BRITAIN’S FOOD PRICES RISE AS HOUSEHOLD INCOME FALLS

Goodtoknow.co.uk visualises Britain’s food expenditure and family food buying habits

• Food prices rise by 12% over the last five years
• Income in low income households fell by 12% over the same period
• Consumer spending on food increased by 3.5
• Food waste costs households £480 a year
• Increased trend towards cooking at home, with a particular focus on baking 

This week saw the release of the Office of National Statistics’  ‘Food Statistics Pocketbook’, raising more alarming questions over the price of Britain’s food and consumer buying habits. With food prices continuing to rise (despite recent quality concerns), and whilst unemployment increases, where does this leave families and households across the UK?

Women’s lifestyle website, Goodtoknow.co.uk, which offers practical tips and advice for busy mums and families, set out to produce an infographic based on new Government stats, to help Britain’s families make the most of their food expenditure and visualise their food spending habits.

The new stats show that buying habits have changed, as people look to cook more at home and be smarter about the food they buy. Consumers are cooking from scratch more than ever, despite the fact that raw ingredient prices are on the rise; this suggests that people are ditching ready-made meals, cakes and snacks.

Despite the increase in savvy shoppers buying more raw ingredients, the average UK household still wastes £480 worth of food and drink a year - 61% of which is avoidable. Stats released show that 32% of all bread purchased is wasted, followed by a quarter (24%) of vegetables and one in five (20%) pieces of fruit.

Charlotte Gunn, Managing Editor at goodtoknow.co.uk, said: “As a website dedicated to offering advice for families to save time and money on recipes, we’re always keeping our eye on the prices of food. With the total food expenditure increasing year on year, we wanted to make it as easy as possible for families to see where their money is being spent (and often wasted) on food, so we’ve produced this infographic in the hope that it will highlight to the UK’s shoppers that there’s still more we can be doing to cut our food bill.”

In 2009, the Office of National Statistics revealed that less than half (49%) of food consumed in the UK was produced in this country. Nevertheless the newly published stats now reveal that 52% of our food is grown in the UK, but critics are left wondering if this has come at a price. Over the last three years, food prices in the UK have continued to soar; the main culprits being sugar, jam and confectionary, which have each increased by 17%, closely followed by meat, flour, butter and cereals all increasing by 11%.  Despite food production and prices in the UK rising, the stats report 400,000 job cuts in the UK food industry which raises considerable questions about the state of our economy. 

You can view the infographic here: http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/537977/the-price-of-food?finalarticle.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editor:

For more information, please contact Rosie Everard rosie.everard@stickyeyes.com / 0113 391 2929

About goodtoknow:

goodtoknow is the number one UK lifestyle website for busy women aged 25 to 45, specialising in quick, cheap and easy recipes, money-saving tips and fun days with the kids. As well as providing expert advice and trusted information on diets, health conditions and pregnancy.