# 33 (2013) The Price Of Peas

In less than 6 months the price of a bag of value brand frozen peas at Tesco has gone from 84p to £1.20.

I'm already down to one bag per month and I expect prices to keep on rising. Cheese, butter and potatoes are all off my list now and I stopped buying washing powder about 2 years ago thanks to a handy gadget from Lakeland which has saved me a lot of money.

More than 13 million people live in poverty in the UK, suffering 

food shortages on a scale not seen since wartime rationing

We are all feeling the pinch. Even the most basic things are starting to become luxuries and I'm thinking that I can't be the only one streamlining my shopping basket to such lengths. I am however now beginning to worry how the restricted diets many of us are being forced into are going to affect our health in years to come. Scrimping on fresh fruit, vegetables and a balanced diet is surely going to have long term effects?

Over the last few years my diet has become incredibly restricted. Most of the veg I consume has to be grown in the garden which means that for a large part of the year I don't have much variety. Supermarket prices are now too prohibitive as the price of peas demonstrates. I now have an intake of just five vegetables.

(source)

My staple diet consists mostly of meat, fish, carbohydrates (pasta, rice, homemade bread, porridge), milk and eggs which I am sure cannot be good for me. Despite this I've not lost any weight at all which is also a concern because it means I must be eating calorie rich foods and am not getting the right nutrition.

Over the last few weeks I've noticed I am going to bed hungry more often and I skip at least a few meals a week. The food I am eating at home is becoming routine and uninteresting which often means I just can't be bothered with it. And I'm not the only one. This is becoming a regular pattern across the country for people in all wage brackets, in all classes. 

A recent report by Save the Children looked at 5,000 families with incomes 

of up to £30,000 a year....to ensure their children get enough food to eat, 

nearly two-thirds of parents skip meals, go into debt, avoid paying 

bills, and put off replacing worn-out clothing

And there's more to come. As harvests fail due to the weather and we rely more and more on imported food (about 40%), it is estimated that the cost of the weekly shop will continue to rise by about 4% a year until 2022.

The knock on effect is that supermarkets are going to see their profits fall. To encourage shoppers they either have to drop their prices or cover the short fall by putting them even higher. Something has to give. And I can't see an easy resolution to the problem.

# 44 Falling for the trick

On Wednesday I finally reached the word count for my degree dissertation *punches the air*. I am writing about consumer psychology, specifically (since I am a fashion student) in women's fashion. It's a subject I have been interested in for a while, but it wasn't until I began researching it for my degree that I discovered what a complicated business XD (Experience Design) is.

I've written a fairly balanced research piece on it since there's everything up to PhD level papers to fill in my knowledge gaps. But here I'm going to take my cynical bitch stance, because I want to tell it like it is.

Looks attractive doesn't it?

Shopping is a minefield of temptation. You may think your favourite brands are there for you, but really they're only after your money and they don't care how in debt you're going to get as long as you're shopping with them.

M&S may have customer charter slogans all over its walls these days but they're not doing it because they actually care. They are appealing to their customers ethical standpoint in hope they'll feel better about investing in their products. M&S is losing the war on the high street to the big guys just a few doors up like Primark who are doing exactly the same thing but with the cheapest stuff they can get away with. And it's working, because the recession has hardly dented their profit margins.

But don't beat yourself up about that last time you were too weak-willed to walk away from a 2-4-1 on something you really didn't need. You're being subliminally brainwashed into product desirability. From the colour of the sales label to eye level branding as you walk down the aisles, it's all there to make your life hell as you try in vain to stick to your list.

You see, there is nothing about a shop which hasn't been specifically designed to make you want to step over the threshold and buy buy buy. Have you ever wondered why sale tickets are always red? It's because red is the colour of determination and desire. It is also the colour that our eye is first attracted to and why customers will make a beeline for the sales rails - because red will suggest you're going to get 'the one'. And it doesn't matter what brand you shop at, they'll all be trying the same tricks on you - just in slightly different ways.

