How much could Christmas dinner cost?

RNZ

16 Dec, 2022 07:37 PM4 mins to read

Christmas is a week away. Photo / Getty Images

Christmas is a week away, and after a year of inflation, Kiwi households will be focusing much more on the cost of everything.

Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen has analysed Christmas dinner costs for RNZ programme Checkpoint, and it’s not good news if you’re a fan of the humble potato.

The Christmas dinner costs are based on feeding 10 people, using food price data from Stats NZ for November.

Comparisons have also been made to food costs in 2019, and in 2006/07. No drinks costs are included, or any additional trimmings.

Snacks

Pre-dinner snacks are just a light teaser, with two jars of olives ($4.89 each), two rounds of camembert cheese ($5.30 each) and two packets of crackers ($3.61 each) costing a total of $27.60. That’s 15 per cent more than in 2019.

The camembert cheese is 22 per cent more than back in 2019.

The traditional roast meats dinner option

There could be a few roast meats on the table at Christmas, and for the first option there is roast lamb ($17.49/kg), roast pork ($11.35/kg), and then ham ($15.87/kg).

To accompany the meats, we’ve included potatoes ($3.07/kg), kumara ($3.63/kg), pumpkin ($4.76/kg), beans ($19.86/kg) and gravy.

All up, the first dinner option will cost $173.15 for 10 - an increase of nearly 15 per cent from 2019 costs.

Potato prices have skyrocketed recently and are 71 per cent more expensive than back in 2019.

Pumpkin and bean prices aren’t helping either, up 61 per cent and 54 per cent respectively, although the 25 per cent drop in kumara prices helps.

For the first dinner option, we’ve assumed 300g of each type of meat per person, 250g of potatoes and 100g of each other vege.

The barbecue dinner option

A summer Christmas in New Zealand often means the barbecue is rolled out, but it does seem to be a more expensive dinner option than the more traditional dinner.

Overall, the barbecue option for 10 people would cost $251.88, up nearly 18 per cent since 2019.

Incredibly, the barbecue option in 2006/07 was similar in cost to the traditional dinner but has increased by 75 per cent since then.

The barbecue consists of sirloin steak ($34.05/kg), lamb chops ($19.87/kg) and sausages ($12.54/kg) with bread ($1.41/loaf), tomato sauce ($3.57/can) and salad (lettuce-based, $15.84/kg).

The salad is set to cost 41 per cent more than in 2019, with 11-19 per cent increases for the meats and a sizable 19 per cent increase in tomato sauce costs.

For the barbecue dinner option, we’ve assumed 300g of each type of meat per person, 300g of salad, an entire loaf of bread and a can of tomato sauce for the group of 10.

Versatile delight: The potato salad

Creating a potato salad from scratch will set you back $19.78, up 20 per cent from 2019 prices, and nearly 47 per cent higher than back in 2006/07. The potatoes are a lot more expensive, as are the spring onions.

Something sweet: Desserts

Christmas dinner wouldn’t be complete without yum sweet options, and on the menu are pavlova, icecream and figgy pudding baked by my nana, Christine, in Ngunguru.

Creating a pavlova from scratch now costs $12.35, using eggs, sugar and cream, and topped with kiwifruit and strawberries. Although the total cost is only 4 per cent more than in 2019, cheaper strawberries (down 15 per cent) hide the fact that the eggs will cost you 35 per cent more.

Icecream will set the group of 10 back $8.83 ($7.06/ litres), up 15 per cent from 2019 prices.

Christine’s Famous Figgy Pudding now costs $10.05 to rustle up, up 9.9 per cent from 2019 prices, and a staggering 55 per cent higher than 2007/07 prices.

Although the recipe is a secret, the currants, sultanas and raisins will cost you around 31 per cent more than a few years back. Milk prices are also 14 per cent higher.