Free lunch: The food expense claims of MPs revealed

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The amount spent on food by 646 MPs in 2007-08 totalled £1.197 million - an average of £154 a month per MP, the Daily Telegraph calculated.

The claims revealed appetites for snacks including Peperami sausages, Pot Noodles, pork pies, jellied eels and Farley's rusks.

Of the 32 MPs who claimed the full amount every month last year, 23 were from the Labour Party, the paper reported.

They included Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe, former Home Secretary Charles Clarke, and Home Office minister Phil Woolas.

Some claimed more than the maximum but had their claims pared back by the fees office.

Peter Bone, Conservative MP for Wellingborough, apparently claimed £5,100 in the 12 months to the end of March, while Graham Allen, Labour MP for Nottingham North, went over the £400 limit on four occasions.

Under the Commons additional costs allowance MPs were allowed to claim up to £400 for food every month - £4,800 a year - without having to submit receipts.

But this has now been replaced with a flat-rate sum of £25 "for any night which a member spends away from his or her main home on parliamentary business".