How much should I budget for Christmas food?

[queenofthedump]

I'm just starting to think about Christmas and starting by getting a budget together.

I'm going to be having a baby between Christmas and New Year so I'm trying to weigh up whether we will be able to afford to do the M&S thing for Christmas dinner.
I've been quite encouraged by the positive comments on the other thread but it would be useful to know how much people tend to spend. We've always had Christmas dinner at parents houses so I have literally no idea.

We need to do it as cheaply as possible whilst also needing to make it easy-peasy on the day as I will be probably blobbed on the sofa feeling and looking like a beached whale. Our entire Christmas budget is £450 though (needs to cover food, presents and days out) so I have no idea if I'm being realistic or not.

There are going to be 3 adults, a 7yo and a 5yo. Thanks in advance for any wisdom or advice!

How long is a piece of string... I would approach it from the other side i.e. decide how much you want to spend, then see what you can get for it.

The most expensive items of Christmas food are usually the meat and the alcohol, so it makes sense to economise on these if you are on a budget. For instance, rather than buying an organic turkey for £80 (some of which may end up getting wasted), you could get a nice large free range chicken for about £10-12, which should be enough for 3 adults and 2 children. Vegetables are generally quite cheap, especially as there are usually offers on before Christmas. Don't overcomplicate the meal and prioritise the things which you know people will enjoy most.

Menu plan realistically and don't get it if you won't eat it.

My mum and sister buy all kinds of crazy stuff like bags of walnuts, whole sides of salmon and a ham. None of it gets eaten and they moan every year about how it all went to waste.

Our Christmas budget is £500 as we have just had a baby, so similar situation to you OP.

I am budgeting £100 on top of my normal weekly food budget of £80, to cover a good quality chicken, all the trimmings, a couple of bottles of wine (which obviously you won't need!) and pudding.

If the baby is due over the holidays it would probably be worth buying things you can freeze in case you go into labour! E.g. A turkey crown?

Aldi do an amazing crown of turkey for £10, frozen.
We cook ham at the same time, so the meat is cold and cut as needed.
You can get away with frozen of most stuff, and buy up cakes and biscuits.
Iceland is online and do some great picky bits for xmas.
You don't need loads, as better to make sure it all gets eaten, as the shops are only shut for 2 days.

Loads, i have even stopped the big shop now - and still over spend.
Determined not to this year, not even an extra pack of cheese . maybe some basic crisp like nibbles but thats it.

I'm like Sunseptember, I used to do a 'big shop' but most of the stuff went to waste. Now treat it like a slightly fancier Sunday dinner! We have a nice starter (usually seafood), don't bother with soup as dc wontveat it and my parents can't eat as much as they used to, turkey (Aldi) with the trimmings that people will eat (potatoes - roast and croquettes, yorkies as dd insists, stuffing and veg. I also make a small bread sauce for my dm as she likes it.) I once made my own cranberry sauce but only my dm and I ate it and it didn't taste any different from the jar!! We also buy a pouch of M&S turkey gravy and kids have pickled onions! For pudding, 1 mini Xmas pud for dad and random things chosen by everyone else but normally things we have in freezer! I tried doing fancy things hut no one ate them! Will also buy Stilton and another type of cheese along with the cheddar and a few more wee treat things but I'm a teacher so we get given tons of sweets!

So not much more than normal. We buy breakfast fry up ingredients and booze, dizzy for kids. It's the booze that costs!!

I think we've spent from £40ish to £200 before although I was feeding 10 with the £200. £40 was a small turkey or a crown, pigs in blankets, veg, bread sauce, wine and a Christmas pudding. We don't go in for starters and don't really do a special breakfast, the Christmas dinner itself is the main event.

for our family of 5, plus 2 for Christmas eve and 1extra for Christmas day, including all the food between Christmas and new year i spend around £200, we meal plan and do eat out once over Christmas. ive learnt over the years what gets eaten and what doesn't.

It's perfectly doable just think what you want and what you would cut back on to afford it.

For us christmas dinner is just a fancy roast. I buy disposable foil trays, paper cups/plates for snacks - breakfast to minimise washing up.

Buy extra fruit, nice pudding and do a buffet christnas eve as my family come over.

Last year our total food cost for the Christmas holidays (when the kids were off) was around £200. we usually spend £50-60 per week so only an extra £80ish

On the other hand we don't do expensive days out - santa is a free or cheap one, lots of free fundays/markets. I wait for offers for panto tickets. We do lots but nothing is extravagant.

I spend quite a bit and we eat ourselves silly from about the 22nd to the 4th then have bits left over into Jan! Just us for Christmas dinner but loads of friends over all way through. I'd say we spend about £250 and then a couple maybe 3 top up shops over the hols £10-£15 milk, fresh fruit, salad stuff and bread type things.