The cost of food, especially fresh food, is hurting Australian households. Picture: Tim Marsden

The cost of food is squeezing household budgets ahead of any other costs, a new report has found.

The Spend Sacrifice Report compiled by financial comparison website comparethemarket.com.au found grocery bills put households under the most pressure and made 88 per cent of Aussies anxious.

Fluctuating petrol prices (83 per cent) and energy bills (78 per cent) were the next biggest expenses to cause concern while mortgage and rent costs put 65 per cent of respondents under pressure.

The site’s spokeswoman Abigail Koch said the report found the cost of fresh food including vegetables and meat and fish crunched household budgets the most.

Comparethemarket.com.au spokeswoman Abigail Koch said there are simple ways to cut household expenses.Source:News Corp Australia

“Providing families with healthy food seemed to put the biggest pressure on budgets,’’ she said.

“The weekly pressures of buying groceries hurts their budgets the most as opposed to utility bills which are usually only paid every quarter.

“Petrol prices have come down in recent months but this still creates a lot of cost anxiety and people are shopping around for their petrol.”

But Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows in the past five years average annual rates of household price changes have slowed — some groups have even recorded negative price change.

However the category of food and non-alcoholic beverage costs has increased on average by about 2.5 per cent between 2010 and 2014.

Grocery bills put households under the most pressure and make 88 per cent of Aussies anxious. Picture: Supplied.Source:Supplied

To minimise the cost pressures about half of consumers are taking leftovers into work for lunch and one in five people are cutting out purchasing takeaway coffees.

Koch said more Australians need to be proactive in scoring better deals to cut household costs on expenses including utility bills and insurance costs by comparing products and switching.

Consumer finance expert Lisa Montgomery said Australians needed to spend more time trying to compare household expenses and save.

“Cutting the cost of food is a pretty easy thing to do but households need to do an audit on their expenses,’’ she said.

“See what you are paying for and look at ways you can cut costs, particularly for things you don’t use.”

SOME OF TOUGHEST COST OF LIVING PRESSURES

1) Food costs (88 per cent)

2) Fluctuating petrol prices (83 per cent)

3) Energy bills (78 per cent)

4) Providing for my family’s future (73 per cent)

5) Mortgage/rent costs (66 per cent)

6) Credit card bills/personal loans (64 per cent)

7) Insurance costs (52 per cent)

8) Healthcare/medical (51 per cent)

Source: The Spend Sacrifice Report compiled by comparethemarket.com.au

sophie.elsworth@news.com.au