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Daily Record

Lifestyle

Rachel Williams

'I repeated my Home Bargains grocery shop and found that almost half the items had increased in price'

Home Bargains Rachel Williams Asda Heinz

The cost of living crisis continues to bite at our bank accounts and, if there is one place that you'll notice it more than others, it is when you are doing the weekly food shop.

Over the past year, we have heard how rising inflation rates has forced costs to increase across a number of grocery staples, including pasta, olive oil and butter. With costs continuing to increase across the board, many shoppers have been switching up their shopping habits in a bid to keep their bills down.

I was one of those shoppers who began to think of alternative ways that I could get in my grocery shopping for less, which is exactly why I decided to head into Home Bargains earlier this year for my food shop.

And, while the discounted retailer is well-known for providing low costs across a range of homeware, electricals, kids toys and toiletries, I was genuinely surprised by how much they offer for the weekly food shop. From fresh and frozen items to cupboard essentials and dry goods, the retailer offers almost as much as a supermarket would offer.

Naturally, with food costs beginning to soar even further since then, I decided to repeat my Home Bargains food shop that I bought back on March 15 this year - five months ago.

The same basket of items had increased in total (Rachel Williams)

Heading back to my local Berryden Retail Park branch at the weekend, I went in with the intention of picking up all the exact same items that I purchased on my previous shop. I will say here that there were only two items that I struggled with, which was a packet of three salad peppers and my Hovis Best of Both loaf of bread. I had to forego the peppers with this shop, as there were none in stock, and I substituted the bread for a very similar Roberts 50% wholemeal + 50% white loaf.

Nevertheless, out of the 16 items that I purchased during my previous shop, I found that 7 of them had actually increased in price, which was almost 50% of my entire shop. A further 8 items had stayed the same as they did back in March.

An in-store promotion on Heinz Soup had increased by £1 (Rachel Williams)

I did notice that the price increases were mainly across the main shopping essentials, which included milk, bread, eggs, soup, rice, chicken and grapes. Most of the price increases were under £1, with most of the increases across the items ranging between 20p to 36p.

However, the biggest increase I seen was actually on an in-store promotion on Heinz soup, which had increased by £1. The previous deal let me pick up 4 tins of soup - two tomato and two chicken - for just £3, whereas it had increased to £4 this time.

Most of the increases were across shopping staples, such as milk and bread (Rachel Williams)

Other price increases included a 1L bottle of Graham's Milk up by 26p from 79p to £1.05; a 750g loaf of bread up by 20p from 79p to 99p; a 500g packet of grapes up 30p from 85p to £1.19; a carton of six free range eggs up 34p from 85p to £1.19; microwavable rice up 36p from 49p to 85p; chicken breast fillets (450g) up 10p from £2.19 to £2.29.

Overall, the entire cost of the shop had seen an increase from £18.29 to £19.70, which was still under £20, so I must admit that it is not a total that I am upset with. That being said, the price increases still make the same shop 7% more expensive that it was back in March. Even with this shop being one item less, as I couldn't grab the peppers, the overall total was still over £1 more than my previous shop due to the amount of increases.

While it may not seem like the biggest rise in prices, especially when compared to other supermarket prices, I will admit that I was still shocked at the amount of items that were more expensive than they were just five months ago. Just to give you an idea on the price increases and what I bought, I have detailed all of the shopping just below.

7 out of the 16 items had gone up in price (Rachel Williams)

I am also keenly aware that these prices only reflect my local Aberdeen store, which was based in the Berryden Retail Park, and may not reflect any other stores. It is always worth checking out your local store for their own prices, as these could vary from store to store.