Nils-Gerrit Wunsch
Research expert covering foods trends in North America, Europe, and the global food system
Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom - statistics and facts
When Charles Dickens penned his classic A Christmas Carol, the holiday already had a long history in the United Kingdom. The story about the poor and penny-pinching main character seems more relevant in current years, as Christmas celebrations and the traditional Christmas feast had been threatened by shortages in 2021 and inflation in 2022. In 2023, too, personal finances are affecting the holidays for over half of consumers in the UK, as they are planned to spend less on Christmas. This year, a bit of a reprieve is on the horizon as the share of those planning on spending less has declined to 43 percent. Still, approximately 16 percent of people in the UK will spend significantly less over the holiday season.
The cost of a dinner
This year, slightly under a third of consumers are setting a strict budget to manage their holiday expenses. However, the Christmas gatherings will only be downsized by nine percent of consumers. Shoppers are well advised to budget their expenses as by December 2024 prices had gone up to 32.57 pounds for an average four person Christmas dinner. This market continued price increase for multiple years in a row. In November 2023, the price of a Christmas dinner for four had gone up significantly compared to a year earlier. A turkey meal for four went up by 11.16 percent, and a nut roast for consumers who avoid meat went up by 10.91 percent. Compared to 2021, prices increased in 2023 by almost 29 percent for a four-person turkey dinner. A third of consumers saved up specifically to fund the food they planned for Christmas. While about 40 percent of people were able to finance their Christmas food from their savings, 15 percent of consumers used credit cards and five percent used money from an overdraft.What is for dinner?
Most people in the UK will actually have their Christmas dinner around lunchtime. Close to thirty percent will have their dinner at two pm. Other popular times are one and three pm, while only three percent will have their dinner at six. Going by consumer’s festive food plans, Christmas dinner in the UK will most commonly feature roast potatoes, gravy, and turkey. Over sixty percent of respondents planned to have these dishes at their table. Additionally, over half of consumers intended to include stuffing, pigs in blankets, Brussels sprouts, and Yorkshire puddings on their Christmas plate. Other ingredients, drinks, and dishes feature in less than half of Christmas plans.Consumer opinions on Christmas dishes
Yorkshire puddings, although a popular choice overall, are somewhat contentious with older consumers. A fifth of surveyed UK consumers over the age of 65 thought they are not acceptable at all as part of the Christmas dinner. Younger respondents are a bit more forgiving. Yorkshire puddings, despite strong opinions among older consumers, do not make it on the list of the most disliked Christmas foods in the United Kingdom. The top five contenders in this category are smoked salmon, bread sauce, sprouts, Christmas pudding, and cranberry sauce. Sprouts are disliked by 17 percent of people in the UK. In contrast, pigs in blankets ranked in first place as the most-loved Christmas dish among UK consumers.
