This year many of us will be looking for delicious Christmas foods ideas we can serve up on a tight budget.
Times are hard!!!
Yet there are simple smart ways to deliver a scrumptious but cheaper Christmas dinner PLUS yummy meals throughout the holidays.
And I have the very best of them for you here including :
- Food to make ahead & freeze
- Christmas leftovers recipes
- How to freeze your other leftovers
- Breakfast bread rolls & buns
- Homemade cookies & cakes that won't cost a small fortune!!
It is chock full of cheap Christmas food ideas so do bookmark or save.
And for more fab frugal tips check out my Budget Christmas Guide.
Table of Contents
Freezing Christmas Food You've Made In Advance
Making our own Christmas food is cheaper but can be super stressful.
The secret is to make ahead & freeze a few items a week including :
- Christmas Dinner Savouries
- Appetisers & Party Food
- Christmas Breakfast Bakes
- Christmas Desserts & Treats
Christmas Dinner Savouries
Making side dishes in advance means you're not juggling 10 things when trying to focus on the turkey :
It is also a great idea to freeze pastry pie crusts to make quick and easy pies to transform leftovers.
Appetisers & Party Food
- Sausage rolls
- Cheese straws
- Cheese nuggets
- Mini muffins
- And all sorts of other delicious make ahead appetisers.
Christmas Breakfast Bakes
- Ready to rise bread rolls
- Christmas morning muffins
- And heart warming breakfast bake cinnamon buns ...
Christmas Desserts
You can also make ahead and freeze Christmas cookie dough and for fellow Brits mince pies.
Make Ahead Turkey Stuffing
This freeze ahead stuffing recipe made with chicken broth, bread, eggs, celery, onion and mixed herbs can be frozen ready to bake and just needs popping in the oven for 45 minutes on the day itself.
Make Ahead Cranberry Sauce
Delicious fresh cranberry sauce only takes 15 minutes or so but it really does need 15 minutes of undivided attention which is obviously something we don't have when whipping up Christmas dinner.
Preparing ahead and freezing also lets us make enough cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, Christmas, leftovers and New Year in one go. This simple cranberry sauce recipe just uses cranberries, orange juice, sugar and cinnamon ...
For fancier cranberry sauce recipes including bourbon, mulled and spiced flavoured PLUS sugar free sauce and cranberry chutney check out these cranberry sauce recipes ...
Make Ahead & Freeze Gravy
Making gravy in advance to freeze gives us the time to concentrate on a super rich gravy. This make ahead turkey gravy is made with chicken wings, onion, carrots, celery, port or red wine and mixed herbs.
Freezable Bread Sauce
Holiday season bread sauce can be made in 20 minutes - an hour for really rich flavour - but is again a good thing to make ahead as it benefits from a little attention so it's simmering well but not turning into thick gloop or scalding the pan!
To freeze bread sauce make it as per this simple bread sauce recipe but don't add the cream. Defrost it the night before in the fridge and add the cream as you heat it up ...
Freezable Sausage Rolls
Sausage rolls are unbelievably easy to make ahead and freeze with both puff pastry and shortcrust pastry.
Homemade pastry is cheap and easy does NOT include seed oils, preservatives and dodgy flavourings that store bought pie crust does!
Make Ahead Cheese Straws
Cheese straws are a great budget appetiser for holiday season parties even with the addition of cream in this delicious cheese straw recipe ...
Freezable Cheese Nuggets
Cheese nuggets made with goats cheese, camembert or halloumi are easy to make ahead and freeze well for Christmas party appetisers ...
Make Ahead Mini Muffins
Mini muffins can be made cheaply with all sorts of yummy flavours and freeze well for Christmas parties ...
More Make Ahead Appetisers
For more delicious appetisers you can make ahead easily on a budget and freeze check out these tried and tested recipes ...
How To Freeze Pastry Pie Crusts For Leftovers
Freezing pastry pie crusts is a huge money saver at Christmas as it lets us transform sad leftovers.
Scraps of turkey, veg, cranberries & gravy hidden under a golden crust of pastry looks and tastes delicious.
Follow these tips on freezing pastry:
Frozen pastry can also be made into:
- Christmas Leftover Flan
- Leftover "Sausage" Rolls
- Christmas Leftover Pasties
- Mini Cranberry Sauce Tarts
Freeze Ahead Mince Pies
Mince pies are weird to the rest of the world but we Brits love them.
