Japan's households turn to bean sprouts, ketchup amid recession.

From Bloomberg:

Japan’s deepest postwar recession is encouraging cash-strapped consumers to eat more bean sprouts, ketchup and cheap beef, according to a report by Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute.

Spending by each household fell a record 69,509 yen ($734) in 2008, Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life in Tokyo, wrote in a report published today. Consumers cut back the most on food, paring outlays by 16,952 yen, he said.

“Households are in serious penny-pinching mode,” Nagahama wrote in a report that compares last year’s consumption with spending during the 1998 financial crisis. “We’re seeing families eat more at home to help save money.”