On their YouTube channel, British duo Archie & Josh often try out strange challenges, such as running a marathon at Heathrow or playing a bad pop song a million times on Spotify. However, their latest video has shocked the UK: the purchasing power crisis. In no other Western country does this issue dominate the political agenda so much.

As more and more Belgians crossed the border with France this year to save on their shopping baskets, the YouTubers ran a test: could we book plane tickets to another country, buy all the products from the UK index basket and take them with us? flight home and still cheaper? out in UK stores? To their great surprise, it actually worked.

The duo booked flights to “the cheapest place to visit in Europe”, namely the Polish city of Poznan. Poland is also famous for its low prices in supermarkets. Prices for food and non-alcoholic drinks have been around 30 percent lower than the European average over the years, with only Romania scoring slightly better in the EU. In 2019, the year before Brexit, the UK was still 6 percent below European standards.

At British Lidl, the only chain active in both countries, Archie and Josh paid 164.47 pounds (190 euros) for a full basket of products that the government uses to calculate inflation rates. For the same loaded cart in Poland they pay only 96.75 pounds (112 euros). Adding the return flight, overnight stay, local transport and 20 kilograms of luggage on the return flight, the final bill was still 11.14 pounds (13 euros) cheaper than the UK shopping basket.

To Daily Mail Josh Pieters told Josh that the video “is not a tip for people to save money.” The duo primarily wants to tackle inflation and the “ridiculous situation we find ourselves in.” In March this year, the inflation rate for food and non-alcoholic beverages reached a peak of 19.2 percent, which was the highest figure in the last 45 years. In September the figure was still 12.2 percent, in Europe only Serbia and Hungary were worse.

“Things are so expensive nowadays that it’s cheaper to get on a plane, fly to another country and buy the same basket of things,” says Pieters, who is also surprised that meat, fish or dairy products can be found without much effort. .in a (transparent) bag on the plane to England. This is no longer allowed as of 2021.