Today is the biggest fresh-food shopping day of the year with shoppers expecting to splurge an average of £178.57 on festive food
TODAY will be the biggest fresh-food shopping day of the year – with 11am expected to be the busiest time in supermarkets.
And experts say shoppers will splurge an average of £178.57 on festive food, with turkey and booze the most expensive items in baskets.
Here we offer eight easy ways to cut the cost of your Christmas food shop.
- Plan meals. Work out how many guests are with you each day and what to serve so you don’t over-buy. Do you really need a whole turkey?
- Don’t double up. Check your cupboards and freezer for what you have already have.
- Use any saved-up loyalty card points to put towards your food and drink shop.
- Save on mixer drinks by buying supermarket’s own-brand as you hardly taste them once they are mixed with booze.
- Hold your nerve and shop after 5pm today when stores begin to reduce items. Or for even bigger discounts, wait until after midday on Christmas Eve. But remember, trading hours are much shorter on Sunday and there are no guarantees you’ll get what you need.
- Buy bulk frozen veg. It can be cheaper, there’s less waste and you save on preparation time.
- Use a packet mix to make your own cake and add gold icing for a festive touch. It will cost less than a pre-made pudding.
- Try your local market. It’s often cheaper than the supermarket and stallholders are willing to thrown in extras or make you a deal.
BEST BUYS
Turkey: Large crown (2.4kg to 2.8kg) - £12.99 at Lidl
Booze: Nicolas De Montbart champagne, £9.99 at Aldi
Earn a fiver with Sun Savers
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- Sign up to Sun Savers
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MINI SAVE
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SWAP this £9,150 Marni Oversize Shearling Coat for the £19.99 Be You shaggy jacket at studio.co.uk.
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READER'S TIP
ALISON WINFIELD, from Derby, says: “Stick an adhesive hanger near your front door and pop reusable bags on it. You will never forget a shopping bag again and save 5p a time.”
Send us your tips to sunsavers@the-sun. co.uk and you’ll get 28 codes worth £5 if the tip is used. Please include your name and town.
JANE'S TIP
XMAS delivery not turned up? See if you can get your money back or make a complaint for free through Resolver. See resolver.co.uk/news/dodgy-deliveries.
PRICES correct at time of going to press. Deals and offers subject to availability.
ARE YOU READY? HOLS FROM £9.50
THERE are only two weeks to go until the return of everyone’s favourite Holidays from £9.50.
Not been on one of our brilliant bargain breaks before? Then what are you waiting for?
We’ve sent millions of happy Sun readers on holiday over the past 28 years – like Lynne and Paul McArthur, below – and now you could be next.
There are an incredible 326 holiday parks to choose from, all across the UK as well as in several top European destinations such as France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and even Croatia, and holidays run from February to November 2018.
You can book a three-night weekend break or if you are able to go Monday to Friday, you can take advantage of our midweek offer and get four nights for the price of three!
Booking your holiday couldn’t be easier – all you need to do is sign up to Sun Savers using the app or at sunsavers.co.uk then collect NINE Sun Savers codes from Saturday, January 6 when the promotion launches.
You will need to collect your nine codes consecutively – one every day – to unlock 24-hour priority booking on Sunday, January 14.
Find out more about Sun Savers on page 20 The best holidays go quick, so make sure you get in there early!
Or you can still collect tokens or codewords, but you will need TEN and will not have access to priority booking.
Don’t forget to pick up The Sun on Saturday, January 6 for your first Sun Savers code as well as our 52-page brochure which includes full park listings.
As well as early access to Hols from £9.50, Sun Savers offers you the chance to win some fantastic prizes.
Check out some of our winners on the right of the page and make sure you join up and look out for some more great prizes in the new year.
'LOCATION SUPERB FOR GOLF FANATICS'
GOLF-CRAZY couple Lynne and Paul McArthur are on course for lots more Sun Holidays and reckon our money-saving breaks are absolutely par-fact.
Regular Sun reader Paul, a retired carpenter, thought the value-for-money getaways were a long shot when he first read about them five years ago.
But now after a succession of successful trips they know they are on a winner – and they take full advantage of the bargain price to go on several four-night midweek breaks a year.
Former dental hygienist, Lynne, 69, says they plan their Sun Holidays around the golf courses of the South West.
