THE price of some of the cheapest food in the supermarket has soared by nearly two thirds since April 2021, new data has revealed.

The cost of the least expensive pasta that under-pressure shoppers can get has risen by 60 per cent in the last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The cheapest vegetable oil on supermarket shelves has jumped by 65 per cent.

Statisticians have collected more than a million prices from supermarket websites over the past year to compare the cost of the cheapest available produce.

Tivyside Advertiser:

It allows them to better understand the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on poorer households.

They said that the cheapest tea had risen in price by 46 per cent, chips rose 39 per cent, bread was up 38 per cent and biscuits up 34 per cent.

“While the recent spike in inflation began with energy prices, today’s fresh insights using a new innovative data source show they are now filtering through to other important items, with the cheapest price of some staple food items rising by around two thirds in the last year,” said national statistician Sir Ian Diamond.

Earlier this year, campaigner Jack Monroe called on the ONS to update the way it measures inflation to better understand what impact rising prices have on the poorest households.

Some items also decreased in price. Orange juice dropped 9 per cent, and minced beef was down 7 per cent.

The ONS also published separate data showing that 72 per cent of people with prepayment energy meters are finding it difficult to pay their bills.

A survey also found that seven in 10 (69 per cent) of black adults are finding it difficult to afford their energy bills, compared to just 44 per cent of white adults. The survey showed that 59 per cent of Asian adults were struggling with energy bills.

The figures show over half (55 per cent) of disabled adults reported finding it difficult to afford their energy bills and around a third (36 per cent) found it difficult to afford their rent or mortgage payments – compared with 40 per cent and 27 per cent of non-disabled people respectively.

“Figures from our near real-time survey of people show that while rises in food and energy costs are affecting many people across the country, those who are disabled, from certain ethnic minority backgrounds and renters are among those struggling the most,” Sir Ian said.

“With rises in the cost of living at the forefront of many people’s minds, our new, almost real time, data showing just how prices are changing and shining a light on how different groups are affected have never been more important.”