How much food does one person eat in a year?
One adult eats roughly 120 kg of vegetables, 80 kg of potatoes, 75 kg of fruit, 220 eggs, 150 L of milk, 35 kg of meat and 4 kg of honey a year. Multiply by the adult equivalents in your household: a child aged 7–14 counts as 0.7 and a child up to 6 as 0.4.
Yearly food per adult and for a family
The last column is for two adults and two children aged 7–14, which is 3.4 adult equivalents.
| Food | One adult a year | Family of four |
|---|---|---|
| Vegetables | 120 kg | 408 kg |
| Potatoes | 80 kg | 272 kg |
| Fruit | 75 kg | 255 kg |
| Eggs | 220 | about 750 |
| Milk | 150 L | 510 L |
| Meat | 35 kg | 119 kg |
| Honey | 4 kg | 14 kg |
How to read these numbers
- The vegetable figure includes food that is stored and preserved for winter, not only what you eat fresh.
- The milk figure includes cheese and yogurt, converted back to milk.
- These are planning averages. Your family's real habits matter more, so adjust them after the first year.
Why the numbers matter
Everything else on a homestead follows from this list: the size of the garden, the number of hens, whether a goat makes sense and how much storage you need. The free calculator turns it into land and animals for your household.
How much food does a family need: needs and goals
How many vegetables, potatoes, fruit, eggs, milk, meat and honey your family eats in a year, and how much land and livestock that takes
- Food needs calculator
- Area calculator
- Animal feed calculator
- Calendar of food on the table
- Record: what we really eat
- What we buy and what could replace it
- Family goals year by year
Sources: WHO, Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases; USDA FoodData Central; Seymour, The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency.
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