With food prices sky high, it's no surprise that shoppers have been turning to cheaper products.
As households continue to struggle with rising bills, many are looking for alternatives to help keep the costs down.
But while big brands like Heinz have been in the spotlight for their price hikes, you may be surprised to hear that supermarkets' own brands and budget ranges have gone up more than premium and branded foods during the cost of living crisis.
Read more: Shoppers are losing their minds over new £1.79 Aldi snack
According to recent research from Which?, the first wave of data from its supermarket food and drink inflation tracker showed price hikes of up to 175% on everyday budget and own-brand products, compared with 88% for big brands.
One range that has soared in popularity is Asda's Just Essentials, a rebrand of its former Smart Price.
So much so that the retailer was forced to ration its products, preventing customers buying more than three of any one item.
Inevitably its prices have increased too and to see exactly how much they've gone up, I decided to repeat a big shop of mostly yellow label products from six months ago.
In September 2022, the full shop came to £50.87 and, impressively, was enough to feed my family of four for a week.
Now that same shop costs £64.02, an increase of 26%. Of the 57 Just Essentials products I bought from Asda's Trafford Park store, 35 have gone up in price, 14 of them by 25% or more.
Six items are up by at least 45%, with one of them - a 400g tin of chicken soup up by a staggering 87.5%, from 24p to 45p.
Pears have seen the second highest price hike, up from 45p to 70p, an increase of 56%, and tomato soup is up 50% too, from 30p to 45p.
Meat has taken a hit, with an eight-pack of pork sausages up by 46% from 96p to £1.40 and a whole chicken up 45%, from £3.19 to £4.62.
It's price rises within the Just Essentials range that are partly responsible for Asda's unfortunate position as 'most expensive supermarket' in our weekly comparison of all the main supermarkets.
In our price check of the same eight items, which we've been doing since last March, Asda has now been the most expensive since the end of January.
Last week shoppers criticised the supermarket for increasing the price of its Just Essentials 40-pack tea bags from 31p to 35p, saying they're already buying the cheapest of everything available and it's unfair to target those most in need.
One shopper told us: "If I had any money to spare then I wouldn't be buying the cheapest of everything there is. I buy Asda's Just Essentials range because it's cheap and it's all I can afford.
"I don't know how they expect us to keep paying more for things. It's the most basic stuff, not a luxury."
Another said: "We have cut back so much, over the last few months especially. There really is nothing else we can cut back on. It isn't fair to introduce a new budget range and then increase the prices when it's all people can afford."
Despite the complaints, few places are offering so many products at such low prices and 22 of the items on my shopping list have stayed the same price since I first bought them in September.
Even when some of the rises have been taken into account, they're still some of the cheapest available right now. A 500g pack of pasta shapes for instance, up from 35p to 41p, is the same price as Aldi and Lidl. Same with the 500g pack of spaghetti, at 28p.
And while that aforementioned chicken soup hike might seem extreme, at 87.5%, you'll struggle to find anywhere selling it cheaper than 45p a tin.
Perhaps prices were set unrealistically low when the range first launched to lure shoppers in - and given its popularity, it clearly worked. But when you can still fill a trolley full of items to feed a family for less than £65 a week, there's little reason to complain.
An Asda spokesperson: "We launched the Just Essentials By Asda range last year to provide customers with the option of getting all of their weekly essentials from the same low-cost brand range in all of our stores nationwide. We’re working hard to keep prices in check for customers despite global inflationary pressures and we remain the lowest-priced major supermarket – a position recognised by Which? in their regular monthly basket comparison which has named Asda as the cheapest supermarket for a big shop every month for the last three years.
"Last week we announced we would be freezing the prices of over 500 popular branded and own label products, more than half of which are fresh meat, dairy, fruit and vegetable products until the end of May."
Have you tried the Just Essentials range? Or do you buy a budget range from another supermarket? Have you noticed prices of the cheapest products increasing? Let us know in the comments here.
