The classical way of quoting inflation is to compare CPI prices to what they were twelve months ago.
That doesn't work in this instance, because 12 months ago, we were going through a little thing called a pandemic.
That means ANYTHING that corrects for that will be called dilution by people like you, but TOUGH NOUGGIES. Of COURSE prices are higher than what they were during a global collapse of market demand. That's nothing to do with any economic management, that's just what happens when we all give up on pandemic control.