Cashed-up Melbourne shoppers spending big on mince pies, lobster, soft cheese and other classic Christmas foods

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Pavlova sales are up 300 per cent annually at Woolworths, 108,000 fruit mince pies have left Phillippa's bakeries, and Coles is tipping a 40 per cent uptick in lobster sales, as shoppers splash plenty of cash on a cracker Christmas.

"They're not too fussed on whether they've got too much, they just want to put on a good show" says Ash McBean, manager at Gary's Quality Meats at Prahran Market.

Record household savings, high consumer confidence and months of missed family occasions are the ingredients of extravagant Christmas feasts, and Melbourne's grocers, fishmongers and butchers are the beneficiaries.

One customer at Gary's recently purchased 30 hams to give as gifts, while overall McBean expects to sell 750 Ravens Creek hams smoked over applewood and red gum before Christmas Day rolls around.

"Just about everyone wants a ham this year," she says.

Seafood-lovers are gravitating to oysters, Moreton Bay bugs, southern rock lobster (again selling for low prices due to trade restrictions), cooked prawns and crab, and sides of salmon, according to George Milona who owns George the Fishmonger at Queen Victoria Market.

"Basically, people want showpieces that you don't see everyday on your table. Anything that's got a nice sort of red colour to it sells quite well at Christmas."

Australia's economy contracted by 1.9 per cent in the September quarter while NSW and Victoria were in lockdown, but disposable household income increased by 4.6 per cent in the same period, perfect conditions for a flashy Christmas. The Commonwealth Bank estimates that Australians have $240 billion stashed in savings.

Some of that will show up on tables, as Coles reports a 40 per cent increase in demand for puddings, pavlovas and lobsters, and a 20 per cent increase in demand for fruit mince pies in November, compared to previous years.

"We make more mince pies every year and sell out every year," says Phillippa Grogan of Phillippa's bakeries.

Grogan expects to move 18,000 six-packs of her fruit mince pies, made with organic orange peel, buttery pastry and a careful balance of sweetness and spice.

"Everything is selling a lot more than usual. I think people are not going away, they still can't really travel, so we've noticed a very, very high demand."

Decorated biscuits that might adorn a table or tree, high-quality savoury biscuits, nuts and more baked goods are selling well as people dial up the fancy factor on their celebrations.

Big Christmas feasts with several generations of family and friends are also on the cards, with Gary's taking at least five times as many orders this Christmas for whole lamb or pork to be cooked on the rotisserie.

Woolworths sales reflect this mood, too, with a 25 per cent uptick in demand for brie and camembert-style cheeses for platters in Victoria.

The supermarket giant forecasts that close to 200,000 kilograms of ham, 2.9 million fruit mince pies and 120,000 kilograms of prawns will fill Victorians' shopping trolleys before December 25.

Meanwhile, George Milonas expects that he and the nine other fishmongers at Queen Victoria Market will bag approximately twenty tonnes of cooked prawns in the days before Christmas.

Last-minute Christmas lunch shopping

If you haven't given your Christmas menu a moment's thought yet, there's no need to turn to tinned soup.

While you can expect high prices and hot competition for prawns and oysters, seafood-lovers can get a bargain at this time of year on fish, for which prices remain steady. And you're likely to have your pick of the cabinet, even on Christmas Eve.

Other alternatives might be uncooked tropical rock lobster from Queensland, which Milonas says is looking fantastic at the moment. He recommends cutting the lobster in half, adding a lemon butter sauce to the flesh, then grilling it in the shell on the barbecue for about 25 minutes.

He also likes the look of freshly cooked blue swimmer crabs from Queensland, which are a nice size with a decent amount of meat.

Thinking about jumbo prawns? Go for medium-sized prawns that are more abundant, and therefore cheaper, instead, says Adam Stollznow, a tour guide at Sydney Fish Markets.

"Any old salt in any fishing town will tell you the small ones taste better."

Coles expects cooked fresh black tiger prawns to go for $27 per kilogram next week, while uncooked, thawed banana prawns are marked at $24 a kilogram.

The butchers at Gary's Meats keep a stash of hams out the back for any last-minute shoppers. Or you could think outside the square and add some top-grade Japanese Hida wagyu to your menu. But at $490 a kilogram for prime cuts, it's definitely an item for smaller gatherings rather than 20-person feasts.

If you haven't made your own Christmas pud and find the shelves bare next week, Phillippa Grogan has plenty of creative solutions.

Panettone can be quickly turned into a trifle, saving the trouble of baking a sponge; a ripple cake is easily done with her star-shaped honey biscuits; or you can crumble cranberry shortbread or fruit mince pies into vanilla ice-cream for your very own signature scoop.

With Callan Boys