Personal inflation calculator

The Office Of National Statistics have provided a personal inflation calculator that allows you to compare your spending's inflation rate against the official rate. I don't think such a brute force calculator can work. It ignores the fact that what we buy changes over time.

Not that many years ago I would look at sandwiches in Boots and concentrate on the price sticker. Could I afford the sandwich costing almost £2, or should go for the £1.20 one? These days the price sticker isn't the most important factor in my budget. These days I'm budgeting on the nutritional information: can I afford to consume this many calories? Today I bought a "Bugsy" sandwich costing £2.20. I really wanted the Cheese and Onion one costing just £1.40, but it cost 150 calories more.

Yeah, I know. If I'd saved 6 pints of Baltika then I could've bought all the Cheese and Onion sandwiches I wanted.