Mothers reveal the non-essential items they’ve stopped buying due to the cost of living crisis

Branded butter, chicken and pet insurance might have once been considered essential household purchases.  

But Mumsnet readers have revealed how they have ditched these items due to price increases amid the cost of living crisis.

On a thread on the UK-based parenting website called ‘What have you stopped buying due to a price increase?’, readers shared what they have done away with from their weekly shopping list.

On a thread on the UK-based parenting website called ‘What have you stopped buying due to a price increase?’, readers shared what they have done away with from their weekly shopping list

Top of the list seemed to be butter, and especially Lurpak. One wrote, ‘Lurpak, it’s gone too expensive ridiculous.’  Another added: ‘Real butter. Ground coffee. Free range whole chicken.’   

But pine nuts also came in for a slamming over how expensive they were. 

One woman raged: ‘I needed pine nuts for a recipe last week. DH went to Tesco for me and came back with them spitting feathers.. almost £6 for a bag of pine nuts!!! If I’d have realised before he bought them I wouldn’t have bothered with them!’

Another agreed, saying: ‘Definitely pine nuts. Wtf is that all about? Are they from Ukraine?’

But it is not just expensive food items that are being ditched from the weekly shopping list – pet care is also taking a hit. 

Several Mumsnet readers wrote how they had cancelled their pet insurance plans.

Some said they had cut back on meat and were mainly eating vegetarian food as it was cheaper

More than one reader raged about the cost of pine nuts, with one woman asking if they came from Ukraine

One reader said she had stopped using her oven and instead put everything in the microwave

Many had overhauled their spending and were doing daily shops instead of one weekly spend

One wrote: ‘Pet plan and pet insurance, although even that’s a drop in the ocean sadly. I think life insurances will go next.’

Another wrote, ‘I haven’t stopped buying Pet Insurance but cut back to the most basic one. ( I won’t go without 3rd party – though I think you can get this via Dogs Trust). The cost was becoming unbelievable and nothing they ever needed doing seemed to be covered.’ 

Similarly, dog grooming has been curtailed by some readers. 

One wrote, ‘Getting the dog groomed. It was £44 every 8 weeks and I couldn’t justify it any more. Plus was 5 miles there x4 with dropping then picking up again. I bought a set of clippers and am doing him a little bit day by day instead. He looks a lot scruffier but is fine.’

Another wrote, ‘Pet insurance – never covered anything they needed. Grooming – from once a month to once every three months.’

Others wrote how they had cut back on more mundane items. One wrote, ‘Don’t buy as many eggs as we normally did or chicken…’

Reaction: Others wrote how they had cut back on more mundane items. One wrote, ‘Don’t buy as many eggs as we normally did or chicken…’

While another wrote, ‘Petrol for any journeys that aren’t for work. Gas for heating (obviously not now but in April it was 13 degrees in our house some mornings and this winter we’re going to be seriously cold). 

‘Using our local shop as the prices have gone up even more than in supermarkets. If we’re not passing a supermarket on a work journey (we live rurally) we have to do without until we are. 

‘Good quality meat, we’re having to go for cheaper options. Branded food, we’re shopping at Aldi even more than previously. Clothes except for DS who is 13 and in his growth spurt stage.’ 

Another woman wrote she had stopped buying Kettle chips. She said, ‘I could just about justify as a weekend treat at £1 a bag but not £2. We don’t have crisps now.’ 

Similarly, others wrote how they have swapped shop-bought sandwiches and cakes for homemade goods.

One wrote, ‘Now do my own cakes, cookies, pies. Do without… books. Cancelled or non-renewed all newspaper and magazine subscriptions, Netflix subscription.’

Several people also said they had stopped buying alcohol to cut the price of their weekly shop, or were eating more vegetarian food. 

Others said they had changed their shopping habits, by either shopping daily not weekly and buying discounted goods, to only buying own-brand products.