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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

How much do you spend on your Christmas Food Shop?

145 replies

CloudyVanilla · 18/11/2020 10:54

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

OP posts:
DENMAN03 · 18/11/2020 17:54

I spend a lot. Have friends over on 23rd and 7 on Xmas day, then 5 on Boxing Day. Including good wine, champagne, M&S turkey and gammon etc, there's not much change out of £600

Thedarknightsaredrawingin · 18/11/2020 18:00

I should have added earlier there are 4 adults and one dc in our house as of this year. We don’t drink bucketloads but we do like nice wine Xmas Blush

caperplips · 18/11/2020 18:21

I find these discussions really fascinating - all the different approaches to 'Christmas'!

I think it's a bit like the shock you can sometimes get when you first spend Christmas away from your own family and you realise other people do things REALLY differently....!!

I was a bit shell shocked the first time I went to dh's family (was bf then) and it was not at all like my experience of Christmas.

bluewindows · 18/11/2020 18:34

We probably spend around £1000 for Christmas week. 4 adults, lots of treats, Champagne, chocolates dotted around in bowls, mucho cheese etc. We like it to be really special and lots for people to choose from.

Parker231 · 18/11/2020 18:58

For those mentioning large £, I assume you are referring to other years and not this year with the likely restrictions?

Lovemusic33 · 18/11/2020 19:09

@caperplips

I find these discussions really fascinating - all the different approaches to 'Christmas'!

I think it's a bit like the shock you can sometimes get when you first spend Christmas away from your own family and you realise other people do things REALLY differently....!!

I was a bit shell shocked the first time I went to dh's family (was bf then) and it was not at all like my experience of Christmas.

Me too. Sometimes we go to my dads for Christmas, his partner is pretty well off, they spend a fortune on food. Always makes me laugh how they spend £100 on a Turkey or piece of venison and then she cooks it to death and ruins it 🤣. They usually entertain a lot leading up to Christmas so the house is overflowing with food and drink. I would rather just buy a few treats (mainly cheese). I might shop in marks and Spencer’s rather than Tesco so we have better quality sausage rolls, and I buy cheese from the farm shop but that’s about it.
CandyLeBonBon · 18/11/2020 19:12

Maybe £100 which will last about 7-10 days

purplecorkheart · 18/11/2020 19:18

Probably about €150 - €200. Normally on savoury food. We buy big joints of meat but freeze some. We are not a sweet/chocolate house so we never buy them, I do get them as gifts from clients. I get a crazy amount amount of wine for Christmas from clients so I don't buy that. I do tend to meal plan over November and December and make double so I have a stash in the freezer.

whitetilesmurf · 18/11/2020 19:20

Quite a lot but we are ok and can afford it.

Couldn’t put a figure on it. It’s 3 of us.

We have lots of lovely wine, port, cheese and biscuits. Beef for Christmas Day. Hotel Chocolat chocs, champagne, gin, baileys, party food. Won’t be as much as previous years as no visiting I don’t think.

troppibambini · 18/11/2020 20:55

Our usual Xmas period is something like this
Xmas eve open house from 3 til Xmas eve mass at 6
Xmas day for 10
Boxing Day step kids and partners and kids over for leftovers and a bit of a buffet
27th Italian Xmas day
New Year's Eve around 5 couples over plus kids for food and drinks

It costs a lot! we are a family of six anyway I've never really kept track but including booze maybe £800...

ShrikeAttack · 18/11/2020 22:49

A bloody fortune! This year I've already spent nearly 2k. I've ordered Christmas dinner from L'enclume, we won't be doing any of our usual Christmas eating out or entertaining, and we'd usually visit L'enclume at the end of November, they're doing a Christmas dinner delivery so why not? That cost a whopping £670 for four of us (£95 each for the meal, £85 for wine-flight, £60 for optional caviar for the fish course, £55 for optional fresh truffle for another starter, amd then sparkling wine and smoked salmon and blinis, cheese course and port and mince pies). I usually cook, but I thought I'd treat myself to a year off!

£300 at Forman and Field for foie gras (ethically produced before I get pounced on), smoked salmon, other smoked fish, petit fours, chocolates, cheeses and a few bits and pieces.

£300 at Dukeshill, a large ham, large pork pie, more cheese and various chutneys and pickles, nice sausage and bacon.

£500 at Berry Bros, wine!

I'll be putting in an order for seafood for NY, probably about another £100

Butchers I'll buy some game, maybe a piece of venison, not sure what else yet but probably £150

The Whisky Exchange, single malt, cognac, Armagnac various ingredients for cocktails, probably about £350

I've got a Waitrose order for other ingredients, veg, nuts etc, probably about £150

And I'll order a Christmas cake and some bits from Betty's prob about £75

Depending on what I decide to cook I'll probably put in an order with Fine Food Specialists for more esoteric ingredients. £who knows!

