Frugal Food

This week we bring you a fountain of cut-price champagne, new free snacks, and the restaurant deals that have survived the Christmas rush. We've also got two great new voucher codes, a fantastic '3 for 1' chocolate orange deal and an extensive mince pie taste test!

Welcome to Frugal food! Let's kick things off straight away with the best grocery deals around.

Best supermarket deals

This week, I'm going to start with the best deals in Sainsbury's. There's currently a 2 for 1 deal on several varieties of muffin, which means you can get eight muffins for £1.29.

350g of asparagus spears have been reduced from £2.99 to £1.49; and a range of Carte D'or ice creams (900ml) are half-price at £1.49, reduced from £2.99.

Tubes of Pringles have also been reduced, from £1.99 to 99p. And finally, one litre bottles of Filippo Berio extra virgin olive oil are still half price, down from £6.99 to £3.49.

At Tesco, you can still pick up lots of reduced Christmas treats, including Mr Kipling Christmas Pudding reduced from £5 to £2 and a big Tesco Finest Matured Christmas Pudding reduced from £10 to £5.

In the fruit and veg aisle, there are 2 for 1 deals on bags of oranges, bags of baking potatoes and 1kg bags of mixed seasonal veg.

400g packs of Pilgrims Choice mature cheddar are down from £3.99 to £2. Eight-packs of wild Alaskan salmon fillets are right down from £10 to £4.50; and there's a good 2 for 1 deal on multi-packs of Hula Hoops, which means you get 12 25g bags for £2.18.

Over at ASDA, you can get this 454g Classic Christmas Pudding for just £1 (reduced from £2.18). You can also pick 1.2kg of Heinz Tomato Ketchup for £2 (reduced from £2.95).

Morrisons is running some great 3 for 1 deals, including three Terry's Chocolate Oranges for £2.36, and three boxes of Cadbury's Chocolate Fingers for £1.39. These offers are only available until 20th December; and stocks are likely to run out quickly, so you'll need to move fast!

LIDL just beats fellow deep discounter ALDI to the post when it comes to cheap Christmas dinner veg: LIDL is currently selling 1kg of carrots for 29p, 500g of parsnips for 29p, 1kg of sprouts for 39p and 2.5kg of potatoes for 49p.

And don't forget, Lidl mince pies recently won the lovemoney.com mince pies taste test, despite coming in cheapest at just 12.4p a pie. Find out more

And finally, Somerfield has several good half-price deals on treats, including Cadbury's biscuit selection packs reduced from £5 to £2.50, and 900g jars of Nestle Quality Street reduced from £9.50 to £4.50.

There are sometimes much better deals on offer at street markets and independent shops than there are at the supermarkets. Unfortunately, their local nature makes it impossible for us to cover them properly here.

If you've come across a great food deal at your local market, please do leave a comment at the bottom of the article letting us know. That way, fellow readers in your local area can take advantage of the offer you've flagged up. Thanks!

Tipple

At Tesco, you can now get bottles of Andre Carpentier Brut Champagne for just £10, reduced from £23.99. The offer runs until Christmas Day, but stocks expected to run out fairly quickly.

ASDA is selling bottles of Pierre Darcys Non Vintage Brut Champagne for £10, reduced from £23.98.

ASDA is also still offering 700ml bottles of Bushmills Original Irish Whiskey for £12.46, down from the (admittedly crazy) original price of £29.76.

And in-store at Marks & Spencer, you can pick up bottles of Louis Chaurey NV for £12.99 (reduced from £25.99). This offer ends 31st December.

Best restaurant deals

Christmas is now poking its head around the corner - and this year's best restaurant deals are almost gone. However, there are still a few good ones to take advantage of.

As always, the newest deals appear at the top of the table.

Restaurant	Deal	When valid	Need to know
La Tasca	Lunch for two for £10 when you register here and print the voucher.	Every Sunday to Friday before 5pm.	La Tasca reserves the right to withdraw this offer at any time. Only valid on specific menu.
Domino's	Get £10 off a £25 spend when you use the code KRPQNLWH online.	All day, every day until 20th December	Only valid with online orders. After placing your order, type in the code in the 'forgotten anything' section.
Crown Carveries	Get a two-course carvery meal for £5.	Every Monday to Saturday until 31st December.	Meal includes meat, vegetables, Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, trimmings and dessert. This is an in-restaurant offer - full details here.

Cut price snacks

If you're a girl (or boy!) who buys glossy women's magazines, you could bag yourself a free snack. In 15th December's edition of Woman's Own magazine, you'll find a voucher for a free Ugo's Deli Café Panini (worth around £2.29).

The voucher is valid until 29th December, and can be used in participating retailers including Sainsbury's, Morrisons, the Co-op, Somerfield and selected Waitrose. As usual, just make sure you read all the terms and conditions carefully.

To track down free snack and drink samples, have a root through the food, drink and recipes section of the Bob's Free Stuff forum. If it's edible and free, it's likely to be posted there!

Voucher codes

You can currently get free delivery when shopping online for ASDA groceries and spending over £50. Just enter the code M32NDWKR after you've entered your payment details at the check-out.

You'll have to act fast, however, as the code is only valid on grocery orders checked out before 10pm on 18th Dec.

You can get 10% off when you shop online at Planet Organic and use the code JD72YQP at the check-out. This offer is valid until 31st December. Using this code means you can also get free delivery on orders over £15 (rather than the usual £30).

Finally, you can still save £10 on your first online order with Tesco, as long as you spend £50 or more. Just enter the code XX-PD96 at the checkout.

This code expires on 31st December, and you can find out more about it here.

Voucher code promotions tend to be withdrawn quickly. If you've missed out on these, you can use the following websites to track down new voucher codes as and when they come up:

And finally... frugal Christmas dinner!

Check out our original recipes for a Frugal Christmas dinner, by lovemoney.com's very own chef-in-residence, Paul Warburton:

The starter: Smoked mackerel pate on crostini and red onion confit. Cost: £1.14 per person.

The main: Roasted pheasant with garlic and bacon, caramelised sprouts, rosemary roasts, bread sauce and peach, sausage and thyme stuffing. Cost: £4.52 per person.

Alternatively, a vegetarian main: Portobello mushroom, port and stilton wellington. Cost: £1.79 per person.

The dessert: Lemon tart with fresh vanilla mascarpone Cost: £1.21 per person

Yum!

More: 10 things you can get for free this Xmas | Seven steps to a frugal Xmas lunch

Every effort is made to source voucher codes which are valid at the time this article is published. However, please be aware that lovemoney.com cannot guarantee that every voucher will be valid or that it will not be withdrawn by the provider immediately.