Festive food for less: Christmas dinner with all the cost trimmings
Published on The Guardian
Figures show that the total cost of the all-important Christmas dinner is up 5% on a year ago, with the price of important elements such as pigs in blankets and stuffing up by 7%.
With the cost of living still biting, however, a supermarket war is taking some of the sting out of the high food costs – with Aldi and Lidl selling the ingredients for a main Christmas meal for eight less than £12.
According to exclusive data prepared for Guardian Money by the Analysts Assosia, the price of a frozen extra-large turkey is up 10p a kilogram to £3.70 (a 3% rise on a year ago) – which for a 8kg bird works out at £29.60. Meanwhile, a pack of supermarket own-label pigs in blankets is up 19p at £2.88. Lots of us will be paying quite a bit more for gravy this year: a 190g tub of Bisto gravy granules is up 35p – or 13% – at £2.95. In 2022, it was £2. And a 170g box of Paxo sage and onion stuffing mix is up 17p to £2.57. Compared with 2022, that’s a 51% increase.
Published on The Guardian, 14th December 2025
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