Christmas dinner down $1

Chicken, turkey, lamb or Spam - no matter what families choose to eat for Christmas dinner this year they are about to pay less than last year, but welfare organisations say families are still feeling the pinch.

Figures released by Statistics New Zealand yesterday showed the cost of a traditional Christmas dinner for a family of four will cost $48.76 this year, down just over $1 from 2008.

For a barbecue Christmas dinner, the cost will be about the same, $48.85, down just under $1 from last year.

The biggest savings are from the cost of the chicken, steak, kumara and potatoes.

For both meals, the cost has risen more than $10 in the past 10 years.

In 1999, a traditional dinner cost $35.98 and a barbecue $39.95.

But welfare organisations in Dunedin said many families were still feeling the pinch and they expected they would hand out more food parcels to people this Christmas.

Combined Christmas foodbank co-ordinator Mere Montgomery said it cost more than $20,000 to supply more than 800 families with a parcel for Christmas day, at a cost of just over $25 per parcel.

The combined Christmas foodbank is run by Anglican Family Care, Presbyterian Support, the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul and Catholic Social Services.

The money is from donations.

Included in the parcels is a chicken, potatoes, carrots, dried peas, jelly, instant pudding, potato crisps, gravy, Christmas cake and fruit.

Mrs Montgomery said there was no doubt the costs had increased and there were concerns over whether suppliers would still be able to give items to them at reduced cost.

It was difficult to stick to a strict budget when there was so much need, she said.

Salvation Army community ministries manager Captain Susan McGregor said it expected to have to hand out more than 100 parcels to those who had missed out on the combined foodbank parcels.

This was up from the about 60 distributed last year.

Their parcels were filled with Christmas essentials and "treats", she said.

There was no doubt costs had increased, but the community continued to be generous with their donations.

"It is a great place to be at Christmas because everyone is so giving."

Presbyterian Support Otago community welfare team leader Lana Morrison said it gave parcels of essentials to cover about a week during the Christmas period.

The parcels were made up from donations.

Donations received in recent weeks included a large amount of fresh vegetables, a large number of pavlovas and biscuits and lollies for Christmas day.

sarah.harvey@odt.co.nz

Christmas dinner
For a family of four:
- Traditional Christmas dinner ($48.76): Potato crisps, salted peanuts, whole chicken, lamb leg roast, potatoes, pumpkin, kumara, carrots, frozen peas, home-made pavlova, ice cream, strawberries, soft drinks and juice.

- Kiwi barbecue Christmas dinner ($48.85): Fresh mussels, potato crisps, salted peanuts, beef steak, chicken pieces, tomato sauce, potatoes, pumpkin, onion, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum, home-made pavlova, ice cream, strawberries, soft drinks, juice.

(The cost of each meal has been estimated using prices collected for the November 2009 food price index)