Lauren
Christmas can be an expensive time of year and as the host of the Christmas dinner, there’s the additional cost of the food too. Well, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to put on a good spread for the family.
I have put together this simple guide to help you find some of the best recipes to help you make an amazing Christmas dinner on a budget.
First, lets work out the key elements of a Christmas dinner:
- Turkey (or vegetarian/vegan alternative)
- Stuffing
- Pigs in blankets
- Roast potatoes
- Root veg
- Sprouts
- Red Cabbage
- Cranberry sauce
One of the main ways to keep your Christmas dinner cheap is to pick simple yet delicious recipes. Try using recipes that contain the same ingredients. Avoid falling foul of picking multiple recipes, all of which need specific ingredients that you will never use again and cannot be used across your other recipes. Combine your recipes to simplify your preparation and use fewer ingredients.
Turkey / Stuffing / Pigs in blankets
Recipe: Turkey, Bacon, and Chorizo Bombe
All of these are vital parts of a Christmas dinner, but individually they turn into quite a lot of work and ingredients, which in turn can boost up the cost of your Christmas dinner. Why not combine them together with this tasty recipe from BBC Good Foods
Nut Roast
Recipe: Nut Roast
I am a meat eater myself, but I grew up with half of my family being vegetarians, and many of them now being vegan. I am quite used to cooking vegetarian dishes and in fact find many of them to be just as delicious as meat recipes.
In our family, Christmas was the time for a delicious nut roast and at Tesco you will find a simple yet delicious nut roast recipe which even includes the price for you.
Vegan/Vegetarian Alternative
Recipe: Cranberry & Lentil Bake
Whilst on my hunt for cheap nut roast recipes I found this alternative which I just had to share with you. This cranberry and lentil bake from BBC Good Foods sounds both delicious and looks quite simple to make. It is definitely on my list for entertaining the family.
Potatoes and Root Veg
Recipe: Roasted Root Veg
Jamie Oliver…
Red Cabbage and Sprouts
Recipe: Sauteed Brussels Sprouts and Red Cabbage
This was a tough one, so I decided to give you options. You could keep this as simple as possible and combine both of these together with this easy recipes from Food Network. Alternatively you could keep the cabbage and sprouts separate with the following recipes.
Red Cabbage
Recipe: Chorizo & Pear Red Cabbage
For me the red cabbage is one of my favourite parts of the meal and this chorizo and pear red cabbage recipe from Jamie Oliver is delicious and has so few ingredients it really is a cheap option with maximum flavour.
Sprouts
Recipe: Charred Sprouts Marmite Butter
You really don’t have to do much to brussels sprouts to get to most out of them. This simple recipe from BBC Good Foods can add flavour to your sprouts???
Gravy
Recipe: Make-Ahead Madeira Gravey
Let’s face it, a Christmas dinner is incomplete without the perfect gravy. This gravy from BBC Good Foods can be made ahead of time, can be made to cater to meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans which means if you have to make multiple gravy pots you do not need different ingredients for all, and it contains mainly ingredients you will already have.
