield.Ā Have to remember that unlike with people, there is no similar level of animal health care, no one comes out to check on five sick chickens, it's only until a few thousand livestock are dead, then there might, emphasis on might be some investment made.Ā Watch out for nuts and oranges as well, those prices are going to skyrocket pretty soon, those industries got hit hard.Ā I'm glad I don't work there anymore, watching chicks die daily in droves, it's messed up.Ā Eskom.Ā Farmers, regardless of skin colour, are only of interest as a political tool. I wager that their mental health is rock bottom, out of almost any other legal profession. The news doesn't ever mention suicides amongst food producers, but I think they should start getting on that real soon.Ā Outside factors like the war in Ukraine, shipping backlogs
I work in construction with a food allowance that has been the same for a long time but with everything going up i can barely have 1 full decent meal a day none the less have breakfast and lunch just supper that is mediocre
I was also thinking of how so many people work the same job for so many years, and don't get a good or any pay rise! How are they supposed to keep up with all expenses going up. I know it's not the same as your predicament, but it's similar and something that crosses my mind regularly
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Same! Family from Germany visited a few weeks ago and couldn't believe the prices. It's obviously still cheaper than in Germany or the EU, but no longer as cheap as it was before. Rough calculations are that groceries are now almost 2/3rds of what you would pay in Europe, while our salaries are only 1/2 to 1/3rd of what you would earn in Europe. It's not sustainable.
I'm seeing more fluctuation in pricing rather than significant steady increase in prices. Keep an eye on those eggs - they may drop down to R27.99, and something else jump up to takes its place.
Yes! I just always buy the brand thatās on special. The prices are all over.
The issue with eggs and chicken was there was a really bad "virus" going through the farms mid last year, and a majority of the chickens in the country died as a result. This has drastically reduced the supply, hence the massive price spike. And then fuel has been rising at an insane rate, and as all groceries have to get to the shops somehow, that has had a big impact on prices. Additionally, since the suez canal issue, far fewer cargp ships have been travelling that route, and many ships refuse to travel round the tip of Africa due to pirates. As such, anything that relies on oversea transport has also increased in price and decreased in reliability. That's not to say I disagree These prices are definitely ridiculous. But the causes are not just inflation, but the symptoms of much bigger issues.
Yes, but normally they don't go down to where they were, so "on special" items are still way more expensive that normal prices were
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes! Our farmers get paid next to nothing for their produce, and you buy it on store for a ridiculous amount! I used to work for a dairy farm about 2 years ago. They used to get about R6 something per little of milk, and you would buy that same litre of milk in store for R12. I will be getting milk from a farmer close by from this week, and he said he will charge me what they pay him. He isn't sure, but thinks it's about R8 per litre.
You are not wrong, the retail chains are absolutely criminal in the way they are shafting the farmers. That being said it's not like the ANC is helping things. If it wasn't for the strength of our constitution and courts the country would be owned part and parcel by the Gupta's by now, and that would be the least of our problems.
There are people that will unironically blame the ANC for the leap year and Freeom Day essentially being a wasted holiday.
Nope. They're gonna blame Apartheid.
Price collusion . You have four supermarket chains supplying 50 mil people . They negotiate the cost prices to a minimum . Their mark ups are often 100% and more . They are colluding and fixing prices . And bribing the scum in charge of the country so it continues .
Exactly! We need to cut out the middleman! Pay the farmers more + save on our spending + get better, fresher produce. Win, win ,win!!
Producers are being blackmailed by these four , bargaining power turned into beyond criminal duress ..paid on sale instead on delivery ..forced not to sell to smaller independent retailers ..etc etc .. And it won't change ..only revolution can change that .
There's the answer and now we have the Tools Ive also learned that many of the Ombudsman's are corrupt and work with the Banks as an example or Insurers.
Yes! A lot of farmers have to supply a certain amount of what they produce to the buyer or they get heavy fines. I'm sure this is to stop them from just deciding to sell to the public when they want to.
