Ra 4 Food - Health and Nutritional Tips

A new report has revealed that staple food items have gone up by more then 14 per cent in the last twelve months.

The price comparison website, www.Mysupermarket.co.uk shows that a trolley of basics including bread, milk, cheese, mince meat, fruit and vegetables and rice costs 14.3 per cent more on 7 October than it did on the same day last year.

The website reports that the effect on consumers’ shopping bills will be colossal, at three times the rate of inflation. A family of four who had an average spend of £100 a week on shopping could expect to pay an extra £743 per year.

Director of Mysupermarket, Johhny Stern said,

“Shoppers are now paying 14.3 per cent more for their staple basket items than last October, a large increase. However, we are starting to see some good news. This is the smallest year-on-year increase we have seen since March 2008.”

He also added that another catalogue run by the website that checks the cost of every single item of food and beverage at the front running supermarkets Asda, Tesco and Sainsburys, shows an increase of only 3.6 per cent - well below the current inflation rate of 5.2 per cent.

Mr Stern continues,

“This figure can be attributed to the increase in special offers, the introduction of new, cheaper brands by the supermarkets and a fall in the price of some key commodities. Coffee, sugar and grain prices are finally falling.”

Data collected by the group has revealed that Sainsburys are responsible for the highest increases for a basket of essential goods - up by 19.3 per cent. Tesco follows with a rise of 13.3 per cent, then Asda at 11.2 per cent.

Specific foods with the highest increase in price include Basmati rice which costs between 93 and 119 per cent more between all three supermarkets, followed by frozen peas with an 85 per cent increase at Sainsburys and a 63 percent rise at Asda. Strangely frozen peas at Tesco have actually gone down in price.

Fusilli pasta has also seen huge increases, on average at 76 per cent, while mince meat is up 57 per cent.

In addition, basics such as bread, cheese, eggs and tea bags have also seen heavy rises in the past year.

It is not all bad news though, as some items are cheaper now than they were a year ago. For example Dolmio pasta sauce and Silver Spoon sugar cost less, while bananas are down 9 per cent.