The supermarkets freezing the prices of essential items

Households across the UK are continuing to struggle with their weekly food shops as millions face double-digit inflation.

Rising costs are largely being driven by stubbornly high food and drink costs, which have risen at their fastest rate in 45 years, according to figures released this week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

With the UK maintaining inflation of over 10% for its seventh consecutive month - and food prices rising by 19.1% in the year to March - campaigners have warned families are facing long-term harm as they risk falling into food poverty.

There's no doubt that grocery price inflation is hitting people hard, but some supermarkets are trying to soften the blow by introducing their own "price locks" on essential items.

Which supermarkets have introduced price locks on essential items?

According to consumer experts Which.co.uk, a number of stores have frozen their prices.

• Iceland - In a bid to ease the pressures of the cost of living crisis, Iceland has said it will keep the price of more then 600 £1 or less items as close to £1 and under as possible for the rest of the year.

Around 20% of the budget supermarket's products are currently on sale for £1 or less.

• Marks & Spencer - M&S has extended its price lock on more than 100 "customer favourites" until the summer 2023.

The chain hasn't given a date for when the scheme will end, but it has extended it three times.

• Morrisons - From the end of March Morrisons announced it would freeze the price of 1,000 products for at least eight weeks, having already held many prices in place since January.

The chain has said it will cut £700m in costs over the next three years to allow it to keep prices low.

• Waitrose - Waitrose has cut the prices of more than 300 of its "everyday favourite" own-label products by an average of 14%.

Nearly a quarter of the items included in the initiative have had their prices cut by more than 20%.

• Ocado - In March online Grocer Ocado launched a 'Price Promise' - a pledge to match the combined price for all like-for-like products based on an equivalent order from Tesco.com.

The offer, which covers over 10,000 products, also includes promotions and Clubcard prices.

• Tesco - Tesco has extended its own price lock on over 1,000 everyday items until July 5 to help shoppers with their household budgets. Last week the chain dropped milk prices for the first time since May 2020, with a four-pint bottle falling from £1.65 to £1.55.

Where have prices been rising?

Despite supermarkets' efforts to ease the pressures felt by shoppers, many are still feeling the pinch as inflation continues to outstrip wages.

According to figures from the trolley.co.uk Grocery Price Index, popular grocery prices have seen an average increase of 1.9% in April compared to the same time last year.

But other prices are increasing more sharply.

Morrisons has seen an average increase of 5% across all of its products for the same time period, compared to 6.9% for the Co-op and 6.1% for Iceland.

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Ocado has managed to drop its average prices ever so slightly by 0.1% over the past year, while Aldi has achieved a 1.5% decrease.

The online tool, sponsored by MoneySavingExpert, shows a sharp rise in supermarket prices from around January this year, followed by a slight dip, and then a more steady rise.

It also shows how prices of individual items have fluctuated over the year.