Roast turkey with all the trimmings. Braised brisket with carrots and onions. A juicy roast. A festive lasagna?
With food prices soaring, meat in particular, some people may be planning a Christmas meal that looks a little different this season.
CBC News recently asked readers how they’re cutting costs this holiday season. Several people said they’re skipping the big, traditional meal this year — opting for pot-luck style or serving something different, like lasagna or tourtière.
Others said they’ve changed their shopping habits. Al Joseph, 63, of Toronto, said he and his wife buy less food overall, especially meat, and use the Flipp app to look for sales. He said he suspects they’ll buy a lot of their holiday food from Costco this year.
“There is a lot people can do, however it has gotten very difficult to afford even the simplest things,” Joseph told CBC News.
Michele Blackwood, 57, also of Toronto, said she’s skipping grocery shopping entirely until the new year. And instead of cooking, she’s using her entire holiday budget to take her family out for Christmas dinner at an affordable restaurant with a fixed menu.
Her goal is to retire debt-free in eight years, Blackwood said, so it’s crucial she sticks to a budget.
“Since I have a part-time job in the catering industry, I will be taking home lots of leftovers from the holiday events that I will be working at, supplemented by whatever is in my freezer and pantry,” Blackwood told CBC News.
“Groceries fall way down the list of priorities.”
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A few new studies suggest many Canadians are struggling with grocery bills and that some are increasingly open to moving away from a classic holiday menu.
Four in 10 Canadians surveyed the last week of November say it’s difficult to put food on the table, according to a study released Wednesday by the Angus Reid Institute. For the lowest-income households, it was more like six in 10.
Of the 4,025 Canadian adults polled, the majority, or 59 per cent, identified the cost of living as the top issue facing Canada.
“The price of food remains an area of key concern for both Canadians and policy makers,” the Angus Reid Institute wrote in its report.
Meanwhile, according to a study released on Nov. 19 by The Harris Poll Canada, many Canadians are shifting the way they approach holiday meals.
For instance, of the 1,360 randomly selected Canadian adults who said they’re participating in holiday meals, 35 per cent said they could do without turkey, 42 per cent said stuffing isn’t essential and 69 per cent said ham isn’t a must-have.
“Traditional dishes continue to play an important role, but expectations are no longer uniform,” the report noted.
There’s a common thread in a lot of online food and budgeting forums these days: people seeking inexpensive holiday meal options as they shift away from their regular fare. And there’s a common response: lasagna.
“We usually splurge on a prime rib and sides which I cook for six people on Christmas Eve. This year, looking at the price of prime rib, it just isn’t going to happen,” someone wrote on the Frugal subreddit last week, asking for other ideas.
“We always do a lasagna,” someone suggested.
In the Budget Food subreddit, another person wrote that they typically cook a Czech dish of roast meat with carrot sauce and dumplings.
“But nowadays the roast itself costs $80+ without any of the fixings,” the person added. “Turkey is also pricey! I can’t think of any main dishes that would be affordable, tasty, and still fill a lot of folks’ bellies.”
“You could do lasagna,” commented another person.
Grocery prices grew at a slower pace in October, according to the most recent consumer price index data from Statistics Canada, which helped to bring the overall inflation rate down. But prices are still elevated and have been outpacing headline inflation for nine months in a row.
Food prices rose 3.4 per cent in October compared with a year earlier, while meat shot up 8.4 per cent. Fresh or frozen beef was the worst offender, with an increase of 16.8 per cent, but poultry, pork and ham all climbed, too.
The price of dry or fresh pasta, on the other hand, decreased 2.2 per cent, and mozzarella cheese changed by just 0.1 per cent year over year.
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Turkey — which in some traditions is the star of the show — actually saw a 0.9 per cent price decrease in October compared with last year, making it slightly more affordable.
In a statement to CBC News, Turkey Farmers of Canada said while it’s still too early for turkey promotions, so far prices in Canada are very similar to last year. Whole turkeys range from about $0.99 to $3.33 per pound, with an average price of $2.29 a pound in early December, the group said.
Still, as the many lasagna fans on Reddit point out, it’s a lot more expensive to serve a 12-pound bird with all the trimmings than to pop a frozen pasta in the oven.
That’s why, when it comes to holiday spending decisions, looking at the price of meals alone can be misleading, said Mike von Massow, a food economist at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ont.
“Even though the basic traditional Christmas meal might not be substantially more expensive than it was a year ago, people still might be making choices because everything is more expensive,” he told CBC News.
Presented with a tight budget, some people might prioritize gifts or travel costs over turkey, von Massow said.
“People are making choices differently and saying, well, it’s more important that we get together, and so a lasagna or a tourtière will give us that same experience.”
