Supermarkets may only be closed for one day, but over Christmas we find ourselves loading our trolleys like it’s the apocalypse. UK consumers are expected to spend a whopping £5.3bn on food and drink over the festive season, but thankfully many supermarkets are offering great deals and discounts to entice shoppers in.

Magazine.co.uk have spoken to supermarket industry wizards The Grocer, who have let us in on their infamous festive mystery food shop. The Grocer have swept the UK’s most loved supermarkets in search of the best food and drink deals for those Christmas essentials. You’ll be able to justify splashing out on a scrumptious cheeseboard, boxes of After Eights and slices upon slices of Stollen, and we’ve shared a host of enticing recipe ideas from some of our favourite food magazines; perfect for Christmas Eve nibbles and New Year parties.

The Christmas Essentials

The traditional Christmas dinner isn’t complete without the turkey, the cranberry sauce, the dreaded brussel sprouts and one too many roasties! Followed by plenty of pud and a glass or two of mulled wine. With so much to buy, where should you be doing your festive food shop this year?

The Grocer’s list of 33 Christmas essentials from crackers to chipolatas, Quality Street to Duracell batteries (a must for families with young children!) brought ASDA out on top as the UK’s best value supermarket for the family festive food shop. ASDA were £9.44 cheaper than second place Tesco, at £119.96 for all 33 items; with a saving of £6.08 at the checkout.

Morrisons is the cheapest place to buy brussel sprouts at 50p for 500g, whilst Christmas morning Bacon was only £2.22 at Tesco for a 300g packet of own label smoked. If you are splashing the cash on Christmas puds, then head to Waitrose for a £3.75 454g pud and pop to Sainsbury’s for a bottle of fizz at £20.

The good news is that the festive food shop is cheaper this year, because of commodity prices and deflation. And apparently wine, beer and spirits are considerably cheaper across all supermarkets too. Cheers to that!

Festive Recipes

You know where to shop and what to shop for but what about a few festive food ideas from our favourite food magazines to get you in the mood for Christmas? No more dry turkey and no more soggy Brussels!

Turkey

Impress your guests with Michel Roux’s peppered turkey and ale sauce from Delicious! magazine. A great solution to banish the dry turkey blues.

Christmas Pudding

For a Christmas inspired tipple we will definitely be trying this Jamie Oliver Christmas pudding vodka.

Cranberry Sauce

Now this is Christmas comfort food at its best! The combination of oozy camembert and fruity cranberry from GoodFood is a dream.

Brussel Sprouts

For the perfect accompaniment with a cold meat feast on Boxing Day, doesn’t this festive crunchy sprout salad from Cook Vegetarian magazine look scrummy?

Mulled Wine

Christmas is the perfect excuse to enjoy a sweet treat or two and we can’t wait to try these delightful mulled wine cupcakes from Woman & Home magazine.