Asda is the cheapest major supermarket for Christmas dinner this year, with a stocking-full of festive food costing £39.26. But how does this compare to other supermarkets like Sainsbury’s and Tesco?
Our elves have crunched the numbers to find out how much popular Christmas foods cost at five of the UK’s biggest supermarkets, plus how the discounters compare when it comes to turkey.
Whether you’re gearing up for your annual Christmas supermarket sweep or are planning to book a click-and-collect slot, read on for our top tips on Christmas food shopping this year.
Which is the cheapest supermarket for your Christmas dinner?
Asda ends 2020 merrily on high, as we found it was the cheapest supermarket for a sleigh-full of 15 food items.
Which? checked supermarkets’ online prices at the start of December and found that 15 items, including a medium turkey crown, Brussels sprouts and red cabbage, cost £39.26 at Asda.
Second-cheapest Morrisons charged almost £10 more, at £48.35.
High-end supermarket Waitrose was the most expensive place to shop for a festive feast, at a less-than-merry £22.83 more than Asda – putting it in contention for Santa’s naughty list.
Christmas food basket costs
- Find out more: supermarkets compared
How cheap are Aldi and Lidl for Christmas food?
The basket of groceries we based our price comparison on included both branded and own-brand items. As Aldi and Lidl don’t stock the same range of items as other supermarkets, we weren’t able to include them in our full analysis.
Instead, we compared the price of frozen turkey crowns at the discounters with the major supermarkets. There weren’t prices for equivalent turkey crowns at both Aldi and Lidl, so we’ve included different sizes of bird here. Links from the prices take you to more product information on the retailers’ websites.
Frozen turkey crown prices compared
| Supermarket | Cost for a large turkey crown | Cost for a medium turkey crown |
| Aldi* | £13.69 | – |
| Lidl* | – | £12.49 |
| Asda | £14 | £12 |
| Morrisons | £16.50 | £14.50 (out of stock at time of publishing) |
| Tesco | £17 | £15 (out of stock at time of publishing) |
| Iceland | – | £16 |
| Sainsbury’s | £19.50 | £17.50 |
| Waitrose | £25 | £19 |
*Prices collected in-store
Ocado is missing from the table as it was only selling small frozen turkey crowns when we checked – the M&S British Oakham Turkey Crown (typically 1.53kg) at £23.41.
- Find out more: how to cook a turkey crown
Christmas pudding prices
We’ve taste-tested 10 supermarket premium Christmas puddings so you know which one will provide the perfect finishing touch to your festive feast.
But how do their prices compare per 100g? (Links take you to more information on the retailers’ websites.)
| Christmas pudding | Price per 100g (cheapest to priciest) | Full pudding price |
| Asda Extra Special 9 Month Matured Christmas Pudding (907g) | £0.77 | £7 |
| Co-op Irresistible 12 Month Matured Christmas Pudding (400g) | £1 | £4 |
| Iceland Luxury 12 Month Matured Christmas Pudding (400g) | £1 | £4 |
| Morrisons The Best 9 Month Matured Christmas Pudding (800g) | £1 | £8 (out of stock at time of publishing) |
| Tesco Finest 12 month matured Christmas Pudding (800g) | £1 | £8 |
| Aldi Specially Selected 30 Month Matured Pudding (907g) | £1.10 | £9.99 |
| Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference 18 Month Matured Christmas Pudding (800g) | £1.13 | £9 |
| Lidl 24 Month Matured Christmas Pudding (907g) | £1.38 | £12.49 |
| Waitrose No.1 12 Month Matured Christmas Pudding with Courvoisier (800g) | £1.50 | £12 |
| M&S Collection 18 Month Matured Vintage Pudding (800g) | £1.88 | £15 (out of stock at time of publishing) |
- Find out more: the tastiest Christmas puddings of 2020
Which was the cheapest supermarket in Christmasses past?
Has much changed over the years? We looked back at Christmas food prices in 2019 and 2018 to find out.
Asda, which is regularly labeled the cheapest of the ‘Big Four’ supermarkets in our monthly analysis, was the cheapest for a festive shop by a substantial margin in 2018 and 2019, as well as this year.
The same items at Waitrose would have cost most than £20 extra each year – meaning you could make a Scrooge-worthy saving by shopping at Asda.
Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco have consistently occupied the middle ground over the past three years and, while they’ve shuffled around in the rankings, the most that has ever separated the priciest from the cheapest has been £3.26, which happened this year.
Christmas food prices 2019
Christmas food prices 2018
- Find out more: cheapest supermarket in November
When do I need to order my Christmas food by?
Many supermarkets are already booked up for home deliveries between 20-24 December, but they may still have slots left for pre-ordering food to collect from a store.
These are the final dates you can pre-order by, but you should check the supermarkets’ websites to find out if your local store has slots left as most are reporting high demand.
Aldi and Lidl don’t offer a pre-order service, but both say they will have fresh turkeys in store from 19 December.
| Supermarket | Click-and-collect order deadline |
| Asda | TBC |
| M&S | 5pm on 15 December |
| Morrisons | 10pm on 15 December |
| Sainsbury’s | Midnight on 16 December |
| Tesco | 11.45pm on 14 December |
| Waitrose | Midnight on 15 December |
If you plan to do your shopping in-store, most supermarkets stock fresh turkeys for Christmas from 19 December.
- Find out more: the best wines to pair with Christmas foods
The best foods for Christmas
We know that price isn’t everything, and our teams of taste testers have been busy quaffing wines, nibbling mince pies and comparing Christmas puds.
Click the links below to find out which products wowed our panel:
- Best Christmas puddings
- Best mince pies
- Best red wine
- Best Champagne
- Best frozen roast potatoes
- Best gravy granules
- Best Yorkshire puddings
- Best place to buy your turkey and trimmings
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/12/revealed-the-cheapest-supermarket-for-your-christmas-food-shop/