The Cost of a Healthy Food Basket in Northern Ireland 2014-2024

Project start date: 30 September 2014
Project status: Completed
Project type: Nutrition
Discipline: Food poverty
Author/s: Minimum Essential Standards of Living Research Centre at St. Vincent de Paul
Collaborator/s: The Consumer Council NI, The Food Standards Agency NI

Research objective

This research assesses the cost of a Minimum Essential Healthy Food Basket for 4 low-income household types in Northern Ireland in 2024. It presents the percentage of take-home income that these households would need to spend to achieve a minimum essential, nutritionally adequate and socially acceptable food basket.

Outputs

Research report

Title: What is the cost of a healthy food basket in Northern Ireland in 2024?
Date: 30 September 2025
Summary: Food costs in Northern Ireland rose sharply in recent years, with some households living on a budget needing more than half of their income to afford a healthy food basket in 2024.
Findings:
- The cost of a minimum essential healthy food basket for the 4 household types ranged from £71 to £276.
- The minimum food costs for the 2-parent household with 3 children in pre-school, primary school and secondary school required the highest proportion of household income, accounting for over half (63.3%) of their state benefit income in 2024.
- For households with children, an average of just under two-thirds (64%) of the minimum food costs came from meat, fruit, vegetables, dairy products, bread and cereals.The minimum food basket also continues to acknowledge the importance of food in marking seasonal celebrations. This is reflected in an allowance for celebratory food on specials occasions, such as Christmas. This allowance accounts for a further 2% of the minimum food costs.
- Including these aspects of food ensures that the minimum food basket is based on lived experience. It recognises that while food is necessary for survival, it also has social and cultural dimensions.
- This range of social and cultural dimensions accounts for approximately one fifth (18%) of the costs for households with children and a quarter (24%) for a pensioner living alone.
Recommendations:
1. Maintain regular repricing of the Minimum Income Standard (MIS) food basket to accurately reflect lived costs and ensure social inclusion needs are captured.
2. Policy interventions should address the affordability gap for households living on a budget, especially those with teenagers, to prevent food poverty.
You can download the report and a summary below.

Reports from previous years are also available to download below.