Many of us feel we pay more every time we go to the supermarket. Penny pinching and price-watching are the order of the day for shoppers trying to eke out their weekly budget.
The Manchester Evening News is keeping watch on a range of basic items on sale at six main supermarkets. And this week it has spotted a new record with the bill for foods like bread, milk and meat now going into double figures at every store.
This is the first time they have all gone over the £10 mark since the newspaper began monitoring the situation in March. When they first started watching the six stores, Asda, Aldi, Lidl, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons, not one of them had reached that double figure.
The report checks out the same eight popular items every week. These are a two-pint bottle of milk, a loaf of bread, coffee, teabags, butter, beans, chicken breasts and mince.
It has found costs going up every week, with only last week levelling off when only one supermarket increased when Aldi putting the price of its 300g pack of two chicken breasts up from £1.99 to £2.09.
This week has continued in the same vein. Just one store has increased its prices - Lidl - which has followed in the footsteps of Aldi and increased its chicken to the same price.
This means there's not one supermarket left selling all eight products for less than £10. Lidl remains the cheapest of the lot at £10.01 and is followed closely by Asda at £10.02 and Aldi at £10.14.
We've then got Tesco's bill at £10.32, Sainsbury's at £10.44 - a reduction from last week as its budget coffee is now back in stock - and finally Morrisons, which is the most expensive at £10.81.
It's largely Morrisons' high meat costs that have put it in the bottom spot - with chicken now at £2.49 for a 300g pack and mince up to £2.19. Those prices are higher than any of the other supermarkets and the mince is 50p more expensive than the cheapest, which is Asda's new Just Essentials pack for £1.69.
The only slight difference in sizes found in our shopping was with the baked beans, which range from 400g in Sainsbury's and 410g in Asda and Morrisons, to the standard 420g in Aldi, Lidl and Tesco. And where Asda's pack of chicken is larger, we've worked out the equivalent price for a fairer comparison.
Here's the shopping list and total for each supermarket (as of Friday, July 1)
Lidl
Loaf of white bread 800g - 36p
Milk 2 pints - £1.05
Coffee 200g - £1.69
Teabags 160 - £99p
Salted butter 250g - £1.72
Beans 420g tin - 22p
Chicken 300g - £2.09 (up from £1.99)
Mince 500g 20% fat - £1.89
Total £10.01 (up from £9.91)
Asda
Loaf of white bread 800g (Just Essentials) - 39p
Milk 2 pints - £1.05
Coffee 200g (2 x 100g Just Essentials) - £1.50
Teabags 160 (4 x 40-pack Smart Price) - £1.12
Salted butter 250g - £1.75
Beans 410g tin (Smart Price) - 25p
Chicken (bigger 350g pack for £2.65) - equates to £2.27
Mince 500g 20% fat - £1.69
Total£10.02
Aldi
Loaf of white bread 800g - 36p
Milk 2 pints - £1.05
Coffee 200g - £1.69
Teabags 160 - £1.09
Salted butter 250g - £1.75
Beans 420g tin - 22p
Chicken 300g - £2.09
Mince 500g 20% fat - £1.89
Total £10.14
Tesco
Loaf of white bread 800g - 36p
Milk 2 pints - £1.05
Coffee 200g (2 x 100g) - £1.70
Teabags 160 (2 x 80-pack) - £1.10
Salted butter 250g - £1.75
Beans 420g tin - 22p
Chicken 300g - £2.25
Mince 500g 20% fat - £1.89
Total £10.32
Sainsbury's
Loaf of white bread 800g - 36p
Milk 2 pints - £1.05
Coffee 200g £1.69 (down from £2)
Teabags 160 - £1.09
Salted butter 250g - £1.75
Beans 400g tin - 21p
Chicken 300g - £2.40
Mince 500g 20% fat - £1.89
Total £10.44 (down from 10.75)
Morrisons
Loaf of white bread 800g - 54p
Milk 2 pints - £1.05
Coffee (2 x 100g) - £1.40
Teabags 160 (2 x 80-pack Savers) - £1.18
Salted butter 250g - £1.75
Beans 410g tin - 21p
Chicken 300g - £2.49
Mince 500g 20% fat - £2.19
Total £10.81
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