Spaniards spend a third of their budget on food

Spanish families spend nearly a third of the budget, 30.3 per cent, on food, drink and tobacco, compared to the European average which is 22.4 per cent. This will be particularly bad news for Brits and Germans who live here, as the food bill in Great Britain and Germany is only 20 per cent of the family budget. But it is possible to cut the food bill by sticking to seasonal foods and shopping around. The information appeared in a report by the Caixa Catalunya, which analysed family expenditure in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Britain. It is very difficult to establish comparisons between countries which have such very different eating habits but it was interesting to note that most countries showed a marked preference for convenience foods, spending six out of every ten euros on them, while Spaniards spent only 4.6 euros