Green soup, corn cake and sweet hominy are some of the delicacies found in typical Brazilian June Festival dishes. Those who can manage to balance the use of ingredients won’t have to shell out as much: the average price of typical foods rose 2.70%, below the inflation rate for the last 12 months (4.05%), according to the Consumer Price Index published by FGV’s Brazilian Institute of Economics (IBRE).

Potatoes (-45.63%), collard greens (-7.52%), cassava (-5.90%) and wheat flour (-4.47%) helped pull the inflation rate down. Other treats also used in typical June Festival dishes also saw an upsurge in prices, including corn meal, up 17.83%, cassava flour, up 16.81%, ready-made cake, up 14.13%, and corn for popcorn, up 13.14%, according to economist André Braz, coordinator of IBRE’s CPI.

“Consumers can go for less popular brands while maintaining a certain quality standard. It is also important to check prices or bring together a group of people to buy products at wholesale discounts”, said Braz.

According to the economist, some products with price hikes have no substitutes, such as coconut milk, which rose 9.75%. Other products are inherently cheaper and don’t really affect the total cost, even with price increases. “In this case, it’s important to keep an eye out for supermarket promotions to save even more,” he said.

The complete report is available in Portuguese.