The cost of fresh food is the number one factor straining the household budgets of Australian families, according to a new report.
According to the Spend Sacrifice Report compiled by comparethemarket.com.au, the cost of food is a source of anxiety for 88 per cent of families. And the foods causing the biggest worries are fresh produce such as meat, fish and vegetables.
“Providing families with healthy food seemed to put the biggest pressure on budgets,’’ said the site’s spokeswoman Abigail Koch.
“The weekly pressures of buying groceries hurts their budgets the most as opposed to utility bills which are usually only paid every quarter.
“Petrol prices have come down in recent months but this still creates a lot of cost anxiety and people are shopping around for their petrol.”
Behind fresh food, the next biggest factors straining household budgets were fluctuating petrol prices (affecting 83 per cent of respondents) and energy bills (78 per cent).
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that the cost of food and non-alcoholic beverage has increased on average by 2.5 per cent over the last five years.