Tesco say we spend 9-10% of our income on food

[Snog]

On the BBC Sunday morning show today the Tesco boss said that people in the UK spend 9-10% of their income on food. My family spends more like 18-20% of our income on food.

Does 9-10% fit with your family spending on food?

I would say 15% here.

5 percent shop in Sainsbury's and Waitrose.

BarbaraofSeville ah yes probably if you don't buy any animal products (organic locally produced milk, eggs, yogurt and cheese are also expensive in comparison to the cheaper supermarket options...)

Can I ask you how on earth you manage seasonal (presumably local if seasonal is important to you) vegetables at this time of year?

We can get apples, pears, potatoes, raw beetroot, carrots and a few very limited indoor grown salad vegetables, sometimes kale and cabbage but not reliably, same for leeks... and mushrooms (reliably) but not much else seasonal fruit and vegetables wise at this time of year! Obviously flour too and we have (to my surprise) a local rice grower... but that would make for a seriously limited diet in winter.

Obviously its easy in late spring, summer and autumn.

As a household of 3 adults I’d say we probably do spend about 10% on food. Household monthly income after tax is about 5k…..I’m not counting DD’s part time bar job while at uni.

I’d say I spend about £100 in supermarkets each week. Maybe £70 in the main shop and then numerous trips to the village mini supermarket each week for bread, milk, eggs, stuff I’ve forgotten. So that’s about £450 a month.

And that doesn’t include any money I waste on lunches and snacks while at work but I’m determined to cut down on this.

We spend about 15% but we are early retired so likely to spend more on food as we don't have mortgage and rent costs and pensions are generally lower than earned income

We probably spend about 30/40% tbh. Six of us. The prices have gone crazy though so fuck knows what we'll do.

How are you all working out your %?
We spend a lot more than most of you. Regularly £100+.

Just worked ours out at 8.3%

Least 30% for me On benefits. 10% I’d be literally starving to death

That would mean someone claiming job seekers should be spending £7.30 a week on food

About 14% for us I think. We spend around £500 a month.

He is probably working it out on a family of 4 with 2 median pay earners of about £31k spending about £100 a week, would that be about 10%? He wouldn't be able to come to this result of 10% on his own experience would he

We spent 12.5% on supermarket and top up shops last month

@Oblomov22

How are you all working out your %? We spend a lot more than most of you. Regularly £100+.

I worked it out as a % of net income. We spend around £130 per week on food, so 10% ish

My grocery budget is 23% of my monthly take home pay.
Single income household at the moment.
4 of us. I shop at Aldi, not extravagant bills- just in proportion to our household income it’s a lot.

According to the ONS the median household income in the UK is just under £30,000 and the median household size only 2.4 people.

If an "average" household going on those numbers spent 10% of their income on food they'd spend £104 per person per month.

Assuming none of those people are very small children that doesn't sound like much to me.. Sounds relatively unlikely tbh. unless it only means supermarket shopping and most people are eating food from other sources regularly.

User0458832 two people earning 31k each are a higher than average income household.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposableincomeandinequality/financialyear2020

I spend about £200 out of £3,000 so that's 6-7%.

But I don't buy brands or processed foods, I cook from scratch, and I don't drink alcohol, which cuts it down quite a bit.

I didn’t include alcohol in my percentage, just food.

We spend 160€ per person per month - 800 per month total.

Mine is also around 18-20% of my net income.
I do go to the shops a lot more than I ought to though and my cupboards and freezer is rammed.
So I could cut back for a month or so. But that's only short term, the next month I'd be back to the sand level.
If I shopped sensibly I think it ought to be around 15%.
One adult and two children under 12. And a cat.

*same level

Purely on food for us 2 adults (kids are here very infrequently) I'd say 5% bit then add in dog food, petrol etc 13%

@Postdatedpandemic

Average (median) take home wage is £611 per week, or approximately £31,772 p.a.

Does that mean the average person spends £60ish on food per week?

£61.90 (10.6%) on food and non-alcoholic drinks according to the ONS.

Ours is nearly 20%