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Americans Spend More On Junk Food, Less On Groceries Overall

By Cornelius Nunev


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

Low expenditures comparatively

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 country, we spend less on food than other developed countries.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics explained that in 2009, the average household spent $6,372 on food. About $2,619 of that was for food away from home and $3,753 was for food in the home. Mother Jones reports that the spending is only 6 percent of the $32,051 annual outlay for the year. The French spend 14 percent on food of the outlay while the British spends 9 percent on food.

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.

Maybe Michelle has a point

In 1982, the average household spent 13 percent of the annual outlay on food, which means we are actually doing better now. This is regardless of the fact that the amount spent has increased to about 8 percent now, according to recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Food costs have really decreased a lot in that time. In fact, no meats went up in price. Steak costs dropped from $7 a pound to $4.90 a pound from 1982 to 2012. Grapefruit prices increased 6.5 percent and bell pepper prices increased 34 percent. Other than that, no other vegetables and fruit increased in price.

Michelle Obama's complaints about child food health are completely justified whenever you consider the percentage of what individuals spent on different foods. From 1982 to 2012, there were many changes in the amount used on food. For example, Vegetables and fruit went from 14.5 percent to 14.6 percent, staying relatively the same. Meats decreased from 31.3 percent to 21.5 percent. The worst part is that processed foods and sweets increased from 11.6 percent to 22.9 percent.

Subsidies do it

According to Mother Jones, part of the reason we pay less for groceries is decades of farming subsidies, which amounted to $261.9 billion from 1995 to 2010. Since 1970, the amount of corn produced in America has gone tripled, rising from 4 billion bushels to 12 billion last year.

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

The low costs also do not benefit the farmer much. Aside from not much cash in nominal terms, the Department of Agriculture estimates 15.8 percent of revenue from selling food goes to the entity that produced it, according to a post on The Daily Green.




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