Every week when I go food shopping I try really, really hard to keep the cost under £100. Recently that hope has failed - and it feels like it is getting worse.
What once might have been a manageable £60 or £70 basket now rarely comes in under £100. Across the aisles, from dairy to meat and confectionery, prices continue to creep up - and it's hitting households hard. My eldest has gone to university so the shop has been reduced by one but the cost has gone up rather than down.
Standing at the till this week I was confident that it might have worked. I was shopping at Lidl, Which?'s current cheapest supermarket, there was not much meat, and I hadn't been lured by anything in the middle aisle. It even looked quite sparse in the trolley and it still came in at £102.75.
I decided to compare my digital receipts with the same time last year and the evidence was quite shocking. In November 2024 a shop of 66 products came to £100.20. The shop I did this week was 47 products for £102.75 and, while clearly it was a different set of products overall there are still noticeable differences.
A quick comparison to this time last year paints a clear picture of how much everyday essentials have risen. The four pints of semi-skimmed milk that is always in the shop has gone up by around 20p while a pot of yoghurt now costs 10p more.
A 500g packet of mince was £3.49 in November 2024 and is now selling for £5.29 - a sharp jump that's difficult to overlook. Even a bar of dark chocolate, often a small treat, has climbed from £1.99 to £2.39. Cheese too has seen an increase of around 30p.
These may sound like small rises in isolation but together they add up - and fast. For families shopping weekly that's several extra pounds each time they visit the supermarket. Over the course of a month the difference can feel like another bill to pay.
The battle to be named Which?'s cheapest supermarket each month is still important but prices are rising across the board.
Aldi's long hold on the title was broken for a month this summer and, after a back and forth, Lidl is once again in top spot.
Among the traditional supermarkets Tesco had been leading the way for a basket of 70 items but Asda is now cheaper, even if you use a Clubcard.
Asda is also still top when it comes to a fuller trolley. The longer list at Asda costs £469.11 making it cheaper than Tesco with a Clubcard by £7 (£476.11).
So why are prices still climbing? Economists attribute the continued rise in supermarket prices to a combination of global and domestic pressures.
It is being blamed on the cost of energy and transport while the cost of packaging also remains high, pushing up production costs for food manufacturers.
Labour shortages in farming and distribution have also played a part while extreme weather events across Europe have hit crop yields and dairy supplies. All of this feeds directly into the prices we see on supermarket shelves.
Although headline inflation has eased from last year's double-digit highs food inflation remains stubbornly high. According to the Office for National Statistics grocery prices are still increasing faster than wages, leaving consumers feeling little relief at the checkout.
The Bank of England continues to walk a fine line between tackling inflation and avoiding further strain on already-stretched budgets.
With the chancellor's autumn budget approaching attention is turning to what measures, if any, might be introduced to ease the financial burden on households. Analysts suggest the government may focus on targeted cost-of-living support, though expectations for major tax cuts remain muted amid pressure to control public spending.
Many shoppers are hoping for measures to ease the cost of living - whether that's through tax relief, support for energy bills, or policies to bring down food inflation.
Until then the weekly shop remains a stark reminder that prices are still rising faster than wages and that supermarket bill in excess of £100 may be here to stay. The once-manageable weekly shop has become a stark reflection of the broader economic pressures facing households - and a reminder that the cost-of-living crisis is far from over.