‘I made 44 Christmas food gifts for £30 in one day – here’s how’
Buying presents for everyone can be expensive – can you really get better results for less money if you make them yourself?
By Polly Weeks
Over the last few years, I’ve become Scrooge-like when it comes to Christmas presents. I’ve told everyone I know not to spend money on gifts for me and winced at the impact overpriced, panic-bought presents have had on my bank balance.
This year I vowed to get back into the Christmas spirit – without making future me pay the price (literally). So I set myself a challenge: make as many gifts for under £30 as possible. All in one day. Presents people would enjoy but not then have to house.
Food and drink it was, then.
I supplemented my £30 budget with cheap store cupboard staples like flour, dried spices and caster sugar (which I already had). Fresh ingredients like eggs and butter came out of my budget though (the price of the whole tub, box or packet, not just the amount I used) because, well, have you seen how much they cost lately?
Packaging – jars and cellophane gift bags – also come out of that budget, although I didn’t include the bits of ribbon I tied around them, which I had lying around at home. The jars came from a high-street retailer which was running a half-price offer on them, but the bags were cheaper online, so I ordered those.
In total, packaging came to £7, leaving £23 for food. So, I took my £23 and headed to my local supermarket. Well, actually, I went to two – one budget and one mid-range. You could perhaps save more by shopping around, but I was on a schedule and aware any savings could easily be offset by travel costs.
Deciding what to make
I tried to be smart when looking for recipes and deciding what gifts to make. Sweet things tend to be cheaper and often have longer shelf lives because of the sugar content. That said, not everyone has a sweet tooth (apparently), so I’d need some savoury bits, too.
To make things go as far as possible, I purposefully sought out recipes with ingredient overlaps. There would be no waste on my watch. Speaking of, anything that needed to be eaten super sharpish was out, for fear it wouldn’t be gifted and eaten quickly enough and end up in the bin.
Finally, everything had to be gift-able – by which I mean look presentable in a jar or gift bag and survive transit to the recipient.
Here’s what I made and how I did it all in one day.
09.30am: Hot chocolate stirrers
I knew these would be a hit with the kids and make ideal stocking fillers.
I melted milk and dark chocolate together (99p each) and poured the mixture into eight mini yoghurt pots I’d saved and washed out, before adding my toppings: crushed up candy canes (89p for 12), chocolate chips (65p) and Christmassy sprinkles (£1.50). Then I put a lollipop stick into each one and whacked them in the fridge to set.
I couldn’t believe how big they were when I turned them out later – each one would definitely get you two mugs of hot chocolate. They felt really indulgent and looked better than the professionally made ones you see in the shops, if I do say so myself.
Portions: 8
Total cost: £5.52
How to make it cheaper: Regular sprinkles would work just as well as Christmassy ones. If you don’t already have lollipop sticks and yoghurt pots lying around like I miraculously did, chunky ice cube trays would work well, and you can forgo the sticks and make them hot chocolate ‘parcels’ instead.
If I wasn’t on a budget: I’d have increased the toppings and bought a variety of flavours of chocolate.
Now make: Hot chocolate stirrers
10.00am: Easy fudge
This super-simple fudge used half of my 250g block of butter (£1.69), a tin of condensed milk (£1.05) and store cupboard staples of sugar, milk and a pinch of salt.
The key here is to keep stirring – don’t allow yourself to get distracted. Just put some festive tunes on and give it your full attention while toe tapping. Leave the fudge to set in the fridge for as long as possible before slicing to get the best result. I cut mine in the early evening. It’s really creamy and sweet and, when you consider the price per bag was 30p, that’s a massive success, I’d say.
Portions: 9 (approx. 10 pieces in each bag)
Cost: £2.74
How to make it cheaper: There are so few ingredients here that it would be tough to make this one any cheaper.
If I wasn’t on a budget: I’d have divided the mix into batches and added more flavours – think chocolate, crushed biscuits or nuts – and maybe added some toppings, too.
Now make: Easy fudge
10.45am: Lemon curd
Using just four ingredients, this is a simple gift idea with an easy-to-follow recipe. Essentially, you take the zest and juice of four lemons (85p) and heat it with caster sugar and butter (I used the leftovers from the fudge) before mixing in the eggs (£1.35 for six, although I only used four). The result is thick, glossy and gloriously spreadable.
The fresh zest makes it stand out from regular shop-bought curd. When I let my chief tester try a spoon, they were really impressed by the fact it’s tangy but not sharp – quite the compliment from someone who isn’t a fan of lemon curd normally.
Portions: 2
Cost: £2.20
How to make it cheaper: By using smaller (and therefore cheaper) jars to get more portions.
