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 some Christmas dinner costs for RNZ Checkpoint, and it’s not good news if you’re a fan of the humble potato.
The Christmas dinner costs are based on the costs for 10 people, using food price data from Stats NZ for the November 2022 month.
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 percent more than in 2019.
The Camembert cheese is 22 percent 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 dinner option there is roast lamb ($17.49/kg), roast pork ($11.35/kg), and ham ($15.87/kg) on the menu.
To accompany the meats, we’ve included potatoes ($3.07/kg), kumara ($3.63/kg), pumpkin ($4.76/kg), beans ($19.86/kg), and some gravy.
All up, the first dinner option will cost $173.15 for the group of 10 - a nearly 15 percent increase from 2019 costs.
Potato prices have skyrocketed recently and are 71 percent more expensive than back in 2019.
Pumpkin and bean prices aren’t helping either, up 61 percent and 54 percent respectively, although the 25 percent 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 veggie.
Christmas treats Photo: Glenda Wakeham
The BBQ dinner option
A summer Christmas in New Zealand often means the BBQ is rolled out, but it does seem to be a more expensive dinner option than the more traditional dinner.
Overall, the BBQ option for 10 people would cost $251.88, up nearly 18 percent since 2019.
Incredibly, the BBQ option back in 2006/07 was similar in cost to the traditional dinner but has increased by 75 percent since then.
The BBQ consists of sirloin steak ($34.05/kg), lamb chops ($19.87/kg), sausages ($12.54/kg) with bread ($1.41/loaf) and tomato sauce ($3.57/can), and salad (lettuce-based, $15.84/kg).
The salad is set to cost 41 percent more than back in 2019, with 11-19 percent increases for the meats, and a sizable 19 percent increase in tomato sauce costs!
For the BBQ 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 percent from 2019 prices, and nearly 47 percent 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 some yum sweet options, and on the menu are pavlova, ice cream, and figgy pudding baked by my nana, Christine, up 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 percent more than in 2019, cheaper strawberries (down 15 percent) hide the fact that the eggs will cost you 35 percent more.
Some ice cream each will set the group of 10 back $8.83 ($7.06/L), up 15 percent from 2019 prices.
Christine’s Famous Figgy Pudding now costs $10.05 to rustle up, up 9.9 percent from 2019 prices, and up a staggering 55 percent from 2007/07 prices!
Although the recipe is a secret, the currants, sultanas, and raisins will cost you around 31 percent more than a few years back. Milk prices are also 14 percent higher.
The final Christmas dinner cost
All together, Christmas dinner with the traditional roast meats option will set the group of 10 back $251.74, up 14 percent from 2019 prices.
The BBQ dinner option will cost $330.48, up 17 percent from 2019 prices.
