Accredited official statistics

Family Food FYE 2023

Published 17 October 2024

Introduction

Family Food FYE 2023 presents the results from the FYE 2023 Family Food module of the Living Costs and Food Survey, covering household shopping and eating habits. Around 4,000 households in the UK are surveyed annually. Households record their expenditure on, and purchased quantities of, food and drink both for the household and that consumed outside the home. Detailed long term time series are available for download. Family Food datasets cover household and eating out purchases for a detailed set of food and drink types, and breakdowns by a number of characteristics including region, income, household composition and occupation, amongst others. More details on the survey are in the About Family Food section.

Results presented in this headline release cover the financial year ending (FYE) 2023, that is, April 2022 to March 2023.

1. Expenditure

1.1 Overview

This section provides estimates of household and eating out expenditure on food and drink in the FYE 2023, alongside analyses of changes in household shopping behaviour in response to food price inflation in recent years.

• £43.33 per person per week was spent by the average household in FYE 2023 on all food and drink, including alcoholic drinks and food eaten out. When inflation is taken into account, the amount spent fell by 3.1% since FYE 2022 from £44.72, and by 20.6% since FYE 2020 from £54.58.
• Households spent £33.27 per person per week on household food and drink in FYE 2023, and £10.06 on food and drink to eat out. Since FYE 2022, in real terms there has been a 4.9% decrease in household food and drink.
• In FYE 2023, eating out expenditure saw a 3.5% increase in real terms since FYE 2022, but a 42% decrease since FYE 2020.
• £29.66 per person per week was spent on household food and non-alcoholic drinks in FYE 2023, a decrease of 3.4% in real terms since FYE 2022.
• Since FYE 2020, there has been a significant real terms fall in expenditure on alcohol consumed both in and out of the home.

1.2 Food classification and results tables

Family Food classifies food items into a hierarchical coding scheme of approximately 500 different food codes. Full details of how food is coded and where it fits into the scheme are available in the methodology paper Food and drink codes. Because of space limitations, the data tables in this report generally only show selected food and drink items within the main categories. The accompanying spreadsheet datasets show results for the full list of codes, going back in most cases to 2001 and in some cases back to 1974. Historical estimates going back to 1940 in some cases are available from The National Archives.

1.3 Expenditure on food and drink in current prices

When looking at current prices, the average weekly expenditure on all food and drink in FYE 2023 was £43.33 per person, an increase of 5.4% from £41.11 in FYE 2022. Total expenditure on household food and non-alcoholic drink increased by 5.1% from £28.23 in FYE 2022 to £29.66 in FYE 2023. Food and drink spend for consumption outside the home decreased by 34.1% from £15.26 in FYE 2020 to £10.06 in FYE 2023, but increased by 12.6% from £8.94 in FYE 2022.

Chart 1.1: UK average expenditure on food and drink in current prices, per person per week, FYE 2023

Data for this chart is in the UK expenditure dataset, downloadable here.

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1.4 Trends in spending in real terms

Tables 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 show expenditure in real terms, with the values adjusted to remove the effects of inflation. The figures are derived by deflating expenditure at current prices by the CPIH Index. The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) is the most comprehensive measure of inflation. It extends the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) to include a measure of the costs associated with owning, maintaining and living in one’s own home, known as owner occupiers’ housing costs (OOH), along with Council Tax. Both are significant expenses for many households that are excluded from the CPI. Removing this overall rise in prices from the changes in expenditure on food and drink shows how expenditure in real terms has changed.

The data for this report is for the FYE 2023 and so would have finished at the end of March 2023 when food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation peaked.

Context: Food Prices

Food prices rose sharply between August 2021 and March 2023 during a period of high inflation following the Covid-19 pandemic, and a rise in energy prices caused by the Russia-Ukraine War. Food price inflation led overall inflation between May 2022 and March 2023 (see figure 3 of March 2023 CPI release). This increase in cost of essential categories was not matched by wage growth, leading to concerns over the heightened Cost of Living.

Sharp rises in food prices have previously been seen during the economic crash in 2008, and in subsequent years food price inflation was generally higher than overall inflation. Food prices are driven by several factors, but international commodity and oil prices and exchange rates are significant ones.

The effect of these price rises on consumer behaviour is outlined in this report DEFRA, 2024.

