Has food cost increaed massively?

They've been increasing fairly dramatically over a much longer timescale than just "a few months". I shop mostly at Lidl and it's been obvious for years that they have a policy of removing items from their shelves with no explanation, only to have them reappear not long afterwards either marked as "NOVO" (aka just the same as before but at a new higher price) or featured as a discounted item at the same price as previously (ie at a higher price once the "discount week" finishes).

They even pared 10% off their previous 30% discount for the initial price reduction on short-dated items; in contrast, Kaufland's initial discount is 40%..

To quote my AI Buddy:

In short, food inflation in Bulgaria surged dramatically during 2022 and early 2023, with rates well over 20% year-on-year, before slowing down sharply in late 2023 and 2024. The most recent figures show a lower, but still noticeable, rate of increase.

That last "lower increase" is "only" 6.1%!

@jeanmandredeix

Food prices have been increasing in every country. I have also noticed that you get a lot less for the same price. Have a look at the chocolate bars, they seem to be shrinking.

@jeanmandredeix
Food prices have been increasing in every country. I have also noticed that you get a lot less for the same price. Have a look at the chocolate bars, they seem to be shrinking. - @SimCityAT

Stop licking them then! 😎

AI Buddy again:

Bulgaria's experience with food price inflation in the past few years was significantly more intense than the Euro Area average and placed it among the countries with the highest rates in the European Union, particularly those in Central and Eastern Europe.

1. Comparison During the Peak (2022 - Early 2023):

Bulgaria's Peak: The annual food inflation rate exceeded 21% (December 2022).

EU Average: The Euro Area peak was much lower, around 15.5%.

Bulgaria was comparable to countries like the Baltic States and Hungary, which were hit hardest by global price shocks.

2. Comparison of Recent Rates (Late 2024 / 2025):

Although inflation has slowed across the entire bloc, Bulgaria's recent annual rate of 6.4\% (as of October 2025) is still more than double the EU average of 3.0\%.

This indicates that while the immediate crisis has passed, Bulgaria continues to experience relatively higher price pressures on food compared to most Western EU member states.

3. Impact and Context:

High inflation rates are especially impactful in Bulgaria because a much larger portion of the average household's budget is spent on food compared to the EU average.

The combination of high inflation spikes and lower average incomes means the cost of essential goods like food places a disproportionately severe burden on the Bulgarian standard of living.

In short, Bulgaria was one of the EU countries most exposed to the food price crisis, leading to high peak inflation, and it continues to maintain a rate significantly above the current EU average.

@jeanmandredeix

You're not wrong Jean. Over the last 3 weeks I have seen frozen berries rise from 6.99 to 9.99 leva & coffee beans rose by a staggering 20 leva!! I'm now sourcing coffee beans from Slovakia, as it's cheaper even with postage added! And that's  just a few examples.....

I'm now sourcing coffee beans from Slovakia, as it's cheaper even with postage added! And that's just a few examples..... - @Jules999

Would you mind sharing your coffee source? 🙂

Coffee is a strange one. Friends in the UK, have complained about the price, some cases its doubled in price.

The reason why its shot up, is because: (AI)

Coffee is more expensive due to a combination of factors including climate change impacting crop yields, supply chain disruptions, increased tariffs on coffee imports, and rising global demand. Droughts and other extreme weather in major growing regions like Brazil and Vietnam have reduced supply, while tariffs add extra costs to imports. At the same time, higher global demand outstrips the limited supply, pushing prices up further.

We tend to shop around anyway when doing our shopping, so when we see a good deal at a shop, we will buy a few packets and stock up.

@jeanmandredeix

Yes, prices have certainly increased.  Appears to be in conjunction with the introduction of the Euro in January.  Prices had gone up anyway, but even more do now.

You can save by picking the stores you shop at wisely and some have a loyalty card, which will get you offers and discounts.

The following have cards that I know about...

Billa

Burlekc

Others do too, but it will depend what city you're in or near.  I'm in Varna and we have 15 My Market stores, that gives a generous discount, using their card. I'm getting an average of 4 Leva off my shopping, every time I shop, so around 20 Leva per week.

Just present my loyalty card at the check out, before paying and the system works out the discount on the basis of what I've spent during the month.

@JimJ

No, of course not & even better to share delivery costs with a friend!

kava.eu

@Jules999

Thanks. 🙂

I'm not sure what coffee you drink but check out kaffeehenk.de, you might be able to find what you're after even cheaper.

And Amazon.de does have some good deals - with free courier delivery for orders over 49 euros 😎

@cyberescue1

It's got nothing to do with the Euro. Prices have just increased everywhere.

Prices have definitely risen sharply in Bulgaria, but this isn't recent. Shopping around can help reduce the cost -- fruit and veg at the Friday market doesn't have the same range as the supermarket but is far cheaper. I do hope prices stabilise, it's very hard for pensioners.

The other factor pushing up prices is supply issues due to the crop failures this year. In our region (Dobruja, the bread basket of Bulgaria) a hard freeze in spring killed all the fruit blossom and there's been literally zero fruit.  Then the drought drastically reduced wheat and sunflower harvests, pretty much wiped out the corn, and reduced everyone's veggie harvests. Reduced supply and increased demand will inevitably push up prices. A lot of things normally grown locally have had to be imported.

