Revealed: The everyday food items increasing fastest in price

The cost of living crisis continues to bite hard.

A relentlessly bleak cycle over the course of this year has meant 46% of UK households are now buying fewer items on their food shops, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data released on Friday.

This comes after Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation increased to 9% in April, a 40-year high. This rate is expected to rise further this year.

Meanwhile, food prices have risen by 6.7%, the highest rate since 2011. Here, Yahoo News UK sets out which items are soaring in price the most.

Which food items are going up in price the most?

According to the latest ONS figures, cooking products (particularly margarine, oils and fats), dairy (particularly milk and butter) and meat (particularly lamb) are among the staples with the highest price increases.

The price rises, for the 12 months to April, are demonstrated in this chart...

Overall, 12 staples have now increased by 10% or more.

It comes against a backdrop of shoppers increasingly switching to budget supermarkets Lidl and Aldi as bills soar.

The two firms saw sales grow by 6% each over the 12 weeks to 15 May, according to research from analytics firm Kantar.

Meanwhile, it emerged last week that the cost of the cheapest available items from retailers’ budget ranges have increased by as much as 50% (though budget ranges overall are increasing in price at the same rate as standard food ranges).

Research, again from the ONS, found the cost of the cheapest 500g pack of pasta at a UK supermarket in April was 53p, a 50% increase from 36p a year earlier. The price of the cheapest possible 800g loaf of bread rose by 16% to 54p.

Watch: Cost of living is 'top priority' for government - minister

There were also notable increases in the cheapest available minced beef (16%) and rice (15%) products.

As energy and fuel bills also spiral, economists this week warned it is likely more financial support will be needed for households to get through the winter, despite chancellor Rishi Sunak's £21bn package announced last month.

The measures include a £400 grant for all households in October, when Ofgem's latest energy price cap rise comes into force. This could see the average annual energy bill rise to £2,800, up more than £800 from when the last rise occurred in April.

Read more: Johnson warns of ‘wage-price spiral’ if pay packets rise with inflation

Stephen Millard, deputy director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, told a House of Commons select committee on Wednesday: “My gut feeling is that the package announced will not be enough and it will have to revisited in the autumn budget.

“With energy prices and food prices rising, for the country as a whole we will take a real income hit.

“The main issue is where that hit falls on the poorest members of the society, who spend more of their incomes on heating and food – it will be important to come back again and support those households in the Autumn budget.”