If I wasn’t on a budget: I’d have made more – this stuff is delicious.
Now make: Lemon curd
12.00pm: Apple Chutney
After a quick washing up session to get my workstation under control, it was chutney time. Chutney is a great homemade gift: it lasts a year and works for sweet and savoury tastes. You just chuck all the ingredients in a pan (Bramley apples, £1.96; onions, 45p; garlic, 24p; ginger, 25p; sultanas 95p; distilled malt vinegar, 35p; muscovado sugar, £2.20 and dried chili flakes from the store cupboard) and cook for an hour, stirring occasionally. While this was doing its thing on the hob, I cracked on with the next recipe.
After I spooned this into sterilised jars, there was a little left in the pan which I deemed to be a chef’s perk. I tried it thinking it would need more time to mellow and mature in flavour but I was pleasantly surprised: it was already nicer than shop-bought.
Portions: 10
Cost: £6.60
How to make it cheaper: I stuck to the advised muscovado sugar but could have swapped to a cheaper golden caster sugar.
If I wasn’t on a budget: I wouldn’t have changed a thing – this was a great yield for well under £7.
Now make: Apple chutney
12.20pm: Chocolate truffles
Who doesn’t love a chocolate truffle? I bought two chocolate bars: fruit and nut (99p) and milk chocolate (99p, although I only needed half of that one). I melted them with butter (leftovers from the fudge again) and added warmed double cream (£1.05) until I had a glossy mix. It took an iron will (priceless) to not dive in with a spoon at this point.
After firming up in the fridge, I rolled it into balls and coated half in mixed nuts (£1.75 although I only used a quarter of the bag) and the rest in cocoa powder from my store cupboard. They were really creamy and the inclusion of the fruit and nut was definitely a good choice, adding a lovely texture to the truffles.
Portions: 4 (approx. 8 truffles each)
Price: £4.78
How to make it cheaper: I could have used absolute basic chocolate, sure. But for truffles I think the extra pennies were well spent on slightly better-quality bars.
If I wasn’t on a budget: I’d have used more varieties of chocolate and experimented a bit more with coatings.
Now make: Chocolate truffles
2.20pm: Christmas Shortbread
Boo! Hiss! I had to crack open another pack of butter. The good news is that the two other ingredients for these were from the store cupboard (hooray!). When it comes to biscuits, it really doesn’t get easier than shortbread – you beat butter and sugar together then mix in plain flour. Seriously – that’s it.
I added ground nutmeg, cinnamon and all-spice to mine for some warming festive flavour then after chilling (the biscuits, not me – I had an emergency tea towel wash to do at this point) I sliced it and baked. Buttery and crumbly, these ticked all the right boxes and the spice mix really took them to the next level.
Portions: 3 (six biscuits each)
Price: £1.69
How to make it cheaper: Because I had 50g leftover butter from my new block, I could have used it and also scaled up the quantities of sugar and flour to get more bang for my buck.
If I wasn’t on a budget: I’d have divided the basic shortbread mix into three and added different flavours to each, then maybe added some toppings, like melted chocolate.
Now make: Christmas shortbread
2.50pm: Roasted nuts
I put the unused nuts from the truffles recipe to work and added oil, yeast extract and honey from my store cupboard and roasted them to make fancy, nutty, twiglet-like treats. They’re a great option for savoury fans.
Portions: 2
Price: Nada
How to make it cheaper: Than no spend? Give me a break.
If I wasn’t on a budget: I’d have made more – two packets just wasn’t enough of these moreish bites.
Now make: Roasted nuts
4.00pm: Chocolate bark
I can’t abide waste (see previous grumblings about Christmas presents) and I still had 100g milk chocolate, three-quarters of a pack of white chocolate chips, some Christmas sprinkles and a few candy canes. So, I spread melted milk chocolate onto a baking tray, swirled melted white chocolate into it and added the toppings. After hunting in my cupboard, I added dried cranberries then let it set in the fridge before breaking into shards.
Portions: 6
Cost: Nothing
How to make it cheaper: See roasted nuts.
If I wasn’t on a budget: I would have gone fancier with the chocolate and used more toppings.
Now make: Chocolate bark
Would I do it again?
Absolutely. It was a much more enjoyable day than others I’ve spent zipping around countless stores in the cold or panic-scrolling through online retail sites for presents. Plus, I got lots more for my money – the total spend was £29.83.
If I upped the budget (we’ll see how Grinchy I’m feeling next year) I could make booze-based gifts like Christmas pudding vodka, Irish cream and Irish cream fudge, too.
Now comes the job of deciding who to give my 44 gifts too. Although, full disclosure, that number has diminished by this point. Well, someone had to test the results – right?
Originally published December 2023
