I’m sure most of us have noticed that the price of our weekly or monthly food shop has increased. Well, it turns out that the cost of some everyday groceries has more than doubled over the last year, according to consumer brand Which?.
Which? found a range of everyday items – including milk, meat, and fruit – on each supermarket’s list of groceries with the highest inflation rate. They said own-brand products were particularly hard-hit and also featured heavily on lists.
The company analysed inflation on more than 25,000 food and drink products at eight major supermarkets – Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose.
The research looked at the average price of the products in the three months to the end of February 2023 compared to the same time period last year.
Data revealed that prices increased most at budget supermarket Lidl, followed by Aldi, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and then Ocado.
Annual inflation of popular food and drink was found to be at 16.5% across the eight retailers in February. In particular, inflation on vegetables, juice drinks, smoothies, and cereal rose.
According to the consumer brand’s food and drink inflation data, the average price for Asda’s Free From Special Flakes (300g) increased by 129%, rising from 62p to £1.43.
Meanwhile, Waitrose’s Essential Italian Mozzarella Strength 1 (drained 150g) rose from 80p to £1.77, a 121% increase.
You might want to avoid buying cereal from Morrisons as Morrison’s Free From Corn Flakes (300g) rose significantly from 60p to £1.29 (115%).
Whilst Sainsbury’s Hubbard’s Foodstore Water (2L), Tesco Creamfields French Brie (200g), and Lidl’s Chene D’argent Camembert (250g) also more than doubled in price.
“Worryingly our tracker shows that some everyday essentials have more than doubled in price over the last year – with cheaper own-brand items particularly hard hit,” Sue Davies, Which? head of food policy said.
“Supermarkets need to step up and ensure everyone has easy access to basic, affordable food ranges at a store near them, particularly in areas where people are most in need.”
However, the supermarkets aren’t in agreement with the findings.
A Lidl spokesperson said: “We are extremely concerned that since the launch of this ‘tracker’ Which? has consistently chosen to publish information that we, and other retailers, have confirmed to be incorrect.
“This includes data for products that we do not even sell,” they added.
Whilst an Asda spokesperson said they’re working hard to keep prices in check for customers despite global inflationary pressures, they’re still the lowest priced-major supermarket.
“We recently announced we would be freezing the prices of over 500 popular branded and own-label products, more than half of which are fresh meat, dairy, fruit, and vegetable products until the end of May,” they shared.