Turkey and trimmings might be the furthest thing from your mind right now, but with food prices rising – and predicted to peak in December – planning ahead for Christmas could help you make some savvy savings.
According to official figures, the cost of food and non-alcoholic drinks has risen for the past five months in a row – and experts suggest it could increase further. Food inflation now stands at 5.1%, the highest rate for 18 months, with economic research firm Pantheon Macroeconomics forecasting it will peak at 6% in December.
With Brits spending an average of £713 extra in the month of December, and Christmas dinner costing around £32.57 for four last year, we’ll take all the savings we can get.
These clever tips could help you cut the cost of your Christmas supermarket shop without skimping on your festive feast.
Use supermarket saving schemes
You can earn a bonus of up to £25 with Sainsbury’s Christmas club. (Getty Images).
Most major supermarkets have Christmas savings schemes, letting you put aside cash throughout the year to use on your Christmas shop. In return, the supermarket will give you a bonus, based on how much you save.
According to money-saving expert Martin Lewis, you don’t need to put money aside for months to bag a reward, either. Most supermarkets pay the bonus on a specific date, so pop your cash in the day before and Bob’s your uncle.
Buy six, get 25% off wine deals
Waitrose, Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s are among the major supermarkets that offer regular buy six bottles get money off deals. (Getty Images)
The cost of Christmas alcohol can soon stack up, particularly if you’re entertaining friends over the holidays. Keeping an eye out for deals on your favourite drinks from now onward means you can get them while they’re on offer and store them away until the big day.
Many supermarkets, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Asda, run regular 25% off deals when you buy six bottles of selected wine, champagne and sparkling wine. Sainsbury’s is currently offering one such deal when you buy using your Nectar card. The offer runs till 23 September and there’s a 36-bottle per customer limit.
Ocado also has a deal on Baileys with a 70cl bottle reduced to £13 from £18.50 until 7 October.
And talking of Baileys…
Wait for Baileys deals 
Supermarkets often have better-than-half-price offers on Baileys in November. (Getty Images)
The so-called ‘battle of the Baileys’ has become an annual event in the run-up to Christmas as supermarkets compete with each other to offer the festive tipple at the lowest price.
A one-litre bottle of the creamy Irish liqueur usually retails at around £22.50. But, last year, most of the major supermarkets had £10 deals with Morrison’s even reducing the cost to just £8.50 when you spent £45 and used your rewards card.
Baileys deals typically hit the shelves in early November, so keep your eyes peeled and stock up while you can.
Take the Downshift Challenge
Most people can’t tell the difference between their favourite products and the cheaper alternative. (Getty Images)
Martin Lewis has lots of tried-and-tested ways of saving money, and one that’s proved popular is the Downshift Challenge, which could save you around 30% a year on groceries.
In the challenge, the idea is to drop one brand level on everything you buy to make savings. So if you usually buy Tesco Finest mince pies, drop down to their regular range and if you like it, stick with it.
You might be tempted to go with the premium ranges at Christmas, but apparently, most people can’t actually taste the difference. On Lewis’s ITV show, he previously held a blind taste test with champagne, turkeys and more and 62% of the time, the participants preferred the lower-brand goods or couldn’t tell the difference.
Add a Christmas item to your basket each week
Spread the cost by adding a long-life item for Christmas to your basket each time you do the big shop. (Getty Images)
Rather than wait until the start of December, when budgets are already tight, start your festive food shop now. Yes, really.
Add a long-life or freezeable item, such as chocolates, alcohol or crackers, to your weekly shop from now to spread the cost and make the price of your December food shop much more digestible.
You can also stockpile your reward card vouchers to spend on Christmas items.
Chocolate savings are in store now
Supermarkets are offering deals on popular chocolate tubs now, ideal for putting away for Christmas. (Sainsbury’s/Yahoo Life)
Christmas isn’t Christmas without a box of Quality Street and if you stock up now, you can get them on special offer.
Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Iceland and Asda have all slashed the price of Christmas chocolate tubs, including Celebrations, Cadbury’s Heroes and Roses, to between £4.50 and £5.25 with a rewards card (they’re usually £7).
The deals are only on for a limited time, so if you can trust yourself not to tuck in before Christmas, you’ll find the details here.
Freeze your turkey
Buy a low-cost turkey and freeze it ahead of the big day. (Getty Images)
If you spot a good price on an uncooked turkey before Christmas, snap it up. Food can be frozen up until midnight on its use-by date, so even yellow sticker bargains will keep till Christmas.
Look out for cheaper ‘early bird’ offers in supermarkets at the beginning of December, before prices and demand rise too.
It’s important to remember, though, that some larger birds can take between three and five days to defrost (which should always be done on the bottom shelf of the fridge), so make sure you take yours out in time.
Buy your veg last-minute
Aldi and Asda reduced festive veg to just 8p on 19 December last year. (Getty Images)
When it comes to Christmas food, you can get some great deals by shopping early. But if you want to get the lowest-price veg, it pays to hold out.
In the week before Christmas, most supermarkets offer traditional festive veg such as sprouts, carrots, potatoes, parsnips and cabbage at massively knocked-down prices to get customers through the doors. Last year, Asda and Aldi slashed the price of festive veg to 15p earlier in December but on the 19th both stores dropped it to just 8p a bag.
Read more about saving money:
Dining and Cooking