My kids hated one part of Iceland’s £25 Christmas dinner in a box but I was surprised by the portion sizes

EVERYONE has been going mad over Iceland’s £25 Christmas dinner for four people in a box.

And with food prices soaring due to rising grocery inflation, I wanted to put it to the test.

New figures from the food analyst Quenelles found the cost of a turkey breast roll has soared by 83 per cent in the past five years.

Roast potatoes have risen in price by 72 per cent, pigs in blankets by 61 per cent and cranberry sauce by 41 per cent.

Last year, the Christmas dinner in a box from Iceland went viral and this year is no different.

I cooked the whole thing from start to finish so I could see how easy it is to cook, how much you get for the price and decide whether it really offers value for money.

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Some TikTok sceptics claim it would be cheaper to buy it all yourself but if you bought the exact same ingredients from Iceland, it tots up to £27.75 (and that’s with pigs in blankets on offer) so you are making a small saving of £2.75 – and you waste less time shopping.

The box is the same price as last year – with a brand new addition, pork, sage and onion stuffing balls.

It all comes in one gigantic box which is too big for the freezer so you’ll have to get it all out and put it away separately.

There are cooking instructions on the box but there’s also a handy sheet so you don’t need to keep it.

I was a bit disappointed that more couldn’t go in the air fryer as that would have been even easier.

Even a novice chef could whip up this feast

But the meal wasn’t hard to prepare – even novice cooks could master it.

The turkey goes in the oven first, taking two hours and ten minutes in total.

You only have to check it twice to remove foil and drain the little pot.

But otherwise, cooking the joint required minimal effort.

Also in the box were Luxury Perfect Beef Dripping Roast Potatoes, Maple Glazed Chantenay Carrots, 16 pork, onion and sage stuffing balls, sprouts and bacon, honey glazed parsnips, 12 pigs and blankets and a little pot of turkey gravy.

It was a bit of a juggle for the last 40 minutes getting everything in the oven or air fryer at the right time, but it was far easier than trying to do your own Christmas meal from scratch.

The stuffing and pigs and blankets were easily cooked in the air fryer.

All in all from getting the items out of the freezer to serving it on plates it took around two and a half hours.

But in that time I had a cup of tea and did some other chores, so it wasn’t a challenge.

Considering research has found a third of us spending five to six hours serving up turkey and all the trimmings, I was very happy.

Using this on Christmas Day would definitely allow for more time playing with the kids.

Iceland claims it serves four people but the 800g turkey did shrink a little during cooking and didn’t look as big as it did on Iceland’s lovely box.

Once carved though, everyone had at least two thick slices on their plate and it wasn’t a skimpy portion by any means.

The rest of the offerings were plentiful. It works out at just £6.25 per person.

Home-made roasties are always going to be best, but for those who are strapped on time or simply can’t cook – these are one of the best frozen bags you can buy and they’ve won countless awards.

The turkey meat was succulent with a nice flavour. It’s not as good as fresh, but in terms of value for money, I was happy.

The carrots had an appetising glaze, the parsnips were crispy and more-ish, the pigs in blankets were small but had a nice flavour with a delicious smoky bacon and I enjoyed the sprouts and bacon.

My biggest complaint is the stuffing which didn’t crisp up as much as I’d liked and my kids, Jacob, 11, Olive, eight, and Ivy, three, who’d usually lap up a stuffing ball, turned their noses up at these (although their tummies were full with pigs in blankets).

The turkey gravy was lovely – but there was nowhere near enough of it to go round four people.

And though the addition of Yorkshire puddings to a Christmas dinner is controversial – I’d definitely liked to have added some.

But all in all, it’s an impressive offering and I’m not at all surprised it has gone down well.

Posting on a money-saving Facebook page, one person described Iceland’s box as a ‘godsend’.

The box is excellent value for money with more than enough food for four hungry, festive diners.

And it’s a lifeline for those who can’t or don’t want to cook or are on a shoestring budget.