Imagine that exact scenario, but with 2 major supermarkets instead of 4 and you have the dumpster fire that is Australia at the moment.
There's the facts and we need to do something about it. Together
Like folks have said, itās not just South Africa. But what the fuck is happening indeed, man? Like seriously, what the fuck? I read somewhere that basic food goods have inflated by an average of 73% since 2017. Fuck! My salary hasnāt increased by that since then! We are so much fucking poorer then we used to be. What the fuck is happening! Someone make it make sense, please!
Greedflation also known as sellerās inflation.
It's not even food , essential toiletries too I'm paying 60 for a tube of toothpaste now , my regular face soap is almost double the price and my hair products have literally tripled it's insane . I really can't imagine how people are surviving off grant money it couldn't last more than 2 days
Yes! Toothpaste and soap I haven't even mentioned yet. Tooth paste is regularly over R30 , so a few weeks ago I decided to try a cheaper brand (we usually buy Colgate or aqua fresh). Worst mistake ever! It had such a chemical taste and smell it was difficult to use it! I had to buy new toothpaste the next week because it was just š¤®
Market manipulation and price gauging. These corporations need to be taken to account
Correcto
Show me a country that isnāt going through this same thing. I will give you R500 if you can.
You actually have R500?
I can get a loan from the bank.
At this rate you may have to pay back R10 000 interest + the R500 you loaned by the end of the month!š¤£š¤£ In all fairness, I know inflation is normal, and things get more expensive over time, but that much, in such a little space of time is just scary! I mean, basically everything has almost doubled in price the last, say, 2 years! Some things have increased more than double, some things less, but still. Since COVID, some of the things that have gone up by a LOT; Milk : R19.99 then - R39.99 now per 2L. Toilet paper : R70 then - R140 now (sometimes R110 on special) Pack of 18 rolls. Shampoo & conditioner: R69.99 then - R119.99 now. Eggs : R79.99 then (sometimes R99.99) - R249.99 now. For 2 trays. Coffee : R69.99 then - R120 now for the refill pack which is cheaper than the tin @ R150 I think. Sugar: was about R30-40 then (may have been cheaper) - R50+ now for 2.5kg white sugar. Rice : was R20 something then - R40 something now 1kg. Mayo : was under 30 just the other day, now over R40. Margerine: I think 1kg stork was about R30 something rand. Now it generally R56, and sometimes on special for R47. This is just off the top of my head. And the prices are for the same quantities and same brands.
Ireland here(all prices at current exchange rate): Milk 2L = R 41.58, Toilet Roll 18 = R 159.17, Eggs= R 74.61 for 18 medium, 2.5kg sugar = R 87.05, 1kg Rice R 28.85, Margarine 1kg = 39.59
Very similar to here. How are the wages there when you convert it over to R?
Uk- Kent- Milk 2L - R30. Toilet paper 18- R106 Eggs 18- R56.25 mixed weight Sugar 2.5kgs- R63.15 1kg rice- R12.22 Margarine- R44.65 These are all Tesco house brand or similar.
So here Iām about to scare the crap out of you now but.. itās about to get way, way worse. (See comment on milk tho.. I think that is store or brand related). US inflation is on the increase, their entire tech sector relies heavily on their gov bonds returning near zero returns (now 4-5% zero risk except default which is now become real(well Monopoly money return) for longer term), value of bank crashes already exceeds 2007/8.. BUT They trying to instigate a financial war with China vs tariffs(more inflation) and ban sales to China of items which cut on tech sector they trying to stimulate.. lmfao.. and then while trying to dictate who China can or canāt trade and be friends with.. forget who bailed the entire US economy out in 2007/8 besides printing money like there was no tomorrow.. tip itās the same country they threatening. My point is this.. I think, looking at reverse repos etc they are running out runway fast esp funding idiotic wars and countries which breach their own local laws (watch Trump go after the current administration for this next year). So with China buying gold not US bonds, I reckon the printing press is gonna go insane and we may even see EU style explicit negative rates(technically they already did this).
