Post-Recession Prices

I notice that a lot of the food prices that are being offered by the Supermarkets at reduced prices are processed foods and sugary drinks that I would not ever buy.

Having said that, I think the price of meat/chicken has also fallen considerably.

I generally buy a pile at 20% or 25% off and freeze it. I always look at the sell-off section to see what's available and will freeze it. My best buy to date was 10 guinea fowl @ .70c each reduced from €7.50. Each one would feed a family of 3/4.

Restaurant prices need to fall further.

Marion
 
onq said:
I agree with your assessment of local trades, but there are pitfalls to be wary of their too.

Our plumber was called out to a house and charged his "new" €60 call-out rate to an old client of his.

Found out he was repairing workmanship done by another plumber who was away at the time but who charged a €40 rate.

The repair had cost the old client €100 + parts by the time it was complete, so saving €20 on the rate charged by a known and reliable plumber actuall cost €40.

You get what you pay for, apparently.
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true, my point is that if you can get known and reliable tradesmen, they still seem to be far more flexible on price and for more interested in small jobs.
 
In relation to lunch, you also have the half portion option, and as Irish portions for lunch are massive the half portion is great value and healthy too.
 
I really can't see that much of a drop in prices...we have pretty much used the same local chain of supermarkets for years and if anything they seem to be more expensive. They are now linked to Supervalu so would have expected a drop in prices. We spent 80euro there on Friday for not very much. We don't eat meat or fish, don't drink alcohol so our food bills are modest,most of our purchases are veggie based.

I rang to get our chimney cleaned, the same man who charged me €25 this time last year is now looking for "€35-40"

trying to book a mid-week hotel in Cork for later this month, room only we were quoted between €80 - €179, plus some wanted extra for parking. Eventually settled on a 4 star for €75, free parking but Wifi is extra...
 
Marion said:
I notice that a lot of the food prices that are being offered by the Supermarkets at reduced prices are processed foods and sugary drinks that I would not ever buy.

Having said that, I think the price of meat/chicken has also fallen considerably.

I generally buy a pile at 20% or 25% off and freeze it. I always look at the sell-off section to see what's available and will freeze it. My best buy to date was 10 guinea fowl @ .70c each reduced from €7.50. Each one would feed a family of 3/4.

Restaurant prices need to fall further.

Marion
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10 Guinea Fowl at 70 cent each! We're going to have to vary our diet a little. Where would you buy guinea fowl?
 
onq said:
You're absolutely right Purple, I forgot about the perfidious Wall Street traders and the instability that America likes to promote in certain regions.

Any excuse to put up the price of oil, even when demand is down and supply is up! I know there was more to the article in the link you posted than the piece below, but it encapsulates many of the issues. I think we agree on this Purple.
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That's right, because only those evil Americans trade commodities. :rolleyes:
... and you are right to ignore OPEC on the whole equation, sure why let the facts get in the way of blind anti-Americanism.

oh, and you're right; there was a lot more to the article than what you posted but why read all that guff from Chomsky if you can't take a leaf out of his book.
 
@ Onq: I bought them in a Tesco Extra. Superquinn and others also sell them around Christmas.

@ Hasta: They were definitely monogamous. Very tender! :)

Marion
 
Just back from a 3 night stay in a 4 star hotel in Killarney. €198 for two people B & B plus one evening meal. Great value. Unfortunately we spent about €60 on petrol.

Lots of deals on all sorts of things coming to my inbox most days.

Things like health insurance and utility bills are uncontrollable in the main. The introduction of the "fixed charge" or "daily charge" on some bills really annoy me because even when you are on holidays these charges still rack up.
 
Marion said:
Having said that, I think the price of meat/chicken has also fallen considerably.
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No - meat has gone up. My butcher tells me that the price of chicken has gone way up, the head waiter in a steak house I ate in last week tells me beef has gone up. I notice my weekly butchers shop is up over the past year. Fresh fish is a ridiculous price, it used to be a cheap option when I was a child, now its a luxury!


I think Lidl/Aldi prices have gone up recently also.

Trying to think of something Ive noticed thats come down - salaries? :)
 
truthseeker said:
No - meat has gone up. My butcher tells me that the price of chicken has gone way up, the head waiter in a steak house I ate in last week tells me beef has gone up. I notice my weekly butchers shop is up over the past year. Fresh fish is a ridiculous price, it used to be a cheap option when I was a child, now its a luxury!
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In light of this I would love to know what restaurants are providing in their 'eat as much as you like' offers, for lunch, for prices less than a tenner :eek:
 
truthseeker said:
No - meat has gone up. My butcher tells me that the price of chicken has gone way up, the head waiter in a steak house I ate in last week tells me beef has gone up. I notice my weekly butchers shop is up over the past year. Fresh fish is a ridiculous price, it used to be a cheap option when I was a child, now its a luxury!


