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Read Delia's recent feature from The Guardian newspaper. Her fee was donated to Crisis at Christmas, to find out more, click here

So Britain is in a crisis. We are engulfed in rhetoric, black holes loom large, lights fade at the end of tunnels, the euro is on its uppers, and the financial markets wobble on a daily basis. To heat or not to eat that is the question, invoking discussion on phone-ins and chatlines.

Given that Christmas is only a matter of days away and people are struggling, it's time we think to set about doing something positive here at Deliaonline. I for one am confident that whilst some of us in Britain might be broke we are certainly not in any way shape or form broken, as some would suggest. Hate to admit it but I am old enough to remember large family Christmases at the end of the war, they were very merry indeed in spite of shortages. If the spirit of our nation was not crushed then, I am quite sure it wont be now.

That said, right here team Delia has taken up the challenge. We’ve set about engaging in some intricate research, shopped, calculated, tested and cooked. The results: HOLY WOW!  Even we can hardly believe it! I’ve always known cooking at home saves a load of money but it is quite astonishing how this really kicks in at Christmas.

So if you are someone in need of help we have some very good news for you, because you can serve (even if I say it myself), a mouth watering sumptuous three-course Christmas lunch for 6 people for (and are you really ready for this?) all of £4.79

per head! Can you believe that’s less than the cost of two large cappuccinos? What’s more, if you want three mince pies and a slice of Christmas cake each later on, that will cost you just 70p per head. You’ll find the breakdown of prices in the menu below.

I can’t ever remember being this excited after a week’s recipe testing. The most exciting bit of all being that everything homemade is quite certainly far more luxurious and flavoursome than anything that came out of a factory!  Get to it then, no excuses. If you don’t know how to make pastry etc. all you have to do is press a button here on Delia Online.
 
 

Christmas menu for 6 people

Warm Potato Blinis with Smoked Salmon Crème Fraiche and Dill (Total cost per person 87p) Braised Turkey Drumsticks with Port and Chestnuts Served with Pork, Sage and Onion stuffing, Bacon Rolls and Cranberry Sauce (Total cost per person £2.26) Roast Potatoes, Parsnips and Brussels Sprouts (Total cost per person 81p) Delia’s Christmas Pudding with Brandy Sauce (Total cost per person 85p) Extras Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake (Total cost 32p per slice) Absolutely Homemade Mince pies (18) (Total cost 11p each)

Note: the costings above are solely for the ingredients used in each dish. Your total shopping trolley would come to a total of £51.69, but this assumes that you are literally starting from scratch.  In the event you may well already have a number of store-cupboard ingredients - such as flour, oil, sugar, spices etc - in which case the costs will be much lower.

 

Shop bought Christmas cake and Mince pies versus Homemade

Bought luxury decorated Christmas cake = £1.04 per slice verses 32p for the equivalent weight of our homemade cake

Based on weight shop bought luxury mince pies would be 37p for the equivalent weight of a homemade mince pie at 11p

Christmas in a Crisis - Before Christmas
Christmas in a Crisis - Christmas Eve
Christmas in a Crisis - Christmas Day
Christmas in a Crisis - Shopping lists

 

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