London, July 19 (IANS) To save money and reduce waste to a minimum a lot of British families are resorting to buying more frozen and dried food at the supermarket, the Bank of England has said in a report.
The report, based on information from the Bank’s agents across the country, has highlighted how millions of families are applying various tricks to cope with the first double-dip recession since the 1970s, Daily Mail reported.
These families are “ever more focused on obtaining value for money”, with many having already switched to discount shops and cheaper food.
“As well as trading down to cheaper products, [households are] increasingly switching away from fresh goods to dried and frozen products, to minimise waste,” the report said.
Unlike fresh food, frozen and dried food seldom gets wasted because it lasts for months, or even years, rather than a few days. The average family dumps food worth 680 pounds annually, leading to a lot of rotting waste.
Around one-fifth of all the food coming into the home is thrown away, mainly fruit, vegetables, dairy products and other perishables such as bread and meat.
The nation dumps 7.2 million tonnes of food worth 12 billion pounds annually, enough to fill Wembley Stadium nine times over.
According to the British Frozen Food Federation, the market has grown every year since the recession began. Britons spent 5.45 billion pounds (about $8.5 billion) on frozen food during the year to the end of June, a rise of 6 percent over the last 12 months.
The Bank in its ‘Agents’ summary of Business Conditions’ published monthly has observed how elderly people are cashing in their homes.
They are selling their home to buy a smaller property or one in a cheaper area to release money from the sale.