Again homemade are cheaper & more filling and the freshly baked fragrance actually helps satisfy our hunger so we eat less ...
How To Freeze Cookie Dough
The fragrance of freshly baked Christmas cookies is so joyful and simple homemade cookies are cheaper AND much more filling.
Check out this big guide to classic Christmas cookies for easy recipes ...
So freeze cookie dough in November and pop some in when the oven is on in Advent. It is best frozen in small rolled rounds ...
Delicious Christmas Leftovers Recipes
Great Christmas leftovers recipes save big money because we :
- Chuck out less waste
- AND buy less in the first place.
With little effort Christmas leftovers can be a real meal in themselves and not a sad afterthought.
Even if you hate meal planning, it's worth writing a leftovers plan with easy recipes ready to go :
- Leftover Turkey Stew
- Leftover Turkey Curry
- Leftover Turkey Pie
- Leftover Turkey Pasties
- Leftover Turkey Casseroles
- Leftover Turkey Shepherds Pie
- Leftover Turkey Stir Fry
- Leftover Turkey Soups
Leftover Turkey Stew
This simple turkey leftovers stew will use up everything leftover from your Christmas dinner ...
Leftover Turkey Curry
And this curry recipe is a great to spice up lots of leftover Turkey you're getting a bit sick of ...
Leftover Turkey Pies
With a pie crust in the freezer we can whip up a spirit lifting leftover pie with barely 5 minutes work.
This is a handy basic leftover pot pie recipe. It adds some fresh vegetables but you could just use leftovers plus some frozen peas ...
Or if you have any mushrooms and leeks as in this leftover pie recipe from Jamie Oliver ...
Leftover Turkey Pasties
Alternatively you can pop your turkey leftovers into mini pasties or hand pies using again made ahead and frozen pastry ...
Leftover Turkey Casseroles
This creamy leftover turkey casserole using creamed chicken soup and pasta is a quick kid-friendly way to jazz up your leftovers ...
You could of course make your own creamy sauce with broth from the turkey carcass as in this spaghetti based leftover turkey tetrazzini casserole ...
This leftover turkey casserole is similar but is based around rice rather than pasta ...
Or if you have lots of leftover stuffing you can use it up in this creamy casserole ...
Leftover Turkey Shepherds Pie
If you have leftover mash as well as turkey you can transform it into shepherds pie ...
Leftover Turkey Stir Fry
For a much lighter recipe - and we could all do with that after stuffing ourselves with Christmas desserts - whip up this bright and bold leftover turkey stir fry ...
Leftover Turkey Soups
And soothing Christmas soup is wonderful when we feel fragile.
This noodle soup finishes off turkey :
And this version uses up any random leftover roast vegetables :
More Christmas Leftovers Recipes
If you want something a little bit different to stew, soup and pie try these leftovers recipes :
- Puff Pastry Leftover Pockets
- Bubble & Squeak With Chestnuts
- Leftover Toad In The Hole
- Cranberry Sauce & Apple Crumble
- Pigs In Blankets Carbanara
And I have loads more Christmas leftover recipes here including leftover ham recipes, awesome Christmas leftover sandwiches & toasties, turkey risotto and more ...
How To Freeze Remaining Christmas Leftovers
However delicious our Christmas leftovers recipes we can only eat so much turkey, cranberry sauce etc!
We can save lots of money just by buying less in the first place.
But with leftovers from leftovers we need to be ready to freeze them fast.
There's tips here on freezing turkey :
And specific tips on freezing ...
By the end of January we'll be happy again to eat them up in our Christmas leftovers recipes.
Christmas Breakfast Bread, Rolls And Buns
The waft of fragrant Christmas breakfast bread, rolls and buns is a super cheap way to make Christmas morning memories special.
(A short walk right after breakfast gets that sugar spike under control!!!)
And luckily lots of the best Christmas breakfast bread roll & bun recipes can be made ahead and frozen.
So check out these recipes :
- Christmas Morning Rolls
- Cinnamon Christmas Buns
- Christmas Morning Muffins
- Easy Chocolate Brioche
- Easy Overnight Bagels
- Overnight Eggnog Brioche
- Norwegian Cardamom Rolls
- Christmas Focaccia
- Cranberry Christmas Buns
- Scandinavian Saffron Buns
- Danish Raisin Buns
- Mini Christmas Stollen
Christmas Morning Rolls
Fresh rolls on Christmas morning are a gift in themselves but cost barely a thing and can be made ahead :
And these breakfast rolls can be baked from the freezer :
Cinnamon Christmas Buns
This Christmas bun recipe has great freezing tips so the buns warm quickly on Christmas day ...
Christmas Morning Muffins
These simple freezable muffins you can pop in the oven Christmas morning are full of lovely spicy Christmas flavour including cinnamon, nutmeg, clementines and cranberries ...
Easy Chocolate Brioche
These delicious chocolate brioche buns can be frozen for 3 months, defrosted overnight and baked for a few minutes Christmas morning ...
Overnight Eggnog Brioche
These overnight eggnog brioche buns can be made several days ahead and kept in the fridge for popping in the oven Christmas day :
Easy Overnight Bagels
These easy Christmas bagels can be made 24 hours in advance so they just need poaching and baking for 20 minutes Christmas morning ...
Bagels are another good ahead bake ahead and freeze Christmas breakfast bread that can be frozen in handy halves for 3 months and defrosted in the toaster.
Norwegian Cardamom Rolls
These deliciously fragrant Norwegian cardamom rolls are perfect for Christmas breakfast ...
Christmas Focaccia
Freshly baked focaccia makes lovely savoury Christmas breakfast bread.
This Christmas focaccia would look super special on your Christmas table at breakfast time but costs very little to make from scratch and can be made and frozen ...
This Christmas focaccia recipe costs a bit more - for brie and cranberries - but will still fill everyone up at Christmas breakfast fairly frugally ...
If you love Italian recipes you can also make Christmas panettone cheaply.
Cranberry Christmas Buns
These cranberry Christmas buns can be made ahead so they just need heating slightly and glazing Christmas morning ...
Scandinavian Lussekatter Saffron Buns
Saffron rich Lussekatter are a freeze ahead alternative to cinnamon ...
Danish Raisin Buns
These simple Danish raisin buns are a classic sweet breakfast roll that fresh from the oven will delight the whole family but barely cost a thing:
Mini Christmas Stollen
Mini Christmas stollen are another delicious Christmas breakfast bread you can make ahead and freeze to warm up on Christmas day ...
Homemade Christmas Cakes, Pudding & Cookies
Homemade Christmas cakes, puddings and cookies can be much cheaper than bought ones.
We just need to keep them simple and free from fancy ingredients and panic inducing instructions!!
Simple Christmas Cakes
These Christmas cake recipes really are easy & will fill up a hungry hoard.
Make In Advance Cake
This easy one can be made early ...
Last Minute Christmas Cake
And this cake can be made super fast in barely 30 minutes ...
Ginger Cake
A classic ginger is a fab cheap, easy alternative to fruit or chocolate cake.
And can look beautiful with simple sprinkled or glace icing ...
Christmas Desserts
Show stopping Christmas desserts sound scary. No fear. These are easy and will look stand out stunning with simple Christmas table decorations.
An Inflation Beating Christmas Pudding Recipe
This yummy Christmas pud recipe goes back to the great recession of the 1930s!! It's cheap and easy ...
Danish Christmas Pudding
Risalamande is a gorgeously traditional Danish Christmas pudding ...
Poached Mulled Wine Pears
These pears look stunning and can be poached sugar free ...
Frozen Yoghurt Bark
A plate of frozen yoghurt bark looks effortlessly elegant with quick natural Christmas table decor and slips down when everyone is stuffed!!
For more inspiration check out these 50 stunning Christmas desserts. They are not all super cheap to make but they are much cheaper than bought versions and many of them can be made ahead and frozen ...
Homemade Christmas Cookies
Homemade Christmas cookies are cheapest if we just make 1 or 2 types.
These classics are always popular :
Freeze your cookie dough in small rounds so you can have a fresh batch whenever oven goes on.
And there you go, loads of recipes for simply delicious homemade Christmas food you can make ahead cheaply and freeze PLUS yummy ideas for leftovers and tips on freezing anything at all that is left!!
I do hope they help you enjoy a wonderful family Christmas.
For more cheap lovely Christmas ideas explore these posts :
- 25 Handmade Gifts
- 16 Homemade Candies
- 26 Homemade Ornaments
- 26 Homemade Christmas Cards
- 40 Small Christmas Trees
- 30 Simple DIY Wreaths
- 10 Easy Table Decorations
- 30 Mason Jar Gifts
- 18 Homemade Preserves
- 100 Best Experience Gifts
And follow my Christmas board on Pinterest :
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