The carefree days when middle-class shoppers thought nothing of splashing out on extra virgin olive oil, prime organic beef, a 30in flat-screen TV for the spare room or a third holiday are over.

Instead, it seems, Britain's middle-income earners are trading down, buying cheaper cuts of meat, making their own sandwiches and deserting premium retailers for the pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap variety.

The John Lewis Partnership, that bellwether of Middle England, yesterday confirmed what many have predicted since the credit crunch first hit, as it reported its first fall in profits for six years - that shopping habits are changing beyond recognition.

Waitrose, the retailer's supermarket chain where discerning shoppers go to buy such delicacies as baby squid in oil and rosemary skewered monkfish, said it was having to cut prices more than ever to stop families deserting to the discount supermarket Aldi.

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Meanwhile, Wm Morrison, the cheap and cheerful Bradford-based supermarket group known for its slogan “very best for less”, claimed it was one of the biggest winners of the crunch.

The group, which launched a series of weekly promotions offering eight products for £4 recently, said it had poached 500,000 shoppers from its rivals in the past year. Its success, and the rise of Aldi, which plans to open another 200 stores in the capital alone, mirrors that of the no-frills clothing retailer Primark.

There are even signs that hard-pressed commuters are eschewing expensive ready-made sandwiches and delaying the trip to the railway station to make their own packed lunch.

Sales of Tupperware lunchboxes at J Sainsbury - which has found its share price hit by fears that it was losing ground to its cheaper rivals - are almost 40 per cent up on a year ago, sandwich bags are up 34 per cent and foil 27 per cent. Thermos flask sales have also doubled in the past year. Olivia Gillan, a partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the City accountant, said: “It's finally becoming clear that the ABC1s of this world are feeling the pinch. At the start of the credit crunch it was poorer families who were cutting back but now it's the more affluent customer as well.

“They are worried about the economy and wondering what impact that will have on their spending. The majority are feeling that they will be worse off next year.

“People are being a lot more careful. The last few years have been a boom time, people haven't thought twice before treating themselves. Now they ask, Do I really need that?'.”

But middle-class consumers haven't deserted the premium brands altogether. In a phenomenon known as “mix and match”, consumers are cutting their costs on everyday items but are still looking for the occasional treat.

One of the strongest selling items at John Lewis has been a cashmere wrap, while tailors in Savile Row in London claim they have not seen a downturn.

But how long will it last? A survey by PwC found that half of ABC1 consumers thought that they would be worse off next year, compared with 29 per cent in April.

Mark Price, managing director at Waitrose, said it was clear that the reality of the economic situation was changing the way people shop.

He said that while Waitrose was benefiting from those who decide to treat themselves at the supermarket rather than go to a restaurant, it was suffering from those trading down from organic ranges into cheaper alternatives. Sales of organic food and drink across Britain have dropped from £100 million in February to £80 million last month. Mr Price said: “I think you have to go back to the early 1990s for the last time people started to shop as differently as they are now.

“It's really difficult to read the patterns, at one end our As Good As Going Out range is massively up, champagne is up 10 per cent and aged Aberdeen Angus is up 110 per cent

“But the other thing is that people have gone from organic to free range and they are buying promotions much more. Around 30 per cent of the things we now sell are on promotion, up from 20 per cent.”

Signs of a change in the retail landscape have been evident since the start of the year. Aldi, the German-owned discounter that claims to be 20 per cent cheaper than Britain's biggest supermarkets, has seen its sales surge by more than 30 per cent thanks to its “Spend a little, live a lot” marketing campaign.

Marc Bolland, Morrisons chief executive, yesterday said his business would be launching hundreds of new value lines in the coming months to satisfy demand after a 19 per cent rise in half-year profits to £295 million.

He claimed that sales of value lines across the supermarket sector are growing at 26 per cent a year, next to 2 per cent for premium products.

“We are seeing the first clear signs, we would say that people are downtrading,” he said. “They are switching from retailer to retailer and buying more value brands. They are managing their own inflation.”

Fears over the severity of the consumer downturn knocked nearly £2 billion off the value of Britain's biggest retailers on the stock market yesterday. Tony Shiret, an analyst at Credit Suisse, said: “People don't know if they're going to be unemployed and it's a real concern. We're becoming a bunch of people who just don't want to spend very much.”

Tips and hints

— Look up and look down. The highest profit (and worst value) items are normally at eye level

— The biggest reductions on items nearing their sell-by date are usually made after 7pm

— Similar items may be priced differently in different areas of the supermarket. For instance, nuts or dried fruit can often be much cheaper in the baking section than on the snacks counter

— Beware bulk discounts. Buying in bulk is not necessarily cheaper; check the unit price carefully

SOURCE : Which?, Moneysavingexpert.com

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