How to Spend It Well at Christmas with Phillip Schofield

Food and Drink (3x3)

Air date: Dec 17, 2019

In this final episode, Phillip will be tucking into this year’s food and drink offerings to help you make your Christmas dinner dazzle without breaking the bank. Last year British shoppers bought 14 million bottles of fizz over the festive season. There is a lot of snobbery around sparkling wine, so can the champagne lovers from the Real Housewives of Cheshire tell the difference when all the labels are removed from £10 and under bottles and which will they crown the best on taste? Can a pre-prepared and pre-cooked turkey crown ever taste better than a turkey lovingly cooked from scratch? A proud home cook who spends four hours preparing food on Christmas day takes on her husband, who will be serving all pre-prepared food to eight strangers to blind taste test, and there are surprising results on taste and price. This year there are a raft of retro-inspired kitchen gadgets on the market and Sophie Ellis-Bextor and her mum Janet test out the modern day takes on some much loved 70s products, from the Sodastream to the tea maker. Phillip and wife Steph get into the spirit of Christmas, taking on each other to see who can make the best DIY gin from homemade kits with Matt Tebbutt judging their efforts. Matt is also on hand to offer advice on getting the most for your money when it comes to the Christmas cheeseboards. And he tests Phillip and Steph’s taste buds with this year’s big trend of flavoured cheese. Christmas pudding remains the nation’s favourite Christmas desert; however, younger people are less likely to buy it. Phillip goes to Henley to taste test some of the best supermarket and high-end puddings with the Henley Women’s Institute and some young locals. This Christmas one in five of us will be hosting a vegan or vegetarian person and the supermarkets are full of options, but which is good enough for the Christmas table? Some vegetarians and meat lovers will be judging what you should buy. Phillip tests some of the more unusual kit