Christmas Dinner for 7 Cheap but Cheerful?

[SausageGoulsAndFruitSpooks]

We have the PIL coming for Christmas dinner this year. That's fine, I love them both.

But we've just moved into a new house that desperately needs a new kitchen as the current one is falling apart. We have to pay for it in cash which means saving saving and did I mention saving. We have practically cut back in every area to be able to put money back.

As we all know, Christmas can be a rather extravagant affair & I'm really panicking about the cost.

Do you have any wonderful tips to do Christmas Dinner for 7, including nibbles etc, cheap as chips but not compromising on quality.
Thank-you

Instead of buying turkey buy a large chicken. Don't buy lots that you don't need, just spuds and veg plus make your own stuffing and yorkies. Buy a nice bottle of wine for dinner and you have a lovely Christmas lunch. Could you ask ils to bring some nibbles?

Agree with Armani, we have chicken anyway, but a 5 pound weight, free range chicken from our local butcher was about £18 and would feed 10 people. Considerably less money than a small turkey to feed the same number. You won't need much per person if you serve sausages and bacon with it. Do plenty of veg and potatoes, and stuffing. Remember that people can fill up with pudding.

Look out for offers on crisps, nuts, nibbles in the supermarkets, 3 for 2 offers on buffet and party foods for the evening. Also wine and beer, there are a lot of offers out there.

Plan your menus, so that you know what to buy and don't go overboard buying things that won't get eaten. Also control your portions, if you know for example that lots of leftover veg won't get eaten, only prepare enough for 7. I presume you must have an idea by now of the appetites of the ILS?

I'm sure the ILS would be happy to bring things to help you out.

You can make flavoured nuts etc by cooking them in sugar, spices & water. Tesco have nuts on offer at the moment so I made a big batch of sugared almonds for less than it would cost to buy.

Would also recommend buying one thing a week now (keep a list so, as girly says, you don't lose control of portions etc.) like crisps, wine etc. so that the cost is spread and perhaps can factor into your weekly shopping. For example, if you buy crisps then do a multibuy, eat your normal amount and put the rest aside for Christmas.

For the decorations and extras, depending on DCs' ages, could you ask them to make crackers with little jokes they have written and decorated? You can buy cracker bang-y things on ebay for £1.99 or so and I'm sure the GPs would think them much better than bought ones and it would save you money. Ditto making paper chains etc.

I swear by Aldi 3 bird roast - £6.99 at the moment. Or you could wait until christmas eve and buy stuff greatly reduced

Ask the rels to bring pud etc.

3 bird roast sounds great. What is it?

Ooh, pinching ideas here - how large a chicken can you get? Tbh I don't really like turkey, so would have no problem (personally) with replacing Mr Turkey with Mr Chicken :) and would still get all the trimmings you would have with a turkey. (I'll be feeding 7 and a 1yr old)

I think it is chicken stuffed with duck breast and turkey. They have a new 4 bird roast which is £9.99. Not sure what else is in that.

So easy, just bung it in from the freezer. You could tart it up a bit with bacon towards the end, or with a marmalade glaze. I use the juices as a good base for gravy. Remember to leave it to rest before you carve, otherwise it is a bit untidy.

Have you got access to a Costco? Last year they had big Matthew walker Xmas puds for about £2 or £3 - they are a good quality brand that costs a lot more in places like waitrose & tesco (£10-15).

Work out presents beforehand; either set a limit of a fiver or a pound per present or do a secret Santa (or a combination of the two if you all like presents, a secret santa for a fiver and a present for everyone else at a pound each, the sillier the better) to reduce spending on general present giving cost. and say things like all wrapping to be home made. (could even have home made gifts).

If you need cheap and cheerful decorations check out the pound shops.

Work out whAt are the top things to you and your guests that make. Christmas special and concentrate on getting those right then economise on the other stuff more severely. Also check out places like the moneysavingexpert website for their Xmas hints and sign up for things like the online shops emails with bargains. Lots of shops especially those with American backgrounds did amazing offers around thanksgiving. Play.com already is doing mega Monday sales. Boots are doing shopping evenings with £12 worth points for every £50 spent that you can use to stock up on normal boots things as well as presents. Etc

Work out a masterlist for everything now, check prices of things like food on mysupermArket.com and check out your local Market stalls for fruit and veg.

I agree with buying a little bit every week between now and then.

Or get an ASDA savings card and add a few £ to that each week.

You can make a big pot of veg soup for a couple of pounds and freeze it.

Main course as someone has said can be a large chicken but check offers on other roast meats too.

Ask PIL to bring desert.

The shops will be full of good offers over the coming weeks.

Also, why not get a piece of gammon. (Get it now and freeze before the ££ shoots up).

Boil up a la Nigella, in orange/apple juice/an onion/a few spices etc,

Will be great for ham and lentil soup for your starter, sandwhiches, left overs can make carbonara, leek,chicken and ham pie etc.

Flubba, my local butcher has free range chickens at 5lbs or slightly over in weight, I think you could get 10 portions from one that size, especially as you will have sausages, bacon etc. I'm guessing that it will be under £20 this year. With turkey there is more carcass and less meat, and it costs much more for a small one, plus you have to try harder to make it tasty and moist.

There is just DH and I but we like the leftovers! If you have a lot of drumstick fans, you could roast two smaller chickens together, and have four drumsticks and four lots of breast meat.

Nigella pea and pesto soup is a great easy starter, kids like it, and pretty cheap - she says use fresh pesto but we have used jar with no problems. Then you really just need frozen peas and stock.

If you really want turkey see what a local butcher can offer - I got a small (2.2kg) boned and rolled turkey breast last year which we got 14/15 portions from - it is all meat so no carcass to deal with. It cost £20/£21 so not much more than a large chicken.

How about seeing what is on offer at Lidl for snacks, nibbles, cakes and puds? Also, soft drinks, mixers, and alcohol, which is where the bill can really add up if you are not careful.

Wow lots of replies thank-you.

I'd actually forgotten that I'd posted this, I knew I thought about posting it but didn't realise I actually had

Anyway going to read through all the replies now.

Thanks again.

Good point about the cost of drinks, only buy the spirits that you know people will drink, and get half or quarter bottles if not sure. Same with soft drinks. For example, we don't drink cola at home, if we had a guest who wanted cola and the bottle was opened and never finished, it would go flat quickly and be a waste of money even if a bottle itself was cheap to start with. So I would buy a multi pack of cans, which could be opened as needed, and have a longer shelf life for another occasion.

Yes, my butcher does those boned and rolled turkey joints too, they offer ones with stuffing or without. I've never considered them because we like the chicken so much. My aunt and uncle used to do them when they had a houseful for Christmas lunch, quick and easy to carve, take less space in the oven etc.