Heinz has settled its differences with Tesco, and while the jury is still out on who’s won – and the sandwich spread was still out of stock – the path has been cleared to push through cost price increases across the board, including BBQ sauce (26%), spaghetti hoops (26%) and sandwich spread (15%).
But it’s not just packaged goods that are soaring: fresh produce like kiwifruit (32%), nectarines (28%) and potatoes (27%); frozen goods like peas (25%) and chicken dippers (15%); dairy products like Cravendale milk (25%) and stilton (17%), not to mention linguine (33%) and shaving foam (16%) – though on a positive note at least the price of Pringles has fallen (–12%).
In this maelstrom Asda was the best value supermarket again – though once again the £2.33 differential on its £65.89 basket versus Tesco was all but wiped by the £1.77 instant discount for Tesco’s Clubcard holders, leaving it just 56p more expensive.
Guest retailer Iceland came in third. At £69.78 it was £3.89 more expensive than Asda, but in the week that CEO Richard Walker admitted it was rowing back from previous sustainability promises due to the cost of living crisis, it was the retailer most impacted by inflation on our shopping, up 13.7% year on year.
In contrast Sainsbury’s had the least impact from inflation. Its prices were up just 3.4%, although it was still £4.08 more expensive than Asda at £69.97.
Across all retailers the cost of our shopping was up 7.7% year on year and 1.3% on last month.
Morrisons was a long way off the pace this week. It was £8.84 more expensive than Asda at £74.73. Like Iceland it struggled to keep a lid on inflation with prices up 11.1% on last year.
Upmarket retailer Waitrose was an even more distant sixth-place at £80.88.
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