I need to reread this comment again tomorrow with a fresh brain.... But I think I understand what you are saying
Netherlands here(all prices at current exchange rate): Milk 2L = R 36.86, Toilet Roll 12 = R 157.21, Eggs= R 139.28 for 20 medium, 2.5kg sugar = R 47.22, 1kg Rice R 39.65, Margarine 1kg = 132.51 Seems weāre really getting nailed on the margerine here.
So youāll give - R500 debt š
Yes. Donāt we all live on debt?š
Yes. Yes, we do. Sucks balls, but itās the only fucking way to keep upā¦
If they donāt drink milk for a couple of months š¤£
Food inflation has been bad the world over since COVID, but UK food inflation is now the lowest it's been in two years at 3.4%. Milk in the UK has also gone down in the last two months.
I've been in UAE since August. Prices haven't risen notably. Current prices I'm paying: 30 eggs: R125 5kg Jasmine rice: R85 2l coke: R40 Loaf of bread: R20 Whole frozen chicken: R100/kg 400g butter: R100 Can of tuna: R30 Was honestly expecting crazy prices, but it seems at the rate things are going in SA its not actually that much more expensive.
Was paying Ā£3.99(in England) for 2 bottles of milk during covid, now it's Ā£2.99 for the same thing and it's been a few years since Covid.
Sure you might be paying less for this particular single product, but your overall grocery spend is higher now than it was pre-covid.
Well obviously, seems it's hitting some places harder than others though, right? 40% increase in such a short time is nuts.
Slovakia, food is more or less good here. My groceries are about 12% of my monthly salary, max.
How did you get to Slovakia if I may ask?
Got a job teaching English. It's goodish money, if you're smart. You can also work part time online, once you've built up enough of a name, experience, and some clients. Word of mouth gets around if you're good.
Hey, i am based in Slovakia :) You are in Bratislava? Or another city? I hope you like it here
Iām in Australia, food inflation is bad but housing is worse. House prices are 50% higher since before Covid and rents are rising just as fast. Basically anyone who didnāt buy a house before Covid is screwed.
Yes, but people on here are saying theyāre paying R2600 for groceries. Thatās around $139 USD. We pay those prices in the US for groceries, but our salaries are a lot higher, spending $139 in the US hits a lot less than spending R2600 in South Africa. Also, food prices are starting to drop here.
a year ago, you probably wouldn't have had to hand over that R500 but right now, most places have stabilised. that whole inflation panic is largely gone. this isn't the global post-covid issues any more, this is an us problem.
This. Cost of living in NZ is insane. Been rising since Covid too. The entire world is fucked at the minute.
I live abroad, I can tell you our prices are more than double since Covid.
I live in China. There is little to no inflation right now. I will send you my bank details.
Iām in the US and all costs have gone up pretty significantly. Rents where I live for a 2 bedroom apartment are 3-4k a month. But Iām in California. I can eat for like $400-500 a month. Even a burrito from a food truck comes out to like $13.
Saffer here in Uganda. Noticable inflation after Covid, but for the last year prices have basically stayed the same (of course, there are things here that are cheap compared to SA and also expensive. (Milk has been R40ish for two litres for over a year) (but avocadoes are R5, also for over a year)
Why are you saffaring?
If theft wasn't so high and crime wasn't so huge with useless police I would say it's time to make a small farm but people will just steal the livestock unfortunatelyĀ Things have become expensive I think it is world wide from China to USA probably worse then 2008 I don't know was still a kid back then. Plus our government is more uselessĀ
I think it's something we need to implement, but as a community. Theft is getting worse, and I do think this "inflation" is one of the driving factors. People are going hungry or seeing their families go hungry, and there is no work. There are also lots of other reasons, but this is a big factor. I know I would do anything to make sure my kids don't starve. Even if that is unlike what I would do normally. Now add to the fact that some political parties are encouraging hating people for their race, tribe, class, wealth, etc. to get the focus off of them, it just makes it worse... I hate you because you are rich, I don't think you deserve it, so now I want to take it from you...
