Food Expenditure of Average Families

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 2, 3 January 1941, Page 5

Food Expenditure of Average Families

TOO LITTLE SPENT ON ESSENTIALS

That New Zealand people spend far less on food than they ought and consume far smaller quantities of such essentials as milk, eggs, fruit and fish than they ought to consume, has been discovered by the Women’s Food Value League as the result of a questionnaire sent out by the league on this subject, states the Auckland Herald. Of the 2.17 replies received, the majority were from Food Value League members or those sympathetic to the league’s aims. As these people, who are described as a food-conscious group, spend less than they ought on food and do not eat enough of the essential foods, the standard of the average New Zealander, according to the league’s report, must be still lower.

Dividing the families into wage groups, the organisers of the questionnaire had 91 families with a weekly income uuder £5; 103 families with an income between £5 and £8; and 16 families earning over £8 a week. In the first group it was found that 17 per cent, spent under 6s per head per week ou food, 3S per cent. from. 6s to 10s, 34 per cent, from 10s to 13s lid, 5 per cent, from 14s to 17s lid, and 3 per cent. 18s and over. In the other two income groups tho expenditure on food was higher. With regard to home-grown vegetables it was found that only 24 per cent, of the under £5 group relied entirely upon the greengrocer, while 23 per cent, got all their vegetables from their own gardens. In tho higher-paid group 19 per cent, grew all their vegetables and only 6 per cent, grew none at all. The majority grew about a quarter of tho total quantity used. In tbo consumption of milk it was found that as the wage increased so did the quantity of milk consumed. The averago amount consumed per head daily was .8 pints for those with an income of under £5 a week; .82 pints for those earning £5 to £B, and 1.2 pints for those earning over £B. The families using one flint or more per head daily was 36 per cent, in the first group, 41 per cint. in the second, and 50 per cent, in the higher-paid group.