Shoppers likely won’t curb their grocery budget for the holidays

The ability to present “a great homemade feast” is a top priority for consumers this holiday season, and even more important than staying within budget, according to FMI — The Food Industry Association’s latest U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report.

Nearly half of surveyed consumers this holiday season plan to allocate the largest portion of their holiday budget to food, with FMI noting food is the one area shoppers are least likely to cut back on, Grocery Dive reports.

Though price concerns remain, shoppers are less worried about the cost of food, gifts and other expenses this holiday season compared to the year prior. In addition, a majority of consumers now feel “at least some control over their grocery spending” as nearly 40% of shoppers say their income has kept up with inflation, per the report.

Of the winter holidays, the highest portion of holiday budgets (72%) goes toward December festivities. Meanwhile, some consumers appear to be pulling back on their Thanksgiving budget allocations, FMI reported. Many major players have announced Thanksgiving meal deals in recent weeks in an effort to draw in price-conscious consumers.

Shoppers’ concern about grocery prices has fallen to its lowest level in the past three years, and though higher grocery spending and general economic uncertainty persist, worries about prices of holiday essentials rising have abated since the fall of 2024, according to FMI. Thirty-eight percent of surveyed consumers are very or extremely concerned about the expense of food for holiday meals, down 9 percentage points from September 2024.

FMI’s report is based on data collected from 1,476 grocery shoppers Sept. 26-30.