Until now, the cost of living crisis has been most closely associated with energy bills - but soon food costs will overtake energy as the main inflation driver.
Food costs are set to overtake energy bills in driving up UK inflation this summer, a new report has warned, reports The Manc.
The report by the Resolution Foundation has found that the cost of living crisis - until now dominated by sky-high energy bills - will soon be driven by rocketing food prices, once again hitting poorer UK households the hardest.
According to the report, whilst energy prices have risen faster in the UK it is still food that makes up the largest share of a typical household's outgoings.
As a result, as food prices continue to rise whilst energy bills fall back this summer it is predicted that the cost of eating will become the biggest threat to people's finances.
Food prices have increased by 25 per cent over the past year and a half, greatly impacting the squeeze on living standards in low and middle-income households.
And now, grocery bills are expected to increase again over the summer.
According to the thinktank behind the report, it was not clear that politicians were currently prepared for another year of food price rises or that “policy debates have caught up with the scale of what is going on”.
Food price inflation reached around 19 per cent in March, the highest in almost half a century. As a result, the report asserts that food prices will be 'contributing far more than energy to CPI inflation through the remainder of 2023.'
The report said: "By this summer, food costs will have overtaken energy bills in the scale of the shock they are administering to family finances."
The Resolution added that it can also model the scale of the impact across individual households, suggesting that this summer 16 million households (56 per cent) will face a big shock when it comes to paying for their food.
The Bank of England governer Andrew Bailey told business leaders earlier this month that he was 'concerned' that food and other non-energy prices would remain elevated.
Typically, food prices in the UK fall in the summer as locally-grown crops replace those imported from abroad.
However, factory gate prices for milk, meat and other foods have accelerated, in some cases by more than 50% year on year.
The Resolution Foundation’s report, Food for Thought, says food prices are expected to contribute “more to overall inflation than energy” in the months ahead.
“Between March and September 2023, food prices are expected to contribute around 2 percentage points to inflation each month, while the contribution of energy prices is set to fall from 3 percentage points to less than 1,” the report estimates.
The cost to the nation from higher food prices since the 2019-20 financial year would be £28bn by the end of the summer, compared with an extra £25bn cost from higher energy prices, it added.
Lalitha Try, one of the report’s authors, said: “Everyone realises food prices are rising but it’s less clear that the scale of the increases has been understood in Westminster.”
“What rising food prices have in common with surging energy bills is that they pose a greater challenge to lower-income households, who spend a higher proportion of their income on food – 15%, compared with 10% for the highest-income households in 2019-20.
“As a result, the effective inflation rate for the poorest 10th of households was almost 50% higher compared with the richest 10th of households in March.”
Featured image - RawPixel
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Major plans announced for Leeds Christmas Markets 2026 – food, drinks, stalls and more
Leeds Christmas Markets is returning to the city centre in just two months' time and some major plans and changes have been announced.
Although Pop Princess Zara Larsson might want us to believe "Summer isn't over yet", it's safe to say that the recent downpours we've had across West Yorkshire disagree.
Leeds Christmas Markets are also ringing in the new season with a jam-packed video posted to social media announcing all the current plans and changes for its 2026 schedule.
This year, outdoor events company Thor’s Tipi are stepping up as the all-new operators of this Christmastime spectacular and are organising a celebration where 'even if you’re not from Yorkshire, you’re going to leave being from Yorkshire'.
Leeds Christmas Markets are returning to Leeds City Square from Thursday 19 November with plenty of Yorkshire-centric stalls / Credit: The Hoot Leeds
Although Leeds locals already know that Yorkshire is 'God's Own Country', the Leeds Christmas Markets team are making sure that the county is represented through its food, drinks and wider stalls.
In a video uploaded to its social accounts, foodie expert and Little Bao Boy Founder James 'Jimmy Chews' Ooi was given the honour of revealing all these exciting plans.
Informing everyone that "You best come hungry", Ooi noted that some of the phenomenal vendors taking part include La Grassa and The Savvy Baker.
Real Markets Yorkshire and Stump Cross Caverns are also getting into the Christmas spirit and setting up their own stalls at Leeds City Square this November.
La Grassa is just one of many familiar foodie faces returning to Leeds Christmas Markets / Credit: The Hoot Leeds
Rated restaurants and bars are contributing to the festive frenzy too, like Cabaret Thursdays at Italian restaurant Bibi's and beer garden destination Green Room are hosting singalongs at Leeds Christmas Markets.
There will be plenty of activities for families happening all around the unofficial capital of West Yorkshire like elf-themed scavenger hunts, various elves on various shelves and lots of live music.
If it wasn't apparent already, in the words of Jimmy Chews himself, there's about to be "So much Christmas that Mariah Carey is going to look like the Grinch".
Leeds Christmas Markets are returning to Leeds City Square from Thursday 19 November and there will be plenty of exciting announcements to the upcoming celebrations ahead of the big day.
Aldi has announced a ‘special’ 62-hour closure of all its 1,000+ stores across UK
Emily Sergeant
Aldi has confirmed it'll be closing the doors of all of its stores across the UK for 62 hours this year.
Christmas is always known to be one of the busiest periods of the year for the retail industry, and Boxing Day has a reputation for being the ultimate day for shopping deals and discounts in the UK - but this year, just like it has done on several years in the past, Aldi has made the decision to close all of its stores nationwide on this bank holiday.
The supermarket retailer says it wants to thank its colleagues 'for all their hard work' throughout the year by giving them some extra time to spend with their families.
This means that all Aldi stores will be closed on both 25 and 26 December.
That's not all though, as stores will also be closed on New Year’s Day, and will reopen once again on Saturday 2 January 2027.
Aldi has announced a 'special' 62-hour closure of all its UK stores / Credit: Aldi UK
Opening hours at different Aldi stores across the UK will vary in the lead-up to Christmas, so it's important to check the times for your local store, but the retailer has confirmed that most branches will be operating extended hours to 'ensure customers can stock up ahead of the big day'
In the interim period between Christmas and New Year, stores will reopen as usual on Sunday 27 through to Wednesday 30 December, with reduced hours also likely on Sunday and New Year's Eve.
Speaking on the decision to shut up shop for a full 62-hour period this festive season, Rachel Geary, who is the Communications Director at Aldi UK, said: "Christmas is a special time for our customers, but it is also one of the busiest periods of the year for our teams.
"Our colleagues work incredibly hard to ensure customers can pick up everything they need ahead of the big day.
"We never take that effort for granted. Closing our stores on Boxing Day is one way of saying thank you and giving colleagues a proper chance to rest, switch off and spend more time with the people closest to them."
The Hoot -
24th May 2023 
