Not only in UK but all over the word the processed food are cheaper than the fresh Foods
Some are imported from cheaper areas of the world
the fresh Food is subjected to quality deterioration unless it is processed ( preserved)
fresh food has a high percent of reject with time
as much as fresh foods might be highly preferred over processed foods, their short shelf life limit their availability whereas processed foods can be made available constantly in the market
Among many possible reasons, scale of production makes a difference. Most processed foods come from larger scale production units or are assembled into larger volumes by collecting from smaller units. Processing allows longer shelf life, distribution over larger geographic areas tp expand size of market etc.
Processed Food Is Cheaper Than Healthier Options example cheese was more affordable than fresh fruit.
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/01/173217143/why-process-food-is-cheaper-than-healthier-options
Why are processed foods cheaper than non-processed, particularly in the UK?
Possible reasons:
Bulkiness makes cost of marketing higher in non-processed food which may imply higher sales price for non-processed food than processed food of same weight. Compare sales prices of raw tomatoes and those of tinned tomatoes of same weight. Again one may ask, do tinned tomatoes marketers not share the marketing cost of raw tomatoes in the marketing chain? Well, the marketing cost burden of raw tomatoes is often less borne by the tinned tomatoes marketers because most times they enjoy the economy of scale and can afford to sell for less price than raw tomatoes marketers who are likely to do business on a smaller scale.
The question is quite generic (what is it exactly intended for "cheaper"?). However, we can identify two main reasons for higher costs of unprocessed food and cheaper costs of processed food respectively:
1. fresh (unprocessed) food products are for the most high perishable products, whose supply chain for comercialisation in urban markets is costly (transportation, storage, cold chain, high percentage of discards, etc.);
2. scale economies are easier to be set in the food processing industry than in the fresh food supply chains;
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