Best value Christmas food and drink for 2024

Looking for ways to cut your Christmas costs? Our taste tests have uncovered great value festive fare to help you celebrate for less.

Whether you’re looking for crowd-pleasing mince pies, a budget-friendly panettone, or a fantastic fizz for less than £10, our independent supermarket food and drink taste tests have uncovered the best items to pop in your trolley this Christmas.

We found it’s possible to bag tasty versions of festive favourites without spending big, uncovering food and drink that scored highly for taste and costs less than rival options we tested. Discover some of our top picks below.

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Best cheap sparkling wine

• Lidl Prosecco Superiore Valdobbiadene, 80% - £7.49 for 75cl. Available from Lidl (in store only)

Lidl's fabulous fizz is just £7.49 but came third overall in our sparkling wine taste test, impressing our experts with its fruity and floral flavours.

As the cheapest on test, this budget bubbly is our best value pick for Christmas celebrations.

See the full results from our sparkling wine taste test to discover the best festive fizz, including our top-rated cava and cremant Best Buys.

Best cheap mince pies

• Aldi Specially Selected Mince Pies, 71% - £2.29 for 6. Available from Aldi.

If you're after marvellous mince pies on a budget, Aldi's are our best value pick of the supermarket offerings this year. 

Our experts praised their lovely, buttery pastry, generous fruity filling and well-balanced sweetness.

At nearly half the price of our top-scoring mince pies, these are a great choice if you’re looking to keep costs down without compromising too much on taste.

See the full results from our mince pie taste test.

Best champagnes - find out which cheaper supermarket champagnes beat the big brands in our taste test, and our best value recommendation

Best cheap panettone

• Aldi Specially Selected Panettone, 77% - £4.99 for 750g. Available from Aldi.

Aldi's Great Value version of this classic Italian sweet bread proved there's no need to spend big for a crowd-pleasing panettone.

Our tasters rated it as one of the best panettones on both flavour and texture, with well-balanced sweetness and a lovely soft sponge.

It's our top pick if you're after a cheap and cheerful panettone to enjoy this Christmas.

See the full results from our panettone taste test.

Best cheap roast potatoes

• Aldi Specially Selected Beef Dripping Roast Potatoes, 74% - £2.49 for 1kg.  Available from Aldi. 

Ready-made roasties can tick one chore off the to-do list this Christmas, and Aldi’s bargain spuds mean you can cater for a crowd without it costing a packet. 

They're tasty too, proving a real hit with our consumer tasting panel in our blind taste test. 

They finished in joint-first place alongside M&S, impressing tasters with their crispy texture and satisfying flavour, and are also the cheapest on test.

See the full results from our roast potato taste test.

Best place to buy your turkey and trimmings - find out which supermarkets were rated best by shoppers for Christmas dinner essentials including turkeys, stuffing and pigs in blankets

Best cheap mulled wine

• Sainsbury's Mulled Wine, 73% - £3 for 75cl. Available from Sainsbury's.

Another time-saving option, ready-made mulled wine means one less thing to prep for, and we've found a standout Best Buy for just £3.

Sainsbury's mulled wine was a clear winner in our taste test, with most of our tasters approving of its well-balanced spice, fruitiness and sweetness. What's more, it outclassed pricier bottles.

See the full results from our mulled wine taste test.

Which? subscribers can see all our top festive food and drink recommendations, including the best Christmas puddings, best red wine and best dark chocolate

Other great value essentials for the festive season

For those betwixt-mas times when you're after some store-cupboard essentials, we’ve also uncovered plenty of other great value food and drink, including coffee, crisps and baked beans.

Here are some other budget store cupboard staples worth stocking up on:

• Best cheap coffee: Aldi Alcafé House Blend Roast & Ground Coffee, 73% - £2.29 for 227g. Available from Aldi.
• Best cheap crisps: Tesco Finest Thai Inspired Sweet Chilli Crisps, 73% - £1.35 for 150g. Available from Tesco.
• Best cheap baked beans: Aldi Bramwells Baked Beans in a Rich Tomato Sauce, 76% - 41p for 410g. Available from Aldi.

More ways to save on Christmas food and drink

For more advice, including supermarket price comparisons and how to make the most of loyalty schemes, check out the links below:

• Christmas 2024: 8 ways to boost your festive funds
• How to spend less at the supermarket
• Cheapest supermarkets 2024

Supermarket Christmas food and drink 2024: the ultimate guide - we round up the supermarket specials for this year, to help you plan your food shop

Please drink responsibly. See Drinkaware for advice.

Prices shown based on typical price, excluding special offers. Prices correct as of 3 December 2024. Test scores are not comparable across categories. 

To earn a Great Value badge, products must meet strict criteria and be a specified amount lower than the average price of similar products. Where no products in a test category meet this criteria, we have instead featured the best cheap option.