FESTIVE FOOD
LUXURY Christmas food items are on sale on Britain’s high streets for vastly different prices – yet they come from the same suppliers.
Posh treats such as Stilton cheese, smoked salmon and air-dried charcuterie which originate from comparable sources can cost up to twice as much from one store to another.
And even the price tags on basic items such as turkeys and puds vary widely.
Budget supermarkets Aldi, Lidl and Iceland have previously been noted for products like cut-price lobsters, cheap steaks and discounted French wines.
But this festive season they are going a step further by competing with top-end products at a fraction of the price.
A Sunday Mirror investigation identified 10 examples which could save you nearly £100 this Christmas.
Our probe found a 200g pack of smoked salmon, flavoured in gin and tonic, on sale in the food hall of up- market department store Selfridges for £11.99.
The fish is hand-treated by East Londonbased family firm H. Forman & Son, the oldest smokehouse in the country.
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But the same 111-year-old firm is also the supplier for Aldi’s Exquisite Scottish smoked salmon in gin and tonic.
A 100g pack of that costs just £3.99 - equivalent to a saving of £4 on two.
The smokehouse also supplies posh Northern chain Booths with hand-sliced smoked salmon priced at £45 for 900g.
But Costco, the membership warehouse chain, offers a bigger 1200g pack of H. Forman’s salmon for £34.99, which works out at £2.10 cheaper per 100g.
When it comes to fancy cheese, Long Clawson Dairy in Leicestershire is one of only six in the world which can make Stilton due to its protected status.
The dairy is the supplier for Waitrose’s Christmas Freshly Crumbed Smooth Stilton Jar, priced at £6 for a 200g pot.
But cheese from the same dairy is also on sale at Lidl, as Deluxe Long Clawson Blue Stilton, at £3.79 for a bigger 225g pot.
That means an overall saving of £2.21, equal to £1.36 per 100g.
The centuries-old art of maturing cheese in caves has been revived at Wookey Hole in Somerset, thanks to its perfect yearround temperature and humidity. A 600g Supplier: Iceland:
Harrods: Saving: Supplier: Lidl: Waitrose: Saving: (plus extra 25g)