The price of panettone increased by 25% compared to 2021, meat shot up by 14%, fish by 10%, dried fruit by 6%.
Expensive spending hits festive tables: Treviso residents will pay 16% more for a home-cooked meat menu for Christmas lunch and will have to deal with an extra 14% outlay for a fish menu. The galloping inflation dries up the thirteenths.
“A perfect storm in times of high bills”, say the consumer associations. The Adico in particular examines several supermarkets, assuming menus consisting of appetizers, first courses, main courses and desserts: a family of four could spend a total of 72 euros (average 18 euros per person), 10 euros more than in 2021, for a do-it-yourself meat-based lunch; it could reach 126 euros (against 110 last year), however, for a menu centered on fish.
«Double-digit increases are always unjustified», say dall’Adico, «the economic situation has had an impact, expensive energy has had an influence. But certainly the weather could not have determined increases of that type. We are now in a historic moment in which everything must necessarily increase».
Among the most significant leaps stand out nougats, for which you can get a plus of 30%. But the surprise is precisely the panettone, the inevitable dessert of the holidays: you can pay 8-12 euros (not to mention the haute patisserie…).
Not counting the dried fruit, walnuts and peanuts that mark the end of each Christmas lunch: plus 6.7%. A domestic menu based on meat must bear a plus 12% on the price of lasagna, while ravioli travel even on plus 14%: 3.60 euros for 125 grams (a portion for one person). The veal roast costs 36 euros per kilo, marking an increase of 12-14% compared to last year.
If you aim for fish, the increase is slightly smaller than for meat: the average jump is 10%. The fish fillet (sea bass or sea bream) can fluctuate between 12 and 16 euros per kilo, depending on whether it is packaged or caught. And if you want to bring cod to the table, it’s another 16 euros per kilo (2.20 euros per portion).
It is also interesting to evaluate the expensive prices at the restaurant test. The Adico survey highlighted – for a canonical fixed menu, with several courses – an increase, compared to 12 months ago, of 15.8% for a meat-based lunch and 13.8% if fish-based.
«We have highlighted the increasingly marked tendency to share courses among family or friends», underlines the consumers’ association, «so you can save something. Prices influence the choice of restaurant, certainly those who spend Christmas out tend not to do the same for New Year’s Eve». Small suggestions for festivities which, wallet in hand, will necessarily be slimmer.