Amy Knight , personal finance expert at NerdWallet UK , has moved to explain how shrinkflation and skimpflation force consumers to pay more for less and shares tips and examples to make the most of your food budget in 2025.
A study by NerdWallet UK found that 38 per cent of Brits are worried about the rising cost of groceries or food bills this year. Amy Knight , personal finance expert at NerdWallet UK , has moved to explain how shrinkflation and skimpflation force consumers to pay more for less and shares tips and examples to make the most of your food budget in 2025.
Amy said: “Reducing the volume or weight of a product, or the number of items in a package, helps to keep prices steady by reducing the cost to produce them. But for those on tight budgets, shrinkflation makes it harder to stretch a food shop to feed the family.”
Shrinkflation is largely driven by manufacturers who reduce product size to maintain a price point buyers are comfortable with. However, when consumers realise products have shrunk, they may feel swindled. “And, though smaller packets may be preferable than higher food bills, shrinkflation can leave people living below the poverty line with less food to go around,” Amy said.
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“If you routinely shop in the same supermarket every time, you may be unaware that competitors stock your favourite products for less,” she said. “On top of this, the busyness of our lives and the ‘mental load’ we carry means grocery shopping often gets done on ‘auto-pilot’. If you’re picking the same products off the shelves week after week without consciously checking the price, your food shop could creep up in value without your noticing, putting pressure on your household budget.
In recent years, the price of olive oil has doubled, increasing between 96% to 104% due to inflation, with some 500ml bottles costing nearly £10. So rather than continuing to buy olive oil out of habit, consider switching to a cheaper alternative such as sunflower oil, costing as little as 12 pence per 100ml. Or, try a blended product such as Olivio, which contains 15% olive oil and works out at 38 pence per 100ml when buying a 1 litre bottle from Ocado.
On orange juice, Amy added: “Cartons of fruit juice may look identical in size, but the volume of liquid inside may differ, making it harder to compare them on price. I recently bought a 1 litre carton of Co-Op own-brand orange juice for £1.50. A member of store staff pointed out to me that the carton of Tropicana orange juice next to it had identical proportions but contained 900ml and cost a pound more. I would never have noticed the small print on the back saying the carton contained 100ml less than an identical sized pack. Tropicana have since reduced their juice cartons to 850ml and printed the volume on the front.”
She also reported family favourite biscuits bars Penguin and Club had eight bars in a multipack, but since February 2023 they only have seven. Boxes of several Kellogg’s cereals have been reduced by 50g, leaving households short by more than one portion.
Buy own-brand versions of your favourite biscuits and breakfast cereals to save money and get more portions per pack. For example, a 380g box of Crunchy Nut cornflakes will cost you £2.25, but Aldi ’s Harvest Moon version costs just £1.09 for a 500g box – three extra portions plus more than a pound back in your pocket.
