I have been having a ponder on Christmas week food for strict budgeters. Below is a suggested week with approximate costs, and a few alternative ideas. I have plundered Thrifty Lesley archives for some of the cheaper recipes to bracket the more expensive provisions for Christmas Day itself. Suggested amounts are for 2 people, as usual. I have tried to put in as many festive flavours as I could, using seasonal spices, cranberry sauce, stuffing, sage and mince pies

Mon 23rd bfast porridge with cinnamon syrup, 8p
Lunch spicy lentil soup, 17p, add some ginger and turmeric to the soup
Dinner Beetroot and feta tart 24p, with HM oven wedges spiced with rosemary and sage

Tues 24th bfast jammy oat bars 7p
Lunch spicy lentil soup, 17p
Dinner smoked salmon pasta 64p, mince pie
you could use value mince meat in place of the jam in the oat bars, or simmer some dates in a little water to make a paste, or add some mixed spice to the oats. All options to lend a bit more christmas flavour
one box of 6 value mince pies for 2 people for the week
Use a value pack of smoked salmon pieces, using half here, and half in the scrambled eggs on the 25th

Wed 25th bfast Smoked salmon scrambled eggs, toast
Lunch Turkey, roasties, cranberry sauce 99p, stuffing value 15p pk, sprouts 150g sainsbury loose ones 15p, gravy, sausages 80p or £2, wrapped in cooking bacon 80p
Asda or Aldi sp Pudding 98p, custard 17p
at breakfast, use 2 value eggs per person and half a pack of value smoked salmon pieces
at lunch, you could either use value sausages, or more expensive ones, depending on funds. Use 1 sausage each, cut in 3. Wrap them in some cooking bacon. You will need to give the bacon a good bashing with a rolling pin or similar to flatten it out. Get a few sprouts if you like them, if you don’t like them, don’t buy them.
you could slice parsnips and carrots into medallions, toss them in oil, s+p, lay them in a single layer on a tray and roast them for half an hour – sticky and delicious
There are quite a few turkey options at around the £4 mark. Iceland has several crowns, most supermarkets have crowns or value small joints of some kind. Asda has an 800g turkey leg joint for instance at £6.60
Tea Turkey sandwich 45p for 12 value rolls, or 2 nice ones, or a value loaf, cranberry sauce
Asda sp mince pies, 11p, 65p for 6
Sausage rolls £1, 500g pastry
at tea time, use either a 45p loaf which will last longer, or a couple of nice bread rolls, or a pk of value bread rolls, each option costing about 45p. Make a sandwich/roll with leftover turkey, add some stuffing and cranberry sauce
Make 3 sausage rolls each, cutting 1 sausage into 3 per person and use either the oil pastry, or buy a pk of pastry

Thurs 26th bfast Pancakes with red fruits, with mixed spice or cinnamon
Lunch Turkey stock soup with kidney beans 21p, onions 5p, carrots 5p
Dinner Turkey and onion 35p pie
Frozen fruits cheesecake 33p, £1
mix cinnamon or mixed spice into the pancake batter for a festive flavour. Serve with a few red fruits from a value frozen bag. Defrost them and macerate with a little sugar to make a lovely juice.
Using a little turkey, or any bones for flavour. Make a soup, adding some drained kidney or other beans and any veg you have handy
for dinner, make a pie using scraps of turkey, you could add some stuffing too if you like, and you will probably have a sausge or two that you could use here, or save for another day. Follow with a quarter of the cheesecake each and serve with a few more of the red berries

Fri 27th bfast mixed spice toast 8p
Lunch spiced parsnip soup 16p
Dinner gnocchi 15p with sausage and stuffing
Rest of cheesecake
Use a sausage each in the gnocchi and a little stuffing if you like

Sat 28th bfast oats with cinnamon syrup, 8p
Lunch spiced parsnip soup
Dinner pizza – any turkey and stuffing left?
Mince pie, 11p
if there are any scraps of turkey left, you could add them, and maybe a tiny bit of stuffing, to the pizza. If not, you may need to get a pk of 4 salami (£1.29) and use the leftover ones in other recipes next week.

Sun 29th bfast jammy oat bars 7p
Lunch turkey soup, as 26th
Dinner spinach dumplings, spicy tomato sauce, 28p maybe with parsnip and carrot medallions

I haven’t done a full shopping list as it takes me too long for a plan that will only be used for this one week. A good 7 day plan (for 4) is available here, with all recipes and shopping list

I hope this has given you a few ideas. You can eat festively without breaking out of your budget. These ideas don’t neatly use up all the ingredients you will need within the week, but all the ingredients suggested are used by lots of recipes here, so you won’t need to waste anything, you will be able to use them up by using recipes here in the following weeks(s).  My extremely rough costings make it about £18 for 2 people for the week, so it is still only £1.30’ish per person per day, although you will need more than this at the till.

Are you feeling festive yet?