The cost of Christmas dinner in Mexico will rise by 17 to 20 percent this year due to higher prices for turkey, pork, and cod. Families allocate their year-end bonus to these celebrations after spending on gifts, amid inflation and tax increases. Experts advise budgeting carefully and shopping at local stores to manage expenses.
The rising cost of traditional items like turkey and pork will drive up to a 20 percent increase in the price of Christmas Eve dinner in Mexico for 2025. Reports indicate that a kilogram of organic turkey exceeds 250 pesos, natural turkey sells for 99 to 130 pesos per kilo, and smoked reaches 199 pesos. Turkey breast hit a historic high of 7.1 dollars per pound, a 244 percent annual rise, according to Sigma Foods. Pork leg ranges from 95 to 135 pesos, and loin from 120 to 150 pesos in self-service stores and butchers.
Prepared dinners per person cost 500 to 1,200 pesos, including sides and wine, but in luxury hotels or restaurants can reach 10,000 pesos per guest. Add-ons like snacks and drinks add over 4,000 pesos, warns the National Alliance of Small Merchants (ANPEC). Its president, Cuauhtémoc Rivera, urges local shopping: “We call on people to consume locally, to be cautious, to save a little to start the new year because a very difficult beginning is coming with generalized price increases, tax hikes.”
Alejandra Buenrostro, Walmart's marketing director in Mexico, notes the rising trend in prepared dinners and variety in self-service stores: “We not only have the items our customers need to create these impressive dinners, from turkey, cod, groceries, frozen goods, but they can also find prepared dinners.” Packages for 4-6 people range from 1,500 to 3,000 pesos for turkey and 1,800 to 2,500 for pork, per the Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Inflation and the adjustment to the Tax on Production and Services for drinks are straining wallets. Federal Consumer Prosecutor Iván Escalante presented monitoring of 206 products on the Who's Who in Prices platform, where Christmas punch for 10 liters averages 180.56 pesos and mandarins 52 pesos per kilo. Comparing prices is recommended amid high demand.
