To obtain the value of nutrition output, the number of meals and hot drinks (see Volume) is multiplied by the cost of purchasing those meals and drinks in a café or restaurant. Information on prices comes from the eating out section of the National Food Survey. This collects information on expenditure and consumpton of food and drink eaten outside the home, to supplement the information on household food and drink collected in the main survey. Meals for children under 10 have been valued at half the adult price. We have assumed that the range of quality of meals represented by the variety of eating out establishments reported in the survey is similar to the range of quality, which is found in home produced meals.

For further details, see Chapter 4 of the HHSA Methodology (downloads).

The value of the output of nutrition should be interpreted with caution, bearing in mind its sensitivity to some of the assumptions made. See Sensitivity Analysis for results using alternative prices.