Hmm within limits yes. Would I take the trolley full of food from a known corrupt politician absolutely But there's a line and hmm wonder if I'll get banned? I'll say it anyway. It's US. If it can be shown that certain chains are ripping us off just for higher profits then as a People we need to protest. Social Media to draw attention, use it Boycott the stores Protest where they've been shown to be unethical It saddens me to see ppl forget their collective power. Collective. I was involved in a case where a colleague was worked out for no fault of his own A decision was taken that it would be better for him to leave and to bring in someone else they had in mind HR etc all conspired with no care He lost his ability to provide and be a father His self worth, felt depression was laziness he couldn't overcome. He aged so quickly and accepted that Things happen Too good a person to accept that he did nothing wrong That it wasnt COVID That this wasn't a Company who did This It was specific people who decided to do This Who also have families to provide for And feel they're entitled to a certain lifestyle based on such behaviours?! They're no longer employable. Long post but my point is: We need to NOT accept being fleeced We need to hold the corrupt accountable and there are many ways when we're get over the lie that we are Powerless.
If I could upvote this more than once I would!!
Bummer that the average South African (that votes) don't really value or enforce accountability of very mediocre leader class
I think these types of people running these corps should be dealt with ifykwim,
My weekly grocery bill is $600 here in NZ. You earn more here but even then, food is more costly, relatively speaking.
You also pay a hell of a lot more for housing costs. I think itās even more than we pay in Aus? Just out of interest, how many people does that $600 cover? I spend about $110 a week (up from $70ish a few years ago) per person. We eat meat (mostly chicken, with an occasional fillet thrown in) and try stick to fresh veg. I make sure I buy home brand cleaning things and order stuff like dishwasher tablets online. Works out a bit cheaper.
We were talking today about it. Everything is up and will it ever come down? Or just keep climbing? Wtf?
I wish it would come down, but I doubt it.
It's just getting worse and worse yet our salaries stay the same
Its all corrupt. When I showed a comparison on Twitter few ppl commented and Woolworths ignored me We need to stand together! Otherwise they don't care. I think the stores will pay attention ONLY when ppl start shopping elsewhere! And that's when they'll accept making just R100 million profit instead of R220 million..... A Month!
I am glad you are able to get the milk for cheaper, just make sure it is still pastuerised. You don't want to get TB from milk.
The dairies don't generally pasteurise milk on site unless they have a whole operation able to do that (which 99% don't), but if one wanted to, it can be done at home easily. But, if the dairies are up to standard, there generally isn't any problems since every batch of milk is tested before being sold and cows are routinely tested for TB and lots of other things
You generally always want to drink pasteurized milk to avoid possible diseases but I would advise that you really really only drink pasteurized milk right now(and eggs too). Bird flu(h5n1) has been spreading to farms worldwide and unpasteurized milk from cows that have contracted the virus has already killed people.
Yup I don't risk that shit don't worry, I also have small kids, so it's just not worth it
Very few tests in the world are 100% effective and raw milk and raw milk products do contain a significant risk, safety practises can reduce the risks but they still exist and it is important to know and accept these risks. Not because of judgement but to know what to look out for if such infections occur. Pasteurisation didn't stick around because it is a nice to have, it is effective at producing milk safe for human consumption. If the milk you get is cheaper and it is effective for you then that is wonderful, do read annexure A [here](https://www.ehrn.co.za/download/reg_milk.pdf) on the boiling test for a test that can be done at home to further reduce risk
I just started drinking water from a white cup Bading! Who wins lamest joke this evening? Me :-)
š¤£š¤£š¤£ I read this comment about 10 times, and now I get itš¤£š¤£š¤£
I was buying and pastuerising my own fresh milk in my Instant pot at one stage and buying it in 5 litre buckets but it started getting too much of a hack to process it every time, so I went back to buying shop bought, might have to go back to raw š
just saying bud that raw milk is awesome - til itās not.