I think Lidl/Aldi prices have gone up recently also.

Trying to think of something Ive noticed thats come down - salaries? :)
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We should all buy rods and go sea fishing off Bullock Harbour Pier or Dalkey Head.
 
wife bought me a 500ml lucozade sport in our local shop. 3 euro! she went back later to double check, and yes that is the price they charge!
 
Seen petrol for 155.9 cent this morning in my local garage.
I think thats the most expensive I've seen.
 
STEINER said:
wife bought me a 500ml lucozade sport in our local shop. 3 euro! she went back later to double check, and yes that is the price they charge!
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4 x 500ml Aldi's Isotonic "Lucozade Sport" only €1.79

Pays to shop around and change "brands"
 
truthseeker said:
No - meat has gone up. My butcher tells me that the price of chicken has gone way up, the head waiter in a steak house I ate in last week tells me beef has gone up. I notice my weekly butchers shop is up over the past year. Fresh fish is a ridiculous price, it used to be a cheap option when I was a child, now its a luxury!


I think Lidl/Aldi prices have gone up recently also.

Trying to think of something Ive noticed thats come down - salaries? :)
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I was in Aldi yesterday and actually checked my receipt on the way out I was so surprised at the price. I definitely think prices have gone up there and some of their stuff is the same price or dearer than other supermarket.

I agree re fish being a ridiculous price. One small piece of fish can cost the same price as enough meat to do three or four meals. And to think, eating fish used to be considered a pennance!
 
Almost all raw materials are up due to all the money printing, and it is only now slowly filtering through to consumer prices. Walmart's CEO warned of this earlier this year, and I would believe that Walmart is in a better position to judge consumer prices than a government agency:
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/wal-mart-ceo-america-prepare-serious-inflation

Health insurance is probably one of the bigger increases I have noticed, but at the same time I have been able to claim for quite a for more things than before, especially GP visits.
I managed to bring down my car insurance this year through a broker, but the decrease was not as much in previous years. Home content insurance was unchanged.

As for things that have gone down, I have seen more price decreases in electronics and especially in computer software. Recently bought a lense for my digital camera and the price was less than 50% compared to when I first toyed with the idea of buying it 12 months ago.
Got the car serviced a few weeks ago and the bill was €20 less than last year.
I started buying some coal this week and have been able to buy for €0.50 less than last winter.
The price of a movie rental in Xtravision is down from €5.35 to €4.

This all reminds of a radio interview I heard in a taxi in Germany about 2 years ago. I only got a bit of it, but there was basically a guy who had started preparing for high inflation in the early 90s. He worked out how long he would live from an actuarial point of view and then started buying non-perishable every day items. The only thing I got from his list of things was razor blades and kitchen foil, which he said were then 70% more expensive and in the case of the kitchen foil 15% narrower as well. Unfortunately my taxi journey then ended.

onq said:
One freely traded item - oil - was down at €40 dollars a barrel earlier this decade before America's foreign adventures pushed it through the roof - again!
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onq said:
You're absolutely right Purple, I forgot about the perfidious Wall Street traders and the instability that America likes to promote in certain regions.
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I disagree with both of you, speculators do not drive oil prices up. Speculators buy and sell futures contracts, and if upon maturity of the futures contract actual demand for oil does not produce the same price as is on the futures contract then the speculator is out of pocket. What speculators actually do is smooth out the peaks and troughs and additionally signal imbalances in future supply and demand levels.
What is driving up the price of oil is all the money printing by all central banks. When there is more money chasing the same amount of goods then prices go up, it is basic economics and is affecting pretty much all raw materials, except for natural gas.

Robert Murphy wrote an excellent analysis of this a few years ago:
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/oil_speculators.pdf
 
onq said:
The Julianstown Inn just outside Bettystown on the Dublin Road.

I had a job there in Inse Bay carrying out remedial work on some of the houses.

I used to meet the Building Control officer on site in the afternoon and sometimes had lunch before hand.

I remember it well, because three years later the price had doubled.
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I used to drop in there quite a lot myself. Not surprised to see it currently with a for let sign outside.

Speaking of bits and bobs increasing; I gave up going to the cinema a long time ago due to the cost of going.

The collection of waste disposal i.e levies on the increase.

Is it just me or are detergents and cleaning products getting more expensive?

I don't see much going down in price apart from certain foods.
 
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