Thursday 2 January 2014

Being ill on a budget

 
 
I guess it was inevitable that I'd come down with something over the holidays. It will take a few months for my immune system to get used to kiddie bugs again so once this nasty sucker dies off I'll be taking preventative measures.  But for now it's hot honey and lemon, cold and flu capsules and a cough syrup.


Because of the holidays everywhere has been closed so my supply of basic medicines was very run down.  I  popped out to the supermarket earlier and stocked up, all own brands of course.  But just to compare I made a note of the prices compared to the big brand names sitting beside them on the same shelf!

Cold and flu capsules £1.60 v £3.50 (Lemsip)
Paracetamol 25p v £1 (Nurofen)
Chesty cough syrup £1.30 v £4.20 (Benylin)
Sinus relief capsules 55p v £3.50 (Sudafed)
Ibuprofen 25p v £2 (Nurofen)

Huge savings so worth shopping around for good prices and always look at the label for the active ingredient.  If in doubt ask the pharmacist, they're very good at suggesting cheaper alternatives.

We're very lucky to have free access to medical care here in the UK and in Scotland everyone gets free prescriptions (although technically we pay our taxes for it) so being ill isn't a financial strain like it can be in other countries.

And just to point out on a legal note, you can only buy 32 tablets at a time.  I had to make 4 separate transactions to buy the above

2 comments:

  1. Here in France you cannot buy any non prescription remedies in a supermarket ( against the law!) Needless to say they are expensive, so most expats stock up when they visit the UK.
    Helen in France

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  2. Didn't know that Helen, although I know you can't take stuff with codeine in it into some countries

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