Sugar price

[For want of a better word]

Better price for sugar at jewsons.

Travis Perkins said they would match Jewsons price and deliver for free....
and have promised to throw in a whole French Bree cheese.. that makes a nutritious and tasty snack.......

 

[drstitson]

"The fact that £5 bags of sugar are £3.99 in Tesco makes going on a special trip to Costco not worth it in my opinion. Saving 13p a kg? If you had to make a 10 mile round trip you'd have to by more than 10kg just to pay for the fuel - let alone the extra time. When you also consider you can collect loyalty points at the supermarket and a 5p/litre of fuel voucher when you spend over £50, it just doesn't seem worth it... unless you're in the market for say 50+kg."

as with all price watching it's down to what you need, what the saving is and how much extra cost (travel and time etc) is involved.

Obviously the "easiest" option is to go for a first order discounted ocado delivery, with price matched to tesco, and possibly using one of those money back websites too.

Don't forget - the amount of sugar needed soon mounts up - even if you only have a couple of hives - 2 x 1 gallon fills of 2:1 is something like 12kg.

 

[drstitson]

"a whole French Bree cheese"

i'd watch it - sounds like one of those discounter knock-offs of a genuine product - might be ok, might even be better than real Brie, just be aware and factor that into your calculation.

Perhaps Wickes are offering a free chunk of Parmejiano Rejjiano this week for those who buy a decent chunk of foil covered sugar substitute!!!!!

 

[Norvic_chris]

OK, at the risk of being very boring, I wonder if anyone feels the same as me about imported cane sugar (T&L) versus locally grown beet sugar (e.g. Silver Spoon)? Partly because it's grown in the fields around me (and my bees, so supports my neighbouring farmers) and partly because in a small way it must be environmentally better than shipping it half-way round the world. So I'm prepared to spend a few pence more for that.

 

[drstitson]

 

[clv101]

...and partly because in a small way it must be environmentally better than shipping it half-way round the world.

I haven't looked in detail, but since the processing of beet sugar is very energy intensive it might not be better than the long distance shipping.

 

[Little John]

OK, at the risk of being very boring, I wonder if anyone feels the same as me about imported cane sugar (T&L) versus locally grown beet sugar (e.g. Silver Spoon)? Partly because it's grown in the fields around me (and my bees, so supports my neighbouring farmers) and partly because in a small way it must be environmentally better than shipping it half-way round the world. So I'm prepared to spend a few pence more for that.

So you're suggesting supporting a sugar-producing industry which, by their planting of hundreds of thousands of acres of none-nectar-producing sugar beet, helps to create the dearth of nectar which then requires beekeepers to feed sugar ?

Sugar cane is one of the principle cash crops of some poorer countries, and unlike bananas (say), sugar can be stored and so provide an all-year delivery product. Without the income from sugar, they'd be in a desperate financial situation.

Back in Britain, farming has become the province of corporate investment, especially pension funds, with land prices trebling during the last decade alone. And so the supporting of your 'local' farmer by buying his produce has become something of an urban (or rather rural ) myth. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23792583

LJ

 

[drstitson]

better beet than houses.

edit: don't forget the OSR one year in every 3-4.

 

[Reentrant]

...going on a special trip to Costco not worth it in my opinion.

I agree, obviously. But if you're planning to go anyway for lots of other stuff (as we were), or know someone who is, I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I haven't looked in detail, but since the processing of beet sugar is very energy intensive it might not be better than the long distance shipping.

It might be interesting to look into the energy requirements to process each ton of finished cane sugar in comparison with a ton of beet sugar. I suspect the major share of both will be in evaporation and crystallisation of the end product.

 

[clv101]

It might be interesting to look into the energy requirements to process each ton of finished cane sugar in comparison with a ton of beet sugar. I suspect the major share of both will be in evaporation and crystallisation of the end product.

Some interesting numbers here from Morocco: http://www.greenrationbook.org.uk/resources/footprints-sugar-production/

On production they are similar: "The inpututput energy ratios were 1:3.2 for sugar beet and 1:3.7 for sugar cane."

On the processing beet is way higher: "Total energy used in processing was 26.19 GJ/tonne white sugar (tws) from sugar beet and 3.02 GJ/tws from sugar cane. Direct energy in processing was 22.51 GJ/tws for sugar beet and 1.27 GJ/tws for sugar cane."

With the result: "Overall (production + processing) inpututput energy ratio was 1:1.5 for sugar beet and 1:4.2 for sugar cane. Overall analysis demonstrated that the production of sugar from sugar beet is more energy intensive than from sugar cane while the sugar cane requires larger inputs of water."

I suspect the difference between 1:4.2 and 1:1.5 dwarfs the additional transport cost from the tropics.

 

[peterbees]

Bookers are selling at £12.69 per 15 x 1kg = 85p per kg
or 25kg bags at multibuy price until 10th September, 2 bags for £35 = 70p per kg.

 

[Bee-Key-Pur]

Went into Bookers to buy sugar and a full pallet of 25 kg bags had been clipped on one corner, putting a small tear in all the bags on that corner. I spoke to the manager and offered to buy all the split bags at the right price and came away with 15 bags for £12 a bag.
It pays to ask...

 

[masterBK]

Just bought some sacs of British Sugar at Costco £16.99 for 25kg bag.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Went into Bookers to buy sugar and a full pallet of 25 kg bags had been clipped on one corner, putting a small tear in all the bags on that corner. I spoke to the manager and offered to buy all the split bags at the right price and came away with 15 bags for £12 a bag.
It pays to ask...

I had a similar but more convoluted experience at Bookers. Went to buy some sugar and spotted a damaged 25kg sack in their damaged specials display. They wanted £14.50 so even if it had lost a kilo when it split, it was still cheap, so I bought it.

When I got home, I weighed it and found there was only 18kg, which made it quite expensive damaged sugar. I sent an email to the store manager and explained what had happened and they sent me a £5 credit voucher, so it worked out at about 50p a kilo. Result!

 

[youngyoungs]

Where's good value at the moment? I'd like to stock up!

 

[flytrapman]

Bookers are selling at £12.69 per 15 x 1kg = 85p per kg
or 25kg bags at multibuy price until 10th September, 2 bags for £35 = 70p per kg.

I've just spoken to my local (Leigh) Bookers and was told that the 2 x 25 KG bags for £35 is on till November

 

[Dirksdonuts]

Costco still the cheapest at £16.99 for the 25 kg bags

 

[hiveabee]

75p at Pound stretcher, Preston today

 

[thorn]

86p a bag in Aldi.