How much does your 'big' Christmas shop come to?

[ernjas]

Trying to figure out how much to put aside as we've been on a strict budget this Christmas.
I'm not really sure how much to expect it to be or what the average is.

We buy a few bits each week so it’s not all in one shop. Probably £200/£250.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat that's a good idea actually - never even considered that.

I've plaved it online already. It was 165

Well it depends on how many you're catering for. There's no need to go overboard as it's really just a posh roast with a few extra special sides.

Make a list of what's needed and buy from places like Aldi, Lidl, Asda to keep the costs down. If you're entertaining, can you ask guests to bring a dish? Buy a few items a week in your weekly shop and look for offers.

£500
But we have various dietary requirements

Our Xmas shop is currently coming in at £110. That's for 2 adults not having Xmas lunch at home (but making Yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes so includes ingredients for those)
It includes a fair bit of alcohol as we have friends coming to stay for 1 night.

It will cover us, food wise, for 4/5 days - delivered on 2nd December

We don't buy it all in one go, so it's hard to say.

We usually stick a few extra bottles of booze and wine in the trolley (or to the online shop) in the weeks leading up to Christmas. We don't buy the snacks and treats because otherwise they'd just get eaten.

Here we only cater for 6 or 8, with guests here usually just for the day itself. I make home made mince pies and mil usually sends or brings a Christmas pud.

?? £200.00?? We save up our Sainsburys Nectar points all year for the Christmas food shop so usually get it about half price.

I ordered my meats and puddings from Morrisons this week. The total came to just under £60 for a free range turkey crown, some party food, pigs in blankets and some puddings. I had to pay £20 deposit and I have £100 saved through their stamps scheme. When I pick up my ordered stuff I'll have enough saved to get spuds and veg, some ready made pastry, a chocolate log (if I don't make one), a bottle of wine or two, some beer, some soft drinks and some crisps plus whatever else we might need for lunches/dinners for the rest of the week. I already have steaks in the freezer for Christmas Eve and a joint for New Year's Dinner and we eat normally apart from Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

I bought £10 of saving stamps every month from January to October to make my £100. Last year my actual cash spend on my food shop was £3.

In the next three weeks I will probably get some extra sharing bags of crisps and some Shloer/Appletiser/J20 with each weekly shop.

No plans for visitors over Christmas and dinner is for 5 people. Total cost likely to be £150 max.

It’s not helpful now but I start in October. A packet of biscuits or bottle of wine one week. Christmas crackers another week. I have a box with a lid so nobody steals the chocolate before the holidays.

Only about 15‰ higher than normal. Don't believe in massive blow outs or going over the top.

As little as possible! We're skint so trying to keep it to our normal weekly shopping budget (£60 p/w) plus a little bit more. We already have the steak. We have some vouchers which will be very helpful.

I dread to think. I've bought a frozen turkey crown and large beef joint already which helps. I can't buy sweets early as i have no self-control.
We're hosting both days for the first time so it will be more expensive than normal.
But i live frugally throughout the year so shouldn't get into debt.

The goose will cost us about £20 (frozen this year)

We’ve picked up bits and bobs over the past few weeks - chocolates, Turkish delights, biscuits, mince pies, nuts. Voul a vent cases and crab terrine, crostini and five grain bread. Next week we will get the blinis, if they will keep long enough). Then it’s just a matter of getting cheeses, pate, cranberry sauce etc, some gravad lax, quail’s eggs and other things for our Christmas Eve buffet dinner. A few more bottles of wine, some ales, 1 bottle of baileys. Finally in the days before Christmas I will pick up the veg and other sides for the dinner itself.

All in all maybe £175- 200 I guess. That’s for 4 of us but we will get at least two full meals out of the bird, and the other bits and bobs we will have usually see us through quite nicely from Boxing Day to NYE.

We did also spend £100 on a whiskey, a cognac and a calvados (very good value as two of the three were on sale). But that’s more of a winter thing rather than specifically Christmas.

I’d suggest writing a list and dividing it into things you can buy this week, next week and closer to the time (obviously you will need to be disciplined about not eating all the snacks and treats in the meantime).

When we’re on a budget we always try to go for a few nice things rather than lots of lesser things. I’d rather have one big box of really nice chocolates than five boxes of crappy chocolates. Same with biscuits, one big box of really nice ones. I don’t buy things for the sake of it and I try hard not to pick up too much random stuff that’s not actually on my list.

Doing it in stages as part of our weekly shop is much less stressful and also spreads the cost.

Oh I forgot the ham! And the Madeira cake for the trifle. But i think it’ll still come in at about £200.

200-250 which is about 100 more than a regular week.

No idea,I honestly can't remember and I know I should!

I've been picking up a few bits here and there but I still have tons to get,so far I've spent about £65.
I've picked up a nice bottle of dessert wine and 2 bottles of the M&S flavoured liquer,some pringles and different types of chocolates,a couple of packets of crackers and that's it really.

Ours is about £250, normal weeks shopping is about £120. Includes all meat (Christmas Eve steak dinner for 6, Christmas Day for 6, Boxing Day for 8 - usually 5 of us), cheeses, sweet treats, fancy booze (but not wine - dh gets given loads of wine at work which usually lasts us over Christmas!). And New Years week will be a very small shop in comparison.
I might start picking up a few bits in Tesco tomorrow, like sweets, mince pies etc. I'm trying to run down the freezer to make way for Christmas stuff but dh keeps filling it up again!

It'll be about £110.

I also add extra buts in each week to spread the cost. Chocs, crisps, lager and Bailey's bought and hid!
Wine and nuts this week, frozen party food the next, then an online shop on the 23rd for all the fresh stuff.

Not got a clue

I buy in the weeks leading up to it - so I've already got 2 boxes of luxury mince pies, several boxes of nice chocolates, the beef joint, onion marmalade, shortbread, special nuts etc etc. Next week I'll get the cheeses

Probably about £200

We dont cater for anyone but us so its just a weekly shop. Not many extras. We always have cheese/pate/crackers so no need for extras.

Around £350 in the supermarket, not including the meat which comes from the butcher,

I'm not entirely sure because I usually start picking up stuff with my weekly shop from about August or earlier for the likes of spirits or non-perishables or long- life stuff. I love my grub so there's lots of posh stuff we are treating ourselves to but we aren't flush so if we want all of that then we have to plan ahead.

I get a generous voucher in my Christmas pay slip for a nationwide retailer so that can cover all grocery/booze or even clothes or homewares that I need last minute. I'm well ahead of schedule on foodstuffs so this year I'm updating the bedding in three rooms with the voucher.

An insane amount but we cater for about 20 during the day and then an extra 6 join us for a buffet. So cost per head it is actually reasonable but the initial outlay is vast!