A man has found a Tesco receipt from 1997, and comparing the prices on it to today’s makes for some difficult reading.
Over time, inflation boosts the price of consumer goods, but poor economic conditions can cause it to spike, sending prices higher at a faster rate. Our explosively-high inflation rates over the past few years have been central to the cost of living crisis in the UK, and groceries haven’t escaped the price increases.
Nimble Fins reckons we’re all paying around 13% more for a weekly shop in 2025 than at the beginning of 2024, and that’s with inflation having slowed down somewhat.
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The receipt from 1997 makes for an even more stark comparison than it would have done pre-pandemic. It was found and shared in 2023, so prices have gone up a bit more since then, but the essentials are the same: everything’s more expensive, except garlic bread.
"Bought an old cassette today and found a receipt inside, looked down and saw the date was 25/07/1997, 26 years ago today!" the man captioned his photo on Reddit at the time.
It’s a little yellowed with age, but other than that it looks pretty well-aged considering it’d been stuffed in a wallet for 26 years.
Its ink is still completely legible, with 22 items bought on July 25th 1997.
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Cat food set him back by 48p, mayonnaise cost 49p, cooking oil came in at 53p, and they’re representative of most of the list.
Pretty much everything on there cost less than a quid, with four costing £2 and just one crossed-out item breaking further north at £10.99.
In sum, it all came to £27.26.
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Redditors naturally leapt on this curio from the past, keen to compare it to our post-Covid shopping costs.
"I've been through the list and added all the items to my Tesco basket online to see how much it would cost these days,” said one investigative Redditor. “For those of you wondering, the total came to £45.13."
They then came back to add: "Add another £15, say, as I forgot the £10.99 item. Total is £60.13."
The Bank of England’s inflation calculator shows £27 from 1997 as the equivalent of £50.30 in 2023, so that £60.13 basket outstripped inflation.
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A whopping £32.87 price increase over 26 years, or a 121% increase.
"The prices were the freaking heaven back then and we all have to agree to that," said another Redditor pining for yesteryear.
"I can kill for such prices again haha," added a second, while a third said: "Gotta love the prices on that receipt though!"
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Another hit the nail on the head: "It’s so depressing looking at this."
Not every price listed on the receipt has shot up, however.
"Some of those prices seem equal to today’s… ish… like, stuff wasn’t as cheap as I was expecting," said one Redditor.
Someone replied to them with: "Yeah - garlic bread and shower cream at least."
"You can buy a garlic bread for 90p today," pointed out a fourth, while another wondered: "How has it defied inflation?"
Even the most savvy Lidl shopper would struggle to get a weekly shop in for less than £30 today. It’s good to know, however, that no matter what economic storms are churning, it seems that garlic bread has got our backs.
Rachael Davis