Do we get conned by supermarkets into thinking they are cheap?

I think so.

There are many things that we pay for without really questioning the price.

The worst case is petrol. We are brainwashed into thinkng that we need to keep filling up our cars at well over 50 pounds a time. The price keeps going up and we keep on buying it.

Some people think twice:

They use a cycle  - and keep fit at the same time. Distances like Dalton are quite manageable if you are going to work - I did it regularly whatever the weather with a change of clothes at work..

Share a shopping trip with a neighbour.

Grow your own veg in the garden or an the allotment you'll make good friends - and yes there are plots lying idle.

Buy in town on market day - on a bike. Prices are a third of prices in Booths which must be less than half the price at a Sainsbury - market stall holders sell veg that is just ready to eat at a fraction of the supermarket price - three aubergine for £1, four capsicum 80p, four lemons 50 p, celery  50p. bananas  70 p .

You don't have time - work part time from home buy a house that needs doing up or is small and extend/ renovate it.  I have friends both work part time three days per week and are raising three young children, two under three without over using a nursery. Out of work - borrow from a sympathetic local goverment (Labour) to build using timber frame construction as was done in Lewisham using the Walter Segal method of building with the whole group helping each other to build. Where there's a will . . . . . It can be done.

Other prices we accept without thinking - Cigarettes even rolling your own is expensive. Why smoke when it's such a killer?

Drinking alcohol don't buy in bulk - brew your own. Buy just one pint at £2:50 at the Stan Laurel on your evening out not four.

Clothes - good stuff at the charity shop.

Never buy new rubbish (from China) but secondhand qualityclothes from charity shops,  furniture - from Impact  and auctions (clothes even new - avoid designer labels but buy denim or quality tweed or similar that lasts twenty years) and especially buy 'out of date' electronic and gadgetty stuff - iphones, computers etc.

A bit of imagination and you can do it.