The holiday season can be a time of festive cheer and merriment, until you look at your grocery bill. That’s because some of your favorite items at your local super market get ridiculously expensive in the last three months of the year.
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With all the celebrations, parties, get-togethers and family meals, those costs can add up. Buyer beware: the below four grocery items become stupidly expensive and overpriced during the holidays.
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Ham and Roasts
Because there’s a major demand for these cuts of meat during the holidays, stores tend to charge higher prices, according to Melanie Musson, finance expert with Quote.com.
“During the rest of the year, a bone-in ham may start around $2.50 a pound,” Musson explained. “Around the holidays, you may be looking at prices more in the $3.50 to $4.00 per pound range.”
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Baking Ingredients
Eran Mizrahi, CEO and co-founder of Source86, pointed out that ingredients like cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla extract become very high in demand in a short amount of time during the holiday season, which adds more pressure to suppliers and 20% to 50% more in terms of cost compared to the rest of the year.
Add to the mix the limited availability of these baking ingredients and prices only go up. “Some ingredients are harvested or produced seasonally. When there’s a rather limited supply and demand spike like it does during the holidays, prices will likely follow,” Mizrahi explained.
Eggs
If there has been one controversial grocery item that has seen prices rise consistently over the past year and a half, it is eggs. With the holidays approaching, eggs could get even more expensive.
“You can expect the price of eggs to increase as demand rises for the holidays,” Musson explained, adding that a carton that would normally cost $3 to $4 for one dozen will likely cost between $6 and $7 as Thanksgiving and Christmas approach.
Cranberries
There are only a limited number of produce items that see prices spike around the holidays, with cranberries being top of the list for additional costs not seen during the rest of the year.
In Musson’s experience, shoppers are not always able to find cranberries outside of the holidays and when grocery stores do carry them, a 12-ounce bag tends to cost in the range of $3 to $4. Musson highlighted that around the holidays, that same bag will cost about $5 to $6.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 4 Grocery Items That Become Stupidly Overpriced During the Holidays
