How to cut the cost of Christmas food and drink

Maybe it’s the sight of people swooping on the shelves all around you, maybe it’s some primitive hoarding instinct but all sense seems to go out of the window the last few days before Christmas. Unless you’re planning to head off for a cottage in the wilds of nowhere you’re not going to be without shops for more than a couple of days at the most so there’s no need to act (as we all do) as if you’re settling in for a month-long siege.

Most people stock up on the basis that family and friends may drop in unexpectedly but it’s just as likely that you’ll get invited out so don’t go mad buying in food ‘just in case’. Even if forward planning is not your strong suit it’s worth working out what to eat over the holiday period then draw up a list of what you need and try to stick to it.

The biggest mistake that most people make is to buy too big a turkey unless you really get it at a knockdown price (see below) Obviously it’s not a problem if you’ve got a full house to eat up the leftovers but if you don’t want to be eating curried turkey into the new year don’t be tempted by the biggest birds. (There’s a useful calculator on the BBC website.)

You need to keep your wits around you when you’re shopping because all supermarkets will have some brilliant bargains, and all will charge over the odds for other products that you tend to take for granted like fresh food and veg. Products to watch out for are seasonal fruit and veg like clementines and sprouts, fashionable ingredients such as mascarpone (double cream is cheaper!) and continental cakes like panettone and stollen (traditional British cakes and puddings are better value. Oddly it’s cheaper to buy Christmas foods like mince pies, Christmas pudding and Christmas cake ready made than make them yourself - and by now it’s a bit late in the day to do that.)

Watch out too for the cost of seasonal products like ready-prepared cheeseboards or trays of nuts and other snacks. It may well be cheaper to buy them individually but again don’t go overboard and buy too much. Even half a stilton takes quite a bit of eating.

There are always some good wine buys around at Christmas (especially port) but don’t end up paying more than you need for an impressive name. A £7 reduction on a well known bottle of champagne, for instance, may sound like a great reduction but you could buy a perfectly good own label champagne for considerably less than that. The same is true of wines such as Chateauneuf-du-Pape or red burgundy. Most people quite honestly would be equally happy with a fruity Chilean red with their turkey at half the price.
 
If you really want to save money and can hold your nerve leave your shopping until the afternoon of Christmas Eve. You may not get exactly what you want but if you’re prepared to be flexible about what you eat you can find some spectacular bargains. (A word of warning though - there won’t be time to thaw a turkey if you planned to eat it at lunchtime the following day. )

Another money-saving strategy, depending when your family can get together, is to have an alternative meal on Christmas Day and to hold your Christmas feast early in the New Year when all the Christmas goodies are reduced. But by that time you may well, like the rest of us, be on that inevitable New Year’s diet . . .