1993 Food Spending Picked Up

With slow economic growth following the 1990-91 recession and with small price increases, food spending rose to $617 billion in 1993 (table 1). This 3.7-percent increase is more than twice that of 1992. Food away from home led the increase, rising 5.5 percent in 1993, and food at home rose 2.2 percent. Adjusted for inflation, food spending per person rose 0.5 percent in 1993-food at home went down 1.2 percent and food away from home rose 2.5 percent- following 2 years of modest declines (table 2). As the Nation struggled out of the recession, personal food spending increased less than that for most other major categories of personal consumption, as is typical (table 3). Federal, State, and local governments paid for a slightly larger share of food in 1993, up 0.1 percent to 5.8 percent. Most of the increase was due to expanding Federal food assistance programs--notably food stamps, as participation increased with persistent unemployment. Price increases were modest-as they had been in 1992---due to ample supplies. Vigorous competition among food retailers and among restaurants helped moderate the price increases