Is it true that England has some of the cheapest food in the world?

[Xraytime]

I just read this on another thread—if it's true, then why is food poverty so widespread?

Do people in other countries typically spend a higher percentage of their income on food, and is it possible that we in the UK need to adjust our expectations?

Or is it because other essential costs, like rent and bills, are so high in the UK that many people simply don’t have enough left for food?

Yes. In the western world certainly. Because of the power of the big supermarket who control market.

It's certainly cheaper than in Belgium, toiletries and cleaning products too. I am always amazed when we go back home.

Have a look on YouTube at some of the extreme budget cooking channels. See Mindy Mom and Frugal Fit Mom are good examples. This gives a good insight into how expensive their food is. I was shocked. What they consider an extreme budget we would consider fairly generous.

Yes it's absolutely true.

We do however spend lots of our money on other things either through necessity or desire. That means there is less left for food.

As a percentage of income food costs have decreased massively over the past 20 years. Now starting to up again due to climate issues and the fact that we are unfortunately so dependent on food from overseas.

Certainly in the UK food used to take a much higher proportion of income until the 90s when competition pushed down prices. This is still a problem in some areas which lack a budget supermarket and rely on co ops and spars such as rural areas and large council estates built outside city centres such as Sheffield and County Durham. Personally I think all areas should be served by a budget online supermarket so cheap food is available to all that need it.p

Unfortunately a lot of poverty is fuelled by mental health issues, substance abuse and learning difficulties and disabilities and not all is solvable with money.p0

Uk food is cheap but our wages are also low

How many multiples of salary is a three bed flat in those other countries? How much is their electricity/gas/petrol? How much are benefits compared to mean incomes? How much is full-time childcare?

Yes.

I was confused by Trump going on about the price of eggs in pressers recently. So I looked it up. $4.95 for six, apparently. The eggs I buy, the Sainsbury's Woodland Free Range ones, are £2.85. According to Google that's about $3.68. So yes, I can see why Trump mentions it.

Wages are low, Cost of housing, train travel, holidays, leccy, and loads of other things are high.

Edited for typos.

@PenneyFouryourthoughts absolutely

Food is cheap here but our energy and housing costs are very high and will be a fixed cost for most people, so this will be what is pushing people into food poverty or a 'heat or eat' scenario.

Food and clothes are cheap in the UK. We pay far too little for food, hence our struggling farm sector. But housing is really expensive compared to most of Europe.

In the world, no. In the Western world, yes, one of the cheaper countries for food.

I have lived in US, Belgium, France, UK and Sweden and UK definitely had the cheapest food. But I definitely was poorest when I lived in the UK too because everything else is much more expensive.

There was something on the BBC verify about that iirc. I think they have had bird flu or something so a temporary shortage of chickens to lay eggs.

Yeah as above, our food became so much more affordable in the 90s. I do wonder if that's partly what fuelled the housing boom in the 90s - more money in people's pockets to spend on housing?

So food tends to be cheaper in areas with a higher cost of living, where there’s more competition and access to large supermarkets.

But in lower-cost areas, where wages and housing might be cheaper, food prices are often higher due to fewer options, less competition, and reliance on smaller or convenience stores.

There is no relief.

Since Trump has been elected egg prices have soared and average price is now $7 with $10 not unusual in some areas

Unlike much of Europe, we don’t have VAT on food. It makes a difference.

Hard to generalise so here is a specific example:

In South Africa, basic products like eggs, milk, cheese, bread etc cost about 60% compared to the equivalent product in the UK.

Minimum wage is £1.23 per hour. Old age pension is £92 per month. Both roughly a tenth of the UK equivalent, and expected to include rent.

So yes, for those on lower incomes food is definitely more affordable in the UK in this example.

How do people eat in those countries?

Low quality food is cheap. We have been used to eating ultra processed cheap food in the UK for the last 30 odd years.

I bet it’s swings and roundabouts, I bet our housing and utilities are more expensive…

Visiting supermarkets in Austria France Italy Spain in the last couple of years and all more expensive for most things than the UK

In my experience, our basic food costs are far lower than other comparable countries.
Our housing cost is higher than most though which definitely causes problems.
The second problem I see is too many people who are not good at budgeting, making good shopping / spending choices and living within their means.