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?

It varies so much because it's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string question'.

Everyone has different budgets, preferences and priorities. If you're spending 20% of your income on food, it's likely that you're either on a low income, or there's a lot of luxury in your budget, that you could reduce if you wanted to.

^ This. We probably spend about £60 a week for 2 adults and 1 teen. + the occasional takeaway/meal out. We don't drink much and I tend to cook from scratch but if we didn't do that our food bill would be a lot higher. As it is I think it's probably quite a low %.

I buy fresh fruit, veg, and buy good quality meat. I guess frozen veg is cheaper but you need a freezer plus energy to run it.

But tbh even things like uht milk and pasta have gone up

About 10% but that includes cleaning suppliers and pet food (2 cats and a dog) am buying slightly more expensive meat atm. 2 adults 2 teens and a child - quite happy with that bill as nutritional meals plus treats come out of it

We spend at least 20%.

Trying to figure out if everyone else earns lots or doesn't eat much.

@Wafflefudge

Trying to figure out if everyone else earns lots or doesn't eat much.

Both are heavy hitting MN cards, extra points if you are awash with money but don't turn on the central heating.

@Macademiamum

Works out £15 a day, for 4 people. So £3.75 a day. I can't seem to make it less than that. I don't know how people on here seem to.

That's reasonable for four adults or teens, ours is £50 a week for two, so about the same per person. I could get it lower if I had to but we would have to go back to only eating the cheapest fruit and veg, no avocados, baby spinach or sourdough bread. Back to onions, carrots, sweet potato, bananas, oats, rice, lentils..

I’m around 13-14%, single income and 1 child. I have to shop savvy to keep it that low

Hmmm we’re at about %

No booze, not a lot of processed, no takeaways, not much junk

That will also include things like nappies and cleaning stuff etc - although I’ve cut back on that recently

Around 4% for 2 adults, 1 preschooler and 2 dogs here. Includes all toiletries etc too. We’re both higher earners.

About 20% just for me, but I'm low income with expensive habits (£8 wild salmon, microwave quinoa kind of thing)

I wish and we aren't on a low income. We did an Aldi challenge got it down to around 6% but realistically it's closer to 10-15% we are largely meat free but eat a lot of fish which contributes to the cost. Family of three, most months it's more than our mortgage

@vickyc90 we also spend more than our mortgage on food

[quote Wafflefudge]@vickyc90 we also spend more than our mortgage on food[/quote]
Honestly the Aldi challenge made us realise we can get it down but it was such hard work as nothing lasts. I can order a sainburys delivery for a Monday morning and still have a roast on Sunday without having to go to the shops. We also have a monthly hello fresh box for the meal ideas 🤦🏻‍♀️

I think ours may be about 12%, maybe slightly more. Not high earners but I guess comfortable (for now).

Well, this has been eye opening!

I’ve worked out we spend about 23% of our income on food. It’s our single largest expense as a category. But this is for a family of 6 with various dietary requirements plus two pets. We could get it lower by cutting out some of the ‘nicer’ bits and switching to some cheaper options. But even with that, it would still be much higher than 9-10% as I’m not sure it’s possible for us to halve our bill without simply eating less

@Wafflefudge we take home approx 6200
And spend 120 per week (family of 4) which averages out at about 520 per month which is about 8.3%

I think it's a bit of both, we earn a fair amount and don't spend over the odds...but that's just my opinion 🤣

I'd say about 20% for us, family of five. I aim to spend around £80-£90 on a weekly shop and then we have small top ups of bread and milk throughout the week, normally a takeaway once a week.

^^ will be knocking the takeaways on the head due to energy bills rising! I am quite worried about that as we are a single salary family.

The ONS calculate "disposable income"
Like this
Take home pay
Deduct council tax
Add on any benefits eg child benefit
= disposable income

Tesco’s ain’t got teenagers living with them if they think its that bloody low

@GoodbyeKat

Tesco’s ain’t got teenagers living with them if they think its that bloody low

Lol! Very true!

yep - I could feed just myself for very little (especially as I do intermittent fasting and get free meals at work) but feeding a household with multiple teens as well as possible is a whole different thing.

Being ONS data we probably have to assume that this is to feed 2.3 people.

It would be great to see a scatter graph of disposable income vs food expenditure.