After reports the price of festive food would go up this year, major retailers have now announced they are slashing prices of items such as turkeys, potatoes and parsnips in the run up to Christmas Day in a move welcomed by consumer experts
Aldi has launched a value Christmas dinner package – offering a turkey dinner with all the trimmings for six people for £11.45, or £1.91 per head.
The eight-piece package includes a Small Fresh British Turkey which costs £8.85, or 2.95 per kg, while the vegetables on offer are Nature’s Pick Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts, Carrots and Parsnips, all 15p each. It also includes Quixo Sage & Onion Stuffing Mix at 45p for 170g, Quixo Gravy Granules, which cost £1.09 for 300g and a 15-pack of Everyday Essentials Yorkshire Puddings, 46p.
It comes as supermarkets kick off their Christmas price wars, with other grocers also reducing the cost of some popular festive veggies to just 15p. Sainsbury’s was the first, announcing last week that customers with a Nectar Card can get cheap Christmas vegetables from December 18 to Christmas Eve.
Among the items on offer include a 2kg bag of Sainsbury’s White Potatoes, reduced for Nectar customers to 15p from £1.35 and 500g of British Parsnips, down from 75p also to 15p. Tesco then revealed it was slashing the price of a traditional Christmas Dinner for Clubcard members. From December 19, they will be able to feed six on Christmas Day for just £1.84 a person.
The supermarket is reducing the price of small, fresh turkeys by 40% – to just £3 a kilo with a Clubcard. It will slice the price of carrots and parsnips to just 15p a bag, and slash sage and onion stuffing to just 40p for Clubcard holders – meaning a dinner for six costs just £11.05. Lidl and Asda also announced they would be offering vegetables such as sprouts, broccoli, carrots and parsnips for 15p from December 19.
Consumer experts have welcomed the discounts. Martyn James said: “Even though the cost of food is skyrocketing, the supermarket wars mean there are bargains to be had for the crafty shopper. For some reason, we are often conditioned to believe we can only do the Christmas shop a few days before the 25th. Whereas if you pick up a few key items now from different stores, you can save a fortune and be fully prepared in advance.”
Scott Dixon, of The Complaints Resolver, added: “Grocery prices being lowered is great news at this time of year, and will be welcomed by hard-pressed households after a tough year with budgets being continually squeezed. Aldi have stolen a march on competitors with their incredible value Christmas dinner package, although some may question portion sizes and how a small turkey can feed six people.
“Savvy households are likely to take advantage of these deals to batch cook and fill their freezers, so I would recommend shoppers do the same and shop early so they get the freshest produce as stocks are likely to sell out fast.”
It comes as shoppers were previously warned the average supermarket-bought Christmas dinner was set to rise by 3% this year, with vegetables particularly affected. The average price of carrots had risen 27%, parsnips were up 17% and Maris Piper potatoes were 12% pricier year-on-year as adverse weather led to problems with supply.
Analysts Kantar have predicted that pre-Christmas grocery spending is set to top £13 billion over the four weeks of December for the first time ever. It is thought this is down to people being willing to spend more as cost-of-living pressures are beginning to ease.
