Food inflation soared to a record breaking 11.6% in October as basics like tea bags, milk and sugar saw significant price rises.
According to the retail trade association British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) NielsenIQ Shop Price Index, overall shop prices are now 6.6% higher than they were this time last year.
Fresh food prices are now 13.3% more than last October, up from 12.1% in September – and non-food inflation accelerated to 4.1%, up from 3.3% in September.
As millions of consumers are already skipping meals or choosing to not eat healthy to save money amid the cost-of-living crisis, supermarkets are doing what they can to protect families and households.
Iceland is offering frozen ready meals for 1p this week in an effort to help customers keep energy costs down, with shoppers able to put up to three ready meals in their online basket.
Additionally, Morrisons has teamed up with Heinz to give away free hot meals as UK households struggle with food price increases.
“It has been a difficult month for consumers who not only faced an increase in their energy bills, but also a more expensive shopping basket,” BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said.
She added: “Prices were pushed up because of the significant input cost pressures faced by retailers due to rising commodity and energy prices and a tight labour market.
“While some supply chain costs are beginning to fall, this is more than offset by the cost of energy, meaning a difficult time ahead for retailers and households alike.”
Head of retailer and business insight at NielsenIQ, Mike Watkins, commented that external factors are keeping shop price inflation at record highs and “the challenging economic conditions are significantly impacting consumer confidence and retail spend,” he said.
Watkins continued: “With pressure growing on discretionary spend across both non-food and food retail, delivering good value is the table stake in the battle for shopper loyalty over the next eight weeks.”
