As the peak holiday shopping season approaches, most U.S. consumers have a downbeat outlook on the economy, according to an annual Deloitte survey published Wednesday.

Most consumers surveyed — 57% — said they expect the economy to weaken in the year ahead, the consulting firm found in a poll of roughly 4,000 respondents. That compares with 30% who expected a weaker economy ahead of the year-ago holiday season and 54% in 2008, one of the years of the Great Recession.

It marks the most negative economic outlook since Deloitte began tracking that in 1997.

Seventy-seven percent of people surveyed said they expect higher prices on holiday items, up from 69% last year, according to Deloitte. It’s the first holiday season since President Donald Trump‘s latest wave of tariff hikes on many imports.

“We’ve been talking about the resilient consumer for a while now, that despite all these pressures, the U.S. consumer continues to spend and we keep seeing growth and spending for retail,” said Brian McCarthy, retail strategy leader for Deloitte. “This outlook is starting to suggest that we’re getting towards the end of that resilience.”

Consumers’ pessimistic mindset has factored into their spending plans during the holiday season. They plan to spend an average of $1,595, 10% less than the $1,778 they planned to spend in the year-ago period, as they brace for higher prices, according to the Deloitte survey.

The lower anticipated spending cuts across all household income groups and nearly all generations, Deloitte found. Yet it was especially significant among younger shoppers.

Gen Z consumers, which in the survey were between ages 18 and 28, said they plan to spend an average of 34% less this holiday season than a year ago. Millennials, respondents between age 29 and 44 in the poll, said they expect to spend an average of 13% less this holiday season.

That compares with Gen X, which plans to spend an average of 3% more, and baby boomers, who expect to spend an average of 6% less.

For Gen Z shoppers, the tighter holiday budget likely comes from feeling more uncertain and unstable early in their careers, McCarthy said.

“They’re thinking about income and the job market and the concerns about the economy is going to throw a lot more pressure on them because they haven’t yet had time to sort of build up their savings or plan for less rosy economic environments,” he said.

Mike Daher, U.S. consumer industry leader for Deloitte, said the age group is also “exposed to a lot of inflationary pressures around housing costs,” along with higher prices for everyday items like groceries.

For retailers and brands, the findings add a note of caution to the most crucial sales period of the year. Other holiday forecasts have also found households expect to spend less, while still reflecting consumers’ appetite for decorating and giving gifts during the festive season.

Holiday spending across stores and online is expected to rise 4% year over year, according to consulting firm Bain & Co., a drop from the 10-year average of 5.2% growth. A separate Adobe Analytics report found online holiday spending in the U.S. is expected to grow 5.3% year over year, but that would be slower than the year-ago increase of 8.7% year over year.

Like Deloitte’s poll, consulting firm PwC’s survey indicated a holiday pullback among Gen Z consumers, who said they planned to spend 23% less than during the year-ago period. Overall, consumers said they expect to spend about 5% less – or an average total of $1,552 – on holiday gifts, travel and entertainment compared with the year-ago season, according to the PwC survey.

The National Retail Federation, the major industry trade group, plans to share its holiday forecast in early November.

Though holiday outlooks have varied, one of the dominant themes of this holiday season will be value-seeking, Deloitte’s McCarthy said. Even in the past several months, the firm has found a notable uptick in the number of U.S. consumers who have reported seeking deals. Across income groups, Deloitte’s survey indicated that 7 in 10 respondents are engaging in three or more deal-seeking behaviors, such as purchasing store brands or alternative ingredients, cooking more meals at home and buying used cars.

As consumers watch their budgets, they told Deloitte they will cut back on holiday-related extras. On average, consumers said they plan to spend $397 on nongift holiday expenses, such as hosting, clothing and decor, a 22% drop from $507 a year ago.

For gifts, however, the cut wasn’t as deep. On average, survey respondents said they plan to buy eight gifts compared with nine in the year-ago period and spend 6% less on average, a drop to $505 compared with $536 in the prior-year holiday season.

Charlie Bigham is set to launch a new range of premium ready meals, costing up to £30, aimed at consumers increasingly deterred by the escalating price of eating out.

The entrepreneur’s ‘Brasserie’ collection will debut in Waitrose this Wednesday, offering dishes such as a pre-prepared beef wellington for £29.95, a salmon wellington at £19.95, and coq au vin, duck confit, or venison bourguignon, each priced at £16.95.

Mr Bigham stated that the rising expense of restaurant dining was the primary driver behind the creation of his new line.

He explained: “Dining out has got more expensive – we love eating in restaurants but you look at the bill at the end of the night now and you think ‘ooh, this has gone up’.”

He added, acknowledging the industry’s challenges: “And that’s not to criticise our wonderful hospitality industry at all. Their costs keep going up.”

Ultimately, he believes consumers are seeking the “dining-out occasion” but are “happier to do this in, rather than out,” reflecting a broader shift in spending habits.

D’s new venison bourguignon uses wild-caught venison from the Scottish Highlands, including the royal Balmoral Estate. The salmon wellington is made with sashimi-grade salmon fillet and the firm claims that every beef wellington is hand-rolled.

The company hopes consumers will consider the range to be an alternative to a meal out in a cafe or restaurant. Hospitality businesses have been forced to put up prices as costs such as labour, energy and tax soar.

At the top end, the new meals will be almost three times as expensive as Charlie Bigham’s traditional offerings, which cost around £10 for a two-person serving of dishes such as chicken tikka masala, chicken ham and leek pie, and lasagne.

Despite the cost, Mr Bigham said he expected the range to have broad appeal among consumers.

“If you think about it, you get a pizza for two delivered for £16. And these are not just eaten by rich people in certain London postcodes.”

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The average restaurant meal cost 4.9 per cent more in August than it did a year earlier, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Rising grocery price inflation has also hit consumers hard, with shoppers also increasingly seeing their favourite items altered both by ‘shrinkflation’ and cheaper ingredients.

Mr Bigham said his firm had turned to neither, with portion sizes and ingredients remaining unchanged in an effort to protect its reputation as a higher-quality producer.

He said: “Making high-quality food is our mantra, so if we have to make the choice, we’ll put prices up.”

Mr Bigham’s firm turned a £5 million profit on sales of £144 million last year.