We've seen either price rises or shrinking sizes in the UK, too. Just a year ago I struggled to reach the 40 GBP minimum spend for an online supermarket delivery, now I struggle to keep an order under 60 GBP. Every week, at least one thing we regularly buy has gone up, and not just by a few p, prices on a simple lower cost item are jumping 20p or 50p at a time. Or the product size has shrunk. And sometimes both at once!

Is the US about to attack yet another country that is no military threat to the US, and has no serious ability to defend itself?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7810w37vwdo

The buildup of US forces off the coast of Venezuela suggests the bully nation might well be out to invade, or at lest destroy cities and kill civilians, again.

@Fred

My take on the situation is that it's just a show of force, playing on memories of what past US administrations have inflicted on other countries using false/incorrect intelligence. However, it's a mug's game trying to guess what a bunch of incompetents and third-rate brown-nosers led by a lunatic might actually do when all restraints are ignored.

What IS certain is that any invasion of Venezuela by the US will be playing straight into Chinese hands in regards to their claims of sovereignty over Taiwan. That would require the US to get off the fence when it comes to the policy of "strategic ambiguity" in its relations with Taiwan; whether Trump and his motley crew even know where the country is is a moot point, and reinforces the sense of disbelief that voters would seriously elect someone like Trump not just once but twice.

At the moment, it looks like the UK is preparing to stumble into the same kind of nightmare with the prospect of the clearly even more incompetent Reform taking over from the totally inept Labour government and its bumbling predecessor. I've always believed that universal suffrage is a terrible idea but I'm nonetheless sad to be proven correct.

It appears that the West as a whole have no real statesmen (or women) to lead us when we're in such dire need of them. Populists appealing to the basest thoughts and desires of their nations are the last thing we need in perilous times like these.

Oops. I posted on the wrong thread.🤣

However, the reply was excellent

I bought a crunchie bar the other day in Canary Wharf and nearly had a heart attack when I saw the cost. The world has gone crazy.

@jeanmandredeix
You're not wrong Jean. Over the last 3 weeks I have seen frozen berries rise from 6.99 to 9.99 leva & coffee beans rose by a staggering 20 leva!! I'm now sourcing coffee beans from Slovakia, as it's cheaper even with postage added! And that's just a few examples..... - @Jules999

Just out of interest, how much is Coffee in Bulgaria?

I bought a crunchie bar the other day in Canary Wharf and nearly had a heart attack when I saw the cost. The world has gone crazy. - @Zooldrool

How much?

@SimCityAT

That depends on the quality, the brand and the format (ie beans, ground, capsule etc)

@JimJ

Thanks, I'll take a look at that . I tried Amazon.de but they wanted to add a delivery charge, even the the value of the beans was above the minimum usually required, for free delivery.

@JimJ
Thanks, I'll take a look at that . I tried Amazon.de but they wanted to add a delivery charge, even the the value of the beans was above the minimum usually required, for free delivery. - @Jules999

You need to have a BG address registered and then select it as your delivery address before you search for whatever you want to buy, not forgetting to also select the Free Delivery option. 😊

We pay around €10 for 500g beans, for the middle-of-the-range quality, and quite often it comes down in price when you buy 2 together.

Gawd, back to the UK for Christmas and will have to drink instant   will need to find a cafe/bistro open that sells the proper stuff.

@SimCityAT

A jar of 200gr  Nescafe classic coffee granules which we buy for between 4.99 to 5.99 Euros in Malta costs roughly twice as much in BG . Tetley tea bags , as far as my eyes can see , non existent . We were astonished at how high food prices are over here .

21.59LVL.

11.04€

Not bad price for 1Kg at Lidl

@SimCityAT

As much as I wholeheartedly agree with your comparison , unfortunately my other half will not touch any other coffee than Nescafe even if its half the price !! As far as I am concerned  , coffee is just that , coffee .

@SimCityAT
A jar of 200gr Nescafe classic coffee granules which we buy for between 4.99 to 5.99 Euros in Malta costs roughly twice as much in BG . Tetley tea bags , as far as my eyes can see , non existent . We were astonished at how high food prices are over here . - @sammut115

It does?

https://tinyurl.com/483amcm5

@SimCityAT
As much as I wholeheartedly agree with your comparison , unfortunately my other half will not touch any other coffee than Nescafe even if its half the price !! As far as I am concerned , coffee is just that , coffee . - @sammut115

Hmmm, I'm not sure that I'd share either of those sentiments! 😁 In my eyes, there's coffee and then there's proper coffee - and I'm not convinced that Nescafé fits in either of those categories. However, "one man's meat..." 😎

@JimJ

I did! Most items I order from Amazon.de are free delivery over the minimum 40 odd euro mark, but it seems, not this particular coffee.

@JimJ
I did! Most items I order from Amazon.de are free delivery over the minimum 40 odd euro mark, but it seems, not this particular coffee. - @Jules999

You are clearly a person of exotic (and no doubt good) taste! 😎

@SimCityAT Dulce Gusto was €6.87 a box and similar prices for Davidoff. 200g jar of Jacob’s instant was €9.99 I think on special.