Fury erupted on social media as Morrisons reportedly sells a Christmas turkey for a very unfestive £147 in light of the cost of living crisis.
A picture of the Morrisons’ 7kg ‘The Best Organic Bronze Turkey’ serving eight to 12 people went viral on Reddit today, after a tit-for-tat turkey price war broke out among supermarkets despite the general fresh turkey price having increased by 25 per cent.
The price tag of the bird with a use by date of December 26 caused outrage, with one user saying: ‘I’d expect it to be bloody plated in bronze for that’ while another jokingly replied with ‘Bronze is cheaper’.
Another user said: ‘If this was a proper free range, decently fed turkey, and I don’t mean free range by the standards but definition free range then I could understand the price.
A picture of the Morrisons’ 7kg The Best Organic Bronze Turkey serving eight to 12 people went viral on Reddit today
The price tag of the bird with a use by date of December 26 caused outrage, with one user saying: ‘I’d expect it to be bloody plated in bronze for that’ while another jokingly replied with ‘Bronze is cheaper’ (file image)
‘But there is no way in hell I’d trust any supermarket to sell a ‘real’ free range turkey.
‘I’d rather pay this price and go to a local farmer.’
Yet another joked: ‘They can go and get stuffed’.
However, some came to Morrisons’ defence and said that £20 per kilo of good-quality meat isn’t unusual.
One said: ‘This is also a huge bird. £20 a kilo for good quality meat isn’t all that crazy.
‘If I was paying that much I would prefer to go through a butcher I trust, but that’s just me.
‘We should be more shocked about the £20 turkeys than this.’
Another user argued that the public ‘generally, do not have a realistic view of how much it costs to produce quality meat’.
They added that a Bronze turkey takes around 25 weeks to mature, which include feed costs, land management, animal housing, staffing costs – that have increased this year – and higher welfare standards.
The user said: ‘Finally, the birds need to be processed. For some farms that’s a week of killing and dry-plucking, before hanging the meat for a week or two.
‘This also introduces storage costs and, thanks to the energy price rise, running an industrial chiller isn’t as cheap as it once was.
‘Fresh turkey prices have risen 45% this year, due to avian flu.
‘This is partly due to scarcity, as so many were culled, but also due to the fact that birds had to be housed indoors and biosecurity measures would have been increased, adding yet further expense to those mentioned initially, above.
‘Earlier this year, it was estimated that a (non-organic) free range turkey costs about £65 to rear.
‘That’s before you add on the farmer’s mark-up, transportation and the supermarket’s mark-up. Prices, for everything, have risen since then.
‘Bottom line: Quality (of life and product) costs money and people do not realise the cost and value of meat.’
However, some came to Morrisons’ defence and said that £20 per kilo of good-quality meat isn’t unusual (file image)
A spokesperson for Morrisons told MailOnline: ‘This turkey is the most premium organic product available in our offering and the price of £20 a kilo is in line with the market price.
‘A similar sized turkey, Morrisons British large whole turkey, is available to buy for £4.99 per kg, costing around £31.44.’
It comes as it emerged that the headline price for a fresh turkey is now around 25 per cent more expensive than a year ago, largely because of increased farm costs and the impact of bird flu.
This debate comes after a premium butcher is selling turkeys this Christmas at the eye-watering price of £220.50- despite the cost-of-living crisis.
Thomas Joseph Butchery have the 4.5kg herb-fed free range bronze turkeys ready to ship to homes across Britain.
The expensive birds are apparently fed a diet of herbs to maximise their flavour and then left to hang for 10 days after being ‘dry plucked.’
Thomas Joseph Butchery have the 4.5kg herb-fed free range bronze turkeys ready to ship to homes across Britain
Meanwhile the tit-for-tat turkey price war between supermarket promises to put the brakes on punishing increases in the cost of Christmas dinner.
Last week, Tesco announced it would be selling whole British fresh turkeys to Clubcard customers at £4 a kilo (£1.81 a lb) while other shoppers would pay £5 per kilo. It also promised crowns at £8.50 a kilo (£3.85 a lb) or £9 for others.
Aldi went one better by cutting prices of its cheapest fresh birds to £3.99 per kilo and crowns to £8.49 a kilo for all customers.
Lidl has entered the fray with fresh turkeys at £3.99 a kilo. Aldi staff pinned up makeshift signs in stores to promote its lower turkey prices with the claim: ‘We won’t be beaten on price.’
A spokesman for the store said: ‘Aldi has once again cut the price of its fresh turkeys, to remain the cheapest of all supermarkets this Christmas.’ Its Ashfields British Whole Turkeys is £3.99 per kg and available in three sizes – small (2kg to 4.49kg or 4.4lbs to 9.9lbs), medium (4.5kg to 5.99kg) and large (6kg to 8kg).
It said the Ashfields Fresh Turkey Crown is £8.49 per kg and available in a range of sizes – from 0.9kg to 4.5kg. Tesco, Aldi and Lidl are also making a virtue of selling cut price vegetables with packs coming in at 19p each.
The news of increased festive food prices comes as a report shows that drivers face their costliest drive back home for Christmas ever.
Drivers face their costliest Christmas getaway ever as filling cars up with diesel now typically costs £97 – almost £15 more than last year
Filling up with diesel now typically costs £97 – almost £15 more than last year.
Motoring experts last night accused retailers of ‘heartless overcharging’ by failing to pass on big falls in wholesale prices. Diesel has reached 176p a litre at the pump – 27p more than 12 months ago. Petrol is around 153p, 7p more than in 2021.
That makes a full tank £84 – £4 up in a year. Filling up has become much more expensive despite wholesale prices falling back to the same levels as last year and fuel duty being cut by 5p a litre in March.
Analysis by the RAC suggests petrol should be 15p a litre cheaper. Spokesman Simon Williams said: ‘With the cost of living crisis making this one of the toughest Christmases on record, it is even more galling to know drivers are being heartlessly overcharged for fuel, making this the most expensive ever festive getaway on the roads.
‘The big four supermarkets, which dominate fuel retailing, have refused to significantly lower their forecourt prices to reflect what’s happened with the substantial reduction in the price of wholesale fuel they are enjoying.
‘We now have a bizarre situation where many smaller independent retailers are charging far less for their fuel than the supermarkets.
‘We urge the supermarkets to properly cut their petrol and diesel prices to give drivers the Christmas present they deserve.’
Millions more motorists than usual are expected on the roads because of the chaos on the railways. Around 34million car journeys are expected to be clocked up on Friday and Saturday. Diesel wholesale prices have dropped to 126p a litre, only 14p more expensive than last Christmas, and the RAC says this means the price at the pump should be 13p lower.
