3 ms·

Consumers Cut Food Spending Sharply

14 points by peter123 18y ago

patio11 18y ago
The spending is down about 4%, blamed on two factors: substitution from more expensive to less expensive food sources, and people consuming food stores (i.e. goods in pantry). The second has to be temporary for the obvious reason (well, absent a return to foraging, I suppose). Looking at their graph (alcohol sales down 10.5%, candies down 5.5%, veggies up 2.3%) I'm left wondering if they didn't miss part of the story: people aren't trading down within categories so much as they are reducing expenditure on dietary non-essentials. Its not "I was going to have steak but I couldn't afford it so I had burger", it is closer to "OK, I'm going to cut at the fringe of the food budget that I eat primarily for gustatorial enjoyment."
- jacoblyles 18y ago
  The expansions of the luxury market to include more and more of the middle class was a major story during the 90s and 00s. I wouldn't be surprised to see that reverse during the recession. Who knows, people might even start shopping at Target for clothes instead of expensive boutiques.
josefresco 18y ago
Unfortunately this probably also means that people are buying and consuming less organic and healthy foods, as they tend to be more expensive than your highly processed crap. It probably also means that sales of fast food are rising due to the perception that it's cheaper than a local family restaurant. On a related note, I just dropped $100 for a Valentines Day meal for two at a locally owned restaurant. Support your local economy!
- tjic 18y ago
  Don't conflate "organic" and "healthy" - foods raised purely organically (without pesticides, fungicides, etc.) have more natural contaminants. Also, using organic fertilizers (manure, etc.) opens up a few contamination pathways that are not present with synthesized fertilizers.
  - Ardit20 18y ago
    "have more natural contaminants" So are they more expensive because they are more unhealthy? Common!
- tjic 18y ago
  > Support your local economy! Why? Seriously. This is the mantra of a certain sector of society, but why should I discriminate against one perfectly good set of humans who live 100, or 1000 miles away, in favor of another perfectly good set of humans who live 1 mile away? This is reactionary, regressive medeival thinking.
  - josefresco 18y ago
    No it's not, however I used to have your line of thinking when I was outsourcing programming to India. The way I look at it, your local economy is just an extension of your family. Also, the people around you share many resources and depend on each other for everyday life. I don't think it's a solution that can be followed 100%, but when someone buys something on Amazon for the same price as the local shop, they aren't doing themselves or the local economy any favors. This ties into national pride as well, and for me it all starts with the family. Family>Friends>Town>Region>State>Country. Why do we care at all about America if 100 Chinese are equivalent to 100 Americans? Caring for the people around you is still very important because we still rely on physical realities of being in the same geographic location.

14 points by peter123 18y ago

The spending is down about 4%, blamed on two factors: substitution from more expensive to less expensive food sources, and people consuming food stores (i.e. goods in pantry). The second has to be temporary for the obvious reason (well, absent a return to foraging, I suppose). Looking at their graph (alcohol sales down 10.5%, candies down 5.5%, veggies up 2.3%) I'm left wondering if they didn't miss part of the story: people aren't trading down within categories so much as they are reducing expenditure on dietary non-essentials. Its not "I was going to have steak but I couldn't afford it so I had burger", it is closer to "OK, I'm going to cut at the fringe of the food budget that I eat primarily for gustatorial enjoyment."

jacoblyles 18y ago
The expansions of the luxury market to include more and more of the middle class was a major story during the 90s and 00s. I wouldn't be surprised to see that reverse during the recession. Who knows, people might even start shopping at Target for clothes instead of expensive boutiques.

josefresco 18y ago

Unfortunately this probably also means that people are buying and consuming less organic and healthy foods, as they tend to be more expensive than your highly processed crap. It probably also means that sales of fast food are rising due to the perception that it's cheaper than a local family restaurant. On a related note, I just dropped $100 for a Valentines Day meal for two at a locally owned restaurant. Support your local economy!

tjic 18y ago
Don't conflate "organic" and "healthy" - foods raised purely organically (without pesticides, fungicides, etc.) have more natural contaminants. Also, using organic fertilizers (manure, etc.) opens up a few contamination pathways that are not present with synthesized fertilizers.
- Ardit20 18y ago
  "have more natural contaminants" So are they more expensive because they are more unhealthy? Common!
tjic 18y ago
> Support your local economy! Why? Seriously. This is the mantra of a certain sector of society, but why should I discriminate against one perfectly good set of humans who live 100, or 1000 miles away, in favor of another perfectly good set of humans who live 1 mile away? This is reactionary, regressive medeival thinking.
- josefresco 18y ago
  No it's not, however I used to have your line of thinking when I was outsourcing programming to India. The way I look at it, your local economy is just an extension of your family. Also, the people around you share many resources and depend on each other for everyday life. I don't think it's a solution that can be followed 100%, but when someone buys something on Amazon for the same price as the local shop, they aren't doing themselves or the local economy any favors. This ties into national pride as well, and for me it all starts with the family. Family>Friends>Town>Region>State>Country. Why do we care at all about America if 100 Chinese are equivalent to 100 Americans? Caring for the people around you is still very important because we still rely on physical realities of being in the same geographic location.