Christmas is upon us and most, having squandered the entirety of our loans long ago, will find it hard to spare enough cash to spend on presents or decorations, let alone hold an end of term Christmas dinner. If you are planning to host a dinner party, there is no need to empty your wallet in order to throw a successful seasonal soiree…

Mulled wine

This staple Christmas drink can also be very economical; quantities may be adjusted if you want to stretch it. This recipe will serve 10, or less, depending on how merry you wish to be.

Ingredients

Three bottles of red wine

Half a pint of apple juice

Half a pint of water

100g sugar

One cinnamon stick

Four or five cloves

One orange

One lemon

Place the wine, apple juice, water, sugar, cinnamon and cloves in a large saucepan and heat slowly, and without boiling, stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Meanwhile, squeeze the juice from one orange and one lemon and add to the wine. Slice the remaining orange and lemon then cut each slice into garnish size segments and add to the mixture.

Taste, add more sugar if needed and serve warm.

Stuffed Turkey Legs

In keeping with the traditional meat of the season, turkey leg is a great, and cheap, way to follow suit.

Ingredients

Four turkey legs

2kg sausage meat

Two apples

Two onions

Three eggs

Six slices of bread (for breadcrumbs)

250g parma ham

Peel and chop the onion and apple and mix with the breadcrumbs and sausage meat. Add the egg to bind.

Roll the mixture into a large sausage (or several smaller ones for tiny student ovens!) and then wrap around with parma ham.

Remove meat in large pieces from the turkey leg and wrap round parma ham and sausage meat and secure with oven-proof baking bands.

Cook in the oven at 200°c for 20 minutes, then turn down to 160°c for 90 minutes. Serve with roast potatoes and brussel sprouts.

Mince Pies

Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without these. You can get creative by cutting the covering pastry into different shapes.

Ingredients

500g block of frozen shortcrust pastry, thawed

350g mincemeat

Caster sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 200°C, roll out the pastry, cut out discs and use to line tart tins. From the remaining pastry, cut smaller discs for lids (you may have to re-roll the trimmings for this).

After cutting out the lids, use a small shaped cutter of your choice to cut out a shape from the lid so that when it is placed on the tart, the mincemeat is visible.

Fill each with 2 generous teaspoonfuls of mincemeat. Lightly moisten the undersides of the lids with water and use to top the tarts, pressing gently at the edges to seal.

With a skewer make a small steam hole in centre of tops. Brush with water, sprinkle with sugar and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Sprinkle again with caster sugar as they come out of the oven.

And some final tips:

Put effort into presentation to make anything you are serving a little more plush - a sprinkling of chopped fresh parsley, a drizzle of cream or a dusting of icing sugar is all that makes a big difference.

If you want to not only reduce the cost of your Christmas dinner but also make it a team effort, ask your guests to bring different dishes and drinks.

Double up your dinner as both a celebration and your Christmas gift to your guests.

Make use of your food, particularly meat which can be used for stock and those all important leftover turkey sandwiches.