A THRIFTY Southampton mum has slashed the cost of Christmas dinner to just £3.40 per person this year – with enough leftovers to last weeks.

Savvy shopper Laura Light dished up the Christmas feast with all the trimmings for eight for just £26.88 which works out at £3.36 per head.

Laura cooked turkey wrapped in bacon, pigs in blankets, stuffing and roast potatoes, accompanied with red cabbage, carrots and Brussels sprouts - and made enough meals to fill her freezer for weeks from the leftovers.

She kept her costs low by shopping with online healthy food retailer MuscleFood.com and by ditching the supermarkets for discount retailers for any extras.

Christmas dinner cost breakdown:

  • Half Luxury Fresh Turkey Hen 3.4 kg - £15
  • 5 Unsmoked Streaky Bacon rashers -£1.10
  • 10 Pigs in Blankets - £2.50
  • 12 Sage and Onion Stuffing Balls - £2.50
  • 1.5kg roasting potatoes, 750g carrots, 500g Brussels sprouts, 600g whole red cabbage - £5.63
  • 3tsp of gravy granules 15p

Total £26.88 for 8 / £3.36 per head

She used the leftovers to cook up another 15 meals including turkey egg fried rice which worked out at 67p a head, turkey casserole at 90p a head and turkey korma at 63p a head.

Vegetable leftovers were put into a red cabbage, bacon and potato hash which worked out at just 42p a head, and other leftovers, including bacon and sausages, were used to make egg and bacon muffins for 38p each and sausage hotpot at 73p a head.

Laura has been feeding her husband Matthew and daughters Holly and Abigail frugally for years.

She says she has more than halved her food bill, seeing it drop from £360 per month to just £140.

She follows practical money save rules to keep costs down, like shopping with a list, meal planning and doing the majority of her weekly shop at the discount retailers.

For expensive times of year, like Christmas, Laura buys in advance and freezes when she can

Laura said: “I started shopping frugally when I was on maternity leave with Holly.

"Before she was born we were shelling out £90 a week on groceries but I was quickly able to cut that back.

"I started by buying own brand products at the supermarkets, which saved us a bit, but then gave the discount retailers a try.

"It was then that I saw my bill really drop.

“There are a few rules I always stick to when I’m buying groceries. I always meal plan in advance and never shop without a list.

"I buy exactly what I need to make those meals. I buy fruit and veg that is in season and freeze.

"I buy frozen vegetables too – this are great value for money and taste just as good.

“I always take a calculator when I’m shopping so know the running total and never shop when I’m hungry – a hungry shopper always fills the trolley with treats.”