| It really is astounding how bad national brands are. Everything loaded with sugar and salt. Lowest quality ingredients in everything, and I do mean everything. I bought a package of national brand slice turkey. Threw it right away. It was dripping in chlorine. Things like national or regional brand ground beef is vile, and nothing can be done to it to make it edible. I bought a package years ago, grilled up burgers. I had to throw every single one of them away because they STANK. Our bread is a joke. Bakeries no longer smell like bakeries because they aren't making bread, but a bread substitute. Chemical leaveners, trash flour, loaded with sugar and salt. Extra absurdity? Some brands dye the crusts brown because the leaveners they use doesn't brown in the oven. Candy is also a joke. Fake chocolate, tiny portions and very chemically tasting. Expensive, too. 75 cents for a bar the size of my ring finger. Extra insults? Everything is shrinkflated. Less product for higher prices. https://www.reddit.com/r/shrinkflation/ $22 for a package of toilet paper that has 1/3 less paper than before. Prices are out of sight. 3 years ago, 1lb of real deli roast beef was $7. Now $20. Costs almost $30 to make a pot of stew. Used to cost $10. I could write for hours on this subject. The garbage produced is that prolific. |
I'm not sure what bakeries you're visiting but that's not my experience; there's nothing cheaper than flour and yeast and baking soda. If the bakery bakes things in store, rather than getting shipped in, it's pretty likely to be made with those. Of course if you want to buy the sandwich bread that lasts 4 weeks on the shelf then it's not going to be 2 ingredients.
The rest is just global inflation. EU doesn't have cheaper cocoa or wood pulp imports. Every problem begins with inflation. COVID QE fucked it all up.