The price of this exact same food shop from 2022 to now will make you feel sick

While we all know the cost of living has gone up in recent years, it can be difficult to grasp the true extent.

According to the UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI), Brits now pay over 20% more for items on average than in 2022, but groceries have seen some of the steepest hikes.

Four years ago, TikTok creator Char took a trip to the supermarket to see if she could get a week’s food shopping for a tenner.

Although she went slightly over budget to £10.96, the resulting basket was enough to keep her going for seven days — albeit without any treats and not much by way of protein.

After coming across the clip again recently, Char detailed some of the bargains available back then, from 49p broccoli to a £1.25 pack of bacon steaks.

‘Your eyes do not deceive you,’ she said of the ‘mental’ prices, before going on to do a direct comparison against the same trolley of products today.

As you can probably imagine, the final bill comes in more expensive in March 2022 than it did in October 2026 — but you may be surprised by quite how much.

Some of the changes for individual items are particularly eye-watering. A 15-pack of eggs that cost just £1.18 in 2022 now sets Char back £2.85 — an increase of £1.67, or more than 140%.

Easy peelers have more than doubled in price too, rising from 69p to £1.50, while curly kale has jumped from 39p to 80p. Broccoli has also gone from 49p to 75p, and a bag of fresh greens has risen from 55p to 90p.

Not everything has shot up quite so dramatically, though. Chicken steaks, for example, are only 4p more nowadays thanks to Tesco’s Aldi Price Match discount.

All in, the total comes to £15.82, marking a £4.86 increase in just four years.

Although that may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, it equates to a 44.3% higher weekly grocery bill, or £252.72 extra a year providing you never add in any extras and the same prices are available every time you shop.

By contrast, average UK salaries have gone up by 18.9% over the same period — which, when inflation is factored in, means many have seen a real terms cut to their spending power.

A number of commenters shared their frustration at how much the cost of food has risen, including @snow_fairy23 who called it ‘greed gone supersize’.

’This is radicalising,’ wrote @aisforashleigh, while @cutewithoutthee said it ‘really makes the cost of living issues clear.’

’If only our wages could go up like this,’ added @nami75276.

Some also highlighted how many products had fallen victim to shrinkflation, or claimed they notice food seems poorer quality or rots faster these days.

Either way, Char’s comparison has clearly put the cat amongst the pigeons for shoppers, offering black and white proof that our money really doesn’t stretch as far as it once did.

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