Christmas meals will take a bigger bite out of your budget this year, according to a recent report.
The holiday dinner grocery basket is estimated to cost an average of $60.29, according to data from Datasembly.
That’s 16.4% higher than last year’s basket when comparing the same exact basket of goods. It’s also double the year-over-year increase reported last year at 8.2%, according to the retail data firm.
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For its analysis, Datasembly analyzed the year-over-year price differences for 13 unique products across four major retailers — Albertsons, Kroger, Target and Walmart. All the products increased in price, but the firm noted that there were fluctuations depending on which food category the product belongs in.
The 13 products included stuffing mix, corn, green beans, frozen apple pie, whipped topping, butter, cranberry sauce, bone-in spiral-cut ham, egg nog, homestyle biscuits, russet potatoes, white frozen young turkey and homestyle roasted turkey gravy.
According to the data, biscuits had the highest price increase year-over-year, rising 47.7%. Butter and russet potatoes weren’t far behind with prices rising 38% and 32.6%, respectively, the data showed.
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The smallest increase, according to Datasembly, was the frozen whole turkey with a 6.3% increase. Although it’s an uptick from last year, that’s still down from November, when the firm reported that frozen turkey was up 11% on average.
The bone-in spiral ham also had one of the smallest price increases at 7.7%.
The report comes at a time when consumers struggle to afford gifts this holiday season.
According to an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, 57% of U.S. adults indicated that affording gifts has been “harder” this year, which is up 17% from the same time last year. Only 2% reported that it was easier.
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Even with persisting inflation, the “consumer remains surprisingly resilient,” according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau showed how overall retail sales in November dipped 0.6% from October but surged 6.5% compared to the same time a year ago.
“That compares with increases of 1.3% month over month and 8.3% year over year in October, which saw a boost from earlier-than-usual holiday shopping driven by worries that inflation will continue to increase prices,” the NRF said.