ABS data shows what foods have skyrocketed and it’s terrifying

New ABS data shows exactly which foods have risen in price and by how much – and no wonder the supermarket is so scary these days.

What will hurt you if you put it in the trolley? Time for our regular inflation check!

The ABS has put out its latest official inflation numbers for the months of July, August and September and they confirm that prices are going up faster than you can keep track.

The next chart shows key items: your gas bill, your grocery bill and your petrol bill.

Top of the list for things that are getting crazy is your gas bill. Mine just came in and I paid $246 for the last two months, as you can see below. That’s basically the same as year even though our household used 30 per cent less gas than last year! (I’ve been a demon at turning down the heater).

Next highest risers on the chart are foods. Some things have gone up awfully fast. In my mind, milk still costs just a bit over a dollar a litre – but in reality, nope. One-dollar milk is a distant memory. A single litre of milk at Woolworths is going for anywhere between $1.60 – for home brand – up to $3.60 for A2 milk.

At the other end of the spectrum is meat. Lamb and beef didn’t go up much in the last three months, – just a fraction of a per cent – but of course their prices rose dramatically already.

At the bottom of the chart above is petrol. Fuel prices dropped steadily throughout July, August and September, leaving the category looking like it was getting cheaper. But remember – that data was taken before the petrol tax of 22 cents was put back on fuel at the end of September. The next consumer price inflation number will have the tax back and – unless oil suddenly gets a lot cheaper – the current high price of fuel will be reflected in the official data.

What else is moving?

Rising even faster than food and fuel is an international holiday, apparently. Price of international travel rose 10.9 per cent in just the last three months. I

What’s more the airlines are in complete disarray at the moment, with not enough staff, not enough seats, and so you are paying through the nose for the worst flight of your life. One person I know got stuck in the Middle East after a certain airline cancelled his flight. That happens, but then they refused to give him a refund! It’s a terrible time to try to use your passport.

What’s getting cheaper, however is shoes, as the next chart shows. This has been going on for a long time. When I was a kid you could pay $100 for Nike sneakers and you still can. Shoes are immune from inflation, apparently (the reason is they are increasingly made of synthetic fabrics not leather, and most often made in Bangladesh).

We can’t live on shoes alone, unfortunately. The cost of living is a huge burden for Australians and it is only going to get worse, the Treasurer announced in the budget this week.

Electricity prices are going to rise 56 per cent in the next two years and the floods are going to make going to the supermarket even more painful. At the same time, he took away the low and middle income tax offset that gave people back $1080 on their tax if they made between $48,000 and $90,000 in income.

And of course mortgage rates are pushing up higher and higher, squeezing the budgets of anyone who owes money to the bank.

Are you a spender or a saver?

When prices go up, some Aussies will spend more to keep buying the same things, preserving their lifestyle even if it costs a bit more. They will stop saving so much in order to cover the cost, or even draw down on their savings. Others will be like me, turning down the heater. Faced with higher prices, we drive a bit less, eat cheaper foods, shop around a bit more, and buy in bulk, trying to stop the full impact of inflation from hitting us.

Jason Murphy is an economist | @jasemurphy. He is the author of the book Incentivology.