Christmas dinner has risen in price by 8-10% this year: how much you will have to pay
Kyiv • UNN
In 2023, a Christmas table in Ukraine will cost about 970 hryvnias, with prices rising by 8-10%. The festive menu includes traditional dishes such as kutia and uzvar, and the most expensive item is fried fish.
This year's Christmas table will cost Ukrainians 970 hryvnias. Such a forecast was made by the Institute of Agrarian Economics, UNN reports.
Details
According to the calculations, a Christmas menu of dishes that are traditional for such a table: kutia and uzvar, fried fish, vinaigrette, dumplings (with potatoes, cabbage, cherries), stewed cabbage, lean borscht with beans, fried potatoes, fresh and salted vegetables will cost about UAH 969.74 per average family, said Yuriy Lupenko, director of the Institute of Agrarian Economics, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Given the growing dynamics of food prices, the cost of the Christmas table in 2023 will be slightly higher than last year's due to the problems associated with Russian aggression. This year, however, the increase will be much smaller - in the range of 8-10%, as the economy has adapted to wartime conditions and the Armed Forces do not allow the aggressor to implement its plans
The main dishes on the Christmas table are kutia and uzvar.
According to the researchers, a wheat kutia (950 g of traditional recipe products) will cost UAH 103.71. The most expensive ingredients of the dish this year are: poppy seeds - UAH 43 per 200 g, and peeled walnuts - UAH 24 and raisins - UAH 17.50 per 100 g, respectively. The main ingredient of kutia - durum wheat groats - will cost UAH 9.60 per 400 g. For honey, we will pay another UAH 8 per 100 g and add a little sugar (50 g) for UAH 1.61.
Traditional uzvar is made from dried apples, pears, and prunes. Ready-made sets of these fruits for uzvar cost 66 UAH in supermarkets (600 g per 2 liters of water).
The most expensive dish this year will be fried fish (UAH 336.69). You will have to pay UAH 331.90 for 2 kg of live carp, and UAH 4.79 for 200 g of flour.
The second most expensive dish will be borsch lean with beans. You will have to pay 82.83 UAH for 2.535 kg of food (for 2 liters of water). The most expensive component here is dry white beans (300 g) - 42.75 UAH. The vegetable component will be: potatoes (362 g) - 5.04 UAH, cabbage (300 g) - 3.40 UAH, onions (100 g) - 1.44 UAH, carrots (400 g) - 4.34 UAH, beets (800 g) - 7.92 UAH. You will need to add 70-75 g of tomatoes (5.60 UAH) and tomato paste (1.67 UAH). A little more sugar - UAH 1.61 per 50 g, vegetable oil - UAH 5.64 per 80 g, and to taste: black pepper (UAH 1.02), bay leaf (UAH 2.40), or herbs.
Salad "Vinaigrette" (1.58 kg of products) will cost 34.19 UAH. The most expensive ingredients will be barrel pickles at 14 UAH per 200 g. For vegetables, we will pay: potatoes (600 g) - 8.40 UAH, beets (400 g) - 3.96 UAH, carrots (378 g) - 4.10 UAH. Dressing with vegetable oil costs UAH 3.53 per 50 g and salt and pepper to taste (UAH 0.20).
Traditional Lenten dishes are dumplings.
Dumplings with potatoes (1.51 kg of products) will cost 26.17 UAH, including potatoes (1 kg) - 14 UAH, flour (500 g) - 11.97 UAH, salt (10 g) - 0.20 UAH.
Dumplings with cabbage (1.481 kg of food) cost 26.81 UAH. To make the dough, we'll pay 11.97 UAH for flour (500 g) and 0.2 UAH for salt (10 g). Raw cabbage will cost 6.78 UAH per 600 g, carrots (189 g) and onions (132 g) - 2.17 UAH and 2.16 UAH respectively. Vegetable oil for dressing (50 g) will cost UAH 3.53.
Cherry dumplings consist of lean dough and frozen cherries. Flour (500 g) costs 11.97 UAH, and a little salt (10 g) costs 0.20 UAH. Cherries account for the lion's share of the cost of these dumplings - 35.10 UAH per 300 g. In total, the cost of such dumplings will be 47.27 UAH (for 810 g of products).
Stewed cabbage (2.229 g of products) will cost UAH 65.26. The most expensive here are champignon mushrooms (300 g) - 37.29 UAH. The cost of vegetables will be 22.13 UAH: 1 kg of cabbage - 11.32 UAH, 189 g of carrots - 2.17 UAH, 660 g of onions - 8.64 UAH. Salt and pepper to taste - UAH 0.20 and vegetable oil for dressing (80 g) - UAH 5.64.
Fried potatoes are cooked with 100 g of vegetable oil (0.71 UAH) from 1 kg of potatoes (14 UAH) and 132 g of onions (1.90 UAH) with salt and pepper to taste (0.20 UAH). The total cost is 16.81 UAH.
Pickles are served separately: sauerkraut - 50 UAH for 500 g and pickled barrel cucumbers - 28 UAH for 400 g.
There are also fresh vegetables on the table - cucumbers (46 UAH) and tomatoes (40 UAH), 500 g each, respectively.
For those who will have the opportunity to prepare 12 traditional dishes for a festive dinner, we calculated the cost of a Christmas table at the average prices of Ukrainian supermarkets as of mid-December this year.
For reference
The calculation of the cost of the Christmas table in 2023 was made by the National Research Center "Institute of Agrarian Economics" based on data from the Ministry of Finance, which conducts daily monitoring of prices for basic food products in grocery supermarkets Auchan, Fozzy, Furshet, Megamarket, Metro, Novus, Varus as of December 14, 2023.