Table 1.1: UK expenditure on food and drink in real terms, per person per week, FYE 2023

	FYE 2019	FYE 2020	FYE 2021	FYE 2022	FYE 2023	% change since FYE 2022	% change since FYE 2020
CPIH All Items L522 (FYE 2015 = 100)	106	108	109	113	123
Expenditure on household food and drink	£37.14	£37.23	£41.01	£35.00	£33.27	-4.9%	-10.6%
Expenditure on food and drink consumed outside the home	£16.71	£17.35	£3.75	£9.72	£10.06	3.5%	-42.0%
Total expenditure on all food and drink	£53.85	£54.58	£44.76	£44.72	£43.33	-3.1%	-20.6%
% consumed outside the home	31%	32%	8%	22%	23%

Since FYE 2022, total expenditure in real terms on all food and drink has decreased by 3.1%, from £44.72 to £43.33 per person per week in FYE 2023. Expenditure on food and drink consumed outside the home has increased by 3.5% from £9.72 in FYE 2022 to £10.06 in FYE 2023. In contrast, expenditure on household food and drink has decreased by 4.9% from £35.00 to £33.27 in the same time period. 23% of expenditure on food and drink was spent on eating out in FYE 2023, up from 22% in FYE 2022 and the low of 8% in FYE 2021 due partly to COVID-19 restrictions.

Table 1.2: UK expenditure on food and non-alcoholic drink in real terms, per person per week, FYE 2023

	FYE 2019	FYE 2020	FYE 2021	FYE 2022	FYE 2023	% change since FYE 2022	% change since FYE 2020
CPIH All Items L522 (FYE 2015 = 100)	106	108	109	113	123
Expenditure on household food and non-alcoholic drink	£32.74	£32.78	£35.58	£30.71	£29.66	-3.4%	-9.5%
Expenditure on food and non-alcoholic drinks consumed outside the home	£12.84	£13.36	£3.02	£7.39	£7.73	4.6%	-42.1%
Expenditure on all food and non-alcoholic drinks	£45.58	£46.13	£38.60	£38.10	£37.39	-1.9%	-19.0%
% consumed outside the home	28%	29%	8%	19%	21%

Expenditure on all food and non-alcoholic drinks in real terms has fallen by 1.9% from £38.10 per person per week in FYE 2022 to £37.39 in FYE 2023. Since FYE 2020, there has been a much greater fall of 19.0% from £46.13. Food and non-alcoholic drinks consumed outside the home has risen by 4.6% in the last financial year from £7.39 in FYE 2022 to £7.73 in FYE 2023. However, since FYE 2020 there has been a large decrease of 42.1% from £13.36. Expenditure on household food and non-alcoholic drinks has decreased since FYE 2022, from £30.71 to £29.66. Between FYE 2020 and FYE 2021, the amount spent increased from £32.78 to £35.58 (the first year of the pandemic).

Table 1.3: UK expenditure on alcoholic drink in real terms, per person per week, FYE 2023

	FYE 2019	FYE 2020	FYE 2021	FYE 2022	FYE 2023	% change since FYE 2022	% change since FYE 2020
CPIH All Items L522 (FYE 2015 = 100)	106	108	109	113	123
Expenditure on household alcoholic drinks	£4.39	£4.45	£5.43	£4.29	£3.60	-16.1%	-19.2%
Expenditure on alcoholic drinks consumed outside the home	£3.87	£3.99	£0.72	£2.33	£2.34	0.5%	-41.4%
Expenditure on all alcoholic drinks	£8.27	£8.44	£6.15	£6.62	£5.94	-10.3%	-29.6%
% consumed outside the home	47%	47%	12%	35%	39%

Expenditure on all alcoholic drinks decreased by 10.3% between FYE 2022 and FYE 2023, from £6.62 per person per week to £5.94. Expenditure on alcoholic drinks consumed outside the home decreased by 41.4% between FYE 2020 and FYE 2023. Spending on alcoholic drinks for household consumption fell by 16.1% from £4.29 to £3.60 between FYE 2022 and 2023. Overall expenditure on alcoholic drinks has fallen since FYE 2020 by 29.6% and alcohol consumed out of the home now makes up 39% of alcohol expenditure, compared to 47% in FYE 2020.

1.5 Indicator of affordability of food

The relative affordability of food can be measured by the share of the household expenditure going on food, i.e. the percentage of total household spending that goes on household food purchases. If the percentage increases over time, food is placing a greater burden on spending. Low-income households are of particular concern because they tend to have a greater percentage of spend going on food.

