Which is the cheapest supermarket for Christmas dinner ingredients?
Aldi and Lidl are the joint-cheapest supermarkets to buy your Christmas dinner ingredients from, according to Which? analysis.
Our elves crunched the numbers to find out how much a basket of 12 popular festive foods cost at Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose.
Technically, Aldi was 4p cheaper than Lidl, but as this difference is negligible Which? decided to embrace the Christmas spirit by giving both of the discounters a festive food pricing crown.
Read on to see how much you can expect to spend at each supermarket, and how much the cost of turkey has gone up – or, in one case, down – by compared to last year. We also reveal the best place to buy your Christmas food from according to thousands of Which? members.
Which is the cheapest supermarket for a traditional Christmas dinner?
Which? analysed the prices of 12 products, including turkey, potatoes, parsnips, sprouts and Christmas pudding, across seven supermarkets between 6-27 November.
Aldi was the cheapest supermarket for traditional Christmas dinner ingredients on average (£33.80), with Lidl just 4p more expensive (£33.84).
Asda was the cheapest of the 'traditional' supermarkets at £37.01 on average, followed by Tesco (£39.49), Sainsbury's (£44.81) and Morrisons (£45.34).
At the other end of the scale, Waitrose was £18.88 more expensive than Aldi with our Christmas trolley costing £52.68.
Our analysis includes special offers but not multibuy discounts or loyalty scheme prices, as these aren't available to everyone.
- Find out more: eight ways to save money on Christmas food
What about Ocado?
We didn't include Ocado in our full analysis this year, as it doesn't stock a comparable frozen turkey crown – and we didn't want to exclude the main event.
The online-only supermarket sells an M&S-branded small frozen turkey crown (to feed 4-5 people) costing £25, as well as a range of fresh turkeys.
- Find out more: best and worst supermarkets
Where can you buy the cheapest turkey and trimmings?
When we broke down the products in our basket, we found that it was a two-horse race between Aldi and Lidl, with very little difference between the discounters.
The cheapest medium turkey crowns in our analysis were at Aldi and Lidl (£15.49). Waitrose was the most expensive, at £26 on average.
Aldi and Lidl were joint cheapest for your Christmas pud too, at £4.49. Sainsbury's was the priciest (£8 on average).
The biggest percentage price difference was for cranberry sauce. Waitrose's own-label wild cranberry sauce (205g) was 270% more expensive on average than Aldi's whole cranberry sauce (200g).
| Product | Aldi | Asda | Lidl | Morrisons | Sainsbury's | Tesco | Waitrose |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Own-label medium turkey crown (2-25kg) | £15.49 | £16.00 | £15.49 | £25.35 | £21 | £19.50 | £26 |
| Own-label premium 12-18 month matured Christmas pudding (400-454g) | £4.49 | £5.50 | £4.49 | £5 | £8 | £5 | £6.02 |
| Knorr chicken stock pot (8x28g) | £2.79 | £2.80 | £2.79 | £2.99 | £2.80 | £2.79 | £3.20 |
| Birds Eye garden peas (800g) | £2.56 | £2.80 | £2.54 | £2.36 | £2.80 | £2.57 | £2.95 |
| Own-label pigs in blankets (175-300g) | £1.99 | £2.41 | £1.99 | £2.50 | £3.25 | £2.50 | £4.50 |
| Albert Bartlett rooster potatoes (2kg) | £1.99 | £2.19 | £1.99 | £2.25 | £1.99 | £1.99 | £2.30 |
| Own-label cauliflower (price per item) | £0.95 | £1 | £0.92 | £0.99 | £0.95 | £0.95 | £1.10 |
Prices are averages across the period from 6-27 November 2023.
- Find out more: cheapest supermarkets of 2023
How much more expensive is turkey this year?
We compared the price of a medium frozen turkey crown (2-2.5kg weight range) across supermarkets between 2022 and 2023 for the same snapshot period (6-27 November).
Prices hadn't changed year-on-year at Aldi or Lidl. At Morrisons and Tesco the average price for the dates included was up by 15% compared to 2022, while at Asda the price had actually decreased by 3%.
| Supermarket | 2022 | 2023 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morrisons | £21.99 | £25.35 | 15% |
| Tesco | £17.00 | £19.50 | 15% |
| Sainsbury's | £19.00 | £21.00 | 11% |
| Waitrose | £25.00 | £26.00 | 4% |
| Lidl | £15.49 | £15.49 | 0% |
| Aldi | £15.49 | £15.49 | 0% |
| Asda | £16.50 | £16.00 | -3% |
Based on the average price between 6-27 November in 2022 and 2023.
- Find out more: how to cook a turkey crown
The best place to buy your Christmas dinner
In January 2023, we asked more than 9,000 Which? members to rate the taste, quality and value for money of the Christmas food they'd bought the previous month, to find out the best places to stock up on turkey and trimmings.
Our survey results reveal the top-rated retailers for festive favourites including stuffing, pigs in blankets, canapés, desserts and more.
Farms, markets and butchers got the highest satisfaction ratings in several categories, but there was close competition from some supermarkets.
One budget retailer consistently stood out from the crowd, ranking within the top five in nearly every category. Not only did the taste of its food impress, but members also frequently rated it one of the best for value for money.
Some big supermarkets failed to impress, though, falling behind on both taste and quality.
To see the full Christmas food survey results and find out which retailers topped our rankings, check out our guide on the best places to buy turkey and trimmings.
