A New Year table is a single evening, and we spend two weeks walking around shops for it. Eight or ten people come, and each wants to find something of their own on the table: one wants olivier, another something hot, another just bread and cheese. The most common outcome is the same: the fridge is full until the first of January, and on the first and second everyone eats the same thing.

Let us count ahead of time. Below are the menu skeleton, grams per person and the order of shopping. There are no prices in the text, because they change every week: you will see the current shop offers in the live blocks.

The menu skeleton: five parts

A good table rests on five parts, and each needs one or two dishes. Starters and platter: cheese, cold cuts, pickles, vegetables. Salads: olivier and one lighter or fish one. The hot dish: one dish with a side. Dessert: a cake or baking and fruit. Drinks: wine, water, juices.

You do not need four dishes in every part. For a group of eight to ten, this is enough: two starters, two salads, one hot dish, one dessert. The rest is either not eaten or is eaten until Orthodox Christmas. Here is how to count it in grams.

How much per person: the kilo rule

For an evening of long sitting at the table you usually count about a kilo of food per person, everything together. Let us split it like this:

  • starters and platter: about a hundred grams;
  • salads: two to three hundred grams in total;
  • the hot dish with a side: about two hundred and fifty grams of meat or poultry and a hundred and fifty grams of the side;
  • dessert: about a hundred grams of cake or baking and a fruit or two;
  • bread: fifty to eighty grams;
  • drinks: a bottle of wine for every two or three guests and about a litre of water or juice per person.

For ten guests that is about ten kilos of food. It sounds like a lot, but once you divide it by dish everything becomes clear: two kilos of salads, two and a half kilos of meat, a kilo and a half of side and so on.

Olivier: how much to boil and buy

The classic salad for a group: about a hundred and fifty to two hundred grams per person. For ten people you need a kilo and a half to two kilos of finished salad. A kilo usually takes four medium potatoes, two or three carrots, four eggs, three pickled cucumbers, a tin of peas, about three hundred grams of boiled sausage or boiled chicken and a few spoons of mayonnaise.

It is best to boil the vegetables and eggs the evening before, cut them on the day and dress the salad an hour before the meal. That way it does not go soggy. What goes into the olivier basket and where the best offers are now:

What it costs: Olivier salad ingredients: where to buy them cheaper

The whole set at the best prices142.54 leiFound 5 of 7 items

Where to get the set

  • Kaufland5 of 7 itemsMost items
    147.20 leiMissing: Eggs, Pickled cucumbers
  • METRO5 of 7 items
    444.60 leiMissing: Eggs, Pickled cucumbers
  • Alvi Market3 of 7 items
    131.80 leiMissing: Potatoes, Carrots, Eggs, Pickled cucumbers
  • Rogob3 of 7 items
    162.80 leiMissing: Potatoes, Carrots, Eggs, Pickled cucumbers
The whole basket

Crab salad: light and quick

Take the second salad with a different taste: for example crab salad. It is made in fifteen minutes and has the advantage of needing no boiled vegetables. A kilo of salad takes two or three packs of crab sticks, a tin of sweetcorn, four eggs, a cucumber, a handful of rice and mayonnaise. Count a hundred and fifty grams per guest, or a hundred if olivier is on the table too.

Dress crab salad at the very last moment: the rice and cucumber give off water. Check the basket:

What it costs: Crab salad ingredients: where to buy them cheaper

The whole set at the best prices173.84 leiFound 5 of 6 items

Where to get the set

  • Kaufland4 of 6 itemsMost items
    122.85 leiMissing: Rice, Eggs
  • Nr13 of 6 items
    87.45 leiMissing: Rice, Eggs, Cucumbers
  • METRO3 of 6 items
    92.70 leiMissing: Crab sticks, Eggs, Cucumbers
  • Rogob2 of 6 items
    65.80 leiMissing: Crab sticks, Rice, Eggs, Cucumbers
The whole basket

The hot dish: meat or poultry

The hot dish is one, but a good one. Chicken, pork or a roasted knuckle are good because you put them in the oven and get on with your guests. Per person count about two hundred and fifty grams of raw bone-in meat or two hundred boneless, plus the side: potatoes, rice or roasted vegetables, about a hundred and fifty grams.

The hot dish for ten guests: three kilos of chicken or two and a half kilos of pork. Buy the meat three or four days ahead and put it straight in the freezer, then move it to the fridge a day before. What there is now in chicken:

In the catalogues now: chicken

All offers

Drinks: counting the bottles

We count wine like this: for ten people, if everyone drinks, four or five bottles over an evening that stretches across a few hours. But some will take water, some juice, so buy four bottles and one spare. A litre of water and juice per person is enough.

Buy drinks early: they do not spoil, and before the holiday the best-value ones run out. What there is now in wine:

In the catalogues now: wine

All offers

The shopping calendar

Two weeks ahead: wine, water, juices, tinned goods (peas, sweetcorn), oil, spices, napkins and disposable tableware if needed.

One week ahead: cheese, cold cuts, rice, mayonnaise, crab sticks, eggs, sweets.

Three or four days ahead: meat (into the freezer), potatoes, carrots, pickled and fresh cucumbers.

A day ahead: greens, bread, fruit, fresh vegetables for the platter, the cake if you buy one ready-made.

On the day itself: only what you forgot. If you forgot a lot, the list was badly made.

The ready-made New Year basket

When your list is ready, check it against the "New Year" basket. It is a set of products that people most often buy for the festive table, and it shows where each one is cheaper now:

What it costs: New Year table: what to buy and where it is cheaper

The whole set at the best prices330.60 leiFound 6 of 7 items

Where to get the set

  • Nr16 of 7 itemsMost items
    236.60 leiMissing: Eggs
  • Rogob5 of 7 items
    262.60 leiMissing: Mandarins, Eggs
  • Kaufland5 of 7 items
    403.35 leiMissing: Mandarins, Eggs
  • METRO5 of 7 items
    457.60 leiMissing: Mandarins, Eggs
The whole basket

The other fresh offers of the week are in the discounts and in the catalogues.

A checklist for the evening before

  • The vegetables and eggs for the salads are boiled, cooled and in the fridge.
  • The meat comes out of the fridge two hours before the oven.
  • The drinks are chilled, ice and glasses are ready.
  • The bread is sliced and covered with a towel.
  • The cake and dessert have their own place, not the middle of the fridge.
  • The leftovers have somewhere to go: the containers are washed and waiting.