How much do you spend on your Christmas Food Shop?

[CloudyVanilla]

Just curious as I want to trim my budget down and don't know where to prune from..

How much do you spend and for how long? I usually let my family begin eating festive bits from about the 19th building up to full out indulgence on Christmas eve. I don't feel right getting nothing before Christmas eve and I also don't want to skimp on dinner!!

Do you even know how much you spend or do you build it up? I build up gifts and decorations but I tend to do the food shop last, lest it be scoffed too early

And yes I usually start festive eating quite early too! It doesn't help that my DDs school shuts a week earlier than most and it feels quite natural to start the festivities when the kids are off school/pre school

@CloudyVanilla I could easily (and have) spent that amount at Christmas too. I don't think it's that hard.

It depends on how many are here for Christmas but somewhere around £300 extra, on top of normal shopping. Or about £75-£100 per person.

I have had Christmasses where we've had 9 people in the house and the shopping was about £1000 extra .

£400/500 extra but that includes alcohol.

A lot, but without sounding facetious we can afford it so it's not an issue. What I spend isn't relevant to what you spend unless you express it possible as a percentage of income.

Two years ago we had 12 people in the house for a week. Obviously that cost much more than this year when it's just us. But a goose is always expensive, plus the ingredients for the cake and pudding and other baking, plus a good supply of alcohol, plus everything else. We do have lots left over (the goose does actually last almost as long as the MN chicken!) and enjoy the cake and alcohol in particular for months afterwards.

🤔 I know we are in the minority but I am genuinely surprised at how much extra food people buy and presumably eat for Christmas. Unless you are having a big party (which isn't likely this year) I can't fathom it. I can only think much of it goes on alcohol or lots of meat and I don't have either.
No judgement, just surprise. Each to their own. After all nobody is spending my money. 😁 💕

There’s 3 of us, me and 2 teens. We don’t really spend any more than we do on a weekly shop. We pick up a few bits before Christmas but don’t buy a huge amount of chocolate or sweets as we get gifted a lot from relatives. We will be having chicken this year as just the 3 of us so no different to a normal Sunday roast, maybe pastries for breakfast Christmas Day, some nice cheeses and pate but other than that not much different. We don’t drink so we probably save a lot that way. Probably around £60/70 for the whole week including Christmas Day.

@pinkksugarmouse

🤔 I know we are in the minority but I am genuinely surprised at how much extra food people buy and presumably eat for Christmas. Unless you are having a big party (which isn't likely this year) I can't fathom it. I can only think much of it goes on alcohol or lots of meat and I don't have either. No judgement, just surprise. Each to their own. After all nobody is spending my money. 😁 💕

I agree, I’m always shocked reading these threads and hearing how people spend £100’s on alcohol and meat. Maybe these people starve themselves all year and go all out at Christmas? 😂

You need to embrace it. Think we all deserve to indulge this Christmas! Cannot wait too have the cheese bri en croute from m and s!! Was the nicest thing ever last year haha then let the kids pig out an enjoy themselves to as they've not had chocolate or snacks since June !! Be a shock to the system but I cannot wait ! I wouldn't get into debt but il scrimp and spend every last penny to make sure we all have a good feed haha xx

Like PPs, I start buying early. I got my Christmas pudding in the Fortnum and Mason sale.

I have condiments, cheese crackers, alcohol, chocolate oranges, Xmas cake and advent calendars already.

Fresh stuff is ordered for delivery or collection nearer the time.

@Lovemusic33 I have definitely starved all year so Christmas we go all out 🤣 ds has been on a medicated diet so we've alll joined him and it's super strict so hopefully he's coming off it next month just in time for Christmas so we have gone super over board to make up for him missing out for so long when he's been so desperate for a snack and a good sized meal! Xx

@spidermomma oh mt gosh tht sounds like heaven I've added it to my list I love brie almost as much as my children

I know it sounds a surprising amount but I like to pay for quality at Christmas so meat is very expensive. And then if you tot it up a couple of nice boxes of chocs and some nices cheeses is already £40 and then stuff for the kids and then drinks and it just all snowballs (pardon the pun?)

I do regret posting a little as I don't want to come across as overly indulgent and I do feel it is a little self indulgent in hindsight to post about spending hundreds.

