Today's topic on Stretched - our series on the cost of living in Ireland - is the weekly grocery shop, which remains one of the biggest sources of financial stress for families.
Finian Murphy, strategic planner at Ignite Research, says the factors that draw people to a particular supermarket include location and the range of products that are available. However, people also seem to be spending more.
"We've seen a 4% increase in volume sales, but we're also shopping around a bit more. Only a third of households are saying they go over their budget, and at the same time only 23% are actually sticking to a shopping list. People are doing a lot of impulse purchasing."
Jenny Whelan, editor of Checkout magazine, feels our spending habits may be one of the reasons for the high cost of our shopping bills.
"Even though we've seen deflation of nearly 2% in the last year, there's definitely a perception that things are more expensive. It could be a case that people are buying more, so they're probably seeing their grocery bills rise for that reason alone."
"Retailers know that people are willing to shop around and buy more, even if they are still quite value-driven. But more and more we're looking at a value for money approach to things. They're not just saying, 'We have the cheapest price' - they're saying, 'We have the best quality for the fairest price.'"
There's no doubt that many families are struggling to afford to put food on the table, as Hazel O'Byrne of SVP explains.
"Food is still a big challenge, and it's a core area of expenditure for SVP. We spend about €12 million a year helping families with food and food vouchers."
"It's an area of household budgets that families have a degree of discretion about - there are choices that can be made in a way that is less the case with things like rent or mortgage repayments, so we find families prioritising on those kind of issues and scrimping and saving when it comes to food."