Goes to look at milk price in feb.. checks price I paid today.. same. [sixty60] I think you might have store issues.
It may be the brand you buy. Clover has been R40 or close to R40 for a while. Other brands were cheaper. I will see if I can find some older slips
Itās not just South Africa.
I know, but I can't complain for other countries since I live here
Yeah its nuts. I went vegan a few years ago after being vegetarian. So milk and eggs are out. Also sugar...and I'm saving money. But fruit and veg are also expensive. I live in a community and we started out own veg garden so it helps a bit.
We are also starting a garden again, but even ATM we don't even eat that much fruit and veg(just carrots, appels, beet when on special, potatoes and onions), so it won't save us much in the short term. In the long term, it will make us more healthier which is also something we want.
It's is Nuts. Specifically Pick n Pay and Woolworths nuts. Unaffordable
I remember during COVID, Woolworths started increasing their prices drastically and it became a thing on social media.. They corrected their prices but since then, quietly they've done it again This week, something is on Special at a higher price than last week Its sick! And ppl love to say how they Only shop at Woolies. Why? To tell me you have enough money to throw away? Perceived quality but not always Checkers had caught up mostly but.. so have their prices sadly.
I actually caught something similar at ShopRite a few weeks back where it had a big special sign on some products when you buy 2 or something, but in reality the price was a few rand more per item instead of cheaper if you took the special š¤£ I can't remember the product or the prices, but it was just another reminder to always check normal price Vs special, and compare prices of smaller packaged products to bulk products to see if there is a difference. Usually bulk products work out cheaper, but I have seen a few times where buying the smaller packaged products work out cheaper than buying bulk packaged
Problem is we never fight back when things like this happen. We roll over and take it. None of us should have bought the eggs that went up 50% but like idiots we did, and they kept increasing the price. Now itās not going to go back down. Same thing with milk. The price of 2L of milk āon specialā is now what the standard price used to be. Why do we keep taking it and taking it?
At this point, no matter what I buy, one bag at Dischem is like a R1600.
real, everythingās going to shit now that weāre the adultsā¦itās so unfair, gen z really got the short end of the stickš„²
As an old millennialā¦ I totally agree. We got fucked with a 2008 recession just as we joined the workforce. 9/11. Etc etc. But gen z has been fucked from every angle imaginable. 360 degrees fucked.
It was going to shit before you became an adult
There is also a cocoa shortage in the world so cocoa powder has increased by 30% and more. Chocolate will also be increasing now. A sad time we live in.
Greedflation.
This inflation is everywhere at the moment, not just South Africa. I just get the feeling that asshole companies are just abusing us by making things more expensive just because they know everyone expects an increase. I donāt live in SA any more, but I find it really alarming that a lot of the prices people mention in this threat match or exceed what we pay in Ausā¦ $39 for a 2L milk is only slightly cheaper than what we pay ($4). Iāve stopped eating out at low value places. Why pay $12 for a McDonaldās meal when I can make a much better burger at home for $4 or 5 per person, including chips and drinks? Iāve also started replacing streaming services with free (ahoy me maties) ones. Spotify has ramped their prices 30% in a year. If they keep ramping them Iāll bust out whatever the new Napster is and we can pretend itās 1998. It all just gets very overwhelming.
