rising cost of food

godblessourhome

per time magazine - in the u.s., the poor spend 16% of their income on groceries and 'the rich' spend 11%.

percentage of total household consumption expenditures going to food:
u.s. - 7%
u.k - 9%
australia - 11%
mexico - 24%
brazil - 25%
iran - 26%
russia - 28%
china - 33%
india - 35%
tunisia - 36%
egypt - 38%
nigeria - 40%
belarus - 43%
indonesia - 43%
kenya - 45%
pakistan - 46%

comments?

kmm7309

I would say that 25-30% of my income goes to food, because my income is so low, sometimes it's a matter of eating or having electricity. I used to have a nice income, where I would eat out every night and it only cost me 10% of my income to drop some serious cash on unhealthy food. I still think it has saved me more money to change my lifestyle than I was spending before I came here. I may drink a slim-fast every morning for breakfast and complain that it's expensive (less than a dollar a day), but I used to go to McDonald's and get a large sweet tea and a McGriddle (around $4), and it was so much worse for me than my wallet. So based on my experience, eating healthy is cheaper, because fresh fruits and veggies (and a little creativity and time) costs a lot less than a fast food diet!

Dencrossgirl

Notice Canada is missing off your list, I am not sure what the % is but I know it is low because Canada has a cheap food policy. My family runs a grain farm and every year goes by and our expenses are going up and up and our income is dropping steadily. Personally I am not sure how much equity we can afford to lose. I know lots of other farmers in the same position---they all say the same thing ---strike 3 and they're out. If farmers start quitting and Bayer and Monsanto start running corporate farms , god help us. The US and Canada don't appreciate farmers as an important part of economy, but just like other things, you never appreciate things until they are gone.

godblessourhome

16% of $20,000 = $3,200
16% of $35,000 = $5,600
16% of $50,000 = $8,000

11% of $100,000 = $11,000
11% of $250,000 = $40,000
11% of $1,000,000 = $110,000

it's all a matter of perspective, isn't it? and sorry there was no info on canada; they didn't provide it.

bstamps12

It shows how blessed we are in developed countries like the U.S. and the U.K. that we have all of that remaining percentage to spend on other things. I mean, I am by no means wealthy, but I don't have to spend half of everything I make on food just to get by. And most of the time, the food I do buy is much better than the food those third world countries get even though such a large percentage of their income goes to that.

godblessourhome

It shows how blessed we are in developed countries like the U.S. and the U.K. that we have all of that remaining percentage to spend on other things. I mean, I am by no means wealthy, but I don't have to spend half of everything I make on food just to get by. And most of the time, the food I do buy is much better than the food those third world countries get even though such a large percentage of their income goes to that.

isn't that the truth?!?

michelletr

it does seem like my grocery bill is getting higher...but i do find that healthy food costs more then junk food. it does get a little discouraging to want to keep eating healthy when you have to pay more for the food

and as for canada (i'm from there) i LOVE the farmers...NOTHING tastes like what you would get off a farm. we had fresh hamburger, made from special grain fed cows and that hamburger was the best hamburger i have ever had, store bought hamburger seems so blah now,lol

MzBug

My guy and I have a shared account that we use for expenses. He has never questioned what I was spending out of this account until recently. I usually clip coupons and buy stuff on sale. We spent a good portion of December out of town at various functions and I let the fridge, freezer and pantry thin out a lot. When we got back in January I went grocery shopping...to the tune of nearly $500 in one day! I hadn't had a chance to get the coupons while we were gone, and many things I had to get were not on sale. We also had to buy personal hygiene products to replace those we used while traveling. So when I did the big shopping (freezer and pantry restocking) for Feb, I took him with me. It has been almost 4 years since he went grocery shopping. I thought I was going to have to take him to the ER! Then I pulled out my coupons (he always laughed at me for this) and proceeded to save nearly $50. He isn't laughing now.