A standardised collection of foods representing the typical purchases of a household, used by economists and nutritionists to track food prices, measure the cost of living, and assess diet quality. Statistical agencies price the market basket regularly to calculate food price inflation. In nutrition research, the basket may represent a healthy diet, allowing comparison of its cost against household incomes to study food affordability and food insecurity. The concept also appears in retail, where a shopper’s market basket describes everything bought in one trip, data that retailers analyse to understand buying patterns and plan promotions.