Inflation has made plant-based foods cheaper than meat and dairy

Food organisation ProVeg has found that plant-based alternatives to six everyday products—mince, burgers, butter, milk, yoghurt and cheese—cost less than the cheapest animal-based equivalents at each of nine major supermarket chains in the Netherlands. The organisation has monitored the price difference since 2022 and calculated prices per kilogram.

The comparison used the least expensive version of each product available at each retailer. Across the basic basket, plant-based products were approximately 18% cheaper on average. ProVeg said shoppers could save as much as 30% on staples including mince and milk. The largest differences were recorded at Plus and Dirk, while the gap was smallest at organic retailer Ekoplaza.

Plant-based butter showed one of the clearest price differences, costing 48% less than its animal-based counterpart. Some alternatives remained substantially more expensive, however. Plant-based mayonnaise was priced at almost four times the level of conventional mayonnaise, while vegan yoghurt and kwark each cost more than twice as much as their animal-based versions.

Martine van Haperen, a nutrition and health expert at ProVeg, said the change was unusual because plant-based products had generally struggled to compete on price with animal-based foods. She attributed the shift partly to the expansion of supermarket own-label ranges, citing Albert Heijn as an example.

Van Haperen also said inflation had affected animal products more heavily than plant-based products. She linked that difference to the greater resources required to produce animal-based foods. The source did not provide a separate inflation rate for either category.

ProVeg conducted a second comparison using 14 products, adding categories such as sausages, shoarma and mayonnaise. These products were not available in plant-based form at every supermarket. In this broader basket, plant-based goods cost more at Dirk, Hoogvliet, Jumbo and Picnic; at Albert Heijn, the two baskets had the same price.

Dirk had among the lowest prices for plant-based staple products, but its full 14-item plant-based basket was 25% more expensive than the meat-based basket. The retailer offered a plant-based product in all 14 categories, although not every category had a low-priced own-label option.