The cost-of-living crisis in Britain is not just about energy

The rising price of food is also affecting shoppers, supermarkets and suppliers

A customer retrieves a shopping trolley outside a J Sainsbury Plc supermarket in London, UK, on Friday, June 24, 2022. The Office for National Statistics said Friday the volume of goods sold in stores and online fell 0.5% in May, as soaring food prices forced consumers to cut back on spending in supermarkets. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Sep 8th 2022

Asked in august what was behind the rising cost of living, 82% of adults blamed gas or electricity bills. But even more, 96%, blamed higher food prices. Although food is a smaller proportion of household budgets than energy, people pay for it frequently and visibly rather than via direct debits that they might not watch closely. Overall food prices were 12.8% higher in August than they were a year earlier; suppliers and shoppers are slowly adjusting their behaviour.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Eat up”