Pesach shopping with his wife in Golders Green this week, Harry Ganz anticipated spending at least £600.

"So much choice - too much choice," he said as the couple browsed the Kosher Kingdom shelves. "The prices are always much higher around Pesach. I would think for a lot of people they are restrictively high. But you've got to make Pesach."

He had noticed Pesach bottled water and even 10 individually wrapped pieces of bread to hide around the house for a chametz hunt. "Totally crazy," he observed.

Southgate resident Sharon Jacobs expected to spend around £500, believing that prices were "definitely higher from year to year. I'm still going to buy but maybe I'm a bit more careful." She avoided the cake, biscuits and cereal.

Property man Joe Lipton, 28, from Golders Green said he and his wife would spend around £750 on Pesach items.While festival products were "always very expensive", he saw Pesach provisions as "part of your yearly budgeting. I never think about the cost."

At B Kosher in Golders Green, a 20-year-old Orthodox man reasoned that although he would spend a few hundred pounds on food, "there are people getting jobs from it and it's not extortionate. If you spend money on Shabbat, God will pay you back for it. And that's the same for Pesach. It's for the honour of the Yomtov."

Back at Kosher Kingdom, Lois was not relying on spiritual payback. She has set aside a maximum £300 for Pesach food and makes as much as possible herself to save money. "I'm not paying Pesach prices for cakes," she said. "Ridiculous. I can make them. So that cuts out a lot of expense."