Wine, bread and veg are among our biggest spends at the supermarket, with the average family weekly food shop coming in at £53.20.
The average spend on everyday items has been broken down in a new report from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). The report covers a huge range of expenditures, including food, transport and education - totalling an average of £528.90 a week.
Transport and housing come out as the biggest expenses, but we’ve delved into the food and drink figures to show you not just what we’re buying as a nation, but also how much we’re spending on it all.
What we buy
Obviously we’re spending more on some products than others. We’re a country that loves carbs. Bread and biscuits – combined with pasta and rice, add up to £9 a month in total.
We spend more on fish than any type of meat, while some items are costing us less because they’re generally quite cheap – eggs, tea and coffee for example.
How does your weekly spend compare?
Spending varies around the country. People in Northern Ireland have a weekly basket worth £59, while those in the North East of England spend just £45.50.
This doesn’t necessarily mean food costs more or less in the different areas. Higher disposable income in the South East will account for some of the increased spend in this region.
The figures also show the variations in spend across the country on specific items. Despite being one of the biggest spenders on food each week, Londoners proportionally spend less on cake than the other regions. You can find out more about how much people spend and what they buy on the ONS website.
How can the average family weekly food spend for Britain be £53.20/week? That's £7.50/day (remember there are 7 days in a given week). Even with just one person per family (does that even constitute a 'family'?), that is a pretty tight budget. A Tesco meal deal (which I would consider 'cheap' food) costs £3. While McDonalds/KFC/Burger king (which is relatively cheap food) costs close to this £7.50/day family budget. Either these stats are wrong or I don't realize the lifestyle I'm living. It's not like I go to restaurants often. Should do a survey to see how many respondents have tucked into a nice juicy steak from Gaucho? - If this is the true state of affairs in Britain, then this country cannot really be considered 1st world.
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As beef, pork, lamb, bacon and ham and poultry are itemised separately, what does the other meat and meat preparations consist? The cost at £6.20 pw is the highest single item outlay so it would be helpful to have a breakdown.
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Have to agree with previous comments, without size of family the statistics are pointless.
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Is the £53.20 per person per week? or is it an average household budget? and does it include giving kids dinner money to take to school? i know families that give each child £5 per day and that's for food, so are people including this in how they report their food spending? i suspect not, or the average would be a lot higher..
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There's no correlation between what's spent and size of household, I would have thought that was a fairly fundamental statistic to enable people to see how their weekly shop compares?
If a family of 3 (2 adults & 1 child) are spending the same as a family of 5 (2 adults & 3 children) then it could give the family of three an idea of whether they're spending wisely or not.
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