Chart 1.2: Percentage of spend on household food and non-alcoholic drinks

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Notes:

1. In 2015, the ONS shifted its measurements from annual to financial years (FYE 2016 value covers from April 2015 until March of 2016).

Source: ONS Family Spending in the UK

Latest data is in Table 3.2E5 of the Family Spending Workbook 1: detailed expenditure and trends, downloadable here.

In FYE 2023, an average household in the UK spent 11.2% of their expenditure on household food and non-alcoholic drink, while for the lowest 20% of households by equivalised disposable income it was higher at 14.4%. Since the peak in FYE 2021, share of expenditure for both groups have been decreasing with a 0.6% and 0.4% respective decrease from FYE 2022. The high in FYE 2021 was due in part to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, with hospitality and leisure businesses temporarily closing, and travel restrictions imposed. This meant that with the proportion of people’s expenditure on these items reducing dramatically during lockdowns, the proportion spent on other categories, including household food, increased.

The relative affordability of food can be measured by the share of the household budget that is spent on it. Low income households tend to spend a higher than average proportion of their expenditure on essential categories such as food, housing and energy and a lower proportion of their expenditure on non-essential items.

Although the percentage of spend on food has been relatively constant, the actual amount spent, and the products purchased will change in response to relative prices.

Using comparisons between low income households and all households it is possible to examine the greater effects food price rises may have on vulnerable groups in society. Low income is one of many reasons to be vulnerable in society but this group is used here as a proxy. In the context of this chapter, low income households are identified as those within the lowest 20% (quintile) of households by equivalised income, a measure of household income that accounts for differences in household size and composition.

Chart 1.3: Average share of spend in all households, FYE 2023

Main household expenditure categories	Percentage (%)
Housing, fuel & power	18.6
Transport	14.0
Other expenditure items	13.3
Recreation & culture	11.5
Food & non-alcoholic drinks	11.2
Miscellaneous goods & services	7.1
Restaurants & hotels	7.1
Household goods & services	6.3
Communication	3.6
Clothing & footwear	3.0
Alcoholic drinks, tobacco & narcotics	1.9
Health	1.6
Education	0.9

Source: ONS Family Spending in the UK

Notes:

1. Other expenditure includes housing costs, such as mortgage interest payments and council tax, licences, fines, holiday spending and money transfers and credit.
2. Miscellaneous goods & services includes personal care, personal effects, social protection, insurance and some other services (more detailed breakdown in the Family Spending workbook attached in the source above).

In FYE 2023, the average household spent 11.2% of their expenditure on food and non-alcoholic drinks making it the 5th highest expenditure after housing, fuel and power, transport, other expenditure items and recreation and culture.

This is significant as spend on food has fallen from second place in FYE 2021 and from fourth place in FYE 2022 to now fifth place in FYE 2023. It was likely elevated during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, due to the reduction in travel expenditure with travel restrictions imposed, and the increase in household food purchases with hospitality businesses closed. With lockdowns lifted, these patterns returned to normal the following year.

1.6 Effects of food price rises

Food prices up to FYE 2023

In March 2023, the annual CPIH food and non alcoholic beverage prices rose by 19.2%, which was much higher than the CPIH all items rate of 8.9% in the same period.

Chart 1.4 UK trend in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices in real terms (CPIH), January 1999 to March 2023

Source: Consumer Price Indices, (ONS)

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Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices in real terms (derived from ONS CPIH index values for overall and food and non-alcoholic beverages) were fairly stable between 2000 and 2007, before rising by 12% between July 2007 and February 2009. Prices then returned to real terms stability until February 2014. From a peak in February 2014, food prices fell steadily to October 2016. Over the next 4 years food prices then fluctuated until 2020 when they fell until the end of 2021. Since early 2022 there has been a steep increase.

The data in this release covers the period up to March 2023. For current data on food and non-alcoholic drink, and overall prices, see the ONS website.

As this data is in real terms it reflects how food price inflation compares to overall inflation. If prices of other items have increased more than food, then real terms food prices would show a decrease.

Households can react in many ways to food price increases - they may simply spend more, or buy less of a type of product. They may also ‘trade down’ by switching to purchases of cheaper products within a food category . Family Food provides evidence-based estimates of changes in shopping behaviour in response to higher prices.

Go to Family Food FYE 2023: About Family Food

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2. Purchases

2.1 Overview

Comparisons over a long period of time provide a more reliable indication of change than a year- on- year comparison. Family Food long term datasets cover household and eating out purchases for a detailed set of food and drink types, and breakdowns by a number of characteristics including region, income, household composition and occupation, amongst others.

