Cost of groceries is ‘killing the old people’

Consumers are hurting: they can see food prices rising almost by the day.

Sandra Pienaar, who bought groceries at Checkers Hyper Roodepoort in Constantiakloof, said: “Everything you get here is more expensive. I only come for specials. I bought Oros here for R29 and, the other day, I bought it at Makro for R38. I am not happy because, while the food prices are going up, my pension is not going up.

“We now eat spaghetti because you can’t buy meat. Bread is more expensive. Government should start supporting us by giving people food vouchers.”

Another pensioner, Frik Botha, lamented that “they are killing the old people”.

“Things are increasing and there is something wrong.”

Lindi Nkosi said food prices were so high that “you just buy the basics. It’s not like before where the fridges would be filled up with groceries, including cheese. I now buy a few items when there are sales.”

Kamesan Narker said: “It is devastating. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. We look for sales because they are more affordable.”

Karin Lynch said the prices were ridiculous and that for a full trolley of groceries one parts with R5 000, as compared with 10 years ago, when they would part with only R500.

How to cut your food costs.

• Plan and research through pamphlets and media ads.
• Shop around for the best prices.
• Downgrade the place you shop.
• Downgrade your brands to cheaper ones but be aware that, sometimes, cheap can be nasty.
• Sacrifice the “luxury” items: cut down on red meat and expensive cheese. It’s healthier, too.
• Don’t buy readymade, processed foods. Buy the ingredients and make from scratch. That’s also healthier.
• Cutting down the number of monthly shopping trips to save transport costs. Buy in bulk if possible.
• Look for saving mechanisms such as coupons. These will become more popular the more people are squeezed.