There is a particular scent that has defined Sunday mornings in Ireland for generations. It is a warm, fatty, and deeply reassuring aroma that drifts through hallways and up staircases shortly after midday—the unmistakable sign of a joint of meat in the oven.
For decades, this ritual was as reliable a fixture of the Irish weekend as the Angelus bell or the Sunday papers spread across the kitchen table. Although, for many middle-class families this past Easter weekend, that scent was missing. In its place were chicken pies, grilled salmon, or slow-cooked curries—dishes that avoided the €30 price tag of a leg of lamb, which has quietly transitioned from a staple to a luxury item.
This shift suggests that for a growing number of households, the Sunday roast gone for good is not a choice of taste, but a necessity of finance. The decline of the roast is the visible symptom of a deeper economic squeeze, where the cost of basic proteins has outpaced the budgets of families who previously considered themselves comfortably middle-class.
Saskia Edwards, who lives just outside Wexford town with her husband Eoghan and their two children, Rian and Isla, tracks this change with precision. Together, the couple earns just over €5,000 a month through two salaries and child benefit. Despite this, Saskia describes the weekly grocery shop as a “puzzle.”
Through her YouTube channel, OurIrishLife, Saskia has become a focal point for hundreds of parents documenting the actual cost of feeding a family in Ireland. For her, the loss of the traditional roast is a loss of heritage. She recalls her grandmother’s table, featuring roasties with crunchy edges, creamy mash, and multiple types of stuffing.
“It was a really big deal,” she says. “But she did it for us, to bring us all together. There was something really special about it. Just being together, sharing all of that food.”
The Economics of the Empty Trolley
The decline of the roast is backed by stark data. Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that in the year leading to December 2025, the price of beef and veal rose by 22.4 per cent, while lamb increased by 18.9 per cent. These are not incremental shifts; they are price hikes that fundamentally reshape the contents of the weekly shopping trolley.
Dáil debates have highlighted that some families are spending up to €3,000 more per year on groceries compared to 2021. While some fact-checkers note this figure reflects larger or higher-spending households, the upward trajectory is universal. The result is that the Sunday roast is no longer an assumption—it is a budgeted event.
This economic pressure has manifested in unexpected places, including the Irish legal system. Retailers have reported a surge in the theft of high-value meat cuts. In Limerick, a man was accused of stealing 20 steaks and eight legs of lamb; in Cork, another was jailed for the theft of a single leg of lamb. When a roast costs €30, it ceases to be mere dinner and becomes a high-value target.
Jim Flavin, a family butcher in Castletroy, Limerick, for over 30 years, has witnessed this transition in real time. He notes a marked collapse in demand for Easter lamb, with customers opting for smaller joints or shifting toward beef and turkey as more affordable centerpieces.
However, Flavin sees one encouraging trend: a demand for traceability. Because he sources his beef from his own farm in Grange, Co. Limerick, customers are more willing to pay for the certainty of knowing exactly where their food comes from. In an era of distrust and inflation, the craft butcher may be better positioned to survive than the supermarket.
Inventing the ‘Budget Roast’
As the traditional joint becomes unaffordable, Irish home cooks are innovating. Saskia Edwards has moved away from expensive cuts entirely. Instead of a €20 leg of lamb, she buys diced lamb for less than €5, transforming it into a casserole served with roast potatoes and vegetables.
For beef, she utilizes lean stir-fry strips to create pies, noting that her children “don’t miss the beef joint at all.” Other strategies include turning a single packet of mince into both a bolognese and a chilli, or buying chicken in bulk to be repurposed into soup or curry.
Chef Catherine Fulvio, owner of the Ballyknocken Cookery School in Co. Wicklow, suggests that families lean into pork, which she describes as “particularly good value.” She recommends transforming a simple fillet into a Wellington-style main by wrapping it in mushrooms, spinach, and bacon to increase the serving size while maintaining a sense of luxury.
Fulvio also advises using hearty stuffings—such as sourdough, sausage meat, apricots, and walnuts—to fill deboned legs or shoulders, effectively making each slice half meat and half affordable filler. She further suggests stretching the meal into the following day with beef stroganoff or pho.
A Geopolitical Threat to Food Security
While clever cooking can mitigate current costs, agricultural economists warn of a looming crisis driven by geopolitics rather than domestic inflation. Since late February, conflict in the Middle East has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical sea lane for roughly one-third of the world’s traded fertiliser.
This closure has caused global fertiliser prices to surge between 30 and 60 per cent. Because Ireland produces no fertiliser of its own and relies entirely on imports—a fact confirmed by Minister Michael Healy-Rae in the Dáil—the impact on the food chain is inevitable. Higher input costs for farmers lead to more expensive feed and grass, which ultimately pushes the price of beef and lamb higher at the till.
The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) reports that food is now the primary driver of requests for assistance. In 2025, the charity received 112,772 requests for food assistance, an increase of 8,548 over 2024. For four months of that year, requests exceeded 10,000 per month.
| Meat Category | Price Increase (%) | Market Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Beef and Veal | 22.4% | Shift toward stir-fry/mince |
| Lamb | 18.9% | Sharp decline in Easter demand |
| Fertiliser (Global) | 30% – 60% | Increased production costs |
Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú has warned that Ireland’s fertiliser supplies may only be guaranteed until mid-April, with urea levels already critically low. Estimates suggest the closure of the Strait of Hormuz could add up to €600 annually to the average Irish grocery bill.
For families like the Edwards, the loss of the roast is a sacrifice, but not the primary one. Saskia emphasizes that the ritual of the meal is more important than the meat itself. This Easter, she served a Thai chicken curry from a slow cooker and finished with brownies.
“You’re still gathering people together,” she says. “Just in a slightly different way.”
The Sunday roast may be becoming a luxury beyond the reach of the average family, but the habit of gathering remains. Whether the tradition can survive a prolonged geopolitical crisis remains to be seen, with the next critical window for fertiliser security closing in mid-April.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice.
Do you believe the traditional Sunday roast is a relic of the past, or will it return? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