Context: Purchases estimates

It is a widely recognised characteristic of self-reported diary surveys such as Family Food that survey respondents tend to under report their purchases. Empirical comparisons of sales and duty data for alcohol in particular suggest that reported alcohol consumption could be 40-60% lower than the reality. For other food and drink, reporting is likely to be closer to actual purchases, but under-reporting is likely to feature and some food types may be under-reported to a greater extent than others.

Although such surveys are completely confidential, respondents may under-report for a range of reasons, from self-consciousness to simply forgetting to record purchases. ‘Top up’ and eating out purchases are probably more likely to be missed than the main household shop. There is no evidence to say whether levels of under-reporting have changed over time, but it is plausible that changes in household shopping and eating patterns may have contributed to increased under-reporting.

The ONS had to make changes in the methodology due to the pandemic and as a result the collection of food diaries had to be shifted mostly online. This may have resulted in differences in certain categories due to sampling adjustments rather than real effects.

There is much more data and analysis available about health and diet from Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. For example, The National Diet and Nutrition survey (NDNS) has data that is focused on Nutrition and Calorific intake.

2.2 Household purchases

Table 2.1 shows the main food groups examined in this section. A detailed explanation of how these trends are calculated is available in the Methodology Papers.

Table 2.1: Quantities of household purchases of food and drink in the UK

Grams per person per week, except for liquids in millilitres, and eggs (number) ^(a)

Food group	Units	FYE 2019	FYE 2020	FYE 2021	FYE 2022	FYE 2023	% change since FYE 2022	% change since FYE 2020
Bread		521	524	502	465	465	0.0%	-11.3%
Other cereals and cereal products		589	607	619	551	559	1.6%	-7.8%
Meat		961	949	976	854	857	0.3%	-9.7%
Fish		146	148	153	135	126	-6.9%	-15.1%
Milk	(ml)	1840	1746	1791	1635	1533	-6.2%	-12.2%
Cheese		123	129	150	135	127	-5.5%	-1.5%
Eggs	(no.)	2	2	2	2	2	10.4%	-10.0%
Fats		161	158	169	139	153	9.9%	-3.3%
Fruit		1106	1080	1159	1026	949	-7.5%	-12.1%
Vegetables (excluding potatoes)		1139	1147	1275	1079	1061	-1.7%	-7.5%
Potatoes (fresh and processed)		620	612	643	552	578	4.7%	-5.6%
Sugar and preserves		93	87	108	83	78	-6.2%	-10.7%
Cakes, buns and pastries		151	163	158	165	161	-2.4%	-1.1%
Biscuits and crispbreads		159	173	165	162	156	-3.9%	-9.7%
Confectionery		136	144	171	144	143	-1.3%	-0.9%
Beverages		52	56	60	57	49	-13.5%	-11.4%
Soft drinks (b)	(ml)	1642	1658	1812	1670	1500	-10.2%	-9.5%
Alcoholic drinks	(ml)	712	728	876	703	623	-11.4%	-14.4%

^(a) Milk includes milk products. Beverages, soft drinks and alcoholic drinks are measured in millilitres. Eggs are counted individually.

^(b) Converted to unconcentrated equivalent by applying a factor of 5 to concentrated and low calorie concentrated soft drinks.

Purchases of the majority of household food and drinks saw a clear decrease, with the most prominent changes being beverages, alcoholic drinks and soft drinks which decreased by 13.5%, 11.4% and 10.2% respectively between FYE 2022 and FYE 2023. Only 5 of the 18 categories saw an increase from FYE 2022, with eggs, fats and potatoes having the largest changes of 10.4%, 9.9% and 4.7% respectively.

Since FYE 2020, there has been a decrease in all main food group purchases listed in Table 2.1.

2.3 Home-grown food

Table 2.2 Percentage of fruit and vegetables grown at home

	FYE 2019	FYE 2020	FYE 2021	FYE 2022	FYE 2023
Beans	18	29	19	10	6
Onions, leeks and shallots	1	3	2	1	1
Tomatoes	10	8	5	3	3
Potatoes	2	2	2	1	1
All other vegetables	3	2	2	1	2
Apples	9	7	4	1	4
Soft fruit	7	4	5	5	0
All other fruit	1	2	1	1	0
% of all fruit and vegetables	3	3	2	1	2
Eggs (a)	4	8	2	1	0

^(a) As eggs are counted in whole numbers and not grams like the rest of the categories it is not appropriate to include them in the overall percentage when the units are different.

