
As far as household spending goes, few things could be more central to a family or individual's outgoings than the cost of the weekly shop. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed spending on food and non-alcoholic drinks accounted for close to 11 per cent of all spending in the year to March 2018. The cost of a supermarket shop is keenly felt by most people – hence the default question to politicians at election time over the price of a pint of milk, a way of supposedly gauging how in touch they are with the man on the street.