Christmas dinner on a budget: Festive feast for £2.66? Here's how

Shoppers can snare a Christmas dinner for eight for £21.31

Roast potatoes beat turkey to the top spot

Making a turkey of the Christmas shopping can be easily done with a flurry of offers from the supermarkets, but this year shoppers could snare their cheapest festive food for ten years.

In fact, your Christmas dinner could cost you as little as £21.31 for a family of eight, or the equivalent of £2.66 per person if you pick the right items, according to Good Housekeeping's annual survey.

The price of food has plummeted by 3 per cent this year on last as the major supermarkets battle out a bitter price war with German discounters Aldi and Lidl which has taken food price inflation to a ten-year low.

For those on a budget, Iceland is the cheapest one-stop shop with a full Christmas dinner coming in at £27.33, ahead of Lidl at 28.13, Morrisons at £29.12 and Aldi at £32.06.

Upmarket grocers Waitrose and Marks & Spencer remain the most expensive places to buy Christmas dinner. However both have slashed their prices on last year with M&S’ dinner costing £47.04 (down from £51.29) and Waitrose at £41.05p (down from £53.15 last year).

The survey compares 10 supermarkets, including Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Iceland and The Co-op.

The shopping list includes basics such brandy butter, stuffing, carrots, sprouts and mince pies.

The festive season, known as the ‘golden quarter’ in retail, looks likely to be more cut-throat than ever this year.

The UK’s largest retailer Tesco will be keen to get back on the front foot after a disastrous year in which chief executive Philip Clarke was ousted and it discovered a £263 million black hole in its accounts.