The cost of your food shop is expected to hit a new record high for the average household, according to latest figures.
Research company Kantar has revealed that consumers are set to pay £571 more this year for their groceries compared to last year.
Only in August, the same market researchers found consumers were facing a grocery price inflation of £533, meaning it has increased by £38 in just a matter of weeks.
This also means most household grocery bills are going to jump from £4,610 to £5,181, unless shoppers start to change their buying habits.
Head of retail and consumer insight at the research company, Fraser McKevitt, then suggested that “there’s no end in sight” to grocery inflation rates, as the cost of living crisis continues to squeeze the UK.
What are the most expensive foods to buy right now?
Kantar’s research claims categories like milk, butter and dog food are rising at the fastest rates.
Milk has increased in price by 31%, butter by 25% and dog food by 29%.
Previous research from the ONS – released in August – found that bread, cereals, milk, cheese, meat and eggs were all increasing the most in price for Brits.
What’s driving this?
The cost of living crisis has seen prices jump across the market, mostly because energy bills have increased so dramatically and businesses are having to pass the additional costs onto consumers to avoid going under.
Since the energy price cap was first substantially increased back in April, inflation has been soaring – it’s currently at 10.1%.
But food inflation rates are even higher than the increase in pricing for most products, as it’s at 12.4% now.
This is a substantial increase from the previous month, when food inflation rates were at 11.6%.
In the meantime, pay is not increasing at the same rate – meaning households budgets are becoming more and more stretched.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has found that real pay decreased by 3.9% year-on-year, when inflation is taken into account.
It also pointed out while unemployment numbers have fallen to the lowest rates since 1974, total weekly hours worked still remains below pre-pandemic levels.
Are people changing their habits?
The data suggests people are changing how they shop in response to growing pressures from the cost of living.
For instance, discount shop Aldi has become the UK’s fourth largest supermarket for the first time ever, according to Kantar, while its sales have increased by 18.7% in the 18 weeks leading up to September 4.
Lidl, similarly known for its budget prices, increased its sale by 20.9%, too (its strongest sales performance since October 2014) and it is the UK’s fastest-growing supermarket.
The research suggests sales of the very cheapest own-label value products have soared by 33% as well in the last year – and one in four shopping baskets have at least one of these lines in there.
Spending on own-label lines was £393m higher during the last four weeks as well.
McKevitt claimed: “In what is a fiercely competitive sector, supermarkets are reacting to make sure they’re seen to acknowledge the challenges consumers are facing and offer best value, in particular by expanding their own-label ranges.”