Average family eats spaghetti once a week, drives a silver Ford Focus and goes to bed at 10.39pm

The average British family lives in a semi-detached house, owns a silver Ford Focus and tucks into spaghetti bolognese once a week.

An unofficial census into the everyday lives of Mr and Mrs Average shows a typical family spends a frugal £76 a week on groceries, £12 on booze, and dines out twice a month… but is curled up in bed by 10.39pm at night.

Researchers quizzed 2,000 families who said their favourite entertainment was TV and once a month they go on a family outing. But paying for DVDs and trips to the cinema costs £15 a week.

Boss Mary Turner of home energy service Alert Me, which commissioned the study, said: “Our results show families are fairly conservative with their spending.

“Forking out £76 on a weekly grocery shop for a family of four is fairly frugal, although a typical family has more than one car – very unusual 20 years ago.”

The typical family has tea at 5.54pm but only eats together three nights a week. They are also creatures of habit, often having the same menu every week.

On Mondays, many families have spaghetti bolognese, pasta bake on Tuesdays, chicken pie on Wednesdays, cottage pie on Thursdays, and takeaway fish and chips are still a Friday staple.

The study also found that it’s mums who do most of the chores. Which may explain why they go to bed at 10.39pm, tired out from all that housework, and why many typical households have two rows a week.

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