The Cost of a Healthy Food Basket in Northern Ireland 2014-2022

• Project start date: 1 January 2014
• Project status: Completed
• Discipline: Nutrition
• Principal researcher/s: Minimum Essential Standards of Living Research Centre at St. Vincent de Paul
• Collaborator/s: The Consumer Council NI (2014, 2016), The Food Standards Agency NI

Research objective

• Using Consensual Budget Standards methodology, the 2014 pilot study aimed to construct a food basket for two household types in Northern Ireland: a two-adult and a two-child household, with one child in pre-school (aged 2‒4) and one in primary school (aged 6‒11);  and a pensioner living alone.
• The subsequent biannual studies aimed to construct food baskets for further household types, and to calculate the cost as a proportion of take-home income.

Outputs

Research report

• Title: What is the cost of a healthy food basket in Northern Ireland? 2022? / What is the cost of a healthy food basket in Northern Ireland in 2022?
• Publication date: 16 August 2023
• Summary: A series of food basket studies in Northern Ireland from 2014-2022.
• Findings:

  2014

  • Menus for the two household types were agreed by the focus groups. No major differences emerged between the urban (Belfast and Derry/Londonderry) and rural (Enniskillen) focus groups in terms of patterns or the stores that were identified for food shopping.
  • There was strong consensus across groups as to what is an acceptable and healthy food basket. Interestingly few changes had to be made by the nutrition experts. There was consensus that the menus include additional items such as alcohol, eating out, takeaways and extra food for visitors and Christmas reflecting the role that food plays in social participation.
  • The cost of the food basket for the single person household was comparatively high relative to the two parent, two child household.
  • The social and cultural aspect of food was reinforced by the inclusion of additional items such as eating out and providing for visitors.
  • The flexible nature of the household’s food budget was confirmed by the focus groups.

  2016

  • Low-income households need to spend approximately one third of their take-home income to buy a minimum essential food basket.
  • The cost of the food basket depends on household composition; food for an adolescent is similar to that for an adult.
  • Food is regarded as a flexible aspect of the household budget.
  • The social and cultural aspects of food, such as spending on takeaways and extras visitors and Christmas, are an important part of the food basket.
  • The 2016 weekly cost of the basket for a two-parent, two-child household (pre-school and primary school) is £115, £4 less than 2014.
  • The 2016 weekly cost of the basket for a pensioner living alone is £57, £2 less than 2014.
  • This research highlights the challenges when trying to balance buying this food basket with other weekly household expenses.

  2018

  • Low-income households need to spend approximately one third of their take-home income to buy a minimum essential food basket.
  • Minimum food costs are highest for a household with an older child, secondary school age costing approx. 33% more than for a household with younger children.
  • Food poverty is multi-dimensional, it encompasses both the lack of access to a nutritionally adequate diet, and the consequential impact on health and social participation. 
  • The MESL food basket includes allocations (e.g. eating out  of home and food for visitors) that reflect the social cultural aspects of food, ensuring that households can participate in activities and practices considered a normal part of everyday life.

  2020

  • Low-income households need to spend approximately one third of their take-home income to buy a minimum essential food basket. 
  • Minimum food costs are highest for a household with an older child, secondary school age costing approx. 33% more than for a household with younger children. 
  • Food poverty is multi-dimensional, it encompasses both the lack of access to a nutritionally adequate diet, and the consequential impact on health and social participation. The MESL food basket includes allocations (e.g. eating out of home and food for visitors) that reflect the social cultural aspects of food, ensuring that households can participate in activities and practices considered a normal part of everyday life.

   2022

  • Food basket cost increased by between 4.3% and 4.9%. For the first time in this research series, average food prices are now higher than in 2014. 
  • Low-income households need to spend approximately one third of their take-home income to buy a minimum essential food basket. 
  • For households with children, an average of two thirds of the minimum food costs are for meat, fruit, vegetables, milk, cheese, eggs, bread and cereals, which increased between 3% and 7% between 2020 and 2022. 
  • For a pensioner living alone, minimum food costs increased by 4.9%. Increases in the cost of the social inclusion aspects of the food basket accounted for a quarter of the increase. 
  • From 2020 to 2022, temporary cost of living supports contributed to a change in the proportion of household income. Without these supports the increase in minimum food costs would have exceeded the change in net household income for families reliant on state benefits. 
  • The MESL food basket includes allocations (e.g. eating out of home and food for visitors) that reflect the social cultural aspects of food ensuring that households can participate in activities and practices considered a normal part of everyday life).

  You can download the reports below.

Other outputs

Summary reports

2014 | 2016 | 2018 | 2020 | 2022

7-day sample menus

2020 | 2022

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