A reporter compared the cost of 13 everyday grocery items from 2022 to today and found some items have increased by more than 50%
The cost of living crisis could potentially escalate due to the war in the Middle East. The conflict, sparked by American and Israeli strikes against Iran, has raised concerns that food, energy and petrol prices may once again soar.
This wouldn’t be the first time these three essentials have increased over the past four years, with events such as the Ukraine war and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic significantly affecting our spending power.
With this in mind, we decided to examine just how much things had changed by comparing the prices of 13 items in 2022 to their current costs. To do this, we selected 13 items from a 2022 shopping list, chose a branch of popular supermarket Aldi, and sent one brave reporter to do some grocery shopping.
Our findings illustrate just how much certain food prices have fluctuated over the last four years.
Price changes
The steepest price increases were seen in the easy peelers and the diet lemonade. The easy peelers’ price jumped from 72p to £1.75, an increase of 58 percent, reports the Express.
Meanwhile, the two-litre diet lemonade rose from 23p to 49p.
Further down the list, other significant price hikes were observed in the red onions, packet of four salmon fillets, and strawberry jam. The red onions saw a 29 percent increase from 67p to 95p, whilst the everyday essentials strawberry jam rose by 36 percent from 31p to 49p.
Four salmon fillets saw a 35 percent increase from £4.40 to £6.85. In addition to vegetables, fizzy drinks and condiments, pasta and bacon also experienced double-figure price increases. A 500g bag of penne pasta now costs 21 per cent more than it did in 2022 (41p vs 32p) whilst spaghetti now costs 30 per cent more (33p vs 23p).
Regardless of whether your bacon is smoked or unsmoked, 1kg of it now costs £1 more than it did in 2022 (£4.69 vs £3.69) which represents a price rise of just over 19 per cent. Whilst we have used Aldi in our test sample, there have been price rises across the board, with more anticipated to come.
Overall, whilst the price rises were not unexpected, I was astonished by how much some of the products had increased, such as the easy peelers and the spaghetti.
Full breakdown (June 2022 vs March 2026)
- Everyday Essentials Red Onions: 67p to 95p (+29.4%)
- Everyday Essentials 4 Salmon Fillets: £4.40 to £6.85 (+35.76%)
- Everyday Essentials clear honey 340g: 72p to 99p (+27.27%)
- Everyday Essentials easy peelers: 72p to £1.75 (+58.85%)
- Everyday Essentials smoked bacon 1kg: £3.79 to £4.69 (+19.18%)
- Everyday Essentials unsmoked bacon 1kg: £3.79 to £4.69 (+19.18%)
- Everyday Essentials blueberries 125g: 99p to £1.09 (+9.17%)
- Everyday Essentials strawberry jam: 31p to 49p (+36.73%)
- Everyday Essentials penne pasta 500g: 32p to 41p (+21.95%)
- Everyday Essentials white grapes: £1.24 to £1.89 (+34.39%)
- Everyday Essentials red grapes: £1.24 to £1.89 (+34.39%)
- Everyday Essentials diet lemonade 2 litres: 23p to 49p (+53.06%)
- Everyday Essentials spaghetti: 23p to 33p (+30.30%)
- Total Spend June 2022: £18.65
- Total Spend March 2026: £26.51
- Average percentage price increase: +31.51%
More to come?
However, I am also worried by the price rises to come because of the Middle East conflict. How will the below table look in three to six months’ time?
The concern over food prices has been on most people’s minds since the latest war in the Middle East began. And the Express recently revealed that there are 11 foods expected to rise as a result.
“Global conflicts, along with climate change, are causing food shortages, supply chain issues and price spikes in the UK and beyond,” said Jim Mellon, an investor and Chief Executive of Agronomics. Meanwhile, retail analysts at Omnisend said that oil and gas prices will make the transport of goods more expensive, which will eventually be reflected in the final price displayed in shops.
