We love cheeses, and trying all different types. The limitation being the price at Woolworths (& Coles) where we do most of our shopping.
Of late, it seems to me that the prices of all cheeses are escalating rapidly. Not too long ago it used to be possible to buy a range of cheeses in the low $20+/kg range. Now most cheeses start at he mid $30+/kg range. Therefore they have gone up by 50% in not too long.
There are also quite a few at the $50-$60+/kg range. Now they are definitely way out of our price range, so I can’t attest to whether they are that much better.
Aldi is cheaper, but their range is more limited.
Given the low prices dairy farmers are still getting for the milk, cheese just seems expensive to me.
I fully agree, there have been significant cheese price rises of late in Woolies… so it is near economic to start making my own again, using full priced local milk.
We have also witnessed the price rise at both Woolies and Coles, but not so much at the deli a few doors down that has been consistently about $10 kg less for Fromager d’Affinois products.
Considering the miserable state of the $AUD price increases for imports seem explainable.
FWIW most multinational companies, and subsequently their contracts, set an accounting xrate at the beginning of each year and they use it for their pricing and P/L. Some years they win and some they lose on the outright rates, which is why they usually hedge.
We buy the cheapest - Black & Gold - but indulge ourselves buying the longer aged version (they offer Mature & Tasty now about $1.15/kg difference). I have noted a price rise from $6.65 Sept to $7.91 Oct for 1kg blocks (B&G is never on special). It is something we buy regularly. I also noted the price difference between the two have been increasing, so that, when money is tight, we buy the cheaper one.
I have made my own, mostly soft cheeses, using Black & Gold UHT full cream milk (about $0.79 to $0.89/litre). I tried Haloumi - for 8 litres of milk it requires over a half kg of salt - that put me off - which produced more than we could handle, but still way cheaper than buying 125g packs.
As a treat (when on special) I have bought Brie/Camembert - it had a steep price rise about 4-5 years ago and I stopped buying, but now picked up Tasmanian Heritage Triple Cream Brie 125g on special at $4 (normally about $6+) in September and it was on special again in October at $3.75 - at the till they charged me $5, I remember the conversation … It’s a little store that employs juniors, they put the tickets up but don’t adjust the database, or, in the case of mark-downs, don’t cover the barcode so bread past its use-by at $0.99 gets rung up at full price $6.90, no unit pricing. The Brie was very good.
It is also worth noting that it takes about 10L of milk to make 1kg of hard cheeses, while soft cheeses require around 7-8L. In addition to be milk, there are processing costs, labour costs, storage and handling costs, marketing costs etc etc, however, on the plus side, cheese has a longer shelf life when stored correctly.
Historically milk for manufacturing would get a lower farm gate price than for milk sold as fresh milk…I am not sure if the same applies today.
