# Scandalous Bread Prices In The UK **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 15, 2001, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455 "2001-08-15T22:15:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455/1 "2001-08-15T22:15:51Z")
This from ‘The Sun’ recently: ‘The world’s worst paid footballer, Ivan Badaluta, 23, wants to leave Romanian club CSM Resita because his 16p\* a month buys only one loaf of bread a week.’ \*US=24c Aus=47c Bread in my local supermarket costs about 48p\* per loaf and I want to know how this lucky fellow can get his for 8.3% of the UK price. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455/2 "2001-08-15T22:21:10Z")
Well, given your username it might please you to know that you have to pay upwards of $3.00 in the US for anything but balloon bread. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455/3 "2001-08-15T22:42:12Z")
With Dopers such as Anal Scurvy around, you can’t afford to take usernames at face value. I hope. $3.00 sounds high. What’s balloon bread? ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455/4 "2001-08-15T22:52:18Z")
Balloon bread is the featherweight, squishy white stuff that’s mostly air. Do you have WonderBread over there? The three dollars is for substatial, whole grain stuff, but that’s the only kind worth eating, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455/5 "2001-08-15T23:04:06Z")
I haven’t seen WonderBread on sale here, but I’m not an expert in bakery products. Apropos, 48p (74c) buys you a standard sliced loaf at 800 grams. I don’t eat this very often. Whole grain bread will you set you back a lot more, but we need loaf weights to ensure we are comparing like for like. I will conduct an in-depth analysis of available bread on my next visit to the supermarket. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455/6 "2001-08-16T01:17:20Z")
Firstly don’t believe everything (anything?!) you read in the Sun. (For the benefit of our US hosts, the Sun is like a down-market National Enquirer.) Secondly I live in the English countryside (cheaper prices?) and a 400g loaf costs me 89p (Warburton Sliced White). Shurely shome mishtake … ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2001, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455/7 "2001-08-16T02:20:01Z")
The copy of ‘The Sun’ was underneath my fish ‘n’ chips. And the piece was repeated in ‘The Times’. To be specific: Supermarket location: Stow-on-the-Wold (25 miles north east of Cheltenham). Loaf in question: Tesco Own Brand ‘Stay Fresh’ white bread, medium sliced (new foil bag), 800g. Price: 48p. Place your order? ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455/8 "2001-08-17T11:48:51Z")
Perhaps your footballer is on an unusual deal like Sol Campbell, who I think is not getting a signing-on fee, but instead just a massive salary. Maybe the Romanian had a large signing-on fee? Or perhaps not. 🙂 As for bread, I’m going down my local Tesco, here in Oakham, Rutland. I’ll keep you posted… ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455/9 "2001-08-17T15:35:32Z")
I am always interested in Bread Price Trends, who isn’t, but I’m glad someone has mentioned the footballer at last. I suspect the truth of this story because 16p a month doesn’t sound very much, even if Bread Prices in Romania seem to be a bit on the low side. Still, I hope Sol Campbell et al read this. These sportsmen are living in a world of their own if they really cannot manage on £80k per week. I love football but dislike the players. I really do hope that one day all the sponsors disappear into the ether and players are forced into doing something for a more realistic return. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455/10 "2001-08-17T18:12:05Z")
Just checked some bread I had in the pantry, plus looked online at balloon bread prices at [http://www.peapod.com](http://www.peapod.com) My location: Boston MA My bread: Pepperidge Farm 7 Grain, sliced 24oz US$2.89 So that’s approx 675 grams, at US$0.0042 per gram Balloon bread: Wonder Sandwich Bread 20oz for US$1.99 570 grams, at US$0.0035 per gram Someone else will have to do the monetary conversion for me. Is this cheap or expensive? Thx. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455/11 "2001-08-18T23:38:44Z")
My local Tesco supermarket was offering 3 800g own-brand White sliced for £0.99 in total. (They did have better bread at higher prices). This is 800g for £0.33. I make that £0.0004125 per gram. It’s late here - is my maths right? ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455/12 "2001-08-19T05:41:48Z")
My brother-in-law bakes my bread for me when he does his weekly family baking. All it costs is a few compliments and some appreciation shown. StG ---
**Author:** ![Corrvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@Corrvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corrvin)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455/13 "2001-08-19T06:30:22Z")
Geez, where are you people shopping…I think Glee is the only person paying about what I do. Bread here ranges from the 45 cents a loaf (1 pound, 450 or so g) to the “really good” stuff for which I cringe and pay $1.50 for a pound and a half (680g). That’s…um… 0.001 cents per gram for the cheap crap, 0.002 cents per gram for the decent stuff. Hm. Doesn’t seem like much of a difference. I make 6.9 loaves of good bread per hour. It takes me 41 work-hours to pay my rent. A paperback book at the new bookstore is 45 minutes of my working time; a hardcover or non-fiction book can be 2- 2 1/2 hours. Also, with one hour of my working time, I can purchase 2 1/2 pounds of chocolate and one tube of generic pimple medication (which I would need after 2 1/2 pounds of chocolate). Anybody feel like giving average or typical guesstimates for the living wage in Britain compared to these prices? I’d think that’d be better than trying to convert grams to pounds and pounds to cents. Corr ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-bread-prices-in-the-uk/76455/14 "2001-08-19T11:31:17Z")
There’s some price comparisons in this AC Nielsen report from last year: [http://www.ost.gov.uk/cp/ipc/ipr.pdf](http://www.ost.gov.uk/cp/ipc/ipr.pdf)