Brits avoid dining out for Christmas due to anticipated cost

It seems that many Brits are hosting Christmas at home in an attempt to keep costs down, however, when comparing the price of a home-cooked meal versus a restaurant bill, new research shows that the costs per-family are roughly the same.

Catering company Nisbets surveyed 1,000 UK residents* and found that two million of us will be dining out this Christmas Day, with a huge 90% of us choosing to stay in and cook ourselves. This is despite post-dinner washing up being most disliked part of Christmas Day (32%) and nearly half (45%) of home-cooks facing some sort of family feud.

Over a third of Brits (35%) avoid dining out on Christmas Day as they believe the cost to be too expensive. So just how do the costs of home cooking versus dining out compare?

When the prices of ingredients for a Christmas Dinner for two adults and three children (including a starter of soup and prawn cocktail, a dessert selection, cheese and a bottle of prosecco) were tallied**, the cost adds up to £135, or £27 per person.**

When analysing the price of a three-course meal with a bottle of prosecco in three pubs across the UK (excluding London), the average price for a family of five totalled £164, or £32.80 per person. Dining out was also revealed to come with the added benefit of choice; with diners able to pick from an average of five starters, five main courses and three desserts.

For just an extra £30; the analysis by Nisbets showed that families of five could avoid worrying about spending their day, prepping, cooking, or doing the washing up.

Families with different dietary requirements could even save money by dining out, as there would be no need to fork out on different starters, mains and desserts for those who are vegan (up to an extra £40) or Gluten free (up to an extra £30).

Of those already converted to dining out, the most popular reasons for doing this were:

• Less hassle (22%)
• Family members with different dietary requirements can have different meals (22%)
• Fewer arguments (16%)