Prices on every day groceries have more than doubled over the space of the last year or so according to recent findings from Which? and their food and drink inflation tracking system.
Last month, the consumer experts analysed information on over 25,000 food and drink products across eight leading supermarkets - including Aldi, Lidl, Morrison, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose and Asda - identifying the products with the highest levels of inflation.
They broke this down into percentage price rises - finding that everyday items like milk, meat and fruit found to contain the highest levels of inflation.
Read more: Food prices hit 45-year high despite inflation easing in the UK
The Mirror reports that own-brand products were also found to be massively affected, featuring heavily in most supermarkets’ lists. Back in February, the tracker found that the annual inflation of popular food and drink products was at 16.5 per cent across each retailer targeted.
Trackers also found that budget prices has risen by 22.9 per cent, own-brand by 19.7 per cent - while premium brands soared by 13.8 per cent and branded products saw a rise of 13.3 per cent. Furthermore, inflation with regards to vegetables rose to 13 per cent from 11.6, juice and smoothies from 13.4 per cent to 15.1 per cent, and cereal increased from 13.4 per cent to 14.6 per cent.
Items where the average price has risen the most were:
Asda Free From Special Flakes (300g)
- 2022: 62p
- 2023:£1.43
Waitrose Essential Italian Mozzarella Strength 1 (drained 150g)
- 2022: 80p
- 2023:£1.77
Morrison Free From Corn Flakes (300g)
- 2022: 60p
- 2023: £1.29
Sainsbury’s Hubbard's Foodstore Water (2L)
- 2022: 17p
- 2023: 35p
Tesco Creamfields French Brie (200G)
- 2022: 82p
- 2023: £1.65
Lidl Chene D'argent Camembert (250g)
- 2022: 99p
- 2023: £2
Aldi Nature's Pick Honeydew Melon
- 2022: 95p
- 2023: £1.70
Ocado however holds the exception, as it only includes branded items. At the supermarket, Which? found that Cadbury's Milk Tray (360g) saw the highest price surges from £4.21 to £7.81 - that's 86 per cent.
When Which? looked at inflation by each individual supermarket it found that while the discounters remain generally cheaper than bigger rivals, it seems they again have less room for flexibility when it comes to passing costs on to customers. Overall, Which? found that Lidl prices were up 24.4 per cent and prices at Aldi were up 22.7 per cent compared to February last year.
At Asda prices were found to be 17 per cent higher, at Morrisons it was 16.7 per cent, Waitrose was 14.2 per cent and Sainsbury's was 14.1 per cent.
Tesco and Ocado were found to have the lowest inflationary increases with a rise of 14 per cent and 10.3 per cent respectively.
Sue Davies, head of food policy at Which? said: “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. 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.
“Retailers must also provide transparent pricing so people can easily work out which products offer the best value.”
How much supermarkets have increased prices from 2022-23
- Lidl - 24.4%
- Aldi - 22.7%
- Asda - 17%
- Morrisons - 16.7%
- Waitrose - 14.2%
- Sainsbury's - 14.1%
- Tesco - 14%
- Ocado - 10.3%
Here's how the supermarkets responded -
An Asda spokesperson said: “We’re working hard to keep prices in check for customers despite global inflationary pressures and we remain the lowest-priced major supermarket – a position recognised by Which? in their regular monthly basket comparison which has named Asda as the cheapest supermarket for a big shop every month for the last three years.
"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.”
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.”
A Morrison’s spokesperson said: "This is an unprecedented period of inflation and we are working hard to keep prices down and competitive for our customers while maintaining high standards and availability in all our stores. We recently reduced the price of 1,000 popular products and remain committed to doing all we can to help when it comes to the cost of grocery shopping.
"Our Morrisons Easter Collector scheme is also now live for eligible My Morrisons members enabling them to receive a significant money-off voucher to spend at Easter if they meet the criteria and shop in the relevant weeks."
An Ocado spokesperson said: “At Ocado, everything we do starts with our customers and we know how important value is to them right now. We continue to support our customers by investing in price across branded and own-brand products.
"We've also recently introduced the Ocado Price Promise so customers can be sure they’re getting great value.”
A Waitrose spokesperson said: "Although no retailer is immune to inflation, particularly with dairy products comprising the majority of this basket, we've been working hard to keep prices as affordable as possible for our customers - and have already committed a record £100million to lower the prices on hundreds of everyday staples."
Aldi declined to comment to The Mirror, and Sainsbury's and Tesco have not yet issued a response.
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