Christmas dinner is getting more expensive — here’s how shoppers are trying to cope

While the thought of piling up your plate with turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce and all the fixings this holiday season might make your mouth water, the thought of paying for it all is also giving many people indigestion.

That’s because the cost of everything you put on your plate seems to keep piling up too.

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“Nothing has come down in price. It’s gone up ever since Covid,” Yousef Traya, the owner of Bridgeland Market in Calgary, told Global News.

“It’s stayed that way and we’re paying more for product than we used to. We’re getting less, and unfortunately, the prices have trickled down (to the consumer).”

Yousef said he’s tried to avoid passing along all the price increases to his shoppers, but said it’s a slippery slope.

“So when we do it, we have to be careful. But then we’ve also got to make sure we’re not giving away the family farm.”

He has also seen some changes in shoppers habits.

“I think what we’re seeing is people are hesitant to spend a little extra on stuff that they can make themselves. So a lot of people are making more stuff at home — to curb costs.”

So how much can you expect to pay for a turkey dinner this year?

Well, Global News crunched the numbers and they show a family of four to six people living in Calgary can expect to pay between about $60 and $90 for a meal of turkey, potatoes, brussel sprouts and cranberry sauce — and that doesn’t include all the extras, like dressing/stuffing, gravy and maybe a bottle of wine.

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While individual items varied, overall it was most expensive to shop at Safeway and cheapest at Superstore in Calgary.

The shoppers Global News spoke with describe some of the price increases they’ve seen in recent years as “pretty scary.”

Mark Broddle says he’s been doing more shopping at farmer’s markets, looking for bargains.

“Certainly things like meats and vegetables are pretty, pretty challenging,” said Broddle.

Hannah Chala has been tracking the price of her groceries.

“I actually order a lot on like Instacart, and it’s really easy to track there because they show you your previous orders and you can see that, you know, six months ago or a year ago,this one thing was $9 and now it’s $12 or $13,” said Chala.

“So a lot of the stuff that I’ve seen has gone up anywhere from like 20 to 30, sometimes even like 50 per cent — which is insane in such a short amount of time.”

Chala says she too has been doing more shopping around, taking advantage of sales and special days offering discounts to shoppers.

She, her friends and family are also doing a lot more potluck-style meals.

“So instead of one person hosting and buying everything and paying for everything, then they’re asking guests to come and bring a dish or two,” said Chala.

“I think that’s awesome. Like, I’m more than happy to do that because it is so expensive these days that it’s not fair to put it all on one person or one family when you’re choosing to host.”

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