Source Review of Marks and Spencers Roast Turkey Dinner by Food Donkey.
One of the benefits you get as an old age pensioner in the UK is a £10 Christmas Box every year in December. I've not taken much notice of it until this year when, after the withdrawal of the winter heating allowance for pensioners by the new Labour government, I was surprised to see it in my account.
Well, I put it to good use and bought some more HIVE last week when the price was low (a fluke, I would have bought HIVE at any price with it), but I did start to wonder what else you could get for your ten quid. To my knowledge, it hasn't risen for years, and even just taking the past four crisis ridden years into account, you'd need £12.50 to have the same spending power now as in 2020.
One of the frugal homesteading youtubers I follow (who hasn't had a "proper" job for over eight years now, feeding herself from her allotment, and covering her other expenses with a variety of side gigs including youtube) does a little show each year called Treats for a Tenner where she forages for low-cost treats for herself. She does quite well and it's always an entertaining watch.
I wondered whether you could get a Christmas Dinner for £10. The bottom line is: it depends. If you already have a reasonably stocked pantry with herbs and other flavourings and seasonings, you probably could. I think it also depends on whether you eat meat, although I see that Asda sells turkey drumsticks for £2.50 which would probably provide two or three portions; and whether you would feel bereft it your dinner didn't include pigs in blankets.
The best deal would be if you had three mates to have dinner with. I put together a vegetarian dinner for four with average costings. Some things came from Asda and were very inexpensive. Others came from my store cupboard, some organic, and in small quantities, so probably cost a bit more.
There seems to be a dearth of fresh parsnips, not sure what's happening there.
| Festive Nut Roast | Estimated cost |
|---|---|
| 125g mixed nuts - hazels, almonds, brazils, walnuts | £2.34 |
| 400g tin white beans | £0.65 |
| 180g vacuum packed chestnuts | £1.75 |
| 100g breadcrumbs | £0.20 |
| 200g mushrooms | £1.10 |
| 125g onion | £0.09 |
| 75g celery | £0.15 |
| 80g seeds - linseed, sunflower, sesame, pumpkin | £0.48 |
| clove garlic, herbs, seasonings, stock cube, cooking oil | £0.74 |
| Total (£1.75 per portion) | £7.50 |
| Accompaniments | Estimated cost |
|---|---|
| 2 kg roast potatoes - Maris Piper | £1.79 |
| 400g trimmed fresh sprouts | £1.00 |
| 400g ready to roast frozen parsnips | £1.26 |
| 400g bramley apple and cranberry braised red cabbage | £2.65 |
| 8 frozen Yorkshire puddings | £0.95 |
| Cranberry sauce | £0.55 |
| Cooking oil | £0.80 |
| Prosecco | £5.00 |
| 8 Christmas Crackers (4 for next year - £2.50) | £5.00 |
| Total (£4.75 per portion) | £19.00 |
| Afters | Estimated costs |
|---|---|
| 400g Christmas Pudding | £2.50 |
| 4 mince pies | £1.25 |
| 600ml single cream | £2.00 |
| 200g Stilton cheese | £2.25 |
| Sea salt crackers | £1.00 |
| Buttery spread | £1.00 |
| After Eight Mints | £2.50 |
| 600g Satsumas | £1.00 |
| Total (£3.00 per portion) | £12.00 |
Overall, that's coming in at £38.50 for four, or £9.63 per portion for three courses with a glass of sparkly and some treats.
There is some flex, too, for a first course - a vegetable soup would be easiest and cheapest. For a meat based dinner, you could get two turkey legs plus accompaniments (pigs in blankets, stuffing balls) for about the same price as the nut roast and probably have leftovers for a turkey sandwich on Boxing Day.
The costs of fuel for cooking and heating are not taken into account for your Christmas dinner, but again there is some flex for leaving some things out and there's £1.50 still in the kitty.
Not so much fun if you're on your own.
Marks & Spencer's have a Roast Turkey Christmas Dinner for One at £6.00.
There's also a budget 3 course Christmas Dinner from Lidl Review by The Budget Foodie which includes 8p Christmas vegetables, clever use of packet stuffing for seasoning, cauliflower cheese with fresh cauliflower and packet cheese sauce mix and turkey mince which went into a meat loaf! I'm impressed! The whole lot came to £8.83 and, apart from cooking oil, didn't depend on anything from the store cupboard.
Source Here's the finished article and I think it looks pretty good - certainly much more attractive than the meal for one for £6.00. The starter and pudding didn't turn out quite so well, but for a tasty dinner on a budget for several people this looks great!
