Christmas dinner set to cost less this year

The annual change in price for products across Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl were measured by Retail tracking platform Assosia.

The crown of the Christmas feast, the turkey, has fallen in price by 6% this year, according to this data.

Tom Copas, managing director of Copas Turkeys in Cookham, Berkshire, said the price of turkeys had begun to stabilise after a couple of "incredibly turbulent" years that had pushed up the cost of rearing his birds.

"Hence we're seeing incremental changes in prices year on year, rather than dramatic ones," added Mr Copas, whose family has been rearing turkeys since 1957.

However, Mr Copas says he'd seen slower sales and more demand for smaller turkeys this year, perhaps indicating customers were tightening their belts.

"It's possibly people are trying to keep the overall basket spend down."

Brussels sprouts came in at 12p cheaper for a 500g bag compared to last year.

Hot summers and sudden cold snaps of the previous two years had made things hard for producers, says John Inglis, senior commercial manager at ESG Drysdale, one of the UK's largest sprout producers.

But he says this year has seen us get "back to normality" after "a couple of tricky seasons" and sprouts are thriving again.

The price change may not affect everyone though as the humble sprout can be a divisive veg. A YouGov poll earlier this year found that a quarter of Britons dislike them, with the controversial brassica more popular with older generations.

Root vegetables were behind the largest price changes in our Christmas shop.

Maris Piper potatoes have seen a whopping 26% increase, with a typical 2kg bag up from £1.58 to £1.99.

Tracy Bush, co-director of Provenance Potatoes in Kent, says poor weather has had a lot to do with the price of spuds going up in recent years.

"We've had a particularly wet spring so planting was difficult for any root crops, and then the autumn when crops are lifted and harvested, that was also very difficult," she says.

Carrot farmer Rodger Hobson says the same wet weather delayed this year's carrot planting season. Last year, the weather was so bad that supermarkets had to import carrots. This year, they've gone up by 13.4% to 69p per kilo.

But Mr Hobson says he would not be surprised if "when it comes to Christmas week they'll be down to 20p a kilo".

This is because carrots are often chosen as "loss leaders" in supermarkets. They're sold at a loss to attract customers in to spend on more profitable items.

Ged Futter is a retail specialist who used to be a buyer for Asda. He says supermarkets drastically reduce their prices in the week before Christmas.

"Every year they do the same thing," he says, noting that supermarkets usually fight for customers with cut price "potatoes, carrots, parsnips, Brussels spouts".

Mr Hobson says perishable items make for good loss leaders because customers can't stockpile them when they are cheap. If supermarkets reduced the price of long-life items like baked beans, shoppers might be tempted to buy their year's supply in December, he says.

While loss-leaders are good for shoppers, Mr Futter stressed these below-cost prices "don't show the true cost to the farmer" and can generate a lot of food waste.

"People think that food is cheap to produce - that's not true."

This year price rises were not confined to the main meal - the cost of Christmas desserts also went up.

Christmas pudding is 11% more expensive than in 2023, and mince pies are up by 5%, according to Assosia's research.

Jessica White, the owner of Meg Rivers artisan bakery, says: "Our costs have indeed gone up of ingredients, packaging, wages and like everyone - electricity." But she says her company had chosen not to put prices up this year.

They have already sold out of Christmas puddings and have had to make more to fulfil the waiting list, she says. "We make more and more each year and don't notice a drop in demand."