I'm not religious but the whole winter festival thing is super important to me and it has always been marked throughout history with elaborate feasting. The presents I could skimp on if I have to but give me my 2 weeks of Christmas eating until I need a nap

Ours is probably about double this year. It’s mainly down to the deli stuff and puddings. Normally we have one proper pudding a week and just yoghurt or ice lollies if anyone wants one another time. Over Christmas we like to have a selection of puddings.

Usually we buy cheddar cheese and ham on a weekly basis and maybe one other deli food (eg this week roast beef slices, next week sausage rolls). Over Christmas we like to have a selection of cheeses, pate, pork pie, olives...

Plus of course turkey and a bottle of champagne adds cost.

This is our first year on our own so I may have gone overboard as usually we have at least 9 extra people for up to a week. I’ve scaled down on quantities but would be sad to go without things we’d usually have if we had guests.

It's literally the nicest thing ever I could eat it now. Mmmm!
But no I ageee. I save for vouchers for marks an Spencer's I usually save 200 then we just add the extra to once we've bought it ! So we don't feel it as much but it all gets eaten, kids love it an it's al part of Christmas getting warm and snuggly stuffing your face xx

It’s also not just for one day here, it’s all meals from 21st to new year

I don't think you come across as over indulgent, people spend money differently. I probably spend a lot more than you on a weekly basis because we always have 'nice treats, chocolates, decent wines' etc probably why I am overweight so I don't go overboard at Christmas - but I am pretty indulgent with our food and drink buying all year round . We are very fortunate in that we don't have to stick to a strict food budget.

I will probably spend about £150-£180 this year for 4 adults, possibly 5 (covid permitting).

That doesn't include drinks - I passed that responsibility over to DH some years ago

@Ragwort exactly :) we don't drink at all throughout the year as we have 3 DC 5 and under. Also don't buy fancy treats and do lots of good home cooking. Christmas os definitely a time of indulgence for me especially as I have been on a diet all year

Our usual weekly shopping bill is €120. From mid October onwards, I've been using €20 - €30 of that to get stuff for Christmas - the turkey, the ham, stuffing mixes, 2 types of rum, port, sherry, vodka, whiskey, Baileys, cocktails in cans, mixers, the cranberry sauce, frozen sausage rolls, pickles and cocktail sausages, tubs of chocolates - they're all bought already. Red wine and brandy coming this week, white wine next week, plus Christmas themed dog biscuits and cat treats (very imporrtant!). In order to do this I've been cutting back on the cost of 'normal' meals - so it works out that Christmas falls within the usual grocery shopping budget.

DH and the friend we're spending Christmas with have made plans to go get the beer and the nibbles they want on Christmas Eve, plus the fresh veg - so they'll feel they've done Christmas, and will be surprised how cheap it turns out to be :)

@Inextremis that sounds like an excellent way of doing things!! I did want to do similar but I was worried about eating the stowed goods

People who don't spend a lot on Christmas food might do this for many reasons. It's not necessarily that they can't afford it but they just choose not to.

DH and I aren't rolling in money 🤑💵 but we aren't hard up either. We just don't spend a lot of money on extra food from the supermarket just because it's Christmas. 🎄 That's not a part of Christmas for us. We buy gifts but don't overindulgence there either. But I understand that it is for many other people and that's OK. No judgement here and if anyone reads any I apologise. 🏳️

But we do go out for meals in the run up.
I have one with friends, he has one with his grown up DD and we have one together. Of course these might not happen this year but we won't be piling up a trolley to compensate. 😂🛒 It just wouldn't get eaten.

£200 to £300 depending on who is coming xxxx

2adults 2 DC we usually spend about £130 a week.
The Christmas week shop will probably be around £250 - so £120 extra.

I honestly don't know because like other posters, I start buying things from November onwards. Every year I think I will keep a track of it out of curiosity and every year I forget until it's too late.

We do spend a lot more on food and drink because we plan a full Christmas week menu lasting from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day. We have the usual meals from 24-26 December but divide up the other days and we each pick meals on those dates. They are usually meals we've enjoyed earlier in the year or something a bit special that wouldn't usually have. We don't have kids and we are real foodies (and greedies ) so it's one of our favourite Christmas traditions that we talk about all year. (E.g. 'this is a contender for the Christmas menu!')