Cost of living crisis: Hundreds of supermarket products more than 20 per cent pricier over last two years

Hundreds of supermarket products have increased in price by more than 20% in just two years, with fewer budget supermarket-own products and discounts available too. In cases where the price increases have been less steep, the size of the product itself has shrank significantly, according to research from Which?, based on the analysis of 21,000 groceries.

This comes as a cost of living crisis hits the UK, with factors such as the Russian-Ukraine war, the soaring price of oil, and Brexit make food more and more expensive for consumers.

Fizzy drinks saw the biggest average price rise at 5.9%, followed by butter (4.9%), energy drinks (4.8%) and milk (4.6%). Groceries with the lowest inflation included chocolate (1.4%), fresh fruit (1.6%), biscuits (1.8%) and vegetables (1.9%).

Which analysed the prices of more than 21,000 groceries over two years, comparing their average prices at eight major supermarkets, including Tesco and Asda, between the start of December 2021 and the end of February 2022 with the same period two years previously. It found that the price of 265 groceries soared by more than a fifth at the same time as the availability of supermarket discounts and budget ranges – upon which consumers are increasingly relying – fell.

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The costs of some products rose by even more than 20%, reported Which.

Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes Cereal 500g - price up by 21.4% at Tesco

Asda’s 250g Own Label Closed Cup Mushrooms - price up 21.4%

Cathedral City Extra Mature Cheddar 350g - price up by 21.1% at Ocado

The study also found that across different supermarkets there have been fewer discounts, limited availability of own-label budget