For a while now, grocery shopping has felt… different.
Not in a dramatic way. Just subtle enough that you notice it when you're standing in the aisle looking at the shelf labels and doing a quick bit of mental arithmetic.
Milk is a little higher.
Bread is a little higher.
A few items on the receipt feel unexpectedly expensive.
Then you leave the shop thinking: Did that always cost that much?
When I started looking into the numbers properly, the feeling started to make sense.
Since 2020, UK food prices have risen roughly 37%.
That's not a small fluctuation. It's a structural shift in what a "normal" weekly shop costs.
Most households haven't seen their income rise anywhere close to that level, which means people have started adapting in small, practical ways.
Comparing prices.
Trying different stores.
Splitting shops between supermarkets.
It works. Sometimes.
But it also takes time.
The hidden cost of trying to shop smarter
When prices rise, people don't just spend more. They start optimising.
You might check a few different supermarket apps.
Compare prices on your phone while standing in the aisle.
Or make two stops instead of one because a few items are cheaper somewhere else.
It can save money, but it comes with a trade-off: mental effort.
You're trying to remember which shop had the cheapest pasta.
Whether the Aldi version was actually comparable.
Whether it's worth driving somewhere else for a slightly lower total.
For a lot of families, the weekly shop has quietly become a small strategy exercise.
That's the part I kept noticing.
Not just that groceries are more expensive — but that figuring out the best way to shop has become more complicated.
A simple question
At some point the question became obvious:
Not a single item. The whole list.
Because that's how people really shop.
You don't go to the supermarket to buy the cheapest tomato in the country. You go to buy the things you usually buy: milk, pasta, vegetables, cereal, maybe a few branded items, maybe mostly own-brand.
The decision that matters is the total.
But figuring that out today requires a lot of manual comparison.
That's where the idea for ChopMyShop started.
What ChopMyShop does (right now)
The idea is intentionally simple.
You add the items you usually buy to a shopping list. ChopMyShop compares that list across stores and shows where the total cost is lowest — including own-brand options where available.
The goal isn't just to show numbers. It's to make them easier to understand.
Clear totals.
Less guesswork.
A faster way to see whether switching stores actually makes a difference.
The version that exists today is very early.
We're currently in Phase 1, which means:
- Store coverage is limited
- Product matching is still improving
- Real feedback is shaping how the product evolves
This isn't a finished product yet. It's something being built carefully, with real households involved early.
Where this could go
Longer term, the idea is bigger than simple comparison.
Shopping prices change constantly, but most people don't have the time or tools to see patterns clearly.
Over time, ChopMyShop could become something closer to shopping intelligence.
Not just: "Where is this cheapest today?" But also:
- How prices change over time
- When switching stores actually makes sense
- Where the biggest savings tend to come from
- Which decisions matter — and which don't
The goal isn't to turn grocery shopping into a science project.
It's the opposite.
To help people get more for their money without spending hours figuring it out.
Building it with real households
Right now, ChopMyShop is opening up to the first 50 founding households who are curious to test the early version and help shape what it becomes.
That means:
- Trying the tool in real shopping situations
- Sharing honest feedback
- Helping decide what matters most
Because the best way to build something useful is to build it with the people who will actually use it.