“Potato Salad Index” is rising
Culinary Christmas classic more expensive than 2022
December 22, 2023, 12:47 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
It is impossible to imagine many German living rooms on Christmas Eve without it: potato salad with sausages. The traditional Christmas “diner” already cost significantly more last year than before. This year, prices are rising again, an analysis shows.
The dish is one of the classics on Christmas Eve: potato salad with sausages. However, consumers will have to dig a little deeper into their pockets again this year for the popular Christmas meal. Due to inflation, it costs an average of 6.97 euros for four people – 4.7 percent more than in 2022. At that time, the price had already risen by almost 24 percent compared to the previous year. That’s going out Calculations from the employer-related German Economic Institute (IW), which is based on price data from the supermarket chain Rewe.
Regionally, the prices for mayo-based potato salad and sausages in December 2023 are sometimes very different. According to the IW, the feast is most expensive in two districts in Rhineland-Palatinate. In the Rhein-Hunsrück district, a family of four has to shell out 7.80 euros, in the neighboring Cochem-Zell district 7.75 euros. A few hundred kilometers further east, in Thuringia, it is cheapest. The same ingredients in Gera and Weimar only cost 6.62 euros.
Preparation varies regionally
Because of lower wages and costs, Christmas dinner in East Germany is also slightly cheaper this year. There are differences not only geographically, but also between the different versions of the Christmas classic. In the potato salad version with vinegar and oil, which is particularly popular in southern Germany, the dish is ten percent more expensive than in 2022 due to inflation, but the bottom line is that it is cheaper. For four people it is an average of 6.19 euros.
Due to high inflation, many foods have become significantly more expensive in recent years. According to a market analysis by the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center, the ingredients of typical holiday dishes were on average around 27 percent more expensive in October 2023 than two years before.