A man shops at a retail chain store in Seoul, April 23. Yonhap

A working mother of two surnamed Kim said having food delivered is no longer an easy option for her.

"I didn't mind letting my children order pizza or fried chicken whenever they wanted, but I don't think we can't do that anymore. The price of everything continues to climb these days," she said.

She used to not think twice about having food delivered, since spending time in the kitchen was the last thing she wanted to do after a hard day in the office. Her children liked it, and she could better use her time and energy.

But things are different now.

"A box of fried chicken is well over 30,000 won ($21.75) with something extra on the side and delivery fee included. Once or twice a week of that can add up to a lot of monthly spending."

She finds grocery shopping just as expensive.

"I watched the news about how apple prices were doubling and they said the fruit was no longer an everyday item. I didn't think too much about it then, but I get what that was about now that I have to spend twice as much for the same basket of goods to make a simple meal."

Similarly, a jobseeker in his late 20s surnamed Park said he was irritated at the sight of a new menu with the recently hiked prices of gimbap, a Korean dish made from cooked rice and vegetables rolled in dried sheets of seaweed.

"I don't have a job yet, so I have to live within my means," he said. "An increase of 500 won may seem like nothing, but it means 15,000 won in unwanted monthly spending for people like me who eat it every day while on part-time jobs."

The shared sentiment of frustration is explained by overall soaring prices of food, confectionery goods, fruit and vegetables.

Popeyes, a fast food franchise, hiked its menu prices up by 4 percent, April 15. Items on delivery are charged up to 5 percent higher, a move also adopted by rival chicken competitor KFC. McDonald's plans to hike prices 2.8 percent for 16 menu items on May 2.

Lotte Wellfood, a local confectionery, decided last month to raise the prices of chocolate products by 12 percent on June 1.

According to Nomura Securities, a global brokerage, Korea registered the sharpest growth in fruit prices in the first three months of this year out of the G7 countries and greater Europe. The G7 member states are the U.S., Japan, U.K., Canada, Germany, France and Italy.

In the January-March period, Korea's fruit price growth averaged 36.9 percent. It was more than double the 14.7 percent registered by Taiwan — the second on the list.