1. Make a list and a budget, and stick to it. Calculate carefully the number of guests and shop accordingly, using online calculators to determine your shopping quantities. For example: don't buy a whole round of Stilton when a chunk will do.

2. Factor in a few nights of leftover meals (soups, salads, curries, stir-fries, pies, wraps etc), which will save you time and effort after the big day. Remember that a stomach's capacity does not increase just because it is Christmas Day, and plan for reasonable portion sizes. See Gordon Ramsay's creative ideas for leftover meals and how to make the most out of your turkey and how to carve a turkey.

3. Ask everyone to bring a dish. Be specific and play to people's strengths. Even the most undomesticated can contribute cheese, nuts, pudding or wine. If they won’t participate, they don’t have the Christmas spirit. Or if your guests live within walking distance, mobilise Christmas Day lethargy with a "lunch safari" eating one course at each house.

4. Substitute expensive luxury ingredients with quality but cheaper alternatives. Try vintage cava or prosecco sparkling wines instead of champagne, smoked trout instead of smoked salmon, and keta (bright orange salmon eggs available from The Fish Society) in place of caviar.

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5. Cut back on bought table decorations - use your own foraged sprigs of holly - and invest the savings in food. Who needs duff cracker jokes, santa napkins and party poppers? Have a competition for the children to make the best party hat from wrapping paper, and tell your own jokes.

6. Consider making homemade food as gifts. As well as biscuits, cakes and fudge in festive boxes and tins, lemon curd, prunes in Armagnac and spiced cranberry sauce, lovingly wrapped in jars with homemade labels and tied with string, have a wow factor which won’t have anyone questioning the cost.

7. Avoid packaged starters and nibbles if you can – it’s easy to make your own canapes (though fiddly and time consuming so be sure to put aside enough time). Try sausages on a stick, mini oatcakes with chicken liver pate sprinkled with pomegranate seeds, roast baby peppers stuffed with soft cheese and bite-size bits of spinach and ham tortilla.

8. Stock up early on non-perishables and catch a deal: several delivery box schemes are offering discounts on selected festive items, and Wine Rack has online vouchers for 40 per cent off all wines and champagnes until December 2. Many supermarkets are running pre-Christmas promotions - Co-Op and Marks & Spencer have half-price champagne; or be brave and risk Christmas Eve mark-downs for last-minute bargains.

9. Challenge your shopping list. Will you ever eat those tangerines, and does anyone actually like walnuts? Carefully consider whether you need those large trays of nuts, or pre-packaged cheeseboards. Make a careful and more limited selection instead, perhaps making your own caramelised spiced nuts and mulled wine.

10. For more recipes and tips visit Fiona Beckett's Frugal Cook online resource: thefrugalcook.blogspot.com. Or the excellent mysupermarket.co.uk works like an ordinary online supermarket. You fill your trolley with stuff, but, brilliantly, it then works out whether you’d be better off shopping at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Ocado (Waitrose) or Asda, based on what you’re buying. The differences can be startling.

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