It’s only a few weeks until Christmas, so I decided to try out a budget Christmas dinner. Unlike my other budget meals, this one is for more than £1 as it is Christmas after all. I wanted to recreate one as close to how I would normally do Christmas, with a luxury starter, turkey dinner and a Christmas pud.

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Costed for 2017, so prices would have gone up, but this is still a good guide of how to produce a delicious Christmas dinner on a budget.
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Although most of the supermarkets show you how to make a Christmas dinner for different prices, I think they always miss something to get the price down. With my Christmas dinner I haven’t skimped at all. It’s a three course meal that included smoked salmon and all the trimmings with your turkey, even sprouts, sorry. I haven’t included any alcohol but you still get this posh dinner for 8 people for under £30.

That’s only £3.60 each. At that price you can splash out on some fizzy wine or champagne if you want to.

The starter is smoked salmon mousse with brown bread and watercress. I make this by blending the packet of cream cheese and 3/4 of the salmon with 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice. From that you make the round ball of mousse, by putting a square of cling film on the side and place a spoonful in the middle of the film, wrap it up and squashed it in to an eggcup or if you don’t have enough egg cups an egg box. Repeat this eight times, and put it in the fridge of a few hours until firm.

When you are ready transfer it to a plate, you can decorate with the saved slivers of salmon and some watercress. I also like to add a slice of lemon twisted for added decoration. Serve this with a few triangles of bread and butter.

The next course is the turkey with all the trimmings. What size you get depends on if you want leftovers for sandwiches. The one I used for this menu was only a 1.9kg frozen crown from Aldi. A deal at only £8.99. Look around the shops as a lot of different supermarkets have offers on all the time. As I work full time, I tend to pick up offers when I see them. Get used to also looking online regularly.

Although most supermarkets recommend a 2.5kg turkey crown for 8 people. I think with all the extra vegetables and sausages in bacon etc. this is too much. Especially as this menu contains a starter.

Although you could buy supermarket own brand packet stuffing for a few pence, I think it’s always nicer to make some fresh. Make the stuffing as my previous recipe from Sunday in the meat challenge. But add a spoonful or two of the cranberry sauce and most of the pack of chopped chestnuts to make it Christmassy.

You can add a spoonful of cranberry sauce to the gravy too. And there will still be plenty for your guests to have on the side of the plate.

So with the turkey, pigs in blankets (sausages wrapped in bacon), chestnut stuffing, roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots, red cabbage (recipe on my blog) and Brussels sprouts. This should be more than enough to feed you and your seven guests.

The third course is Christmas pudding with whipped double cream. I haven’t added brandy to my cream but if you want to, add it after you have whipped the cream. Alternately you can add a bit of clementine juice instead. Although this is a small christmas pudding, after eating the salmon and turkey meals, I didn’t really want much more as it’s so rich. If you would rather make your own I have a delicious Homemade version on my Vegan Christmas dinner entry, It might be vegan but your guests couldn’t tell.

Once the table was decorated with some christmas crackers and candles, It looked quite Christmassy. I’m really looking forward to having another Christmas dinner on the real day.

Originally posted in November 2015 costing £20.01, Updated October 2017 and costing £28.83