CHRISTMAS dinner will cost Brits more than £5 extra this year as food prices rocket.
Festive favourite pigs in blankets are up 42.7-percent – surging from £1.22 to £2.13 for a pack of 12.
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Budget frozen turkeys are up as well, and while cheaper than fresh ones, they’ve surged 21 percent to an average £20.23.
Spuds haven’t escaped the increases either, with a 2.25kg bag of up 33 percent to £1.56 this Christmas.
A six pack of mince pies have soared more than 30 percent from around £1.08 to £1.55 on average.
And gravy granules have hopped on the price train too, now 16.5 percent more expensive at 62p for a 250g pack.
Other Christmas staples haven’t taken quite the same hit, with 12 stuffing balls up 11.6 percent to £2.50 and sprouts hiking 7.5 percent.
The BBC reported that research by Assosia looked the cost of seven Christmas dinner staples from supermarkets Aldi, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Lidl.
It found struggling Brits will see a basic Christmas lunch for five cost £30.03 on average, up from £24.67 in 2021 – a rise of £5.36.
Suppliers facing soaring energy prices is partly to blame for food price hikes.
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The war in Ukraine has compounded the crisis and also led to a shortage of grain, which goes into animal feed.
This has sparked a price surge, with the costs passed down to the customer.
Despite the hikes, supermarkets have said prices could tumble as they aim to clear the shelves as Christmas gets nearer.
It comes as poultry farmers say panic over the availability of turkeys amid a mass wipe out and cull following the worst bird flu outbreak “ever” has sparked a buying spree for frozen birds.
Sales reportedly doubled in October, but this has led to a collapse in demand for free range turkeys, with some farmers admitting they are struggling to sell birds.
Paul White, a turkey farmer near Colne in Lancashire, said coverage of the “shortage” has “scared” the public and impacted his business dearly.
Over 1.6 million birds were culled as of November 20 amid an outbreak that has seen available free range bird numbers halve to 600,000.
Total UK turkey production for Christmas was around 8.5 to 9 million birds, but around a million have so far been culled or died from bird flu.
Poultry farmer Paul Kelly, of Kelly Turkeys, described the situation as “devastating” for farmers.
This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk
