An official website of the United States government
Single persons spend a larger portion of their food budget on meals away from home than any other family type.
In 1997, single persons allocated 36.7 percent of their total food expenditures to meals at eating places. Families consisting of husband and wife only spent 31.0 percent of their food budget on meals away from home, while families composed of husband and wife with their own children spent 29.2 percent.
Other husband and wife families (such as husband and wife raising a grandchild) devoted only 26.3 percent of their food expenditures to meals out. Single parents spent 26.2 percent of their food budget on meals away from home.
These data are a product of the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey program. Find out more in "Let’s do lunch: expenditures on meals away from home," by Geoffrey D. Paulin, Monthly Labor Review, May 2000.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Singles eat out more at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2000/jul/wk2/art02.htm (visited October 31, 2024).