Fruit and vegetable prices have shot up by just 10 per cent in just one year.

And food prices overall were 7.4 percent higher last month compared with July 2021.

The new Stats NZ food price data revealed more about how much Kiwis have been paying for groceries and where inflation is heading.

The latest recorded annual increase was due to rises across all broad food categories Stats NZ measured.

Compared with July 2021, overall grocery food prices increased 7.5 per cent, and restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices increased by 6.6 per cent.

The Stats NZ data arrived at a time of high inflation and major debate about the cost of living.

Meat, poultry, and fish prices increased 7.7 per cent. Non-alcoholic beverage prices increased by 4.6 per cent.

The stats are prone to seasonality - with some individual items liable to volatile pricing depending on agricultural nuances, freak weather events, or supply chain issues.

Tomato prices have been the bane of many shoppers lately - with prices for tomatoes frequently above $13/kg today.

And last month, wild weather in Queensland was expected to wreak havoc with asparagus and leek prices after some crops were obliterated.

A recipe for inflation

But experts today will likely be looking at how staples such as popular meat, dairy, and grain products perform.

The monthly stats should show whether fruit and vegetables, meat, or other products are most responsible for driving inflation.

New Zealand's economy, like that of the United States, was juggling strange trends lately - low unemployment, high inflation, falling house prices, and stagnant population growth.

In June compared with May, prices for meat, poultry, and fish rose 0.9 percent. Non-alcoholic beverage prices rose 1.4 per cent just on one month.

The cost of living has been rising at the fastest pace in 32 years.

One of the two major supermarket chains said it was rolling back prices to what they were in early 2021.

Foodstuffs said butter at 2021 pricing was the most popular item at the Pak'nSave, New World and Four Square stores.

The company claimed its customers had saved $13.8 million on the "rollback" products nationally.

"In May, the co-operatives rolled back prices to what they were in early 2021, immediately reducing prices by an average of 10 per cent on more than 110 everyday items, as record inflation continued to push up food costs," Foodstuffs said.

"In the four months since the rolled back prices began, the cost of groceries supplied to Foodstuffs from its suppliers has increased by an average of 7.9 per cent."

"We estimated this initiative would save customers about $500,000 each week, so it's been fantastic to see the actual savings come in at over double that," Foodstuffs NZ managing director Chris Quin said today.