Where things stand on 9 November 2026: COOK, Riverford, Abel & Cole and Field & Flower have their Christmas ranges online and are taking orders. HelloFresh still shows a Christmas box page, but it carries no year and we could not confirm a 2026 box. Gousto, Green Chef and Mindful Chef have announced nothing for Christmas yet. We update this page as that changes.
A Christmas food box gets the big meal to your door in one delivery, so you skip the supermarket in the last week before Christmas. There are three kinds, and they suit different people. A ready-made dinner arrives cooked and frozen, and you only heat it. A cook-it-yourself box or kit sends the ingredients and recipes, like a normal recipe box. A meat order is just the turkey or joint, plus trimmings if you want them.
Christmas food boxes 2026: every UK option at a glance
| Provider | What you get | Price | Ordering and delivery | Subscription? | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COOK | Frozen Christmas dinner, heat and serve. Also turkey, beef, lamb and veggie mains on their own | Dinner for 2 £45.50, for 4 £82.50, for 8 £147.50, for 12 £220 | Edit your order until midnight on 17 December | No | Live |
| Riverford | Organic turkey and other meat, festive recipe kits, veg boxes | Turkey from £35 (breast joint, feeds 2 to 3) to £155 (XL, feeds 14 to 15); kits £7.95 to £25 | Dates depend on your usual delivery day, delivery free | No | Live |
| Abel & Cole | Organic Christmas Feast box with turkey, to cook yourself | £240, serves 8 | Delivered on 22 December, pre-order now | No, one delivery | Live |
| Field & Flower | Free-range turkey, meat and fish for Christmas | Per product | Order by midnight on Friday 11 December, delivery 19 to 24 December (24th London only) | No | Live |
| HelloFresh | Turkey or beef Christmas dinner box to cook yourself | Page says from £16 a serving | Page says order from 19 October, delivery 22 December | Page says one-off | Not confirmed for 2026 |
| Gousto, Green Chef, Mindful Chef | Festive recipes on the weekly menu in previous years | Normal box price | Normal weekly delivery | Yes | Nothing announced yet |
Prices and dates were checked on each provider’s own website on 9 November 2026. Christmas delivery slots fill up, and several providers close days early once they are full.
COOK: a frozen Christmas dinner you only heat up
COOK is the option for anyone who does not want to cook on the day at all. The Christmas dinners come frozen and in sizes for 2, 4, 8 or 12 people. Per person that works out at £22.75 for two and drops to £18.33 for twelve. There is also a veggie dinner for two (£43.50) and a vegan one (£34.50).
If you only want the centrepiece, COOK sells mains on their own: a stuffed turkey crown for eight at £70, a turkey breast for two at £16.50, a beef wellington for six at £100 and a turkey and duck crown at £100. COOK opened its Christmas delivery slots in October and you can change your order until midnight on 17 December. There is no subscription. Because everything is frozen, you can take delivery well before Christmas and keep it in the freezer, as long as you have the space. For COOK’s everyday range, see our comparison of ready meal services.
Riverford: organic turkey, trimmings and festive recipe kits
Riverford has the widest Christmas shop of the recipe box brands: 177 products on 9 November, from turkeys to cheese and puddings. Turkeys run from a breast joint for two to three people at £35 to a whole XL bird for 14 to 15 at £155. A turkey crown for 9 to 10 costs £125.
The festive recipe kits are the interesting part if you like cooking. They work like a Riverford recipe box, one dish per kit. Examples are a Christmas veggie wellington for six (£19.95), a vegan pithivier for two (£15) and a sticky toffee pudding for eight (£12). Your Christmas delivery dates depend on your usual Riverford delivery day, delivery is free and you do not need a subscription. You do need an account and a postcode Riverford delivers to. For the everyday prices, see what Riverford costs.
Abel & Cole: an organic Christmas Feast box for eight
Abel & Cole sells its Christmas dinner as one box: the organic Christmas Feast with turkey, for eight people, at £240. That is £30 a head, more than COOK, but you cook it yourself from organic ingredients. Delivery is on 22 December and you can pre-order now. Abel & Cole also lists other feast boxes, but on 9 November we could only confirm the price of the turkey box. Its current new-customer offer excludes the Christmas boxes.
