The rising cost of food should lead homeowners to make an assessment of their finances, it has been said.

According to David Kuo, director at the Motley Fool, food is the fourth largest expenditure for many families, which means any rise in cost is likely to hit hard.

"Food is top priority and families will initially look at cheaper cuts of meat followed by any meat that’s edible and affordable," he continued.

Prices are more likely to rise than fall over the next 12 months, Mr Kuo proposed, which will be due to the struggling exchange rate and the cost of having food imported from Europe.

Food is not something which can be reused again and again so therefore needs to be purchased every week, which could put financial pressures on some people, he added.

The British Retail Consortium recently reported that overall shop price inflation was driven by food which reported annual inflation of 5.6 per cent, from 6.4 per cent in May.

Non-food deflation increased further to 1.9 per cent in June, from 1.3 per cent reported in May.