Then Turkish delight, pannetone, marron glacé, pate de fruit and other seasonal bits.

Erm, probably left something out!

I love Christmas feasting, we'll have two weeks of fantastic eating and drinking. Can't wait.

FatGirlShrinking · 18/11/2020 22:55

Probably about £20-30, just me, DH and DD and none of us drink so it's just supplies for a roast dinner, some buffet/picnic food for dinner, crumpets for breakfast and a few extra snack bits.

I'm astounded that people are spending hundreds for a days worth of food and drink.

CloudyVanilla · 19/11/2020 03:06

@ShrikeAttack you sound like my mum Grin sounds wonderful!

OP posts:
CloudyVanilla · 19/11/2020 03:27

@FatGirlShrinking I definitely couldn't spend over £350 in a day but mine covers the festive period from a few days before Xmas, Xmas eve, the day and a couple of days after :) so basically a full week

OP posts:
Parbor · 19/11/2020 06:18

I’m always surprised on these threads at how many people see Christmas as just one day. I would be very sad indeed if Christmas was just one day!

Scanner20 · 19/11/2020 06:59

Christmas for me is Christmas Eve until new year!

IceFrost · 19/11/2020 07:13

So far £140 in M&S to pick up Xmas eve.

Plus another £100 I expect the week before.

Parker231 · 19/11/2020 07:17

@Parbor - we’re only off work two days so a very short Christmas this year and not much to celebrate when your family are plane flights away and obviously can’t be with us.

MynephewR · 19/11/2020 07:28

I have started buying bits and bobs already, prefer to build it up. But I did make a list of all the food and drink and it came to about £150. So that is chocolate, snacks, cheese, Christmas breakfast, Christmas Dinner (3 courses), a gammon, wine, prosecco and beer. We both work in hospitality so usually (who knows this year though) life is pretty normal around Christmas, only day that both of us are guaranteed not to be working is Christmas day so no point in buying loads of extra food as it doesn't get eaten. 2 adults and 2 young dc.

Megan2018 · 19/11/2020 07:32

It’s about £800 when we are hosting but that includes a lot of booze.
This year with it being just us I’m aiming for £400. That’s for about a week of treats and meals and booze. Our normal weekly spend is around £150 so it includes that.

Nonamesavail · 19/11/2020 07:37

The thread about food shortage running alongside this is interesting.

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 19/11/2020 08:49

I buy the treats during October and November then just add on the items for meals themselves onto the weekly shop beforehand. We don’t drink it doesn’t work out much extra.

mrsm43s · 19/11/2020 09:32

I usually spend a fortune, as I usually host a really big party, but this isn't happening this year, so presumably will be cheaper.

I'm working on the principle of just our family of 4 (2 adults, 2 teens), plus hopefully 3 extra adults joining us for Christmas day if allowed.

This food/drink will cover us from Christmas eve for a week or so (until it runs out!). Booze will cover us longer.

Christmas eve Fruit de Mer platter £50
Meat order from butcher (turkey/ham/pigs in blankets/streaky bacon etc) £80
Festive vege box £20
Christmas crackers £10
Cheese board £40
Christmas cake ingredients and icing, mincemeat ingredients £25
Ingredients for home made chutneys/pickled onions £10
Fancy pudding ingredients (yet to be decided, so estimate) £15
Token Christmas pud £5
Fancy creams and brandy butter £10
Incidentals (goose fat, cranberries, chestnuts, stuffing, herbs etc) £15
Buffet food (crisps/crackers/part baked bread/deli meats/olives/antipasti/big fruit bowl/salad/chocolates/nuts/turkish delight/pork pie/prawn ring(s)/smoked salmon/caviar(lumpfish)/biscuit selection etc) £100 ish? maybe £150?
Booze (bottle of baileys/advocaat/a dozen or so bottles of wine/port/brandy/fancy ciders) - £250
Nice soft drinks (freshly squeezed orange/sparkling elderflower etc) £10
Christmas breakfast (yet to be decided, so estimate, but probably either eggs benedict or eggs royale, bucks fizz) - £10

I think that's about it.

Works out at about £700! If you remove the alcohol spend (which is our annual booze top up to be fair, and lasts far longer than Christmas) then £450.
I honestly don't think that we do anything that extravagant or out of the ordinary, and it does feed the family for a week or more.

Parbor · 19/11/2020 09:34

@Parker231 yes that does make it harder. Dp works until 7pm Christmas Eve and only has Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day off but he still likes to come home and have Christmas snacks and a glass of Baileys over the festive period Smile
Our family are also miles away and it’s going to be strange not seeing them this year but we do have four children all at home which helps make it more exciting.

Autumnspice · 19/11/2020 10:34

I always think I spend less than I actually do because our supermarket shop comes to around £80 but I ‘forget’:
Meat from the butcher - £65
Wine box - £120
Hotel chocolate -£60
Fruit and veg from the farm shop £30