Christmas dinner on a budget: plan your shop, trim the fat and change expectations
One of the hardest times to tighten your budgetary belt is when planning a Christmas lunch or hosting family and friends over the festive season.
Many Australians have moved away from old-school roast turkey or ham with pudding and all the trimmings. But with prawns, berries and cherries often on the menu instead, there’s fat to be trimmed when it comes to keeping costs down during a cost-of-living crisis.
Australians are anxious about their Christmas spending this year, with the Salvation Army reporting one in four people can not afford enough food.
Army Maj Bruce Harmer warns 2024 will “likely be the hardest Christmas in the Salvos’ 140-year history”.
He says Christmas exacerbates the pressure on families who may have already been suffering. “It is truly heartbreaking to see the despair and devastating decisions Australians are having to make to provide for their families this Christmas,” he says.
There are, however, ways to make Christmas lunch more manageable.
Choice suggests using supermarket loyalty points, checking for savings via motoring or insurance groups that offer discounts and hunting for market-direct fruit and vegetables.
The Salvation Army suggests looking for free or low-cost Christmas events and meals and bulking out lunch with pasta bakes, rice dishes and salads – and saying “yes” when others offer to bring food.
Related: Cozzie livs Chrissy: how to celebrate the festive season without breaking the bank
You can challenge traditions by going with a grazing platter for as little as $20 and choosing a budget bottle of bubbles for as little as $15. Get a chicken instead of a turkey, raid the fridge and pantry to make canapés and dips and whip up desserts with rice and whatever’s in the bottom of that liquor bottle sitting on the shelf.
Guardian Australia’s buying tests this year suggested how to save money when buying fresh produce, meat and fish and even dry goods.
Alternatively, read our regular guide to the best value seasonal produce here.
Dr Paul Harrison, the chair of consumer behaviour at Deakin Business school, suggests it’s important to understand we’re in a “crisis of consumption” – many people are tricked by marketing into thinking excess is normal.
Shopping between multiple supermarkets can save you up to 30%.
Pru Engel, audience editor at Choice
Harrison, who is also co-director of Deakin University’s Better Consumption Lab, says we “consume within a culture that says this is the only way to live your life”.
The urge to be generous – to put on an extravagant spread, for example – is partly because we want to be loved, he says. “One of the ways we do that is by doing things for other people. If we do things for other people, we are more committed to them.”
“It’s a hopefulness in reciprocity. Christmas is that, writ super large.”
Harrison says people should acknowledge that these cultural pressures and “all sorts of different influences over generations” are hard to overcome.
But if you are anxious about the cost of hosting Christmas lunch and you need to save money, you might also have to change your expectations.
“Chip away at things,” Harrison says. “Don’t try to do everything at once … if you can change one aspect of the tradition – take that as a win.”
Pru Engel, audience editor at Choice, says their latest survey found almost nine in 10 Australians were concerned about the cost of food.
“We know people are looking to make as many savings as they can on the Christmas shop, particularly when entertaining a large group,” she says. “We’d advise people to plan well and shop as cleverly as you can.”
That includes paying attention to unit pricing to find the best deal and potentially spreading a big shop across different retailers, she says.
Related: Pause the gym, cut down on booze and make your bosses pay: surviving silly season on a shoestring
“We know it’s more time-consuming and not possible for everyone, but sticking to just one supermarket for your Christmas shop is very likely costing you money,” Engel says. “Shopping between multiple supermarkets can save you up to 30%.”
Recent Choice research found the best Christmas ham was far from the most expensive.
Engel says it is also important people don’t let Christmas pressure them into services such as Buy Now Pay Later schemes.
“In the short term they might seem like a favour, but you end up paying more in the long run,” she says.
