The pressure to spend a fortune at Christmas grows every year and if you have a flock of expectant guests knocking at your door it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the expense of it all.

But a traditional Christmas celebration filled with fine food, seasonal treats and homemade gifts doesn’t have to send you into the red.

With a bit of clever purchasing and cooking you can make Christmas surprisingly cheap without cutting back on the festive cheer.

And the one thing you want to avoid on Christmas Day is stress, so planning and, where possible, preparing and cooking ahead, is definitely the way to go.

You want to spend as little time as possible chained to the stove while everyone else is enjoying presents and wine, so my advice is keep it simple.

With so-called discounters all the rage, we decided to see if they could match the luxury brands in serving up a Christmas feast at a fraction of the cost.

If you want a starter with a few canapés, Lidl offers a deluxe selection of six pates for just £3.99.

It includes venison with cognac, pork liver with red peppers and olives, quail with grapes, duck with figs, boar and chestnut and duck with truffle sauce. Spread out on toast and you can feed a multitude for pennies apiece.

Sitting down to a starter need not take hours of preparation and cost a fortune either.

Lidl has a salmon and prawn pastry stack that measures up well against more expensive products of a similar nature.

The true test of most Christmas meals will be the main course and though some suggest turning to the humble chicken to make savings, Lidl comes to the rescue with a traditional turkey at an affordable cost.

The Braemoor British turkey cooked perfectly and will feed as many as you want depending on the size you choose.

The ‘small’ version comes in at just £9.99 and will feed a large family with plenty left over for a chicken curry on Boxing Day.

Lidl comes into its own with puddings and chocolates.

Its Snowy Lodge mince pies and Christmas pudding regularly top taste tests ahead of all the main retailers and even the Fortnum and Masons of this world.

And they have a range of festive chocolates to finish off the meal in style with a cup of coffee. So with the addition of some potatoes and veg you can cook up a family feast fit for a king for under £30.

Not at all bad given that everything really does measure up in the quality department.