Stocking for Christmas in full swing as frozen turkey sales double

Sales of frozen turkeys have almost doubled this year as eager Britons continue to stock up for Christmas, reports stated today (25), citing recently-released data.

As per new data from market analysts Kantar, apart from turkey, frozen stuffing sales have also climbed by a fifth in the four weeks to Oct 3 compared to the same period last year, while other savoury festive items have gone up by nine per cent.

Frozen party food sales at Iceland have tripled while frozen turkeys are up by 400 per cent, reports said, adding that Aldi and Tesco have also reported a surge in frozen turkey sales, suggesting shoppers are planning well ahead this Christmas.

“In the wider market, grocery sales and frozen food sales have fallen versus last year,” Kantar’s consumer insight director Eden Plummer told i.

“But frozen Christmas food, such as turkey and stuffing, has gone up significantly. Consumers are making sure they can celebrate after many weren’t able to last year.”

British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) has confirmed that UK supermarkets have been seeing a record jump in frozen food sales. M&S, who reportedly has already sold 25,000 birds, is also seeing the surge.

Families are said to be hoarding as much as £2,000 worth of food for the festive season as a supply chain crisis continues.

Turkey producers have been struggling with labour shortages so have laid down a fifth fewer birds than last year, according to the British Poultry Council, because of concerns about finding workers to slaughter and process them, reports said.

Similar reports of labour shortage as well as shortage of CO2 in the pig industry leading to mass culling emerged in media, triggering concern among Britons over availability of these items during Christmas.