a) It depends where you come from and what your reference is
b) It depends what you eat
I've fed a family (3 boys) here since I arrived in 2001. Yes, when we first arrived I was shocked at the prices, especially things like the cheeses that I was used to eating in France (and the wine) and even bread. But that was a long time ago and I've learnt how to eat well without spending a fortune. I honestly believe we eat a healthy diet, even though it's very different to what we were used to.
At the same time the cost of many things has come down, especially local fruit and veg, partly due to competition from Lidl (and elsewhere) and partly due to supply and technology (eg tomatoes and cucumbers). The choice of bread is, in my opinion, way better than in the UK and even if a sliced-white is more expensive here than Warburtons (I can't believe people eat that stuff), good quality rye bread is cheaper here than in the UK (if you can find it). I couldn't find rapeseed oil in the UK a couple of weeks ago, ended up getting some in Waitrose - more expensive than Prisma. The selection of dairy products is way better here than in the UK. I could not find milk that was not homogenized in my mum's local supermarket, only Cravendale (Arla) with a sell-by date somewhere in the next decade. Here, the choice of milk is overwhelming, as is the choice of cows' milk subsititutes such as soja, Oatly etc etc. And don't get me started on flour. In the UK the choice is plain or self-raising (impossible to find fresh yeast), whereas here the choice of flour almost takes up a whole aisle in a Finnish supermarket.
In a nutshell, eating processed gunk and foreign produce will always be more expensive, wherever you live. But eating simple food and making stuff from scratch doesn't have to be expensive eg porridge for breakfast, soup for supper.
And the lunchtime restaurant buffets are brilliant value for money.
