Price hikes continue to see lowest income homes hit the hardest
Our Cost of Living Campaign – Price Watch highlights the impact of rising bills on our readers
FOOD PRICES are at an all time high right now as inflation hits and the price of a weekly shop sky rockets.
In the 12 months to April 2022 research by the Office For National Statistics showed that food prices rose by around six to seven per cent, but we are here to help.
Lidl and Aldi continue to provide the cheapest weekly supermarket shop, closely followed by Asda then Sainsburys, Ocado, Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose.
The ONS research showed that some items showed increases of more than 15 per cent, while other items fell in price.
It was shown that the price of pasta increased significantly, with prices of crisps, bread, beef mince, rice, biscuits, fruit juice and frozen vegetables also showing a marked increase in price.
Prices of apples, sausages, chips, pizza, cheese and potatoes showed a decrease in price over the 12 months studied.
Highest price hikes were shown to be for beef mince, chicken breasts, pasta, vegetable oil, crisps and rice.
Over the same 12 month period the largest price fall was found to be for potatoes, cheese and pizza.
The most disadvantaged in society and those on the lowest incomes have been hit hard, as a greater proportion of their weekly budgets is now spent on the big supermarket food shop.
ONS found that if an item was £2 in April 2021 and rose to £2.20, the item index would increase from 100 in April 2021 to 110, reflecting a ten per cent price increase.
It has been found that larger proportions of the incomes of the bottom ten per cent of the population in terms of their incomes are needed for basic food and energy essentials.
When studying the price of 30 everyday items the ONS found that combining the lowest-cost items into an index shows that, overall, the prices of the cheapest items has risen since April 2021 in line with official measures of inflation.
Over the month from March to April 2022, ONS found that the items that saw the largest increase in the lowest price bracket were breakfast cereal (up six per cent), mixed frozen vegetables and vegetable oil (which both increased by five per cent).