A SAVVY chef has revealed how to craft a full, slap-up Christmas dinner fit for a family – for less than £20.
TikToker Meals by Mitch stunned his viewers as he documented his entire process from start to finish, revealing he’d bagged a whole chicken, veg and all the sides for just £19.44.
Mitch relied on his local Aldi store in Walsall, West Midlands for the ingredients for his incredible feast, which left viewers praising the proud Wolverhampton local for “doing more than the Government”.
The clip begins with Mitch layering vegetables into a baking tray whilst offering commentary, saying: “I’m using chicken but just buy what you can afford, there ain’t no pressure to have some mad banquet.
“We’re going to start by grabbing a baking tray and dashing in one onion, one carrot, two sticks of celery and a little bit of thyme and rosemary.
“Drizzle over some salt and pepper as this is going to be a baste for the gravy.”
The talented cook then places his bird down on the tray and quickly works up a butter and herb mixture which he gently places inside the chicken before working the body.
He offers advice as to how best to prepare the chicken, saying: “You just want to take good care of your bird now.
“Salt and pepper all over, work your fingers underneath the skin, push in the butter, massage the breasts and spread the rest.”
Mitch then places a couple of sliced lemons into the chicken to add additional flavour to the meat, before placing the bird into the oven for an hour and 45 minutes and setting to work on his sides.
The content creator says: “Peel and chop up the spuds, divide them into two portions – half for the roasties and half for the mash and add cold salted water and bring half to a boil.
“When tender drain them off and let them dry, I’ve heated up some vegetable oil for 15 minutes, get the cold spuds on there and coat them in the oil and whack it in the oven for half an hour.”
It is not all stress whilst prepping the meal as once the potatoes are in, Mitch advises the viewer that the pressure is off and now is time for a quick festive beer or glass of fizz.
The chicken has finished cooking and Mitch advises removing the wings and wrapping the bird up to let it rest.
He then shows how to make a gravy that he claims is so good you’ll want to “bathe in it” – adding it’s like liquid gold.
The Midlands masterchef talks through how best to prepare all the side dishes, advising that if you have followed him then it should all be ready around the same time.
Mitch then plates the food before panning a camera over the top of the meal and saying: “Just look at the absolute state of that.
“All of that lot for under £20 – Christmas dinner done on the cheap and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Mitch shared the video to social media last week with the caption: “Christmas dinner done on the cheap.
“£20 all in and will do 5-6 whopper portions, I beg you don’t feel under loads of pressure to spend a fortune on Christmas dinner to have some crazy banquet.
“It doesn’t have to cost a fortune, live to your means and if you can only afford sausage and mash then that is fine. No pressure whatsoever.”
His post received over 120,000 likes with over 1,500 comments from social media users who were loving the advice.
Wahida Hamid said: “Oh my God wow I love this, I want it.”
Luke O’Neill said: “Looks banging for that price mate, well done. This would help a lot of hard-up folks this year.”
Sam Morrell said: “This looks insane.”
Aaron Hunt said: “Quality stuff mate.”
Alanna Clark said: “All supermarkets are doing veg soon for less than 20p per bag, good time to stock up and get them in ready for Christmas dinner.”
According to Statista, Aldi has been found to be the cheapest supermarket to get Christmas dinner from, costing on average £33.80 – just four pence less than German counterpart Lidl.
The most expensive food retailer is Waitrose with the average cost of Christmas dinner retailing at £52.68 according to Statista.
