The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) finds consumers consider pigs in blankets an “essential” for their Christmas meal.
AHDB has gathered data on Christmas food plans and mealtime preferences ahead of the festive period.
Emma Wantling, Retail and Consumer Insight manager at AHDB, said: “In recent years, purse strings were tightened and some shoppers had to choose between perceived ‘non-essential’ options like stuffing and pigs in blankets, instead of getting both. However, as we head into the 2024 festive season, the number of consumers who are concerned about the cost-of-living crisis has fallen and we predict Christmas plates will be piled high.”
As part of an AHDB study, 58% of consumers in the study said that pigs in blankets are an essential part of the big day – just as important to consumers as stuffing, Brussel sprouts and Yorkshire puddings (Two Ears One Mouth, November 2024).
AHDB said that a sign that cost-of living concern is “starting to fade” is that, while turkey is predicted to remain the most popular meat option, followed by gammon and beef, over a quarter of consumers in the study said they were planning to enjoy multiple meat options on Christmas Day. A further 23% of consumers stated that they were planning to buy two meat options for the Christmas meal, and 10% were planning to have three meat options, with turkey and gammon or turkey and beef being the most common combinations.
While AHDB predicts that the contents of the Christmas meal will stick with traditions, some cooking methods are changing. One in four claim that they will use an air fryer to cook all or part of their Christmas meal. Meat (of all types) is the most likely part of the Christmas dinner to be cooked in the air fryer, and of those who plan to use an air fryer, 57% plan to use one to cook their Christmas meat, closely followed by roast potatoes at 53% (YouGov/AHDB Pulse November 2024).
Wantling said: “The need for consumer convenience does not just apply to the cooking and we predict online shopping will take a big chunk of the retail spend. 43% of consumers said they are planning to do their Christmas shopping in one big hit (IGD October 2024), so we predict that Sunday 22 and Monday 23 December are likely to be the busiest shopping days for the 2024 Christmas food shop.”
