Supermarket offering best deal for a Christmas dinner is £10 cheaper – and it’s not Aldi

A 17-month streak of falling shop ended in November, with warnings that higher costs for retailers – driven by Labour’s Autumn Budget – will “inevitably” lead to rising prices for consumers.

While shop prices are still 0.6% lower than a year ago, they’ve increased from October’s 0.8% decline, marking the first monthly rise in inflation in 17 months, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)-NielsenIQ Shop Price Index.

With prices set to rise and Christmas fast-approaching, Britons may be wondering which is offering the best deal to help their money stretch.

Jason Higgs, senior deals strategist at , a website specialising in discount codes, promo deals, and coupons, said: “With a third of Brits saving up specifically to have enough to fund Christmas dinner in 2022, budgeting for your turkey and spuds has, for many, become a core element of the holidays.”

The coupon site analysed prices at nine UK supermarkets for a full Christmas dinner and found the cheapest deal – with one supermarket winning by a significant margin.

The average cost of a full Christmas dinner was £49.96, just 4p short of a round £50. Mr Higgs said: “The turkey was by far the most expensive item in every dinner. The most expensive turkey was found at Aldi for £37.98. Morrisons and Asda were tied for the cheapest turkey at £22.50.”

Prices across other items were fairly comparable. The only significant difference was Waitrose’s pigs in blankets, which were around £3 more expensive than most other supermarkets. The cheapest pigs in blankets were Aldi’s at £1.99.

Mr Higgs said: “This is important knowledge, as pigs in blankets were named the UK’s most loved Christmas dish in 2022. 60% of Brits said they planned to have pigs in blankets for Christmas dinner in 2023. The most popular item for Christmas dinner was roast potatoes, which 73% of people planned to have on their table.”

The most affordable supermarket

According to Proxy Coupon’s research, came out as the cheapest UK supermarket for Christmas dinner, with a full spread costing just £40.50. This works out just under £10 cheaper than the average cost across all nine chains.

In contrast, Waitrose was the most expensive supermarket to shop at; a full Christmas dinner from them will set customers back £55.82 on average.

Mr Higgs said: “Seeing Asda and Morrisons at the top of this list and Waitrose and Ocado at the bottom isn’t very surprising, considering the former tend to be cheaper and the latter tend to be more expensive overall.

“The surprising entries for me are Aldi and Sainsbury’s. Aldi is usually known as one of the cheapest supermarkets around, so it’s a bit shocking to see them with the third most expensive Christmas dinner. Equally, Sainsbury’s has a reputation for being on the pricey side, so it’s interesting to see them as the fourth cheapest.”

However, Mr Higgs noted that all of these prices are variable depending on the quality and amount of items chosen. He added: “Extras like canapes and different puddings, for example, will make things more expensive, while sticking to the basics and buying cheaper, own-brand options will help you save.”

Price of average Christmas dinner from cheapest to most expensive supermarket

1. Asda – £40.50

2. Morrisons – £43.75

3. Iceland – £48.74

4. Sainsbury’s – £50.84

5. Tesco – £51.90

6. Co-op – £52.53

7. Aldi – £52.61

8. Ocado – £52.99

9. Waitrose & Partners – £55.82