In FYE 2023, 2% of fresh fruit and vegetables entering the household came from free sources, mainly gardens and allotments. This is up from 1% in FYE 2022. This percentage is subject to year-on-year fluctuations depending on growing conditions in the UK, and also a lot of fruit and vegetables cannot be home grown due to the UK climate. The percentage of eggs entering the household which were free or home produced in FYE 2023 was less than 1%, in comparison to 8% in FYE 2020.

2.4 Takeaway food and drink

Takeaway purchases for consumption within the home are classed as household purchases (see Methodology Papers).

Table 2.3 UK household quantities and expenditure in real terms on takeaway food brought home ^(a)

Purchases (grams)	FYE 2019	FYE 2020	FYE 2021	FYE 2022	FYE 2023	% change since FYE 2022	% change since FYE 2020
Total Meat	53	57	43	31	35	12.9%	-38.1%
Total Fish	10	9	9	6	6	-3.1%	-33.4%
Total Vegetables	40	45	37	24	26	8.2%	-40.9%
Total Bread	5	6	4	4	4	25.9%	-19.7%
Total Other Cereals	44	44	33	24	26	10.1%	-40.8%
Total Miscellaneous	3	4	2	3	3	-12.5%	-23.1%
Total	156	164	128	92	101	9.5%	-38.4%

Expenditure in real terms (pence per person)	FYE 2019	FYE 2020	FYE 2021	FYE 2022	FYE 2023	% change since FYE 2022	% change since FYE 2020
CPIH All Items D7BT (2015 = 100)	106	108	109	113	125
Total Meat	101	110	95	72	76	6.2%	-30.8%
Total Fish	24	21	27	18	18	4.2%	-14.0%
Total Vegetables	39	42	40	29	29	-0.1%	-31.4%
Total Bread	14	14	13	10	12	25.4%	-14.9%
Total Other cereals	72	73	62	44	41	-7.7%	-44.4%
Total Miscellaneous	6	6	6	6	6	-0.5%	1.3%
Total	255	268	244	179	183	2.4%	-31.7%

^(a) Purchases in grams per person per week, Expenditure in pence per person per week

Table 2.3 summarises the takeaway part of the major food groups. Between FYE 2022 and FYE 2023, purchases of takeaway food brought home increased by 9.5%, but from FYE 2020 to FYE 2023 purchases decreased by 38.4%. Expenditure on takeaway foods in real terms was £1.83 per person per week in FYE 2023, 2.4% higher than in FYE 2022 when it was £1.79. Between FYE 2020 and FYE 2023 expenditure decreased by 31.7%, from £2.68 to £1.83.

3. Background notes

3.1 Financial year estimates

Financial year estimates

The latest results cover the financial year ending (FYE) 2023, in line with Family Spending, the ONS parent survey for Family Food, which switched to financial year reporting for FYE 2016 onwards. Comparisons between financial year estimates and previous calendar year ones are valid since both cover a full year of shopping activity. Generally Family Food exposes long term trends in consumer behaviour and year on year differences are not especially relevant. In the detailed datasets we have provided indicative estimates for FYE 2016 as well as the previously published 2015 calendar year estimates, for comparison.

3.2 COVID-19 and household food purchases

COVID-19 and household food purchases

The Covid-19 pandemic affected all parts of the economy in 2020, 2021 and even in 2022 and had a significant impact on businesses and consumer behaviour as a wide range of measures came into force.

During the lockdown measures in place for part of 2020, retail became the most important source of food for most consumers. Some food which would normally have gone through wholesale to the catering or school sectors was diverted on to retailers’ shelves. For part of this period, supermarkets and convenience stores were generally the only places to purchase food. Retailers implemented social distancing measures and strengthened their home delivery and ‘click and collect’ services, amongst others.

The hospitality sector was effectively paused for large parts of 2020 and the start of 2021. There were even regional differences in the range of restrictions within the UK. The Eat Out to Help Out scheme in August 2020 stimulated demand in the summer, but consumer caution around a second wave of infection towards the end of the year also influenced expenditure outside of the home.

The summer of 2021 saw a reopening, but there was a return to cautionary measures due to the onset of the Omicron variant over the Winter before having a much more restriction free year in 2022.

Go to the methodology page to learn more about how we produce Family Food

Go to Family Food FYE 2023: About Family Food

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