Fresh vegetables became a bit of a treat – now at their current prices they aren’t really an option
‘My average weekly grocery bill has risen from $52 to $68.30.’am 30 and living by myself after getting a degree in architecture. After graduating, health troubles affected my ability to find work. A little over a year ago I moved to Melbourne. It was a tough choice to make. I had been unemployed and living in a regional suburb that was extremely cheap.
These are all the items I regularly buy. What has really made a difference has been that these cheaper options that used to be my staples are now constantly out of stock. Things like broccoli, capsicum, celery, spinach and, of course, lettuce, have gone up so much in price that more people are buying all the cheaper frozen vegetables, meaning I can no longer find them. Frozen foods used to just be a dish filler for me, then fresh vegetables became a bit of a treat.
As the cost of living has gone up this year there have been sacrifices I’ve made, such as walking an hour for work instead of public transport , and having little to no social life or hobbies. Cost constraints are a large factor in how I spend my time. I pass the time listening to ambient music, meditating and writing. There are other things I’d like to do, events I’d like to attend, but I need to lower spending from other things in my budget before committing to things like that.
My situation is by no means unique. My colleagues are all in similar circumstances. But many of them are not as frugal as me so do not get by so comfortably.
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