Food inflation falls, but some groceries still soaring in price

The prices of soft drinks and juices are rising faster than any other type of supermarket groceries. 

While our supermarket food and drink inflation tracker shows overall grocery prices are rising at their lowest level in two years, there are many products which are far more expensive now than a year ago.

We analysed the prices of more than 26,000 food and drink items at eight major supermarkets to see how different products are being affected.

Read on to find out which food and drink types have been hiked by the most eye-watering amounts, and which are actually falling in price.

Drinks rising the most in price

We looked at the prices of popular groceries at eight of the UK's largest supermarkets – Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose – and found overall year-on-year inflation was 3% in May 2024.

But that headline figure disguises some big variations between different types of groceries and supermarkets, as well as differences between budget and premium groceries. 

Energy drinks had the highest average annual inflation at 6.6%, followed by bottled water at 6.2%, fizzy drinks at 5.5%, and juice drinks and smoothies at 5.3%. 

Here are some of the worst examples: 

• Essential Pure Orange Juice (1 litre) from £1 to £1.80 at Waitrose – up 80%
• Stamford Street Co orange juice from concentrate (1 litre) from 85p to £1.50 at Sainsbury's – up 76%
• Pure Orange Juice and Pure Orange Juice with Bits (1 litre) from £1.01 to £1.75 at Sainsbury's – up74%
• Coca-Cola Zero Sugar (1 litre) from £1 to £1.65 at Asda – up 65%
• Orange Juice Smooth Carton (1 litre) from £1 to £1.65 at Asda – up 65%.

Other groceries with big price rises

Overall, the individual item with the highest price rise was actually a packed of biscuits. Chocolates, sausages and beef mince were also among the worst: 

• Lu Strawberry Barquette Biscuits (120g) from £1.45 to £3 at Ocado – up 107%
• Krakus Zywiecka Polish Cooked and Dried Pork Sausage (286g) from £1.81 to £3.35 at Morrisons – up 85% 
• Prestat Chocolates & Truffles Assortment (210g) from £17 to £30.54 at Ocado – up 80%
• Taste the Difference North Highland Beef Mince 12% Fat (500g) from £2.85 to £5 at Sainsbury's – up 76%.

All prices are averages for the three months to the end of May 2023 vs the same period in 2024, and include regular discounts but not multibuys or loyalty prices. 

The tracker also showed the prices of own-label budget groceries rising much faster than those of standard own-label groceries, branded or premium versions. 

• Find out more: Which? food price inflation tracker.

Is any food getting cheaper?

The good news for shoppers is that some groceries are actually getting cheaper. The average price of milk overall was 0.8% cheaper in May 2024 than in May 2023.

And the average price of butters and spreads as an overall category was 3.5% less. That included:

• Yeo Valley Organic Spreadable Butter with Rapeseed Oil (400g) from £4.69 to £3.06 at Waitrose – down 35%  
• Anchor Slightly Salted Spreadable Butter with Rapeseed Oil (400g) from £4.22 to £3.09 at Waitrose – down 27% 
• Willow Original Spread (250g) from £1.50 to £1.10 at Tesco – down 27% 
• Yeo Valley Organic Unsalted and Salted Butter (200g) from £3.27 to £2.40 at Waitrose – down 27%
• Yeo Valley Organic Salted Butter (200g) from £3 to £2.25 at Asda – down 25%.

Butters and spreads saw huge price rises early in the cost of living crisis, with annual inflation peaking at 30.6% in November 2022. Since then their inflation rate has steadily been dropping. 

• Find out more: how to spend less at the supermarket.

How do the supermarkets compare? 

There are some big differences in inflation at different supermarkets. 

Sainsbury's has the highest inflation at 5.9%. Aldi has the lowest at -0.8%, meaning it's the only supermarket where the products in our tracker are, on average, actually cheaper than they were a year ago. 

All prices include regular discounts, but not multibuys or loyalty prices, which may explain Sainsbury's higher inflation because this time last year it had fewer Nectar prices than it does now. 

• Find out more: which is the cheapest supermarket?

Which? food and drink tracker

Our tracker looks at 20 popular categories of food and drink at eight supermarkets — Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose. 

It compares average prices across the same three-month and one-month periods year-on-year, including discounts but not multibuys or loyalty card offers/prices. 

It was launched in December 2022 and saw inflation peak at 17.2% in March 2023. Since then, it's been steadily dropping.

Figures are weighted based on supermarket market share and the sales volume of each product category.