We may be coming to terms with the need to cut back on new additions to our wardrobes, but it seems that it’s actually the weekly food shop which is hitting us where it hurts.

The Daily Mail has confirmed that for essential foods such as bread, milk, meat, etc – a shopping basket of just 37 items comes to £53.63.  When adding non food essential items such as household cleaning products, toiletries and so on – before you know it, the bill will rapidly reach three digits! And that’s excluding the cost of dinner party food and any extra special treats you want to pick up.

Of course, we could just accept that budgeting for the fridge is one of those things you have to do when in a recession.  But the problem here doesn’t appear to be the amount of shopping we need to buy each week, but the increases made to the cost of it.

….should we have to pay increased prices for such “privileges”?  In a recession?!  And some may bark back at me, “well, officially we’re not in a recession anymore” – but it doesn’t take a genius to work out that at the moment, nothing has really changed.  People are still watching every penny they spend, so why are the prices going up?

Not only have food prices gone up approx 7.5% but unleaded petrol has jumped a whopping 30% in just 12 months! So if these are the kinds of increases we’ve experienced whilst “in the recession”, what is yet to come now we’re “out of the recession”?  I suspect, if this issue isn’t addressed soon, this can only mean one thing for the man on the street  – more debt, more worry and baked beans for dinner!

If you’ve views on this week’s announcement that we’re now officially out of the recession, then share your thoughts here.