Cost of living: The most popular branded foods that have soared in price over the last two years
Some of the UK’s most popular branded foods have soared in price over the last two years – with a range of items now costing double, according to new research.
An investigation by Which? looked at 79 branded items, comparing prices at six major supermarkets (Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose) over a 30-day period from 21 September to 20 October in both 2020 and 2022.
Aldi and Lidl were not included in the study because they did not have enough comparable items.
The latest on the cost of living
Out of the items on their shopping list, Heinz Tomato Ketchup – the squeezy top down one (460g) – saw the biggest average percentage increase overall, going up by 53% (91p) across the six retailers.
However, in one retailer it had gone up as much as 70%, an increase of £1.06.
The second biggest average percentage increase on the branded products included in Which?’s list was on Dolmio Lasagne Sauce (470g) which went up by 47% or 61p across the six supermarkets in the two years.
In one supermarket, the price increased by as much as 107% – or £1.09.
One of the biggest leaps took place with branded butter. Anchor Spreadable butter tub 500g went up by £1.31 (45%) on average across all six supermarkets over the two-year period.
Meanwhile, Lurpak spreadable slightly salted tub 500g saw an average increase of £1.17 (35%).
The spread hit the headlines earlier this year after it was found a pack costs more than £7 in some supermarkets.
Twinings of London Everyday 100 Tea Bags had the sharpest individual increase in absolute terms at one supermarket – an extra £2.33 (64%) in 2022 compared to the base price in 2020. Across the six retailers the tea bags went up on average 64p (17%).
But branded products are not alone in seeing price rises – the price of low-cost everyday goods increased 17% in the 12 months to September, more than the average rate of food and drink inflation.
The figures, based on web-scraped supermarket data for 30 everyday grocery items, showed the cost of items had already increased 7% in the year up to April.
Over the past year, tea went up by 46%, chips by 39%, bread by 38%, and biscuits by 34%.
Overall, grocery inflation sits at 14%, with households facing a £643 hike in their average annual bill.
Sue Davies, Which? Head of Food Policy, said: “Our research shows the shocking rate of inflation on some of the nation’s favourite branded foods, which is much higher than the national average, and highlights why it is so important for retailers to provide people with a choice of product ranges.
“Supermarkets must ensure budget lines for healthy and affordable essential items are widely available across their stores including smaller convenience stores. Promotions should be targeted at those most in need and people supported so they can easily compare the price of products to get the best value.”
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It comes as data found last month that millions of households were skipping meals or struggling to put healthy food on the table.
Around 85% of people in the UK are spending less on food shopping as a result of the cost of living squeeze, most commonly by looking out for items on promotion, research by consumer group Which? suggests.
Among the 9% who said they are finding it “very difficult” to get by, half said their household was skipping meals, as did a quarter of those who are finding the current situation quite difficult.
See which prices have gone up or down with Sky’s spending calculator. The latest inflation figures are due to be released tomorrow. which could see a further rise in household favourites.
The 30 branded products with the biggest price rises:
Heinz Tomato Ketchup Sauce – Top Down 460g (53%)
Dolmio Lasagne Sauce 470g (47%)
Heinz Classic Cream Of Chicken Soup 400g (46%)
Dolmio Bolognese Original Pasta Sauce 500g (46%)
Anchor Spreadable Butter Tub 500g (45%)
Heinz Cream Of Tomato Soup 400g (44%)
Colman’s Classic Mint Sauce 165g (44%)
Colman’s Horseradish Sauce 136g (44%)
Batchelors Super Noodles Bbq Beef Flavour 90g (43%)
Hovis Granary Wholemeal 800g (43%)
Sharwoods Butter Chicken Simmer Sauce X 420g (39%)
Cravendale Semi Skimmed Milk 1000ml (38%)
Sharwoods Balti Cooking Sauce 420g (38%)
Sharwoods Korma Sauce 420g (38%)
Lurpak Spreadable Slightly Salted Tub 500g (35%)
Hellmann’s Real Squeezy Mayonnaise 750ml (35%)
Muller Corner Vanilla & Banana Chocolate Balls & Flakes 6x130g 780g (34%)
McCain Home Chips Straight Cut 1000g (34%)
Birds Eye 10 Original Potato Waffles 567g (33%)
Green Giant Salt Free Naturally Sweet Sweetcorn 198g (30%)
Dr. Oetker Ristorante Mozzarella Pizza 335g (30%)
Birds Eye Frozen Garden Peas 375g (28%)
Cathedral City Extra Mature 350g (26%)
Walkers Cheese & Onion Crisps 6X25g 150g (26%)
Pukka Pies All Steak Pie 209g (26%)
Magnum Almond Ice Cream 4 x 100ml 400ml (26%)
Hovis Soft White Thick Bread Loaf 800g (24%)
McVities Biscuits Ginger Nuts 250g (22%)
Hovis Soft White Medium Bread Loaf 800g (22%)
Cif Power And Shine Bathroom Cleaner Spray 700ml (22%)
Anthony Joshua missed out on the chance to become a three-time heavyweight world champion after he was stopped by British rival Daniel Dubois in the fifth round.
Dubois, 27, knocked down Joshua towards the end of the opening round with an overhand right to the 34-year-old’s chin.
The IBF heavyweight champion then dropped Joshua at the end of round three and twice in the fourth.
A right hook ended the fight with a knockout for Dubois’ first defence of the title.
The fighters went toe to toe at London’s Wembley Stadium in front of a record 96,000 fans.
The 34-year-old was knocked down four times in the opening four rounds, and knocked out in the fifth. Pic: Reuters
Daniel Dubois became IBF champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the title. Pic: Reuters
‘We came up short’
Minutes after retaining the IBF championship, Dubois shouted to the crowd “are you not entertained?” before saying: “I’m a gladiator, you know?
“I’m just a warrior to the bitter end. I’m just ready to go. I want to go to the top level of this game and reach my potential. God bless you all.”
Joshua said the loss would not stop him from rebuilding despite admitting “we came up short”.
“You know I’m ready to kick off in the ring, but I’m going to keep my cool, keep very professional, and give respect to my opponent,” he said.
“I’m always saying to myself I’m a fighter for life… We keep rolling the dice. I had a sharp opponent, a fast opponent and a lot of mistakes from my end, but that’s the game.”
Dubois’ victory has sent a message to the whole heavyweight division
Daniel Dubois will feel like he has fulfilled his destiny here at Wembley. His father has trained him to be a champion boxer since he was tiny.
He held the IBF belt, but he has gone in there tonight and defended it in spectacular fashion – he is now in every conversation going forward.
What now for AJ? Can he face rebuilding? And will he even want to?
The Wembley ring walk is notoriously long, and Dubois looked nervous – but so did Joshua, who has done this many times before in front of a full house.
Perhaps he was thinking of what was at stake – the chance to be a three-time heavyweight champion of the world.
But 27-year-old Dubois holds the belt and was keen to prove he was a worthy champion quickly.
Many wondered if Dubois would freeze on the biggest stage: Question asked and answered emphatically.
It was a crushing defeat for Joshua – most were not expecting such a one-sided victory.
Dubois will now most likely take on the winner of Fury v Usyk 2 for all the belts. But the manner of his victory has sent a message to the whole heavyweight division.
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Hearn: AJ will want rematch
Promoter Eddie Hearn then said “it was the first round” where Joshua lost, “after that he was fighting on heart and desire”.
Hearn added: “When you are in there with a massive puncher this is what can happen. He never stopped trying to get up, even when he couldn’t get up.
“Daniel deserves credit, he’s a real world champion. Congratulations to him… I’m sure [Joshua will] exercise that rematch clause, it’s a given, it’s a dangerous fight because he’s growing in confidence all the time but he’ll believe he can beat him.”
Pic: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire
British champion Dubois, who before tonight had never fought at Wembley, was elevated to the IBF title holder after Oleksandr Usyk relinquished the belt.
Joshua outweighed Dubois by four pounds, despite a career-heaviest weight for his rival, ahead of the fight.
Among those watching was Tyson Fury, the former WBC heavyweight champion, who took a ringside seat.
Read more from Sky News:
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Liam plays Oasis hits
Fury is set to fight Usyk for the other three titles in a rematch on 21 December.
Ahead of the fight, Liam Gallagher played some of Oasis’ biggest hits to the sold-out crowd.
Pic: PA
Pic: Reuters
The 52-year-old frontman walked on to a massive cheer and said “yes Wembley vibes in the air,” before launching into Rock ‘N’ Roll Star, Supersonic and Cigarettes & Alcohol.
He and Noel Gallagher will play Wembley for their first of seven reunion shows at the stadium on 25 July – 307 days away.
Other famous faces ringside were Irish MMA fighter Conor McGregor, former boxer Ricky Hatton, Spice Girl Emma Bunton and Love Island presenter Maya Jama.
UK
Mohamed al Fayed: Former royal security head says he warned Royal Family before Diana went on holiday with businessman
The former head of royal protection says he warned the Royal Family about Mohamed al Fayed’s reputation before Princess Diana took her sons on holiday with him.
The former Harrods owner, who died last year at the age of 94, was described as a “monster” earlier this week by lawyers representing 37 alleged sexual abuse victims.
The women say he raped and sexually assaulted them while they worked at the luxury department store, prowling the shop floor and “cherry-picking” women to be brought to his executive suite.
Now, Mr Davies says people were aware of the Egyptian businessman’s reputation as far back as the 1990s, and that he raised concerns about him to the Royal Family.
Princess Diana on the quay of the residence of Mohamed al Fayed in Saint Tropez on 20 July 1997. File pic: AP
“This was a man who I would be concerned [about] if a relative of mine was going on holiday with him, let alone the future king and his brother and their mother, Princess Diana,” Dai Davies told Sky News.
Mohamed al Fayed during a match at Craven Cottage stadium in 2013: File pic: PA
In July 1997, a month before she died, Princess Diana went on holiday with Fayed and his wife to their residence in St Tropez.
She took the two young princes with her – a holiday Prince Harry described as “heaven” in his 2023 memoir Spare.
“I was horrified because I was aware of some of the allegations even then that were going around,” said Mr Davies.
“I was aware that he had tried very hard to ingratiate himself with the Royal Family and obviously knowing, as I did, the reputation he was alleged [to have] then, I was concerned, and I took the opportunity to inform the Royal Family.”
Princess Diana, Prince William (right) and Prince Harry (left) in Saint Tropez on 14 July 1997. File pic: AP
Mr Davies says he was told: “Her Majesty is aware.”
“The rest is history,” he said.
Buckingham Palace told Sky News it had no comment on the allegations.
Fulham ‘deeply disturbed’ by allegations
Fulham FC, a football club that was owned by Fayed between 1997 and 2013, has said it is “deeply troubled” by the dozens of “disturbing” sexual abuse allegations against the businessman.
The Premier League club also said it is “in the process of establishing whether anyone at the club is or has been affected” by this alleged behaviour.
Mohamed al Fayed waves a Fulham scarf in front of supporters in 2012. Pic: Reuters
However, Gaute Haugenes, who managed the club’s women’s team between 2001 and 2003, told the BBC extra precautions were taken to protect female players from Fayed.
“We were aware he liked young, blonde girls. So we just made sure that situations couldn’t occur. We protected the players.”
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‘The door was locked behind me’
A former Harrods employee told Sky News she was summoned to Fayed’s apartment when she began working for the department store at 19 years old.
She was told the meeting was a “job review” before “the door was locked behind me”.
“I saw his bedroom door partially open – there were sex toys on view,” she said.
“I felt petrified. I perched myself at the very end of the sofa and then… my boss, the person I worked for, pushed himself onto me.”
Read more: ‘One of the worst cases of corporate sexual exploitation’
Harrods said in a statement on Thursday it was “utterly appalled” by the allegations of abuse and apologised to Fayed’s alleged victims.
The department store has also set up a page on its website inviting former employees to come forward if they have allegations.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The legal team involved in a civil claim against Harrods for allegedly failing to provide a safe system of work for its employees said they aimed to seek justice for the victims of a “vast web of abuse”.
Lily Allen says she had her children “for all the wrong reasons,” at a “high pressure” point in her career when she felt “overwhelmed”.
The singer and actress had her two daughters, Marnie, 12 and Ethel, 11, with her ex-husband Sam Cooper when she was in her mid-20s.
By the time she became a mum, she’d already had hit singles including Smile and The Fear, released two studio albums and received a Brit Award for best British female solo artist.
Speaking about motherhood on the BBC podcast Miss Me?, which Allen hosts with her long-time friend Miquita Oliver, she said: “I think I had children for all the wrong reasons, really.
“Because I was yearning for unconditional love, which I haven’t felt in my life since I was a child.”
The now 39-year-old star added: “And also, my career was at such high speed, high pressure, and I felt like very overwhelmed by what was happening. I just didn’t get much respite you know?
“And I felt like the only way to stop people hassling me was to say, ‘It’s not about me, actually this is about this other person that’s inside me’.
When asked by Oliver if it worked, Allen says: “Yeah, they did leave me alone. I don’t think I really understood what was happening, what I got myself into.”
The daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen, she went on to discuss her own childhood.
“My mum, bless her, had children really early as well, and she really struggled. But she doesn’t really talk about the struggle. And so… She inadvertently gaslit me into thinking it was, you know, easy.
“You just sort of throw the kid over your shoulder and you get on with it.
“Her job was very static, and in one place and went to an office and mine wasn’t like that at all. It wasn’t easy. It just wasn’t easy.”
Allen is married to Stranger Things star David Harbour
The ‘nasty scars’ caused by absent parents
Allen previously told the Radio Times podcast that while she loves her children, having them “ruined her career”.
She said her decision to prioritise them over her pop career was a decision she made so as not to inflict the “nasty scars” of being an “absent” parent onto them.
She also said the myth of having it all “really annoyed” as it simply was not true.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Allen, whose younger brother is Game Of Thrones actor Alfie Allen, married Stranger Things star David Harbour in 2020.
Away from her music career, Allen has branched out into acting over the last few years, starring in two plays in London’s West End, and winning a role in Sky drama Dreamland last year.
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