Inflation does not stop before Christmas either. The number 1 traditional meal for Germans at the festival, potato salad with sausages, is going to cost a lot of money this year. Our graphic shows where you have to pay up to 30 percent more.
The undisputed number one on German Christmas plates is and will always be potato salad with sausages. According to a survey by the Statista Global Consumer Survey, 36 percent said they eat the dish on the holidays. But this year, fans of the traditional Christmas meal have to dig much deeper into their pockets.
How deep? That was calculated by the German Economic Institute (IW). Because inflation is hitting the country’s supermarket checkouts in particular. Most recently, the rate of price increases for food was around 21 percent. The IW calculations now show that the Christmas classic potato salad with sausages costs an average of 23.4 percent more than in the previous year, and in some places it is even almost 30 percent more. Our graphic shows you where the feast in Germany is most expensive and where the biggest price jumps are to be found.
In order to make the Germany-wide comparison fair, the IW scientists use a simple recipe consisting of potatoes, onions, mustard, mayonnaise, gherkins, mayo and bockwurst for four people.
The calculations are based on the following recipe:
If you also want to save on the Christmas meal, you should rather use the southern German version with vinegar and oil for the potato salad recipe. It is on average 1.03 euros (about 15 percent) cheaper than the mayo variant. This option is particularly suitable for potato salad fans in Wilhelmshaven in Lower Saxony. Here you pay 30 percent more for the dish.
According to the calculations, the Lake Constance district recorded the lowest price increases for the ingredients. There, the dish at Christmas 2021 cost 6.24 euros more than anywhere else in Germany. Accordingly, this year’s increase to EUR 6.90 is only 10 percent – the lowest price increase in Germany. In Altenburger Land, on the other hand, you paid the least in 2021: 5.05 euros. In 2022, the ingredient prices will climb by 26 percent to 6.39 euros.
“Food in particular has become particularly expensive this year,” explains IW economist Christoph Schröder. “This is due to the high energy prices. Whether for production, transport or storage: Energy is consumed everywhere, which ultimately affects the price. But the harvests were also worse, not least because the war in Ukraine made fertilizers much more expensive and wheat became scarce.”
The scientist explains the lower potato salad prices in the east of the country with the fact that people in east Germany earn less than customers in the west. In addition, the cost structure is different. “For example, shop rents in the new federal states are lower.”
