British Expats - Inflation

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- - Inflation (https://britishexpats.com/forum/sand-pit-116/inflation-882415/)

Shocked no one has claimed this is #Brexit fault?

Yeah, that's the thing. It's hard for me to have sympathy for people complaining about inflation when I bought five apples for about 7 AED from Carrefour. Imported from NZ. Just had one, it's tasty enough.

Maybe it's not huge and shiny with wax as at Spinneys but it's good enough.

If you're whinging about the price of your favourite box of biscuits imported from the UK going up to 40 AED from 35, odds are Carrefour has a house brand of similar biscuits that will taste pretty much the same and made in Europe too, for sub 15 AED. If you've never stepped into Carrefour you might be shocked that last weekend they were selling parmiggiano reggiano for 60 AED per kilo. That's, what, a third of what you'd spend at Spinneys for the same item. Carrefour has a huge volume supply chain that allows them to offer incredibly competitive prices.

Ok, don't want to be Scrooge and be tarred and feathered for being unsympathetic and I definitely support spending good money for good quality meats or fish or cheese, but I see way too much wasteful shopping going on. People grabbing a package without really looking closely at it, people being snobby about shopping at Carrefour or Union Coop, people thinking that if it's a fancy label it's somehow worth twice as much as the same item under a different label. This town has always thrived on capitalising on the vanities of affluent expats (and locals too). I'm sure there is some type of inflation going on (along with new taxes and levies on hotels and their restaurants/bars and chain F&B outlets) but knowing Dubai it makes sense that the sharpest increases are going to be in the "nicer" places.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meow (Post 12036974)

That is the sensible way to shop so you get a gold star from me! ;)

There are also significant price differences between the supermarkets. I rarely buy fruit or veg in Spinneys as prices are too high and I can get the same items for up to 50% less in Union Co-op or even delivered.

I am far from mean with money but I don't like wasting it. I won't scrimp on meat or fish, although we don't eat huge amount of either, but it's daft to throw money away.

I see petrol is due to go up again in September too.

Who said this was specifically related to Spinneys? I never go there as it's not near.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Irishbeekeeper (Post 12036920)

Yep, everything is up and I dont think there is much cash with the boys to subsidize anything to help battle the prices (and why should they?)

Who is talking about subsidizing? :blink:

Quote:

Originally Posted by iggle (Post 12036978)

Shocked no one has claimed this is #Brexit fault?

One would think that the british-import items should be cheaper. But they are not.

The USD is at its highest vs. other currencies in ages. Our imports (which is about 90% of it) should be cheap, but they are going up in price.

If we are seeing stagflation then it's a big problem.

I shop at waitrose, because i live in Ream and i refuse to drive 30mins to Carefour or walk with the plebs in Lulu. Do you know who i am?

Quote:

Originally Posted by iggle (Post 12036999)

I shop at waitrose, because i live in Ream and i refuse to drive 30mins to Carefour or walk with the plebs in Lulu. Do you know who i am?

I thought you rode a horse.

Is UAE economy heading into trouble?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meow (Post 12036974)

That is the sensible way to shop so you get a gold star from me! ;)

Maybe you to should bang, keep all the degenerated genes in one gene pool

Smoke and mirrors. Always been the case.

Who really knows.

Quote:

Originally Posted by iggle (Post 12037013)

Is UAE economy heading into trouble?

Where do you shop? Just curious.

I'm just curious at this talk of inflation. I buy more or less the same basket of goods over the past year (really, I mean, literally the same 20 or so foodstuff each week) and haven't really noticed an overall increase in prices.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Millhouse (Post 12036988)

Who said this was specifically related to Spinneys? I never go there as it's not near.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DXBtoDOH (Post 12037022)

Varies, Lifco, LuLu or the Organic Cafe (which is brilliant - thanks Meow for the recommendation).

LuLu has a great butcher, as does OC (although pricey). Lifo is mostly really for salad items and milk. I eat loads of vegetables, but very little fruit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meow (Post 12036974)

That is the sensible way to shop so you get a gold star from me! ;)

I'll settle for half a gold star because it's always at Waitrose or Spinneys...;)

Had to look up Lifco. Small chain?

I mostly cook from two set menus so on alternate weeks I buy from the following: carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, aubergines, lemon, onion, garlic, tinned tomatoes, apples, kale, parm cheese, feta, nuts, raisins, frozen spinach, yoghurt, pasta, olive oil, vinegar, puy de lentils, dill/parsley plus amounts of various spices from the spice counter. The occasional package of biscuits or frozen pizza.

Prices pretty consistently the same across the year. A year ago I was spending between 100-150 AED for the week's grocery, and it's still the case today. I'd definitely notice if there was a leap up to 200 AED.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Millhouse (Post 12037027)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DXBtoDOH (Post 12037039)

Man you live it up! :sarcasm: