How to make an affordable Quorn Christmas or roast dinner

How does Quorn compare?

Versatile, moreish, and full of flavour, our Quorn Roast is a real showstopper – perfect as the centrepiece of your Christmas dinner plate. Plus, at just £3.95, it’s 74% less than a small frozen turkey, which averages at £15.10.

The average price of a deliciously meat-free Christmas dinner, including a Quorn Roast and all the trimmings, is £21.95. So those who choose Quorn over a small frozen turkey could make a huge saving of £10.26 or 32%. Or, for an even merrier saving, a Quorn Christmas dinner is £29.45 or 57% cheaper than a traditional Christmas dinner with a large fresh turkey.

Roast dinner ingredients

To help you get an idea of costs, we’ve broken down all the essential roast dinner ingredients – including both meat and meat-free options – plus the extra trimmings that make up the ultimate festive feast. Prices are based on feeding a family of four (with leftovers):

• Large Turkey (frozen) £26.85
• Medium Turkey (frozen) £19.88
• Small Turkey (frozen) £15.10
• Large Turkey (fresh) £34.29
• Medium Turkey (fresh) £28.52
• Small Turkey (fresh) £17.67
• Pigs in blankets (meat-based) £3.20
• Quorn Roast £3.95
• Pigs in blankets (meat-free) £4.09
• Roast potatoes (pre-made) £2.64
• Maris piper potatoes (for roasting/mashing) £1.84
• Mashed potatoes (pre-made) £0.99
• Sprouts £1.02
• Parsnips £0.74
• Cauliflower cheese (pre-made) £2.52
• Carrots £0.51
• Broccoli £1.08
• Yorkshire puddings (pre-made) £1.92
• Stuffing mix £0.81
• Gravy granules £1.03
• Cranberry sauce £0.64

Calculations for food prices are based on our Christmas Dinner Cost Matrix and the average cost of ingredients purchased from the top online retailers according to Statista 2025 data: M&S Food, Tesco, Aldi, Sainsbury’s and ASDA. All prices are correct as of 19th November 2025. Prices may vary.

The Quorn Vegetarian Roast average price is based on in-market prices from Tesco, Sainsbury’s and ASDA, correct as of 19th November 2025. Retail pricing is at the sole discretion of the retailer and may vary.

Meat-free roast dinner ideas

Whether it’s a normal Sunday dinner or it’s Christmas Day, we have some delicious recipes for you.

• Quorn Festive Vegetarian Spiced Roast with all the Trimmings – Traditional Christmas meets veggie twist. This showstopper features a glazed Quorn Roast with all the festive favourites, including our version of sprouts in bacon.
• Quorn Roast Wellington – Ideal for a Sunday dinner or the big day itself, this Quorn Roast is wrapped in mushroom duxelles and puff pastry for a classic festive centrepiece.
• Quorn Beef Roast Dinner with Roasted Garlic Gravy – For the perfect meat-free roast, look no further than our Quorn Beef Roast Dinner, served with delicious garlic gravy.
• Quorn Honey Glazed Ham Roast – Whether you think ham belongs on the Christmas dinner plate or is best reserved for Boxing Day, this honey-glazed meat-alternative is sure to go down a treat.
• Cranberry and Orange Christmas Quorn Roast – Add some colour to your Christmas spread with this succulent centrepiece that makes the most of these festive fruits.
• Vegetarian Pigs in Blankets with Quorn Bacon and Cocktail Sausages – Fear not, this family favourite isn’t off-limits to vegetarians. Our meat-free recipe ticks all the boxes.

With a little bit of creativity, there are endless ways to use up your festive leftovers too. Go for a classic like bubble and squeak (traditional or our pie version) or even build the ultimate Christmas Dinner Sandwich.

How to save money on your Christmas dinner

Now you’ve got a selection of tasty recipes to inspire your next roast, it’s time to buy your ingredients and cook the meal itself. Luckily, there are ways you can save money on both:

How to get the best price on ingredients

Too Good to Go

Too Good to Go reveals that here in the UK, the manufacturing industry wastes 1.1 million tonnes of food – around 10% of the country’s annual food waste! Too Good to Go is an app that allows you to buy unsold food from businesses in the form of magic bags. These bags of food are sold at a fraction of the price they would have been if you picked them off the shelf. Available on Apple and Android devices, download the app to discover great food at a discount.

Approved Food

Food packaging sometimes has two dates on it: the ‘use-by’ date and the ‘best before’ date. The use-by date is the recommended date to have consumed the item by before it can turn bad, whereas the best before date is the time frame when the product will taste the best. You may have noticed an increasing number of supermarkets are removing these ‘best before’ dates on pre-packaged fresh fruit and veg, in an attempt to reduce food waste.

Approved Food specialises in selling a range of products at a discount, simply because they’ve passed this ‘best before’ date but are still safe to eat.

Odd Box

Odd Box creates boxes out of rescued vegetables and fruit to prevent them from going to waste. It focuses on tackling food waste on farms, as each year around 1.2 billion tonnes of fruit and veg are wasted at this stage of the food system.

The fruit and veg from Odd Box are perfectly fine, they may be just a bit of an odd shape or size. You could rescue up to 9 varieties of veg in each box you buy. Each box costs £17.99.

Wonky Veg Box

This company offers discounts on veg that doesn’t meet the aesthetic requirements of supermarkets – but still tastes great. A large box of ‘wonky’ veg can feed between three to five people, and costs £10.49. You can order a Wonky Veg Box to arrive each week or fortnight.

Supermarket loyalty programmes

In the UK there’s no shortage of supermarkets, and they all sell products at different prices. Be sure to sign up for their loyalty schemes where you can earn points and discounts when you shop. If you use these throughout the year, you may accumulate enough points and vouchers to get a nice discount on your Christmas shop.

How to save money when cooking

Cooking dinner is an unavoidable cost, but there are ways you can save. While some of the suggestions below may need a little investment, over time, they can be very rewarding.

Use an Air Fryer

An air fryer can be a cost-effective way to cook food. With a range of settings, including air fry and roast, it’s the perfect kitchen gadget to cook your festive veggies. You can chuck in your parsnips, carrots and roast potatoes – all the must-haves on a Christmas dinner plate!

Thanks to being a small compact cooking machine, an air fryer doesn’t require a lot of time to preheat, meaning you can use it for less time than an oven.

The cost of an air fryer compared to a standard no-fan oven works out at the following:

• Air Fryer: 39p per hour
• Oven: 78p per hour

Electricity costs are calculated using the UK Price Cap (October 2025) electricity rate of £0.26 per kWh (including VAT).

You can cook a turkey in an air fryer in 2.2 hours, which will cost around £0.85, depending on your make and model. An oven, by comparison, will take 3 hours and cost you £2.34 to cook a turkey. While you may have to initially pay extra to purchase an air fryer, with a saving of 64% in cooking costs, it could be a purchase worth serious consideration.

Plus, it’s not just veg and turkey that an air fryer can be used for. We also love our Air Fryer Christmas Wellington – an easy-to-make, festive centrepiece.

Use a slow cooker to prepare

While at first glance you may assume a slow cooker uses more power – as it’s on for hours – it’s actually a very cost-effective cooking method. Slow cookers cost 9p an hour to run and Uswitch estimates the average power usage is around 1.3 kWh over eight hours, a big difference to the average 2.2 kWh used by an oven over the same time. One of the best things about a slow cooker is that you can prep an entire meal. Why not check out our range of casserole and stew recipes to whip up the perfect dinner for the colder months?

Use your oven during off-peak hours

Some energy companies offer special rates and rewards for reducing energy usage at peak times. Check your tariff to see if your provider offers any financial incentives that you could work around. Off-peak hours can be cheaper, so bear that in mind when cooking your Sunday roasts or in the run up to Christmas when you’re keeping an eye on the pennies.

Aim to meal prep outside of these off-peak hours so you can get straight to cooking when the cheaper rates begin. While (inconveniently) off-peak hours are typically during the night, they can run until the early hours of the morning – so early birds could make a head start on the best rates.

Check out our range of vegetarian and vegan meal prep ideas.

Cook several dishes at once

One great way to save money when using your cooker is to cook multiple dishes at once, perfect for all those Christmas trimmings. Utilise space in the oven and cook several dishes at the same time to avoid having to pre-heat the oven time and time again. When using the hob, why not use a steamer with different layers to utilise space? You could also use a single ring to heat multiple pans.

Try to save on kitchen gadgets

There are a range of kitchen gadgets that can make cooking more affordable. If you have these – perfect! You can start cooking right away. But if you don’t have gadgets such as an air fryer, slow cooker or microwave, try and make the most of sales like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Boxing Day. Also, keep a lookout for when new models are released as the older ones will usually be reduced.

Ready to plan your next roast dinner or prep for your Christmas feast? We hope our tips and tricks will help you save this festive season! Check out our blog for the latest news and recipes and discover more tasty goodness from Quorn.

Check out three ways to make anyone love Brussels sprouts, our guide to hosting Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings or learn how to have a more sustainable Christmas.