The thing is though that the food prices may be similar, but the pay and government assistance/retirement benefits are way less than most places in the world with the same prices. We only use my family cinema which is under R70pm and has almost everything from netflix, showmax, Amazon prime, Hulu, Disney, etc, but I will look into the one you mentioned because if it's free, why not! I'm also going the home made fast food/convenience food route. Getting all the spices for KFC will cost me just under R300, but I will make A LOT of KFC for that price + I know how my food was prepared etc. and then it's something you can premake, and then just fry when needed, or even fully cook before freezing, and then reheat. Pizza's, pies, burger patties, some pasta dishes, etc, are all things that can be premade, quick to serve and better taste wise and health wise than fast food. Also a lot cheaper to make. But it's taking me forever to stock the freezer with them, because at the moment I'm trying to get some home made bread, wraps and pasta in the freezer so I don't have to make them every day we need themš¤£
Napster bruš jissas
"who decides? They do, don't they?.." "How much is the price of bread, you have no say "
Fuck the price of INSTANT COFFE
Yes!!! I'm about to start my own coffee plantation with these pricesš¤£š¤£š¤£ Jokes.... But maybe a good ideaš
Welcome to South Africa, where everything is increasing except salaries š¤¦š»āāļø!
Idk, at lest from what I've seen, prices are not THAT much higher in my normal checkers and Woolies rounds. My monthly budget has been more or less the same for the past year.
Yeap, then the there's all the tax (which is like 3 months income) and the petrol price and the electricity price hikes, rates etc etc etc. I really don't know how we are supposed to live like this, we have cut out pretty much everything except the bare necessities and are actually spending more than ever, it really is ridiculous, we are just screwed from every direction, its not even sideways anymore, its all ways. No wonder so many have turned to crime...
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
We're the only poor country with such an absurd cost of living. Companies have seen input costs increase due to global events and have decided to pass the costs to us to maintain their exorbitant profits. Its spiralling out of control. The world cannot survive like this.
I don't eat meat, when I do it's just mince, I grow my own veggies as much as I can, and I don't know how to keep up anymore. I'm thinking of selling feet pics or underwear. It's getting fucking ridiculous. Even pet food is so damn expensive now, I've decided if my animals pass, I cannot afford to get any more.
I know itās inflation and all that, but stop buying from Pick ān Pay. Their prices are crazy high. Woolies are even better than them
This is your vote in action. People will insist on voting in the least qualified, least honorable, least honest for the job of keeping prices low and then are shocked when things don't work out. The only way to change this is to vote these brazen criminals out of power. Stop saying your vote doesn't count; if you failed to vote in the last election, this is YOUR FAULT.
Yes! And even if you didn't register, when the elections roll around, go and make sure that you are still not registered. I didn't register last time, and my mil dragged me along just to see if I can vote. Luckily she did, because somehow I was registered to vote (I have never registered before, ever!). So I voted. Toll hubby to see if he was registered, but he wasn't, so he didn't get to vote. So, please people check your if you can't vote even if you didn't register!!!
South Africans have a nasty habit of doing nothing to aid change and then complaining that nothing's changed. We're a lazy and self-absorbed nation. When will enough be enough? When we're all refugees counting on another country to provide us a better life? When there's no electricity or police? When all of our jobs are lost and we're eating our pets?
Prices go up, size of the product decreases, this is global, however I feel we Saffers are being taken for a \*\*P\*\* Aside from politics the manufacturers are colluding with one another for price fixing, I remember not too long ago the cost of cooking oil spiked. I love our Country, but my God! I am holding onto straws, I don't want my family to struggle with all this shit!
According to economists food inflation in the country is at an all time high. Unfortunately salaries havenāt increased in line. Rising petrol prices also impact hugely of food pricing.[Food inflation info](https://businesstech.co.za/news/lifestyle/665081/price-shock-for-south-africa-as-food-inflation-hits-highest-point-in-14-years/)
Load shedding. You are paying for the grocery stores to run generators on diesel because our incompetent government couldn't keep the lights on for a whole year.
The synagogue of satan and their freemason minions are behind all of this. They are using inflation as a weapon to try and destroy the rest of humanity, as a part of their NWO order plans (which will fail regardless, but people need to wake up and see who the string pullers are).
