A frugal mum has cooked up a Christmas banquet for just £3.75 per person with enough leftovers to feed her family for two weeks.
Savvy shopper Claire Walton dished up the festive feast with all the trimmings for herself, her three children and partner for just £18.75, which works out at £3.75 per head.
She served up a turkey with mouth-watering tray roasted winter vegetables, stuffing balls, pigs in blankets and turkey gravy.
Claire, 32, said she was forced to rethink her spending after giving birth her daughter Amber two years ago.
And since implementing some strict shopping habits, from meal-planning to ditching expensive items, she’s knocked her weekly food bill down from £120 to just £50 a week.
This included ditching branded products for cheaper own brand alternatives and swapping her regular supermarket run for shopping at discount retailers for the best bargain.
She now cooks everything from scratch and says the savings she’s made means her family can enjoy treats throughout the year.
Together, it’s left her with an extra £280 each month to save or spend on her family.
‘My £18.75 Christmas dinner’
Speaking on her Christmas food shop, Claire, who lives in Staffordshire, said she invested in a £60 Christmas hamper from food retailer MuscleFood and looked for deals at discount retailers for the extras.
From the leftovers, Claire cooked up enough meals to feed her family for two weeks using up store cupboard ingredients and family staples to cook up dishes including a Sausage Stir Fry which cost just 37p per person and a Bacon and Potato Layer Bake at 60p per person.
She also dished up a post-Christmas favourite, Turkey Tikka Masala for £1.07 per person and a delicious Turkey Pie at £1.10.
Claire said: “Three children means Christmas is a costly time of year so looking closely at how much things cost, even the big festive meal, is a really important part of my budgeting.
“Christmas Day is a busy one for me – I want to spend it with the children, so all the prep happens in our house the night before.
“Everyone mucks in peeling and chopping veg and getting the meat prepped and ready to put in the oven the next morning.
“The hamper made that even easier for us. All I had to do was unpack the box and get it ready to cook.
“I used up the turkey in a curry, a pie and a casserole which were all delicious. The hamper included lots of sausages, bacon and sausage meat which made meals like Toad in the Hole, a Sausage Meat Pasta Bake and Bacon and Potato Layer Bake.”
Claire continued: “My frugal shopping started when Amber, who’s now two, was born. We needed to cut back on our spending and looking at our food shopping was the obvious way to do it.
“I cut our weekly bill by almost £70 straight away – simply by cooking from scratch, shopping around and swapping branded for own brand.
“The money we’ve saved means fun family days out – a trip to the cinema, a day out at a theme park or it gets put towards a family holiday.”
Claire’s Christmas dinner on a budget
Musclefood turkey x 1 breast – £4.28
Musclefood gravy x 3tsp – £1.23Musclefood pigs in blankets x 1 – £8.01
Musclefood stuffing balls x1 – £2.43
Winter Veg pack x 2 = £1.20
Potatoes 1KG = 40p
Total: £18.75 / £3.75 per head
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