One way to avoid spending a lot of money on Christmas meals is to avoid waiting until the last minute to buy the foods that will make up the menus. However, according to the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU), this year we will once again face a very expensive Christmas. It has confirmed this in its new price observatory, which aims to monitor the evolution of typical products of these dates.
According to the data from the first control of the three that the organization will carry out, this year prices are maintained, with an average increase of 0% compared to 8% in 2021 and 5.2% in 2022. But the OCU warns that the The cost of most foods in the Christmas basket is "at historic highs."
To reach this conclusion, it has analyzed the price of 16 typically Christmas products that are in high demand on these dates in markets, supermarkets and hypermarkets in Albacete, Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza, Málaga and Murcia.
These are the suckling lamb to roast in quarters, the round of beef, the pularda, the turkey, the cut Iberian bait ham, the red cabbage, the pineapple, the sea bream, the farmed sea bass, the cut hake, the elvers , cooked prawns, Galician barnacles, clams and oysters, and pomegranate.
The analysis shows that, although prices as a whole have remained the same compared to the same dates in 2022, some foods have become more expensive. These are clams (23%), sea bream (11%), red cabbage (7%), turkey (6%), veal round (5%), pineapple and Galician barnacles (1%).
On the contrary, sea bass and hake are cheaper (-13%), prawns (-12%), pularda (-7%), oysters (-5%), pomegranate (-5%) and elvers (-1%); and the Iberian bait ham and suckling lamb remain the same as in 2022 at this time of year.
The most expensive products, the organization reports, are those with a smaller supply than usual and with high demand at this time. "Eleven of the foods contained in the basket are at historic highs, so again this year the typical Christmas dinners will be among the most expensive in recent years," they warn.
To save on these purchases, the agency recommends starting to plan Christmas dinners, making purchases early, taking advantage of offers or replacing expensive products with cheaper ones.
This is the first OCU study that collects prices a month before Christmas, but controls will also be carried out after the Constitution long weekend and the days before Christmas Eve to follow the evolution of these products.
The information has been prepared by a team of engineers, economists, lawyers, statisticians, editors and designers from OCU who, in collaboration with independent laboratories, have analyzed the main consumer products and services since 1975.
