Christmas dinner set to be 13% more expensive in 2023

National World - LocalTV

Is your Christmas dinner set to be more expensive this year? Well, we know Brits love a trip around a supermarket now and again but after a year of being affected by the cost of living crisis, how could your pocket be impacted by the festive season?

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00:00 According to the latest Consumer Prices Index, prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages

00:07 rose by 10.1% in the year to October 2023. With the cost of living crisis having hit

00:12 the UK hard all year long, how is it expected to impact our Christmas dinner? Well, according

00:17 to Good Housekeeping Magazine's Cost of Christmas Dinner survey, the meal could cost 13% more

00:24 than last year. It's thought that shoppers will have to pay a minimum of £33.08 to feed

00:29 8 people. This works out at at least £4.14 per head, compared with the £3.67 as it worked

00:36 out last year. The rise in cost is almost triple the overall rate of inflation, which

00:41 currently stands at 4.7%. Global factors continue to impact the UK's consumer prices, and these

00:47 include the strong global demand for consumer goods following the COVID-19 pandemic, supply

00:53 chain disruption and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has contributed to soaring

00:58 energy and fuel prices. Retailers have said that supplies of vegetables such as broccoli

01:04 and cauliflower have been affected by the weather as well. Carrots and Brussels sprouts

01:09 have increased the most in price, both by more than 150% following difficult growing

01:14 conditions in the UK. Parsnips have reportedly risen by 71%, and potatoes have risen by 45%.

01:21 There is no reported change in the cost of brandy butter or cranberry sauce, but the

01:24 cost of turkey is up by 11%, and most mince pies are up as much as 15%.

01:31 People are so conscious now about every penny, every single penny, and it does add up. You

01:36 know, those pounds that you save, that bargain that you get, allows you to spend money on

01:41 really important things. And there's a peace of mind knowing daily what you're spending.

01:47 And I think for some people doing a big online shop is the way that they prefer to do it.

01:51 But for me, because it's just me and my son, it doesn't make sense to do a great big online

01:56 shop. And I find that there's a bag of lettuce that's going off at the back of the fridge.

02:00 Actually, it makes much more monetary sense for me and him to do the school run, we go

02:05 to the shop, we choose something we love, we have that to eat. Leftovers, yes, maybe

02:09 we'll make it for two nights. But essentially, we don't waste anything. We don't waste a

02:14 single drop. Richard Cairns, Mintel senior food and drink

02:17 analyst said, quote, given all the other pressures on household incomes, shoppers will be looking

02:22 at savvy ways to make their money go further. Around a quarter of Brits, for example, are

02:27 expecting to shop at more discount retailers this Christmas than last. He then added, despite

02:33 the rising cost of Christmas dinner, shoppers are still likely to splash out, especially

02:37 if they have guests visiting. Our research shows seven in 10 hosts say that at home social

02:44 gatherings encourage them to buy more premium food and drink than they usually do. So while

02:50 people may be cutting back the rest of the year, they are far less likely to do so for

02:54 their Christmas dinner. Emile Martin, Good Housekeeping consumer affairs director, said

02:59 in 2013 you could have fed eight people on Christmas Day for just under £22.

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