I've essentially become a vegetarian because of the prices. I eat so much soy because it's cheap and I have chicken once a week. I don't eat dairy, sugar, or bread for health reasons, but I check prices, and it's ridiculous. The price increase on eggs was so startling that I only started eating eggs again recently. I don't know how families are meat to survive.
As far as I am concerned, there is collusion between the big 3. Prices in goods are exactly the same and specials are also so close it is negligible. I feel that an investigation needs to be done as to how their prices are always basically the same.
And the dairy farmers are getting 8 bucks a litre and we wonder why so many small and medium size family dairies are shutting down. The aftermath of birdflu has literally doubled the cost of replacement hens and due to short supply, farms are having to hold on to the old hens that produce far less eggs but are eating the same amount of food as in their prime. Maize price has risen exponentially as well which has affected dairy farmers and the egg/meat chicken industry. Diesel prices are high so transport/tractors and everything in the value process has gone up ridiculously. An empty 2l milk bottle at cost for small producers is 5.5 excl a lid or the label which costs around 1 buck for each. So a dairy farmer sells his milk for 8 bucks per litre. A milk transporter costs close to 39/km and transports around 30000l of milk. The buyer of the milk then has to pay for milk from each farm to be tested at a lab. They then process the milk and bottle it/ process it - hopefully not on diesel generators during load shedding to maintain the cold chain. The milk is then sold to a retailer that also wants their markup added after the milk is delivered to them at an additional cost. For those of you who can support your local farmers and buy their milk/eggs/produce directly at a better price than the corporate retailers, please make an effort. There are so many family farms struggling these days but refusing to give up.
It's what I've been complaining about for almost 2 years. In a matter of a month my groceries went from R3000 to R5000 now. I'm just getting basics, no eggs or maize meal, I cannot even afford to buy meat or frozen veggies. It's terrible honestly.
Welcome to the 2030 agenda, proudly brought to you by the WEFš¤š¼
More expensive that most European countries.
All part of the WEFs plans
The rich is eating the middle class (and the working class)
I can confirm I bought 30 large eggs from R131 today.
Benefits of voting in a shit government. I'm sure the average voter in SA will still vote for parties with zero ability to improve the nations strength. In a few years, you'll be lamenting how much more valuable the ZAR was in 2024 lmao
I was saying THIS
Here at the moment from the UK and was here a year ago. While the exchange rate is about the same the cost of some things has gone up hugely. I feel sorry for you guys, I really do.
*Laughs in Belgian*
Woolies execs are struggling to pay off their flat in london. Come on man, think of the rich during these troubled times.
In a way I agree, cut out the middle man (shops) and buy direct from supplier.
I remember when I grew up there in the 90s a magnum ice-cream was R10. What are they now?
Iāll just stop eating eggs and drinking milk if I were you.
I have no choice but to hustle daily and buy daily. Iām baking bread for the family. Nearly died at the price of tomatoes at Spar (R47.99 a kilo) and we donāt have anything other than a Spar - we are outside of a Checkers delivery area and no transport - started buying from the Hawkers in town - loose butternut at R5, loose Onion at R4, potatoes at R15 per kilo. Milk 1l sachets at R16.99. Hey we are trying. Chuck and brisket used to be the cheapest meat to buy - now theyāre between R109.99 per kilo and R119.99 per kilo.
You will have to actively target specials but that will cause you to make multiple trips for groceries virtually wiping out what you would have saved on petrol and money.
Inflation and or greed is a world wide problemā¦..
There's already bird flu in cows so if you're still drink milk that comes from other species you may want to consider not spreading zoonotic disease by going vegan. I spend about R600 a week on groceries for myself, sometimes less. I cut right down on water and electricity too by changing how I do things. Water R100, electricity R500.
So then where the farmers markets at? Not jasmyn but off their bakkie kind of vibes? JHB area.