Family food bills to rise £1,000 a year

Families could be set to spend at least an extra £1,000 on food shopping every year, a new study has found.

The latest research from price-comparison website mySupermarket.co.uk shows that the price of a basket of food staples has soared by 21 per cent in the past 12 months.

This means that for a family of four spending an average of £100 a week on food, the price rise would add an extra £1,092 to the annual food bill.

The cost of 24 staples from Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda were assessed, including potatoes, orange juice, bananas and apples, as well as milk, a loaf of bread, rice and pasta.

Dairy and wheat-based products have seen the biggest price rises.

Johnny Stern, director of mySupermarket, said: “We would advise shoppers trying to stick to a tight budget to look out for better-priced like for like items and special offers within the supermarket you already shop at - there are significant and regular savings to be had to combat the crunch.”