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The inflationary spiral, with a fall of 9,8% in March, will be driven by all parties, including the food party. The upward trend in prices is due to the fact that a 'perfect storm' is looming over the shopping basket due to the escalation in logistics and energy costs, as well as the effect of the war and the already called strike of carriers. From Gelt, application of promotions in the mass consumption sector, they calculate that from mid-January until now the average basket in the supermarket has risen by 7%.
According to Gelt's analysis, based on the supermarket prices of more than 1 million households, the most expensive products are the following: cereals (24%), oil (19%), eggs (17%), biscuits (14%) and flour (10%) (see blata).
With average increases of between 4 and 9% are toilet paper, hake, tomatoes, bananas, milk, rice and pasta. On the contrary, despite the impact of the war crisis, beer and bread do not vary; while both chicken and yoghurts saw milder increases of 2 and 1%, respectively.
For its part, the OCU has quantified the rise in the purchase of food at an average of 9,4% in the last year. Thus, 84% of the 156 of the total products analyzed were lacking, compared to only 16% cheaper. The items that rose the most in price were private label mild olive oil (53,6%) and private label sunflower oil (49,3%), followed by the dishwasher bottle (49,1%) and margarine (41,5%).
Offers and substitutes
Given this situation, price is becoming more important in Spanish purchasing decisions: 65% of consumers are now much more aware of prices and promotions, according to the latest study by Aecoc Shopperview. For this reason, 52% of Spanish households, according to this study, are already betting more on private or distribution brands.
Another option to save, in addition to looking for offers or choosing white brands, is to select substitute products in the shopping cart. "In times of crisis, consumers tend to function in the same way: they are very sensitive to price and react by looking for substitute products," said the OCU spokesman, Enrique García.
The key, according to the advice of the OCU, to prepare a list of the cheapest alternative purchase to save in times of rebound in inflation is to consume seasonal fresh. Thus, in the fruit and vegetable section, it is convenient to choose the products that are collected at each time of the year. "If we insist on eating strawberries in August, this fruit will be more expensive than in spring," warns García.
On the other hand, even if production costs rise and, therefore, sales prices, it will always be cheaper to decide on smaller caliber pieces, such as small apples. If we want to save, we must also avoid tropical or exotic fruits that come from distant countries.
Both olive oil and sunflower oil have shot up more than 50% in the last year. The cheapest alternatives are olive pomace oil or those that eat soybeans, corn or rapeseed.
In this case of basic products such as milk and eggs there are no substitute products, but you can opt for the cheapest ranges. For example, from OCU instant to avoiding enriched milk or the most expensive categories of eggs in case you want to save. "Eggs are suffering a lot from price due to higher feed prices," explained the spokesman for the consumer association.
Fish is also stopped, especially species such as salmon. In this category it is also appropriate to bet on seasonal fish, such as mackerel, anchovies or sardines. You also save in the basket if you avoid the most expensive species or shellfish and if you choose cheaper ones, such as whiting. You can also save with fish from aquaculture, which, although not always the cheapest, do not suffer as many price variations.
Prepared dishes also tend to be more expensive. For example, it is more expensive to buy a whole lettuce than cut it into bags or containers. Regarding meats, from the consumer association they recommend selecting the cheapest pieces such as the skirt or the morcillo in the case of veal; or the ribs, the ham fillet or the needle in the case of pork. In the case of chicken, it is cheaper to buy it whole than fillets.
Opt for vegetables or also vegetables and a cheap alternative to meat proteins, according to the OCU.