Colour in store decor and advertising is designed as a mood enhancer

Not falling for it is easier when you know about it and you make a point of sticking to your shopping list, but there's no doubt it takes all the fun out of shopping - that buzz when you find the 'bargain of the year' that wasn't really. We all weaken at some point. If I can I'll let myself out to be seduced by the tactics and yes it feels good. But most of the time, I'm aware of everything that's going on which makes it kind of boring.

Experience Design - the process by which stores are designed to tick all the customer boxes - falls into a number of categories which they use to break down every aspect of the shop floor. By covering all these sections it ensures the maximum chance of the store attracting customers. In its simplest form here's what is looks at:

Duration (Initiation, Immersion, Conclusion, and Continuation)

Intensity (Reflex, Habit, Engagement)

Breadth (Products, Services, Brands, Nomenclatures, Channels/Environment/Promotion, and Price)

Interaction (Passive, Active, Interactive)

Triggers (All Human Senses, Concepts, and Symbols)

Significance (Meaning, Status, Emotion, Price, and Function)

I'm not about to bore you all with the ins and outs of consumer psychology, I couldn't possibly fit it all in to a 'blog a day' even if I wanted to, but just think about what you're doing and how you're reacting when you next step out onto the High Street. Be conscious of what's going on around you and see if you can pick up on what's happening. If you are a shopaholic and easily seduced by sales gimmicks, this could be the solution you needed.

# 33 Price Drop or Price Hike?

I've just completed my food shop at Tescos for the month ahead. And I'm pretty shocked at how much everything has gone up since I last went at the end of December.

Frozen sweetcorn has now become a luxury item we cannot afford since it's shot up by almost 40p a bag since the last time I bought some. And soap powder? Well you can forget it. Why has this gone up nearly £1? And these are value brand products.

And despite Tesco's 'Price Drop Promise' it seems most of the goods I buy have suffered some sort of price hike or are currently not being stocked in store, thus forcing me to either go without or buy the nearest substitute. Hence I also came back missing a few things. Why should I have to buy the next expensive product just because they haven't restocked their shelves? It's all a conspiracy of course.

Price drops are a myth since the supermarkets price hike before they drop so you think you're getting a good deal. What, you thought they dropped prices out of the goodness of their heart because they are generous? It's all about profit and it has nothing to do with our budgets.

Every month less and less goes into my trolley. I can now carry home an entire month's supermarket shop on the back of my bike. Being clever in the kitchen has become an important part of making what I bring home, last for four weeks. When the direct debit with British Gas went up when they hiked prices a few months back, the extra few pounds a month had to come from somewhere.

And although we're running the house between two people on pretty much the same as this time last year, it's only because if the price of something goes up, it comes out of something else. The supermarket shop is the first place it goes from because prices are always fluctuating and if you take the time you can get pretty much the same amount of food for the same price month by month.

Visiting the supermarket is a minefield. You have to be supermarket savvy to get the best out of it, not be tempted by deals and always go with a list you stick to.

Don't accept that the best deals advertised are actually the best deals. Usually it's a clever ploy to make you buy more expensively without realising it. Check products weight by weight and see if they are actually better value than your usual choice.

Don't be scared by value brands. Often they are just as good, you're just not paying for the label on the packaging.

Are better value packs really better value?

Home made bread - perfect

Don't be lured by special offers or buy 1 get 1 free unless it is something you use. Rarely are they better, and often they are gauged against the top brands in store, so if you're not a brand shopper you won't be saving any money and are probably paying more.

Bake your own. Often buying the raw ingredients and making yourself at home are cheaper than buying ready made. Bread is the perfect example of this. I am really horrified at how much a loaf of bread costs. I haven't bought bread in 3 years, I make my own every week and it costs about £3 a month. For that I get 2 loaves and 6 rolls per week.

And that's how to stick to a tight food budget.