UK Food Trends - Coping With Food Inflation by Changing What We Eat

DEFRA’s Family Food Survey annually examines the food intake of 6000 households, and its findings for 2011 show a marked difference in what people are buying since recession struck and food inflation soared.

According to DEFRA people in 2011 bought 4% less food than in 2007, whilst spending 12% more. They saved 7% by trading down to cheaper products within a given food type.

People are buying less milk, lamb, fish, margarine and low fat spreads, fruit, bread, cakes and buns, potatoes, vegetables, biscuits, and soft drinks.

They are buying more cheese, pork, bacon, meat based ready meals, eggs and cereals, and bizarrely, cream.

Beef and butter purchases are holding up.

DEFRA’s statisticians tell us that the most statistically significant downward trends (meaning that the trends are long term) are in milk, fish, margarines and spreads, potatoes, fruit, vegetables, bread, biscuits and lamb purchases. Cheese, ready meals, eggs and cream are the only significant upward trends.

A key question is whether people are buying less because they have got a grip on waste, or they are actually eating less. The changes in short shelf life products like milk and bread suggest a clamp down on waste, and the drop in purchase of soft drinks, biscuits, and cakes indicates that less treats are coming into the home.

What does seem to be true is that although a different mix of foods are being bought, on average the calories that this translates to remain relatively stable, down just 2.1% in 2011 compared with 2007, which is in line with trends in boom years. The one oddity is the second lowest income group whose food purchases when translated into energy levels have historically been above the national average, but dropped markedly in 2011 and are now on par with intake in the lowest income group.

    

Much has been made in the press about a rush to the “Good Life”, citing the increase in fruit and veg eaten from gardens and allotments, up from 2.9 % in 2008 to 5.0 % in 2011, and the proportion of eggs from home reared chickens increasing to 5.7% of eggs consumed. However, before getting carried away by a vision of Britain returning to the soil it should be noted that the fruit and veg increase comes from potatoes and apples, which together account for 50% of home grown produce.

Some things do not change and one is the British love of takeaway food. Budgetary constraints not withstanding consumption of takeaway food has remained constant both in weight and expenditure.

   

The DEFRA research is useful in that it quantifies and confirms much talked about food buying trends. It shows that consumers have reacted to food inflation in different ways, be it managing their own inflation by trading down to cheaper options within a given type of food, avoiding products that they consider to be too expensive, or merely buying fewer treats. The research points to marked changes in a relatively short time frame.