Here are the basic ingredients for a student-friendly Christmas dinner that quite frankly I would happily eat on the big day.
Ingredients:
- Pre-cooked roast chicken x 2 — £10 Tesco
- Pigs in blankets — £2.20 Tesco
- Aunt Bessie’s Yorkshire puddings — £1.70 Tesco
- Kale — £0.72 Aldi
- Quixo Stuffing — £0.34 Aldi
- White potatoes — £1.18 Aldi
- Carrots — £0.30 Aldi
- Parsnips — £0.60 Aldi
- Gravy — £0.85 Aldi
- Honey — £0.95 Aldi
£18.84 overall and ONLY £3.14 EACH leaving more money to spend on the important booze and pud of your choice. Plus I promise you will have leftovers.
I am not going to go through every step of the Christmas dinner process, as I feel that would be a laborious read. Plus there is no one way that is righteous, everyone has a unique trick up their sleeves to make these ingredients glisten and taste heavenly.
Here are my Xmas dinner tips:
Chicken — I buy the chicken pre-roasted which means there is no faffing around basting and seasoning when Tesco does the job for you, plus you can be sure you won’t give your housemates food poisoning.
The chicken only needs one hour in the oven and turns out perfect. I would suggest covering with foil after half an hour so the chicken remains moist and juicy.
Roast Potatoes — always parboil the potatoes for around 15 minutes. Put a tray in an oven to heat up and then add a substantial amount of butter to melt. Once parboiled, give the potatoes a shake in a pan so the edges get roughed up. Then add the potatoes to the melted butter in the tray. Add garlic rosemary and more butter and give the potatoes a stir.
Photo: Anokhi Shah
Carrots and parsnips — parboil parsnips for 5 minutes. Add garlic and oil over the carrots and parsnips in a tray. After around 20 minutes of cooking squeeze honey over the carrots and parsnips then place back in the oven until the veg is sticky and caramelised.
Kale — for those who would like to avoid sprouts. Fry kale in garlic and butter for some tasty greens.
Photo: Anokhi Shah
