The WORST Supermarkets For Price Hikes Revealed
Prices across the main UK supermarkets have tripled in the last two years.
Doing your weekly food shop has got even harder on a budget thanks to the cost of living crisis and prices drastically increasing. If you’re finding it harder to make cutbacks thanks to the rising prices, you’re not alone as many household favourites have almost tripled over the last few years.
Now, new research from Which? has analysed over 21,000 popular food and drink products to track this inflation. Looking at products from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Asda, Waitrose, Aldi, Lidl, and Ocado the research compared the price from now to what it was two years ago, and the price change is shocking.
What food categories are the most expensive to buy?
The research from Which? showed that milk, cheese, and bakery items are some of the worst contenders for inflation across the 8 supermarkets.
| Food Category | Inflation % from June 2021-2023 |
| Milk | 37.2% |
| Cheese | 35% |
| Water | 33.4% |
| Butter and spreads | 32.6% |
| Bakery | 30.3% |
| Cakes and cookies | 30.1% |
| Crisps | 29.7% |
| Juices and smoothies | 29.6% |
| Yoghurts | 27.6% |
| Biscuits | 27.2% |
| Savoury pies and quiches | 26.4% |
| Carbonates | 25.9% |
| Meat | 23.6% |
| Cereals | 23.5% |
| Enery drinks | 23.3% |
| Energy drinks | 23.1% |
| Fish | 22.9% |
| Vegetables | 21.6% |
| Vegetabes | 18.8% |
| Fresh fruit | 14.8% |
What products are most expensive to buy?
| Brand | Supermarket | Average cost 2021 | Average cost 2023 | % Difference | Item |
| Mr Kipling | Sainsbury’s | £1.00 | £2.75 | 175% | Bakewell slices |
| Mr Kipling | Ocado | £1.00 | £2.54 | 153.6% | Bakewell slices |
| Mr Kipling | Tesco | £1.00 | £2.49 | 148.6% | Bakewell slices |
| Own label | Morrisons | £0.49 | £1.19 | 142.9% | Morrisons Italian Mozzerella |
| Own Label | Asda | £0.93 | £2.25 | 141.9% | Free From Soft Cheese Alternative |
| Weser Gold | Lidl | £0.68 | £1.49 | 120.6% | Orange Juice |
| Stork | Ocado | £1.05 | £2.30 | 119% | Stork baking spread butter alternative |
| Own Label | Morrisons | £0.99 | £2.14 | 115.9% | Morrisons special flakes |
| Own Label | Asda | £0.62 | £1.50 | 141.9% | Asda free from special flakes |
| Own Label | Asda | £0.62 | £1.35 | 117.7% | Unsweetened soya drink |
| Own Label | Asda | £1.15 | £2.53 | 120% | Camembert Cheese |
| Own Label | Lidl | £0.79 | £1.85 | 132.4% | Chene D’argent Brie |
| Own Label | Sainsbury’s | £0.17 | £0.38 | 123.5% | Hubbards Foodstore Water |
| Own Label | Sainsbury’s | £1.94 | £4.28 | 120.6% | Pork loin steaks x4 |
| Own Label | Morrisons | £0.95 | £2.09 | 120% | Greek feta |
The research shows that own-brand labels and vegan and free-from products are some of the most common that have been impacted by inflation. Bakery, dairy, juice, and cereals are some of the most commonly impacted categories, all of which are staples in most people’s weekly shop.
Aldi, Lidl and Asda were revealed as the worst offenders for hiking up their prices, which may come as a surprise as these supermarkets are known for being the budget and more affordable supermarkets. This means that for those that rely on shopping at the budget supermarkets such as Lidl, you may not be saving much more than if you shopped at Sainsbury’s instead.
However, many supermarkets have also reduced the cost of items such as bread in recent months. Data from Kantar showed that grocery inflation has dropped to 16.5% in June down from 17.2% in May, so prices are changing all the time.
