The holidays are hard on your wallet. You have to buy gifts, decorations, drink, food – it can all add up so quickly. You can buy electronics and other big ticket gifts in the sales, and you can reuse last year’s (or last decade’s) decorations. But how do you save money on the food and drink?
Today, we’ll show you how to have the feast without spending a fortune.
Make your own canapés
Ready-made canapés and nibbles can really add up. They do save time, but they cost a lot, especially when you have to buy enough for a large party. Instead of buying all your nibbles, try making them (there are loads of ideas here). Lots of recipes, like mini quiche and bacon-wrapped sausage, can be assembled the night before and cooked on the day. Plus, you can set up an assembly line of family members to help put everything together.
The best-value canapés include veggie sticks and just about anything with a pastry or a bread base.
Get the cheaper alternative
Serving salmon is a Christmas tradition, but the smoked slices are really expensive. Find ways to incorporate salmon or other, cheaper fish, so the tradition remains but is updated. Try making a salmon pâté using the cheap smoked salmon trimmings, or make a mackerel pâté, which uses a cheaper fish.
Similarly, you can get a large ham or gammon for much less than a similarly sized turkey, and when roasted with a Christmas-spiced glaze, it makes a gorgeous and tasty centrepiece for the holiday meal.Check out the recipes on the Good Food Channel website to start getting ideas.
Ultimately, you’ll know what you can change and what needs to stay the same. But generally, most people appreciate having something a bit different for once, so you’ll be impressing your friends and family whilst saving money.
Bulk up the bird
If you do want to buy a turkey, think about the weight of it. Generally, experts suggest giving a minimum of 500g on-the-bone weight per person. So if you had a 4kg bird, it would serve 8 people. That is a bit misleading, though, because you can count the weight of the stuffing, too. Make a sausage meat stuffing, and bulk it out even further with more breadcrumbs and a couple of eggs.
That can cut way down on the amount of turkey you need to serve, and per kilo, sausage meat, eggs and breadcrumbs are all much cheaper than turkey. That means you’re buying a smaller, cheaper bird and other cheap ingredients, but you’re not leaving anyone hungry.
Think about leftovers
If you and your family live to snack on Christmas leftovers like these all holiday long, then go ahead and buy a bigger bird. Look online and check the prices at local farms, if you have one, and you can probably get good deals. Besides that, the bigger birds tend to have lower per-kilo prices, so you’ll save money in the long run.
On the other hand, if you know you just toss leftovers away, buy only what you need. You can go a little smaller than you think you should, too, because the sides and stuffing will make up the difference.
Shop around – and check out the prices of organic boxes
This is a Guardian tip if ever there was one, isn’t it? But the truth is, seasonal organic boxes can be cheaper than buying the same produce from the shops – even Telegraph writer Nicole Blackmore agrees. With organic boxes, you can often cut out the middle men who buy produce from the farms and sell it to the grocery stores. The veg don’t get shipped in from overseas, so there are no big transportation costs added to the price. In fact, many organic box companies offer free delivery.
There are many local organic box companies, so check their websites and their prices. Check the prices for the major grocery stores. Then pick the one that is cheapest.
Make your own mince pies with cheap mincemeat
Mince pies are all about the pastry and the aromatic additions, so the quality of the mincemeat hardly matters. In fact, even Delia uses a jar of mincemeat in her mince pie recipe. Get a jar of cheap mincemeat, and add fresh orange zest, some chopped nuts and perhaps a nice bit of brandy. You can also add some cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, if you like, and pop in any old dried fruits you have lurking in your cupboards.
Then, make your own pastry. This is cheaper and easier to do than you probably expect, and it will really impress your guests.
Mull some wine, make a punch and buy in bulk
Mulled wine is wonderful for this time of year. It is warming, and it fills a home with gorgeous, seasonal smells. Best of all, you can use really cheap wine, as the spices and juice you add will make the mulled wine taste wonderful. Try Jamie Oliver’s recipe for a really special mulled wine.
The same principle applies to punches. You can use cheaper wines or alcohols, but no one will notice because of the ingredients you add. You can also make lovely non-alcoholic punches, so people don’t get too merry.
Finally, if you do want to buy wine or other drinks for the table, look at buying in bulk. You’ll get a cheaper per-unit price, and you’ll also save yourself annoying trips to the shops in the lazy days between Christmas and New Year’s.
Those are our seven tips for a cheaper Christmas, but what do you do each year to have the feast without spending a fortune?
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