Britons £5.5 Billion a Year Better-Off as a Result of Falling Food Prices

16th March 2015

UK food spend falls 3.5 per cent to £188 billion per year.
*Each adult spending £110 less on food each year
But UK spends £1 billion more on takeaways.

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UK households are feeling the financial benefit of falling food prices as VoucherCodes.co.uk's Annual Food Spend Report reveals each adult is spending an average of £110 less on food annually than they were 12 months ago.

The average British adult will now spend £3,723 a year on food - £2,476 on groceries, £644 on eating out and a further £602 on takeaways. Over the past year, Britons have seen their annual spend on groceries fall by £61 and their splurge on eating out drop by £69. The only area in which falling food prices haven't translated to a reduced spend is takeaways, where the average adult is spending £20 more than they were a year ago.

The frequency of takeaway purchases is also up by almost a third (29 per cent) compared to last year, rising from 84 annually to 108 as Brits spend their spare grocery cash on their favourite take-out meal. For a quarter of the UK (25 per cent) this will mean a call to their local Chinese, 21 per cent will opt for Indian food and 19 per cent will head to their local fish & chip shop.

The UK's Favourite Takeaways:
1. Chinese
2. Indian
3. Fish & Chips
4. Pizza
5. Fried Chicken
6. Kebab
7. Thai
8. Burger
9. Italian
10. Sush

Although spend on eating out has fallen by £69 in the past year, Brits still enjoy a trip to their local bar or restaurant; the average adult will eat out five times per month and spend £54 in the process. Traditional food is the cuisine of choice for one in four (25 per cent) who state British food is on the menu for them when they eat out, this is closely followed by Italian food (24 per cent) and Indian food (17 per cent).

Most Popular Restaurant Types:
1. British
2. Italian
3. Indian
4. Chinese
5. Fish & chips

Those in the capital are spending more than any other city on food with Londoners overtaking last year's biggest spenders, Birmingham, with an outlay of £5,518 each year - 48 per cent higher than the national average. Residents in Worcester have the lowest average spend on food at £2,842 a year and are also the lowest spenders on takeaways, parting with just £203 - 66 per cent below the UK average. Liverpudlians spend the most on eating out, more than double the national average at £1,342 each year.

Those aged 25-34 are by far the biggest spenders when it comes to takeaways and eating out, Brits in this age group spend £2,608 a year eating out and ordering takeaways. That's £553 more than the next biggest spenders (35-44s) and more than double the £1,239 45-54s spend.

Men are the biggest spenders overall on food, parting with £3,984 overall compared to £3,802 for women. Men also consume over a third more takeaways than women, with the average British man eating 154 take-out meals over the course of a year - 36 per cent more than the 113 women eat.

Anita Naik, lifestyle editor of VoucherCodes.co.uk, comments: "We've been hearing about falling food prices consistently over the past year so it's great to see British consumers reaping the benefits of the reduction in costs. It's interesting to see that, whilst spend on groceries and eating out has fallen, takeaway expenditure is on the up as Britons opt to spend some of their extra cash on their favourite fast food.

"Whether eating out or ordering a takeaway, British foodies should still make use of the money-saving tools at their disposal to ensure they're getting the most bang for their buck by downloading free money saving apps and checking voucher websites."

* £3,723 (average annual spend on food) x 50,501,583 (ONS UK adult population) = £187,998,434,866.46. In March 2014 the average British adult was spending £3,857 on food each year, UK as a whole = £193,552,636,016 per year based on a 2014 adult population of 50,180,600.

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