The Consumer Price Index (CPI) and proportion spend for various types of food in the U.S. is updated on a monthly basis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This data reports how food expenditures break down by different food types. The CPI is one of the most widely used indicators of changes in retail prices, so this data can be useful for animal advocates who are working with restaurants to have more vegetarian options, among other possibilities.

The data on this report changes monthly and tracks the most recent two months, as well as providing trend data for the same month in previous years, for three years prior.

In November 2011, this data shows that people spend almost as much money eating out as at home. In all, about 57% of food expenditure is spent for food at home, versus the remaining 43% for eating out. 12.5% of food expenditure is for meat, poultry and fish, while 6.1% is for dairy and 8.4% is for fruit and vegetables.