It’s getting harder to fund cooking basic meals (Picture: Getty)

Our dinner plates are a stark reminder of how bad the cost of living crisis has become.

Cooking popular family meals has gone up by as much as 27% in some instances over the last year, as found by watchdog Which?.

They say essential ingredients have doubled in price, after analysing nearly 26,000 food and drink products from Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose. 

This makes feeding a family on a low income even more challenging.

On average, the food inflation rate was found to be 16.5% during May.

From March to May this year, Which? looked at the cost of making popular family meals, versus the same time period last year.

Unsurprisingly, the results reveal our sad money crisis.

Fish fingers, chips and beans as a meal had gone up by 24%, from £3.06 to £3.79 per family of four.

Frozen chip prices had shot up by 23% alone on average, with Sainsbury’s own brand going from 83p to £1.75 – a 110% increase – and Lidl was similar around a 99% increase.

Cooking pasta bake has gone up by 27%, from £2.68 to £3.39, and spaghetti bolognese has increased by 20% from £5.53 to £6.63.

Though roast chicken dinners were the most expensive meal to cook overall, this meal saw the lowest price increase.

For a meal for four people, in 2022 this Sunday classic would have cost £6.43 on average, and now it is £7.28 – so, a rise of 13%.

Sue Davies, Which? Head of Food Policy, said: ‘The cost of food during this period of economic uncertainty has turned the pleasure of mealtimes with loved ones into a nightmare for the millions that are struggling to afford food. 

‘Supermarkets must put their customers first by stocking budget lines in all of their stores, including convenience stores, to ensure easy access to basic, affordable food ranges as well as providing transparent pricing so people can easily work out which products offer the best value.

‘Official Inflation data due out next week is still expected to show food prices at an elevated level. If supermarkets can’t do the right thing by their customers, it’s time for the government to take action.’

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Essential ingredients have doubled in price.