Costs of cheapest items in supermarket rise by as much as two-thirds

The UK’s most squeezed households are seeing the price they have to pay for some of the cheapest food in the supermarket soaring by nearly two thirds, new data has revealed.

The price of the least expensive pasta that under-pressure shoppers can get has risen by 60% in the last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The cheapest vegetable oil on supermarket shelves has jumped by 65%.

Statisticians have collected more than a million prices from supermarket websites over the past year to compare the cost of the cheapest available produce.

It allows them to better understand the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on poorer households.

They said that the cheapest tea had risen in price by 46%, chips rose 39%, bread was up 38% and biscuits up 34%.

“While the recent spike in inflation began with energy prices, today’s fresh insights using a new innovative data source show they are now filtering through to other important items, with the cheapest price of some staple food items rising by around two thirds in the last year,” said national statistician Sir Ian Diamond.

Earlier this year, campaigner Jack Monroe called on the ONS to update the way it measures inflation to better understand what impact rising prices have on the poorest households.

Some items also decreased in price. Orange juice dropped 9%, and minced beef was down 7%.

The ONS also published separate data showing that 72% of people with prepayment energy meters are finding it difficult to pay their bills.

A survey also found that seven in 10 (69%) of black adults are finding it difficult to afford their energy bills, compared to just 44% of white adults. The survey showed that 59% of Asian adults were struggling with energy bills.

The figures show over half (55%) of disabled adults reported finding it difficult to afford their energy bills and around a third (36%) found it difficult to afford their rent or mortgage payments – compared with 40% and 27% of non-disabled people respectively.

“Figures from our near real-time survey of people show that while rises in food and energy costs are affecting many people across the country, those who are disabled, from certain ethnic minority backgrounds and renters are among those struggling the most,” Sir Ian said.

“With rises in the cost of living at the forefront of many people’s minds, our new, almost real time, data showing just how prices are changing and shining a light on how different groups are affected have never been more important.”