If once it was a necessary and even pleasant activity, today shopping at the supermarket seems to have become a luxury . The increase in the price of raw materials, inflation, supply and demand, fiscal and monetary policy, the global economic situation and climatic conditions are among the main causes of the increase in the cost of living in recent times.
Inflation, in particular, has reached record highs since the 1980s, surging to 13% by the end of 2022 . Although electricity, water and gas bills have skyrocketed, worrying many Italians, the goods that have been most affected by this increase in inflation have been foodstuffs.
According to the National Consumer Union, in 2023 Italian families will spend more than 700 euros more to take care of themselves, eat and clean the house. Supermarkets are no longer simple refrigerated warehouses where you can enjoy the pleasure of buying what you want: they are now gold mines, where a packet of biscuits can cost as much as 5 euros.
So let's see in detail how much families will spend on groceries in 2023 and how to save money, even with the help of our innovative Memo Food Clips .
Why will families spend 700 euros more than last year on groceries?
This is not new to anyone: anyone shopping at the supermarket will have noticed that prices have increased. According to a recent research by the National Union of Consumers, there are some products that have suffered a lot: butter has undergone a price increase of 43%, milk of 30%, eggs of 19% and flour of 24% . Here we are only talking about basic necessities, but sweets, snacks, meat and fish have also undergone dramatic increases.
Those who pay the consequences are precisely the consumers who will find in their shopping receipts at the end of the year well over 700 euros which were not there in past years. This is due to inflation, but also to the increase in food production costs.
Keeping a factory that processes food products active requires a lot of electricity, which today has undergone a price increase of 2.9% of the total bill. Consequently, if producers spend more, the cost of food products rises.
Another widespread phenomenon lately, which makes families return to supermarkets more often, is that of shrink flation . This term refers to an economic phenomenon where the quantity of a product in a package is reduced, but the price remains the same or increases only slightly. This can be done to offset rising production costs or to maintain profits.
In this way, companies can avoid raising the price of a product in a noticeable way, which could discourage consumers from buying.
Regardless of the tactics adopted by producers and distributors, what we need to do today is start saving, to allocate our earnings to the activities we like.
How to save on groceries
There are a number of strategies that you can implement immediately to counter the increase in the cost of shopping. The last one is our favourite:
- before shopping, establish a budget and try to respect it, taking into account the offers of the week, the lowest prices and the strictly necessary foods
- make a shopping list based on your budget and don't buy anything that isn't on it
- choose a cheap but quality supermarket with reliable sub-brands
- do not go shopping tired or hungry, as your psychophysical state could influence your consumption choices
- finally, don't waste food. Avoiding wasting food helps you save on groceries because it allows you not to buy excess or expiring foods that end up being thrown away. If this happens, you have to go to the supermarket again to buy other foods, wasting money.
Furthermore, by avoiding food waste, you also contribute to reducing the environmental impact. The production of food requires many natural resources, such as water, land and electricity, and when they are wasted, these resources are also thrown away unnecessarily.
Spend less to fill your trolley: don't waste food and use every useful part, such as peels, seeds, scraps, to create new foods or useful substances for people or for the home. We at H24Invent are by your side against food waste with numerous innovative products: discover the Memo Food Clips , intelligent systems that allow you to keep track of the opening and expiry dates of foods, directly from your smartphone.
Close food packages with our clips and you won't forget you have them in the pantry!