The Dutch food basket : Amsterdam.
Date: 2016-01-08
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Subjects: EU budget, Netherlands, food expenditure, foodstuff, goods and services, household consumption

THE DUTCH FOOD BASKET
A M S T E R D A M

 â The European Reference Budgets Network is a project financed by the European Commission that aims to develop cross-national, 
comparable reference budgets in all EU Member States. Reference budgets are baskets of goods and services considered necessary 
for an individual household to reach an acceptable standard of living within a given country, region or city. Preparing reference 
budgets with a common methodology can help EU Member States to design effective and adequate income support measures and 
to encourage mutual learning and the exchange of best practices. More information about the project as well as the full country 
reports can be found on the European Commission website: http://europa.eu/!CC79TD

The Dutch food basket indicates the monthly budget required for 
an adequate food intake by three reference households (consist-
ing of children and people of working age, in good health, without 
disabilities  and  living  in  the  capital  city).  The  basket  includes 
a  budget  for  food  and  for  the  kitchen  equipment  required  to 
prepare,  serve,  consume  and  preserve  this  food.  Furthermore, 
it takes into account the necessary budget for physical activity 

and for other functions of food, such as its social function for 
example. The food basket has been developed in accordance with 
nutritionist  recommendations  and  national  dietary  guidelines 
and takes into account the cultural specificities of Dutch eating 
habits. The feasibility and acceptability of the basket have been 
verified through focus group discussions involving citizens with 
different socio-economic backgrounds.

1. Key findings
The Dutch Food Budget: monthly amounts in euros, 
Amsterdam, May 2015

1 000

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

Total food (incl. physical activity
and other functions of food)

Healthy diet + kitchen
equipment

etc.)  and  physical  activity  is  taken  into  consideration,  the  total 
monthly food budget amounts to EUR 224 for a single person 
and EUR 518 for a family of two adults and two children.

2. National specificities

Developing cross-national, comparable European reference  budgets 
requires  the  differences  between  the  respective  budgets  of  the 
 Member States to be explained according to the institutional, cultural, 
climatological and economic context of the country concerned. The 
Dutch food basket takes the following factors into account:

Single person

Single woman + two children

Couple + two children

 â Institutional context

The monthly budget required for a healthy diet (+kitchen equip-
ment) in the Netherlands is EUR 214 for a single person and 
EUR 500 for a family of two adults and two children. If the 
budget needed for the other functions of food (eating out, holidays, 

The Dutch food basket was developed on the basis of the refer-
ence food pattern used to calculate the tax deduction for people 
with food intolerances. In the Netherlands, the extra costs related 
to  food  intolerances  can  be  deducted  from  income.  Similarly, 
municipalities may also allocate income support for people with 

Social Europe

K
E
-
0
4
-
1
5
-
5
4
8
-
E
N
-
N

food intolerances. The extra costs are calculated as the differ-
ence between the specific diet related to the food intolerance and 
the reference food pattern. Originally conceived in 1998 in the 
framework of the Food Consumption Research Project, the refer-
ence pattern was updated in 2009 by the Netherlands Nutrition 
Centre. It consists of a food basket composed of recommended 
quantities of food products to be consumed daily in order to have 
a  healthy  diet.  The  exact  composition  of  the  food  basket  has 
been determined in accordance with the Good Food Guidelines, 
developed  by  the  Health  Council  in  2006,  and  the  2009 Food 
Choice Guidelines of the Food Centre. The reference food pattern 
was established for different categories of people depending on 
age, gender and specific needs (e.g. pregnant women). 

 â The pricing of the basket

The pricing of the Dutch food basket was conducted on the basis 
of data from the Dutch Statistics Office, in charge of measuring 
the inflation rate in the Netherlands. Purchasing data are col-
lected in the large Dutch supermarket chains through electronic 
data  transmission  at  the  scanning  machine  of  the  cash  desk. 
Prices were averaged over various branches of supermarkets. A 
weighted average was used, where weights relied on the turnover 
of the specific products. This pricing procedure takes discounts 
into  account,  as  most  supermarkets  have  weekly  offers.  It  is 
worth noting that the turnover of products is higher when the 
given products are at reduced prices. The reference budget did 
not take into consideration products with high prices and mainly 
collected prices in regular supermarkets with weekly discounts. 
As the prices of the food items are averaged over a whole cal-
endar year, the food budget allows for incorporating seasonal 
food patterns and eating behaviour. Furthermore, economies of 

scale related to the household size are incorporated in the pric-
ing procedure. They relate to three factors: a larger family can 
cook more efficiently and buy the right amount of food, it can 
buy larger quantities at once, and it is more advantageous for a 
larger family to shop at discounters. The equivalence scale used 
is calculated on the basis of Dutch household budget survey data.

 â Physical activity

Besides the budget needed for a healthy diet, the food basket 
also  includes  a  minimum  budget  for  physical  activity,  as  this 
is  presented  in  the  national  guidelines  as  a  general  require-
ment for a healthy lifestyle. However, no additional costs have 
been included in the Dutch food basket, as free activities such 
as  walking,  jogging  or  cycling  allow  for  fully  maintaining  a 
healthy lifestyle.

 â Other functions of food

The  food  basket  also  takes  the  emotional,  social  and  cultural 
functions  of  food  into  account,  which  have  been  identified  by 
focus group participants as necessary for adequate participation 
in Dutch society. Eating out once in a while, inviting friends and 
family  over  and  cooking  festive  meals  for  important  holidays 
and  celebrations  such  as  birthdays  or  Christmas  are  seen  as 
constitutive  functions  of  food.  Focus  group  participants  asso-
ciated  the  emotional  function  of  food  with  both  negative  and 
positive feelings, such as coping with grief and stress or relaxing. 
Furthermore, they mainly disagree with the religious function of 
food, while recognising that aspects of religion can be expressed 
by food or that some religions include rules and guidelines for 
food (halal, kosher).

ISBN 978-92-79-50249-1
doi:10.2767/863070