Almost half of Britons have cut their spending on food because of rising prices, official statistics show.
Some 49% of people surveyed by the Office for National Statistics said they bought less food than usual between 22 June and 3 July.
This is up from 8% of respondents last September.
Another 48% said they were forced to spend more than usual on food shopping.
In total, 91% of the 2,300 participants had their say cost of living have grown over the past month.
Almost all said that it was due to higher food prices (95%).
Other reasons cited are the sharp rise in electricity bills (83%) and fuel prices (79%).
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The most common steps taken to combat this problem were spending less on essentials (reported by 62% of people), using less energy at home (53%), reducing unnecessary car journeys (46%) and shopping trips. more (38%).
The figures confirm reports from UK supermarkets that shoppers are under increasing financial pressure.
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Sainsbury’s said on Tuesday that its core quarterly sales fell 4%.
Tesco, the country’s biggest supermarket, said customers were buying cheaper own-brand products and making shorter, more frequent trips.
Last week, the American bank Citi predicted that by the beginning of next year, the growth of food prices will exceed 20%.
Inflation was 9.1 percent in May, and it is forecast to reach 11 percent this fall.
https://news.sky.com/story/cost-of-living-half-of-britons-buying-less-food-due-to-soaring-prices-data-shows-12648289
