Yahoo Finance Cost of living: Prices of pasta and tea soar as inflation bites
The price of food staples such as pasta, tea, chips and cooking oil has soared over the past year, hitting family budgets as the cost of living crisis continues to bite.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Tuesday, the lowest-priced items have increased in cost by around 17% over the 12 months to September. This is an increase from 7% over the 12 months to April.
The price of the cheapest vegetable oil on the shelves climbed 65% higher last month compared with a year ago, while pasta rose 60%.
Tea also climbed 46% last month, while chips rose 39% and bread and biscuits by 38% and 34%, respectively.
“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,” Sir Ian Diamond, chief executive of the UK Statistics Authority, said.
Read more: UK inflation: Food and energy bills to cost more than 50% of your pay
It comes as UK inflation currently stands at a 40-year high, with prices up 10.1% in a year. Meanwhile the war in Ukraine has exacerbated the prices of global wheat prices, which affects the price of pasta and bread.
Meanwhile, orange juice, minced beef, granulated sugar, and rice were among the few items that had fallen in price over the past 12 months. Orange juice dropped 9%, and minced beef was down 7%.
The ONS started taking a closer look at the figures after food poverty campaigner and activist Jack Monroe warned that poorer families were being hit by faster increases in prices of value items.
She argued in January that the standard measure of inflation that “includes a leg of lamb, bedroom furniture, a television and champagne seems a blunt and darkly comical tool” for poorer households struggling to make ends meet.
But the ONS said on Tuesday: “Crucially, these large rises in the cheapest available items are broadly in line with the average food price rises reported within the ONS's regular headline inflation measures.”
It also noted that the data is “highly experimental” – they obtained it by scraping supermarket websites and the methodology is still being updated.
Read more: FTSE slips lower as Rishi Sunak prepares to take over as UK prime minister
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.
Myron Jobson, senior personal finance analyst at Interactive Investor, said: “Those on the breadline struggle most with rising food prices as they spend a greater proportions of their incomes on food and drink than those further up the income spectrum.
"With many of us opting against receiving receipts at self-checkouts, it is difficult to keep track of price rises – supermarkets aren’t likely to shout about upping prices. It is also hard to notice price increases and budget for them when they go up in small increments over a stretch of time rather than a sudden jump."
He added: “It is interesting that more of us are turning to own label products to reduce the grocery bill, but the cost benefits of switching to lower priced store brand equivalents wane when prices are rising across the board.
“The headline grocery price inflation figure can dramatically differ from your own personal inflation number. As such, and it is worth keeping tabs on your spending habits to get a better idea of the goods and services that are eating most into your budget, and where you could cut back.”
Watch: How does inflation affect interest rates?
