I compared grocery receipts from 2022 to today — here's how much more a basket costs now

This week, I used my historic records to check in on progress over the past four years and goodness, the price of a sample shopping basket has certainly changed dramatically

All of the retailers carry out extensive weekly research to compare prices and copy each other to make sure no competitor has the edge.

It was March 2022 when consumers started to notice the incremental rise in the cost of groceries in their shopping baskets. The term ‘cost-of-living crisis’ became common, and people started to watch prices in shops.

The very forward-thinking Irish Examiner team asked me to start tracking the cost of a sample shopping basket of staples in most Irish households at that time, and so began a monstrous spreadsheet that ruled my life for over a year. The spreadsheet tracked the increase in prices, and which main supermarket was the best value. Even though the tracking project ended a while back, I’ve retained all my files.