With Christmas just around the corner, many are looking for ways to keep costs as low as possible during the festive season.
Cold weather bills combined with buying gifts and travelling home make it an expensive time of year – especially when the Christmas dinner shop comes around.
Varied food inflation throughout the year means that this years’ dinner essentials will be a mixed bag. Some items have shot up beyond November’s 3.2 per cent CPI, while others have seen a welcome lag behind.
It was in part thanks to shrinking food inflation that the figure took a sharp turn from 3.6 per cent, reaching the lowest in eight months.
However, the lower rate simply means that prices are rising less quickly, not shrinking, and it still remains some way away from the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target.
Despite the persistent economic pressures, there are still ways shoppers can keep costs lower by planning ahead on where and what to buy.
Here’s your guide to how much Christmas dinner will cost in 2025:
Seeing the biggest increases in price this year are stuffing, turkey and pigs in blankets, according to consumer group Which?. Their year-on-year price tracking shows that these meat-based favourites of the dinner table will set shoppers back more this year.
It is broadly better news for the veggie lovers, however. While peas are up 3.5 per cent in November – just above the month’s inflation rate – carrots matched the CPI exactly.
Others like potatoes, Brussels sprouts and parsnips all see relatively insignificant upturns, meaning they are essentially cheaper in real-terms.
It’s even better news when it comes to treats like mince pies and sparkling wine, both seeing very small increases. Meanwhile, Christmas pudding bucks the trend entirely, becoming 1.8 per cent cheaper than last year.
Reena Sewraz, Which? retail editor said: “Christmas dinner is the pinnacle of the festive season, but at an already expensive time of year, Christmas food and drink staples have shot up in price.
“For any shoppers worried about their finances, you can save money by shopping in Aldi, Lidl and Asda which have among the lowest rates of inflation year on year and also tend to be the cheapest supermarkets overall.”
Will Christmas dinner cost more overall?
While some thing have gotten more expensive, the welcome drops in food inflation in recent months means that Christmas dinner may actually be a little cheaper overall in 2025 than in 2024.
The average cost of a dinner for four will be £32.46, down a few pence from £32.57 in 2024 (which was down 6.5 per cent on the year before), figures from Worldpanel by Numerator show.
This is largely thanks to retailers trying to entice shoppers with festive offers at a time when money is tight, the research group adds.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel, says: “Retailers are pulling out all the stops to win shoppers over as they gear up for one of the most important trading periods of the year. One in five households tell us that they’ve been struggling financially and that’s been largely consistent over the past two years.
“With the cost of living still biting for many this Christmas, just under one third of all spending is on promotion as supermarkets find ways to shield shoppers from the impact of price rises.”
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