Full shopping list - prices September 2022 / March 2023 (% increase)
Chicken soup 400g 24p / 45p (87.5%)
Pears 500g 45p / 70p (56%)
Tomato soup 400g 30p / 45p (50%)
Eggs 15-pack £1.35 / £1.99 (47.4%)
Pork sausages 8-pack 454g 96p / £1.40 (46%)
Whole chicken 1.54kg £3.19 / £4.62 (45%)
Sultana scones 10-pack 49p / 65p (32.7%)
Vanilla ice cream 2L £1.02 / £1.35 (32.4%)
Cherry tomatoes 250g 50p / 65p (30%)
Bolognese sauce 39p / 50p (28.2%)
White potatoes 2.5kg x 2 £1.98 / £2.50 (26.3%)
Mild curry sauce 440g 28p / 35p (25%)
Potato pops 500g 72p / 90p (25%)
Strawberry cheesecake 375g 68p / 85p (25%)
Orange juice from concentrate 1L 69p / 85p (23.2%)
Apples 500g 65p / 80p (23.1%)
Mayonnaise 500g 49p / 60p (22.4%)
Spaghetti 500g 23p / 28p (21.7%)
Mild white cheddar 825g £3.65 / £4.40 (21%)
Beef mince with onion 650g £2.65 / £3.15 (18.9%)
Strawberry jam 454g 34p / 40p (17.6%)
Pasta shapes 500g 35p / 41p (17.1%)
Round lettuce 50p / 58p (16%)
Garlic bread baguette 170g 32p / 37p (15.6%)
Soft spread 500g 83p / 95p (14.5%)
Unsmoked back bacon 300g £1.25 / £1.40 (12%)
Chocolate & Nut Muesli Bars 6x23g 67p / 75p (11.9%)
Raspberry flavour mini rolls 6-pack 45p / 50p (11.1%)
Cooking Peppers 700g £1.35 / £1.50 (11.1%)
Milk chocolate 100g x 2 66p / 72p (9.1%)
Rice pudding 400g x 2 46p / 50p (8.7%)
Baked beans 410g 25p / 27p (8%)
Mini plain naans 4-pack 55p / 59p (7.3%)
- Easy peelers 600g 75p / 80p (6.7%)
- Corned beef £1.85 / £1.90 (2.7%)
- Peaches in syrup 411g 34p / 34p (0%)
- Chocolate mousses 6-pack 72p / 72p (0%)
- Fromage frais 12-pack 88p / 88p (0%)
- Self raising flour 1.5kg 58p / 58p (0%)
- No added sugar double strength orange squash 750ml 41p / 41p (0%)
- Variety flavour crisps 6-pack 82p / 82p (0%)
- Tortilla chips 180g 43p / 43p (0%)
- White rolls 6-pack 49p / 49p (0%)
- Brown bread 800g x 2 78p / 78p (0%)
- White bread 800g 39p / 39p (0%)
Rice 1kg 48p / 48p (0%)
- Gravy granules 200g 32p / 32p (0%)
- Wheat Bisks 77p / 77p (0%)
- Garden peas 300g x 2 48p / 48p (0%)
- Mushy peas x 2 50p / 50p (0%)
- Red kidney beans 400g 33p / 33p (0%)
- Tuna in brine 145g 55p / 55p (0%)
Chopped tomatoes 400g x 3 96p / 96p (0%)
Sausage rolls 480g 98p / 98p (0%)
Wafer thin cooked ham slices 400g £1.69 / £1.69 (0%)
- Chicken burgers 8-pack £1.50 / £1.50 (0%)
- Battered fish fillets 4-pack £2.35 / £2.35 (0%)
- Not from Just Essentials
- Skimmed milk 4-pint £1.45 / £1.65 (13.8%)
Carrots 1kg 48p / 50p (4.1%)
Chilli powder 44g 70p / 70p (0%)
Total was £50.87 / now £64.02 (26% increase)
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