What it means: what people spend on groceries, from diaries in which households record everything they buy, divided by the number of people in the household. The main line allows for changes in food prices, using the consumer prices index for food and non-alcoholic drinks, so every year is shown in 2024-25 prices. On that basis, spending was lowest in 2023-24, at £33.01, after the sharp rise in food prices in 2022 and 2023; it was £35.18 in 1992, when the cash figure was £15.37. Spending for the home jumped in 2020-21, when cafés and restaurants were closed for long periods. On top of the grocery shop, each person spent £3.71 a week on alcohol for the home and £12.69 on food and drink eaten out, £50.03 in all. A household’s shop is larger than these figures: the average household has more than two people. Shown for context.

Source: Defra, Family Food, UK household and eating out expenditure, published 17 September 2026; ONS, CPI index for food and non-alcoholic beverages (D7BU).