Christmas dinner on a budget created by chef Tom Kerridge and Man Utd’s Marcus Rashford

The Big Issue is on a mission. We want to save you as much money as possible and still make sure that on Christmas Day you have an enormous feast.  

Christmas dinner should leave your family full and give you plenty of leftovers for a lazy Boxing Day. But to do all of that on a budget in a cost of living crisis? It’s tricky, but we’re up for it. 

We teamed up with top chefs to give you ideas for the perfect Christmas dinner on a budget.

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Tom Kerridge, a celebrity chef known for his pub classics, tells us: “Christmas can be a really difficult time. The financial stress of having to choose between heating and eating and making sure the kids have the presents they want, can be overwhelming.

“Add to that the pressure of cooking a full-blown Christmas turkey with the trimmings and it’s easy to see how the festive period can turn into quite a dark time for people.” 

• How much more expensive is Christmas dinner this year in the cost of living crisis?
• How to make Christmas dinner for the whole family for just £20

Alongside footballing star Marcus Rashford, Kerridge launched Full Time Meals – they share budget-friendly recipes for families on their Instagram @fulltimemeals. They’ve kindly shared some budget Christmas dinner recipe ideas with The Big Issue which will ensure a slap-up meal without breaking the bank.

Kerridge says: “I’ve created a couple of recipes to help take some of the stress and expense out of Christmas cooking with my Full Time Meals festive dishes. Designed to be filling, easy to cook and budget friendly, I hope they help take some of the pressure off people this Christmas and that they can enjoy cooking them with family and friends.”

Christmas doesn’t have to be about how much cash you spend. It’s all about the people you share it with.  Merry Christmas from The Big Issue! 

Recipe for Christmas dinner on a budget

Christmas turkey roll with stuffing and traybake veggies – serves 4-6

Cooking Christmas dinner may seem complicated and scary, but we’ve made this one super simple. It’s really tasty, full of veggies and you don’t need to be in the kitchen all day. And if you need to swap out any of the ingredients that’s fine too. 

Ingredients

Turkey Roll

• 600g packet turkey breast steaks 
• Zest of half an orange 
• 2 large pinches of gravy granules 
• 1 pinch of ground pepper 

Stuffing

• 400g packet sausage meat 
• 1 packet of sage and onion stuffing (look out for the 85g pack) 

Vegetables 

• 8 x potatoes, peeled and halved 
• 2 large parsnips, peeled, cut into chunks 
• 8 x medium carrots, topped and split lengthways 
• 6 tbsp vegetable oil 
• Pinch of salt (optional) 
• 400g Brussels sprouts, halved 
• 1 savoy cabbage, sliced roughly 

Gravy 

• 4 tbsp low salt gravy granules 

Method 

• Preheat oven to 190°C 

• Put a large sheet of Cling Film onto a chopping board, lay the turkey steaks onto the Cling Film sheet, so they slightly overlap each other. Lay a second sheet of Cling Film over the top of the turkey steaks, then with a saucepan, bash out and flatten the turkey to make a large rectangle sheet of turkey meat. 
• In a mixing bowl, combine the sausage meat and dry stuffing mixture. Stir until the stuffing is evenly mixed. 
• Peel off the top layer of the Cling Film from the turkey sheet, grate the orange zest and sprinkle some gravy granules over the top. 
• Arrange the sausage stuffing approx. 1cm from the edge of the turkey sheet, so that it’s like a long even sausage log. This is a bit like making a sausage roll but with turkey rather than pastry. 
• Once the sausage mix is laid out, season, then fold one edge of the cling film over the sausage filling and then roll it up completely. Tie off the ends and pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour to firm up.
• While the turkey roll is resting, peel and cut the potatoes, parsnips and carrots. Put them on a baking tray, drizzle with vegetable oil and season if required. Put into the oven for 10 minutes. This will start to cook them and heat the oil. 
• Take your baking tray out of the oven, toss the veggies in the hot oil again and then move them to the edges of the dish, allowing room for the turkey roll. 
• Remove the turkey from its wrapping and lay in the middle of the baking tray. Put in the oven to roast for 1 hour. 
• While the turkey and veggies are roasting, put 600ml of water into a saucepan and bring to the boil. With a fork whisk in the gravy granules and simmer for a minute or so. This will be used to brush onto the turkey as a glaze as well. 
• 15 minutes before the hour is up, brush the turkey roll with a little gravy. This will roast up nicely giving it a lovely finish. 
• Pop the turkey roll back in the oven for the remaining 15 minutes. 
• Put a frying pan onto the stove with a little splash of oil on a medium heat. 
• While the pan is heating up, cut your sprouts into quarters then add them to the pan and fry them off for about 2 to 3 minutes. Don’t stir them, just let them cook through so they brown slightly. Add the sliced cabbage on top and fry both for roughly 8 minutes. Stir them gently to help them steam through. 
• When ready, turn off the heat and put them to the side while the turkey finishes off. 
• Cover the turkey with foil and leave it to rest for about 5 minutes.
•  Carve the turkey roll and serve with the spuds, veggies and loads of gravy.     

More recipes for Christmas dinner on a budget

• How to make Sandro Farmhouse’s Christmas cookies on a budget
• Cheap Christmas dinner idea with turkey, stuffing, sprouts and pigs in blankets
• Christmas dinner on a budget: BOSH! recipe for the perfect roast potatoes
• Budget Christmas dinner side dish: Dan Pelosi’s creamy caulifower skillet
• Christmas dinner on a budget: Tom Kerridge’s turkey meatloaf traybake