Scandal of strugglers hit hardest
I WOKE up one morning last week to the radio, where the presenter was talking about the cost of living rising a further 5%.
But the Retail Price Index (and Consumer Price Index) that they use for this calculation grossly underestimates the real cost of inflation as it happens to people with the least.
This time last year, the cheapest pasta in my local supermarket (one of the Big Four), was 29p for 500g. Today, the cheapest pasta is 70p for 500g.
That’s a 141% price increase – and it hits the poorest and most vulnerable households the most.
This time last year, the cheapest rice at the same supermarket was 45p for a kilogram bag. Today it’s £1 for 500g. That’s a staggering 344% price increase.
I could go on and on: curry
sauce was 30p, now it’s 89p – a price increase of 196%.
A bag of small apples was 59p, it’s now 89p - and the apples are even smaller!
When I started writing my recipe blog ten years ago, I could feed myself and my son Jonny on £10 a week. The exact same shop now costs £17.11 from the same supermarket.
The system by which we measure the impact of inflation is fundamentally flawed – it completely ignores the reality and the REAL price rises for people on minimum wages, zerohour contracts, foodbank clients, and millions more.
For as long as I can remember, my local supermarket had more than 400 items in their value range, now it’s just 87.
And the boss of Iceland admits it is losing customers not to competitors, but to foodbanks and to hunger.
That is a phenomenally terrifying thing when even the budget supermarkets are too expensive.
More than anything, the Government needs to listen and be held to account.