People across the UK have been hit with the news that the cost of living is on the rise in recent months.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that 66 per cent of adults surveyed saw their cost of living increase, which is definitely enough to make us feel a little worried.
In the past month alone, two-thirds of UK adults have seen their cost of living increase as energy bills soared over the winter. And price hikes have even hit the supermarket shelves.
READ MORE: We've worked out how much it costs to live in Bristol - and it isn't cheap
Many of the big supermarkets have warned that prices are on the rise as they deal with increased costs.
Tesco said its costs are increasing by around 5 per cent annually, meaning that prices were currently up around 1 per cent for shoppers.
Groceries have been seeing huge hikes and in December it was estimated that they were rising 1.3 per cent month on month, according to Consumer Price Index - that's the highest rate of growth since 2012.
Some of the biggest cost increases have been seen in bread and cereals, meat, vegetables and potatoes, as well as rising oil and transport costs, and grocers are experiencing rocketing commodity increases.
However, budget retailer Aldi has made a firm promise to shoppers that its prices will be as low as ever, and remain the country's cheapest supermarket.
Giles Hurley, Aldi UK's chief executive, said: "As we look ahead, the top priority for most families this year will be managing their household budgets in the face of rising living costs.
"As the cheapest supermarket in Britain, Aldi will always offer the lowest prices for groceries, no matter what, and continue to support our British farmers and producers."
So, we decided to head down to Aldi to see if this is actually the case.
Last year, we took on the challenge of seeing how far £10 gets you when doing a weekly shop at Aldi, and despite having to sacrifice on some favourites we did manage to buy the basics such as milk, bread and of course biscuits.
The full shopping list, which came to £10.06:
Easy cook rice 1kg - 89p
Penne pasta 500g - 39p
Green pesto - 69p
Cookies - 25p
Semi skimmed milk 2 pints - 80p
Cheese pizza - 66p
Sliced white bread - 45p
Chopped tomatoes - 37p
Kidney beans - 45p
Royal gala apples - £1.09
Baked beans - 29p
Tinned sweetcorn - 37p
Mackerel fillets - £1.69
Bran flakes 750g - 65p
Tomato soup - 35p
Salad - 57p
Total = £10.06
Have prices increased?
I visited my local Aldi store on Fishponds Road, one I have visited many times, to see if there had been an increase in prices almost a year on. It was a little out of the ordinary having to hunt for such particular items.
I usually enjoy strolling down the aisles, picking up whatever catches my eye and browsing the magical middle aisle for things I don't actually need.
However today I had come with a task. So green pesto and mackerel fillets were on my shopping list, despite the fact they're definitely not my favourite things to eat.
I grabbed my basket and got to filling. In went some pasta and pesto - any university student's favourite combination.
I then picked up a bag of Aldi's sweet salad, which I noticed was still priced at 57p. So far so good.
I had my list jotted down in my notes app and was closely looking at the costs of the items - analysing any increases.
Penne pasta was one of the steepest rises with a 10p cost difference for the same size bag, seeing the price go from 39p to 49p; which doesn't seem like much but it all adds up. There was also a fairly steep increase on the cheese pizza - an increase of 33p - and the semi skimmed milk, up 15p.
Another thing to note is that the pesto was on offer, giving shoppers a 4p saving - however the standard price is the same as last year's.
Bran Flakes weren't available so I picked up the next cheapest thing - Aldi's version of honey cornflakes which were 20p more expensive.
I carried on adding items to my basket, managing to get everything on the list - apart from sweetcorn which was out of stock. I noted down the price instead which still stood at 37p.
I headed to the tills, quite excited to see the results of my all important price comparison.
The cashier was on top form and scanned my items through in record speed and whilst I fumbled to get them into the bag she announced "£10.68". Not bad I thought - noting that the sweetcorn would have taken it to 11.05 - a £1.01 increase from last year.
However, on reflection - although £1.01 doesn't seem like much of a rise it is around 10 per cent of my total cost. If this increase stayed the same for a larger shop the cost difference would be more noticeable.
This was the cost of all of the items that I picked up:
Easy cook rice 1kg - 95p (up from 89p)
Penne pasta 500g - 49p (up from 39p)
Green pesto - 65p on offer reduced from 69p (same price)
Cookies - 29p (up from 25p)
Semi skimmed milk 2 pints - 95p (up from 80p)
Cheese pizza - 99p (up from 66p)
Sliced white bread - 36p (up from 45p)
Chopped tomatoes - 39p (up from 37p)
Kidney beans - 49p (up from 45p)
Royal gala apples - £1.19 up (from £1.09)
Baked beans - 32p (up from 29p)
Tinned sweetcorn - 37p (same price)
Mackerel fillets - £1.79 (up from £1.69)
Cornflakes - 85p (up from 65p)
Tomato soup - 40p (up from 35p)
Salad - 57p (same price)
Total: £11.05
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