The charts below show the percentage of their food budget the average family spent on restaurant meals in different years . The graph shows the average number of meals eaten in fast - food restaurants and sit - down restaurants per family .

The two charts provide information about the budget proportion spent on eat-in

foods

compared to home-made

foods

,related to the

number

of

meals

of both categories between the years 1970 and 2000.

Overall

, it can be seen that the proportion of the dining budget moderately increased throughout the period

according to

the pie chart.

In contrast

, the home-cooked budget percentage gradually dropped during the timeframe. In terms of the total of

meals

,the

number

suddenly rose from 1980 to 2000

while

the figure for dining

meals

slowly grew despite the same starting point of the two in 1970. Regarding the expense percentage of

meals

eaten at restaurants, it stood at just a tenth in 1970 and

then

showed a significant growth in the expenditure spent,which accounted for 15%,35%, and half in 1980,1990, and 2000 respectively.

Conversely

, the percentage of expenditure spent on home-made

foods

also

halved in 2000. In 1970, the

number

of

meals

eaten at the restaurants and taken

elsewhere

numbered 20

meals

a year. For the following decade, the figure for fast food

meals

soared from 30 by 1980 to approximately 90 by 2000

whereas

the

number

for home-cooked

foods

ended the period up at around 50.