Speaking to us on a break from the fairway during their latest stay at Parkdean Newquay Holiday Park in Cornwall, she explained: “It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to play in different places.
“The mid-week breaks are ideal for us. The locations are superb and we have played on some lovely courses that we just wouldn’t have seen if it hadn’t been for Sun Holidays.”
She continued: “We tend to choose parks that are on the coast as we also love to go walking.
“One of our other favourite hobbies is swimming and so we make good use of the pools. Now you can see why Sun Holidays ticks all the boxes for us.”
Paul, 67, added: “The amazingly low cost of the breaks mean we can take several during the year. The parks are extremely well-maintained and we always find an excellent relaxed atmosphere wherever we go.
“Throw into the mix a couple of rounds of golf and we couldn’t be happier!”
'FEEL LIKE KID AFTER SCOOPING GOODIES'
MUM Kathleen Ranaldi is celebrating Christmas early this year after scooping £15,000 of goodies thanks to The Sun.
The childminder from Dartford, Kent, was doing her daily ritual of scanning in her Sun Savers code when a pop-up on her screen prompted her to try her luck in a competition with the Co-op.
Kathleen, 35, said: “I thought ‘Why not?’ After that, I actually forgot about it, and it wasn’t until the email came through saying I’d won that I remembered I’d entered.”
Kathleen “completely freaked out” when she learned she had won a mass of appliances, games and food vouchers.
She and husband Steve, 42, a warehouse operative, plan to move house next year with their boys, Bailey, 14, and Ethan, four.
The proud mum said: “Winning all of this means our new home will be fully stocked and ready for us to make family memories in”.
This week a Co-op lorry loaded with presents, including a dishwasher, tumble dryer, cooker, fridge/freezer and coffee machine, pulled up outside their house.
Kathleen said: “Watching them carry everything inside, it felt like it was never going to end. I can’t move in my house, it’s so full of boxes, and I feel like a naughty little kid opening presents before Christmas Day.”
It’s not just the parents who are full of festive cheer though. With a brand new Xbox for Bailey and an iPad for Ethan, the boys have had all their Christmas wishes granted, too.
Kathleen says: “Bailey is just like every other 14-year-old boy, always glued to his screen, playing games.
“We were planning on buying him a new wrestling game for Christmas, and now that he’s got a new Xbox to play it on, we just have to get it for him. He’s a very lucky boy.”
Kathleen has arranged a storage unit to keep some of the £15,000 haul in until they move house.
She added: “I couldn’t be more excited, and it’s all thanks to The Sun.”
'£5K WIN MEANS FIRST PLANE TRIP'
JACKIE CAIN had a feeling she would be lucky with money.
When her Lotto ticket and her flutter on the EuroMillions came to nothing she throught she must have been wrong.
But she wasn’t – because she then won five grand with Sun Savers.
Now it means she can visit relatives on the other side of the world.
Jackie, 62, and hubby Mark, 66, from Braintree, Essex, are planning to fly to New Zealand to visit relatives they have never seen before.
Remarkably, Jackie has never been on a plane before and she doesn’t have a passport, so she will need to sort those out before making the journey of a lifetime.
She says: “I have lots of relatives there and some of them I’ve never been able to meet in person so thanks to The Sun I’m going to finally meet everyone.
“It’s also my dream to visit the Northern Lights in Iceland, so whatever’s left of the money might be spent on a trip there.”
Jackie is also planning to take daughters, Emily, 39, Catherine, 24, and Hannah, 20, for Christmas dinner in a restaurant.
She says: “I usually spend every Christmas slaving away over the stove and as my health has deteriorated over the years, my daughters have had to chip in and cook the dinner.
“So, I think this year I’m going to book somewhere for us to eat our Christmas dinner and let someone else cook for a change.
“I still can’t believe I’ve won. I’m so excited for all the wonderful things I’ll get to do with the money.”
Fancy a free fiver?
YOU can get FREE cash with super Sun Savers just for buying your favourite paper.
Our brilliant new rewards club will pay back our most loyal readers.
Just pick up the paper each day to collect your Sun Savers codes and we will GIVE YOU £5 when you have collected 28.
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For every 28 codes you enter, we will give you a fiver. So over the course of a year, that could add up to £65.
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What is Sun Savers? Here's everything you need to know about our new rewards club
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