'My Asda Just Essentials big shop shows just how much the budget range has gone up'

With food prices sky high, it's no surprise that shoppers have been turning to cheaper products.

As households continue to struggle with rising bills, many are looking for alternatives to help keep the costs down.

But while big brands like Heinz have been in the spotlight for their price hikes, you may be surprised to hear that supermarkets' own brands and budget ranges have gone up more than premium and branded foods during the cost of living crisis.

Read more: Shoppers are losing their minds over new £1.79 Aldi snack

According to recent research from Which?, the first wave of data from its supermarket food and drink inflation tracker showed price hikes of up to 175% on everyday budget and own-brand products, compared with 88% for big brands.

One range that has soared in popularity is Asda's Just Essentials, a rebrand of its former Smart Price.

So much so that the retailer was forced to ration its products, preventing customers buying more than three of any one item.

Inevitably its prices have increased too and to see exactly how much they've gone up, I decided to repeat a big shop of mostly yellow label products from six months ago.

In September 2022, the full shop came to £50.87 and, impressively, was enough to feed my family of four for a week.

Now that same shop costs £64.02, an increase of 26%. Of the 57 Just Essentials products I bought from Asda's Trafford Park store, 35 have gone up in price, 14 of them by 25% or more.

Six items are up by at least 45%, with one of them - a 400g tin of chicken soup up by a staggering 87.5%, from 24p to 45p.

Pears have seen the second highest price hike, up from 45p to 70p, an increase of 56%, and tomato soup is up 50% too, from 30p to 45p.

Meat has taken a hit, with an