And it goes without saying that pretty much all of these meals would be greatly improved with a sprinkle of cheese or some kind of condiment - but sadly my budget didn't allow for that! The consumer champion’s Affordable Food For All campaign calls on supermarkets to do more to ensure own-brand budget line items are widely available throughout all branches – including in smaller ‘convenience’ stores. They should also make pricing and offers more transparent. The very poor availability of budget items from our list in small stores would have distorted all our further analysis of this data, consistently dragging median availability values across stores down in a way that would not have been representative of true budget line availability in mid-large and very large stores. For this reason, we chose to exclude small stores data from the rest of our analysis, allowing us to give an accurate description of budget line availability in mid-large and very large stores. Availability of budget lines is good in high priority places, in large stores Section 3 presents our recommendations to supermarkets for how they can better support their customers through the worst food inflation in 45 years. These local areas tend to be concentrated; we found 95 Westminster constituencies where at least half of local areas in the constituency are in the bottom quintile of the Priority Places for Food Index, and 16 constituencies where at least three quarters of local areas are priority places, illustrated in Figure 3 [ 8].

Heat up your cream or milk prior to adding it to your sieved mash so that it will combine more easily.

No longer stocked

Waxy potatoes are a no-no, meaning anything like a Charlotte , Ratte, Desiree or Jersey Royal is strictly ruled out. They are more likely to hold their shape, so when you start to break down the cell walls of the potato through boiling and mashing, they give you more of a wallpaper paste than a perfectly fluffy mash. Our consumer research has found that availability of budget ranges is important to people in the current crisis. Providing more budget ranges was the top action that people wanted from supermarkets to help them save money on food and more than half (56%) of those finding their finances very difficult said that they would benefit from more budget ranges being available [ 30]. Consumers are adapting their habits to meet the challenge of rising prices, including by switching supermarkets, buying cheaper items and looking for special offers. But for those already struggling to make ends meet, there has been little respite from rising prices. In February 2023, one in six (15%) people reported skipping meals. We would like to thank the work of everyone at Mystery Shoppers, including the fieldworkers, without whom this study would not have been possible. Store selection criteria

Peel the potatoes and cut into small halves or 1/4s. Rinse the prepared potatoes under plenty of cold water.

To assess the local competitive environment the Proximity to Supermarket Retail Facilities domain from the Priority Places for Food Index is used as a proxy. This domain includes data on average distance to nearest large grocery store (Geolytix Retail Points v15) and the average count of stores within 1km (Geolytix Retail Points v15). A lower decile means there are relatively fewer retail facilities in the local area and thus lower local competition. We define higher competition as areas in deciles 7 to 10; and lower competition as areas in deciles 1 to 6. Place the potatoes in a large pan of cold water with just enough water to cover them. Add a good pinch of salt and bring them to the boil. Simmer for 5-6 minutes until the potatoes are cooked I’ve found that, using a masher, it takes a lot more effort to get perfectly smooth mash. Plus, the more you have to mash to get the right texture, the greater the risk of gloopiness. And there’s still always the risk of leaving lumps behind. In this report, we present new rigorous research undertaken to explore the extent to which the UK’s major traditional supermarkets are offering a range of basic budget line essentials to customers across their stores, particularly in high priority places. Using mystery shoppers, we explored the availability of a basket of essential items across stores of varying sizes in a range of locations. Methodology

For my money, you want a starchy potato. These require a lot less encouragement to break down, meaning less starch is released. The result? A fluffier mash. The varieties you should be looking for are Maris Pipers, King Edwards or Vivaldi. To assess the extent to which households are able to access a range of healthy, affordable budget range items in supermarkets, Which? put together a list of essential items, including fresh, frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables, meat and cheese, and store cupboard essentials like baked beans, tinned tuna, dried pasta and teabags.However, in small Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco stores we found a very different story, with budget line items very rarely available, even in the places where people are most likely to be struggling to access affordable food [ 17]. Which? is the UK’s consumer champion, here to make life simpler, fairer and safer for everyone. Our research gets to the heart of consumer issues, our advice is impartial, and our rigorous product tests lead to expert recommendations. We’re the independent consumer voice that influences politicians and lawmakers, investigates, holds businesses to account and makes change happen. As an organisation we’re not for profit and all for making consumers more powerful. Make sure you stream dry your potatoes after boiling by leaving them in the colander, on top of the pan you’ve just boiled them in, with a tea towel on top. This will give a fluffier result when you mash them.