Field & Flower: free-range meat with an early deadline
Field & Flower is a meat box company, so this is the turkey and the joint, not the whole meal. Watch the date: you have to order or change your Christmas order by midnight on Friday 11 December, and Field & Flower may close delivery days earlier once they are full. You pick a delivery day from Saturday 19 to Thursday 24 December; Christmas Eve is only for London postcodes. A Christmas delivery charge also applies to subscription orders in that week.
HelloFresh: a Christmas box page, but no 2026 date
HelloFresh still has a page for its Christmas Dinner Box: turkey (a crown for 4 to 6 people, a whole bird for 8 to 10) or beef, with sides and pudding, from £16 a serving. The page says you order from 19 October and the box arrives on 22 December. It does not say which year, and the same dates appeared in earlier years. We could not confirm that a 2026 box can be ordered, so check on HelloFresh’s site before you plan around it. For the normal weekly boxes, see our HelloFresh guide.
Gousto, Green Chef and Mindful Chef: nothing announced yet
None of the three had a Christmas page on 9 November 2026; Gousto’s and Mindful Chef’s Christmas addresses return a 404. Last year Gousto and Green Chef added festive recipes to the regular weekly menu rather than selling a separate Christmas box. If you already have a subscription, that is worth waiting for. If you do not, it is not a reason to sign up now.
Restaurant Christmas kits: Dishpatch
Not in our comparison, but worth knowing about if the budget allows: Dishpatch sells Christmas kits from restaurants and well-known chefs, finished at home. On 9 November the Christmas collection ran from £80 to £250. Examples are a salmon wellington for two from Rick Stein at £115 and a beef wellington banquet for four from Michel Roux at £250. Delivery costs £6. We have no commercial relationship with Dishpatch.
When do you need to order your Christmas box?
- Friday 11 December, midnight: last day to order or change Field & Flower Christmas orders.
- Thursday 17 December, midnight: last day to change a COOK Christmas order.
- Tuesday 22 December: Abel & Cole delivers the Christmas Feast box.
- Riverford: depends on your usual delivery day, so check your account for the Christmas cut-off.
Ordering early matters more than the deadline itself. Every provider here limits Christmas slots, and Field & Flower and COOK both say days can close before the official cut-off.
What about your normal recipe box over Christmas?
If you have a weekly subscription, look at your deliveries for the weeks of 21 and 28 December now. A box that lands on Christmas Eve while you are away is money wasted. Gousto, HelloFresh, Green Chef and Mindful Chef all let you skip a week in your account, as long as you do it before that week’s cut-off. Our guides explain how each recipe box subscription works.
Frequently asked questions about Christmas food boxes
Which food box companies do a Christmas box in 2026?
On 9 November 2026: COOK (frozen Christmas dinners), Riverford (turkey, trimmings and festive recipe kits), Abel & Cole (organic Christmas Feast box) and Field & Flower (free-range meat). HelloFresh has a Christmas box page without a year. Gousto, Green Chef and Mindful Chef have announced nothing yet.
Do you need a subscription for a Christmas box?
No, not for any of the live options. COOK, Riverford, Abel & Cole and Field & Flower all sell their Christmas ranges as a one-off order. Riverford does ask you to create an account.
What does a Christmas dinner box cost?
A complete Christmas dinner costs roughly £18 to £30 a person. COOK’s frozen dinner is £18.33 to £22.75 a head depending on the size, and Abel & Cole’s organic Feast box is £30 a head for eight. Buying only the turkey is cheaper: Riverford’s start at £35 for a breast joint for two to three.
Can I get a Christmas dinner delivered ready to eat?
Ready to heat, yes. COOK’s Christmas dinners arrive cooked and frozen, and you heat them in the oven. The restaurant kits from Dishpatch are mostly prepared, with some finishing at home. Everything else on this page you cook yourself.
More to read
- Recipe boxes in the UK compared: normal prices, box sizes and delivery for every weekly box.
- Ready meal delivery compared: COOK and the other prepared meal services outside Christmas.
- Organic veg boxes compared: Riverford, Abel & Cole and Oddbox.
- All current food box discount codes, checked monthly.
