Processed vegetables up, eating out at Applebee’s down.

The Economist sliced and diced data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and it looks like people are cooking more at home. They’re buying more fruits and vegetables and eating out less. The belt-tightening is having other positive benefits, like a drastic drop in alcohol and tobacco-related spending, down 17% and 23%, respectively. Smokes have gone up 46% from 2007 to 2010, so kicking or reducing the habit brings even more savings.

We’ll know when it’s boon times again when people start spending more cash on sitting around the house and drinking it up. In the gravy years of ’03-’06, consumers increased their spending on alcohol by 19% and their spending on cushions, or, rather, home furnishings, by 13%.

Hit the Economist link for a nice chart.

How the economic slowdown has changed consumer spending in America [Economist]

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