IT can be one of the most expensive meals of the year.
But one mum has shared how to save cash on your Christmas dinner -as she shared the exact shopping list she used to get ingredients for a festive feast for six from Aldi for under £20.
“These meals were so nice,” Nicola Metcalfe, 35, from West Yorkshire, said in a video on her TikTok page.
“You will need a prawn cocktail, some Brussels pate, little gem lettuce, part baked baguettes, a large chicken, four large potatoes – the largest ones you can find.
“A 500g bag of carrots, a bag of Brussel sprouts, roast potato seasoning, stuffing, pigs in blankets.
“Two raspberry swiss rolls, some double cream, ready made custard, a block of strawberry jelly and an Essentials bar of chocolate.”
The total was £19.98, meaning Nicola got change from her £20 note.
“I think when it comes to Christmas, everyone has their own traditions,” she said.
“But this is just what my family would eat. And hopefully this appeals to a lot of you as well.
“As you will see in this video, I believe this will feed up to six people as there was so much leftover.”
She began by cutting up the part-baked baguette into a slices, and toasting slightly.
She then slathered them with pate, and served with plain slices of bread, butter, and prawn cocktail in lettuce cups.
“There’s something for everyone to try,” she said.
“I absolutely love pate and this one was really nice!”
Onto the main course, and Nicola cooked a whole chicken.
“Just because it’s Christmas, I don’t want to put a lot of pressure on cooking Christmas dinner,” she said.
“We like to just stick to what we know and what we usually would eat.”
She cooked chicken, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, carrots, Brussel sprouts, stuffing and pigs in blankets.
She also prepared some gravy, and had to plate up a meal for her grandmother as there was so much left over.
“And if that wasn’t enough we are having a dessert,” she said.
“I think traditionally the dessert for Christmas is a trifle, so this is a take on a trifle, but I’m going to mix it up a bit.
“I use the raspberry swiss rolls and cut them into pieces, layered them with double cream, topped it with custard, and jelly and melted chocolate.
“And finished it off with a bit of icing sugar and some grated chocolate on top.”
She also made it into a wreath shape, by putting a bowl in the middle and then removing when it was finished.
“This was an absolutely gorgeous dessert and would feed probably up to eight people,” Nicola concluded.
People were quick to take to the comments section, with one writing: “So many families are on such tight budgets so whilst it might not be a ‘traditional christmas dinner’ it’s brilliant what you’ve done with £20!”
“My sister was so fed up of stressing about the pressure of Christmas dinner it is now their tradition to order a takeaway,” Nicola replied.
“I am going to do exactly this for Xmas it’s only me and 3 kids so it’s perfect,” another added.
“This is so helpful for so many families this Christmas. Well done for sharing this,” a third commented.
“Only Yorkshire puds missing,” someone else wrote.
To which Nicola replied: “It was the plan lol but they had no fresh sprouts so had to spend more on frozen.
“But if you do buy fresh u can get the yorkshires still under £20.”