Food and drink
In 2009 we asked you about how much your household spent on food eaten at home, food bought outside the home and alcohol. In 2010, we repeated this question. This is useful for researchers who are looking at how much income people receive as well as what they spend. Asking the same question again also helps researchers see how our spending habits have changed and judge what impact the recession is having.
We asked how much your household spent every month on food and groceries from food shops or markets. The average amount was £305 in 2010. Households in England spent a little more, on average, on food shopping (£311) and Scotland (£276) and Wales (£264) spent less than average. The 2010 figure was an increase of £26 from the average in 2009.
Looking at changes between 2009 and 2010, the biggest increase was in England, where households were spending £30 more than they had been one year earlier. In Scotland and Wales, households were spending around £13-14 more. Spending in Northern Ireland hardly changed over the year.
We asked about money spent on food outside the home, such as in restaurants, cafes and takeaways. The UK average was £68 per month, but Welsh households tended to spend less, around £55 per month. Finally, we asked about spending on alcohol. The UK average was around £45 per month, down £5 from 2009. The figure for England was close to the average, with Wales and Scotland households spending less (around £38) and households in Northern Ireland spending more (£52). All areas of the UK saw less spending on alcohol in 2010 than 2009, especially Scotland where households spent on average £11.50 less per month.
Comments
Rise in food prices.
Posted by: Rachel - over 1 year ago
Just before the credit crunch was "advertised" as starting, I was struggling to feed my family on a strict food budget, we had noticed prices were creeping upwards rapidly, so therefore put our names down for an allotment, having limited back garden space and poor soil. We were sucessful at gaining a plot within a year and share it with another family. Having never grown our own before it has been a steep learning curve but a highly enjoyable one and of course a highly addictive, sociable hobby! We estimate that in the summer peak harvesting months we have saved aound £30 week on food and have fed several other families too! It has also saved money on Christmas presents as we experimented this year with homemade jams and chutneys. The craze is catching and several other members of our family and friends have either put their names down for a plot or started to grow their own. Now we're going into our 3rd growing season in 2011, there's a drive within us to save even more money next year and grow more crops to last all year round.