Should you shop now to save on Christmas food?

If you have a freezer, using it wisely could really help you save money on Christmas and allow you to spread the costs over several months.

“If your freezer’s small, declutter it now as best as you can so you’ve only got essentials in there,” says Mitch. “You can make more room by taking food out of boxes and putting them in freezer bags labelled with the best before date and cooking instructions.”

Meanwhile, Lorna Cooper, author of Feed Your Family For £20 A Week is a big fan of freezing leftovers, say, from a weekly roast, to use at a later date – including Christmas.

The savvy shopper also looks beyond price tags to work out if she’s getting good value money. “Recently, supermarkets have been selling packs of four baking potatoes. While they’re cheap – around 55p – they’re often tiny. But, if you buy a big bag of chunky potatoes they’re much better value and really good for cooking then freezing.”

(As of October 12 2022, 2.5kg bags of potatoes at budget supermarkets were priced around £1.10. That’s the equivalent of two bags of four small potatoes in terms of price, but equates to much more when you look at weight and quantity.)

While bulk buying and freezing to save in the long term isn’t always possible (it involves an initial outlay and requires freezer space, of course), if you are able to do it for even a few items in the build-up to Christmas, it could really help lower the cost of your festive food shop.

Other Christmas foods that freeze well include butter, meat joints and some cheeses (like cheddar), says BBC Food editor Emily Angle.

“Smoked salmon is a luxury item, so it’s worth buying when it’s on offer as it freezes well. Leeks, cauliflower and root vegetables can go in the freezer too. Just chop them how you want to serve, boil for two minutes, then drain and plunge into cold water. Once cool, pack into bags and freeze, then you can cook them straight from frozen.

“Great for the Boxing Day turkey curry, ginger and chillies can be frozen whole. When you need them, allow ginger to thaw for five minutes and grate, and chop chillies from frozen.”

Source