Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Americans Spending Less Overall On Food, But More On Junk Food

By Cornelius Nunev


Believe it or not, Individuals spend less on meals than most of their counterparts in developed countries. Though less is spent overall, more is being spent on processed foods and sweets than on more wholesome fare.

Spending a lot less

The average American household is said to have an income of $50,000 per year. That isn't exactly the lap of luxury for the typical two-parent, two-child plus assorted pets home. However, the good news is that, as a nation, we spend less on food than other developed nations.

According to Mother Jones, out of the $32,051 in annual outlays from the average home in 2009, 6 percent was for food. According to the Agency of Labor Statistics, the typical household spent $6,372 on food that year. Of that, $3,753 was food for the home and $2,619 was away from home. However, the typical British family spent 9 percent of their income on food that year; the French spent 14 percent.

Largely, according to a recent article by NPR, it has to do with the cost of food in America steadily decreasing over the past 30 years.

Michelle's thoughts

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that now, about 8 percent of yearly outlays is used on food. That is much better than the 13 percent we saw in the average household in 1982 though.

During that time, the cost of most food groups has dropped; in some cases drastically. For instance, the cost of steak has dropped 30 percent, from $7 per pound in 1982 to $4.90 per pound in 2012. No meats have gone up in price. Only one fruit and one vegetable increased in price in that time, those being grapefruit and bell peppers, the costs of which increased by 6.5 percent and 34 percent, respectively.

You can certainly see changes in what individuals are spending most of their money on now compared with 1982 though. Now, individuals spend about 21.5 percent of the spending budget on meats when it used to be 31.3 percent. Now, people spend 22.9 percent on processed foods and sweets when people used to spend 11.6 percent. Fruits and vegetable expenditures have stayed almost the same though since they are now at 14.6 percent and they used to be 14.5 percent. Michelle Obama's plan to help children get healthier is well justified when you consider these statistics.

All because of the government

From 1995 to 2010, the agriculture industry has received $261.9 billion in subsidies. The amount of corn produced manufactured in America increased from 4 billion bushels to 12 billion bushels in that time. This is part of why we are paying less for groceries, according to Mother Jones.

Grain costs and meat prices have increased a lot lately though. In 2011, the price of grain doubled and the price of meat increased 8 percent.

Having low costs does not help the farmer, according to the Daily Green. About 15.8 percent of the cost of an item sold will go back to the entity that produced it, according to the Department of Agriculture, which is why subsidies are needed.



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