May 22, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Spending on food—at home and away

Food expenditures increased 3.2 percent in 2001, as spending on food away from home rose 4.6 percent and spending on food at home grew by 2.2 percent.

Percent change in expenditures on food at home and away from home, Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1996-2001
[Chart data—TXT]

Spending on food away from home had risen just 1 percent in 2000, but the 4.6-percent increase in 2001 was more in line with increases in the past several years—4.2 percent in 1999, 5.7 percent in 1998, and 5.4 percent in 1997.

The rise in spending on food at home was 3.6 percent in 2000. In the prior 3 years, there had been a variety of changes in spending on this category: an increase in 1999, a decrease in 1998, and little change in 1997.

These data come from the Consumer Expenditure Survey. Find out more in "Consumer Expenditures in 2001," (PDF 193 K), BLS Report 966.

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