Supermarket price war means you can feed family of eight Christmas dinner for less than £3 a head
We reveal the cheapest supermarket to buy your Christmas dinner from
A FIERCE price war between supermarkets means you can enjoy a full Christmas dinner for less than £3 a head for eight people this year.
Extreme weather this year pushed up food prices but retailers are scrapping to have the lowest priced turkey and all the trimmings - which means shoppers can have their (Christmas) cake and eat it.
Lidl has the cheapest overall shopping basket when picking up 11 essential Christmas groceries.
An investigation by The Sun found that a shop at the budget supermarket comes to just £20.50, or £2.56 a head when feeding eight people.
If you shop around, you could lower that price by 10p by picking up a jar of cranberry sauce from Aldi instead of Lidl.
The cheapest turkeys were at Aldi and Lidl, which both have frozen birds costing £8.99.
Aldi came in a close second overall, with its Christmas shopping basket costing £21.65, or £2.71 per head.
The Christmas goodies cost about £30 at other major supermarkets.
Meanwhile Waitrose has the most expensive supermarket shop, with a basket of essential goods costing £48.54, or £6.07 a head.
Our list of essentials includes: a turkey, cranberry sauce, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, pigs in blankets, Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, and mince pies for eight people.
Calculations were based on the price of packs containing enough food for eight even when a pack contained more food than needed, which reflects how much shoppers actually have to pay in supermarkets.
The real cost of your Christmas dinner may be even cheaper per person because some supermarkets sell items in bigger packs than you need, giving you leftovers for another meal.
How to get a discount on your food shopping
IF you're wondering how to get a discount on your shopping everyday, we explain.
PREPARE Research the items you want to buy and find out the cheapest price. Websites like PriceSpy, PriceHistory and CamelCamelCamel will give you historical data on prices so you can see how much you should pay.
GET FOLLOWING Follow your favourite shops on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and sign up to its deals newsletter to get the latest on any offers. We post the best deals in our too.
LOOK Search for discount codes on websites like MyVoucherCodes.co.uk and VoucherCodes.co.uk to see if you can get money off at the till.
EARN CASHBACK Check websites like Quidco and TopCashback BEFORE you place your order. Cashback websites PAY you to shop. All you have to do is click through their links and the money is added to your online account, usually within 14 days
If you work out much you need per person per gram for your big festive feast, then the cost per head is, in most cases, less than the figures we have calculated.
We chose the cheapest examples of the essentials at every supermarket, not including loose vegetables.
Even this close to Christmas, supermarkets are competing with each other to lower prices on must-have Christmas ingredients.
Last week, Tesco lowered its price on Christmas dinner vegetables to 29p to match Aldi and Lidl.
The budget supermarkets then slashed their prices to 28p, while Morrisons slashed its prices to 30p for Christmas veg.
Sainsbury's will also lower its veg prices to 30p from tomorrow until Boxing Day.
That's despite food prices rising this year due to the Beast from the East in March and the summer heatwave.
Caroline Bloor, consumer affairs director at Good Housekeeping said: "The extreme weather at the beginning of the year alongside this summer’s heatwave has meant yields of crops were much lower than usual.
"This coupled with the weakened pound following the Brexit vote means that in a nutshell, food prices increased this year across the board – and consumers are footing part of the bill.
"But there’s still plenty of bargains to be had with competition at an all-time high between retailers - but consumers may need to be willing to shop around."
The Sun has asked all supermarkets for comment.
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Ryan McDonnell, commercial director at Lidl UK, said: “Our customers know that they’re getting the best quality at unbeatable prices when they’re shopping with us, so we’re really pleased to see that backed up by this comparison."
Meanwhile a savvy dad-of-one has revealed how you can cook a Christmas dinner for just £1 per person - if you make a few sacrifices.
Money bloggers have also been sharing their top tips for saving money on the Christmas dinner food shop.
Meanwhile a thrifty mum managed to cook Christmas dinner for her family of five for just £3.75 per person.
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