With Christmas fast approaching, it’s definitely time to start planning your food for the occasion, which for many means writing a Christmas supermarket shopping list. A period synonymous with busy aisles, Christmas music blaring from store speakers and tussles over the last pack of maris pipers, it’s best to plan your shop to last you and aim for off-peak shopping times like early mornings or evenings.
You can take the hassle out of hosting by pre-ordering supermarket Christmas food to be delivered to your door. But no matter how organised you are, a last-minute dash to the supermarket on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day is almost inevitable — whether it’s for forgotten carrots or just a pint of milk. To avoid rocking up to shut store doors, here are the opening times of every UK supermarket over the Christmas and New Year period. It’s also always best to check your local branch as opening hours differ between locations and store size.
If this sounds like a nightmare before Christmas, there’s still time to order food for Christmas and we’ve rounded up the best festive food options across M&S, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and more, including more budget options. We’ve also done the hard work for you with dedicated guides to choosing your Christmas turkey and finding this year’s best supermarket mince pies and best supermarket mulled wine – all rigorously blind taste-tested.
To help you plan, here are supermarket opening times from Christmas Eve (Wednesday, 24 December) to New Year’s Day (Thursday, 1 January):
Tesco
- Christmas Eve: 6am to 7pm (Express stores 7am to 10pm)
- Christmas Day: Closed
- Boxing Day: 9am to 6pm (Express stores 9am to 7pm)
- New Year’s Eve: 6am to 7pm (Express stores 7am to 10pm)
- New Year’s Day: 9am to 6pm (Express stores 8am to 10pm)
Sainsbury’s
- Christmas Eve: 6am to 7pm (convenience stores 6am to 9pm)
- Christmas Day: Closed
- Boxing Day: 9am to 6pm (convenience stores 9am to 9pm)
- New Year’s Eve: 10am to 7pm (convenience stores 6am to 9pm)
- New Year’s Day: 8am to 8pm (convenience stores 9am to 9pm)
Aldi
- Christmas Eve: 7am to 6pm
- Christmas Day: Closed
- Boxing Day: Closed
- New Year’s Eve: 8am to 6pm
- New Year’s Day: Closed
Lidl
- Christmas Eve: 7am to 6pm
- Christmas Day: Closed
- Boxing Day: Closed
- New Year’s Eve: 8am to 6pm
- New Year’s Day: Closed
Asda
- Christmas Eve: 5am to 7pm
- Christmas Day: Closed
- Boxing Day: 9am to 6pm
- New Year’s Eve: 7am to 7pm
- New Year’s Day: 9am to 6pm
Co-op
- Christmas Eve: Usual opening time to 7pm (convenience stores 6am or 7am to 8pm)
- Christmas Day: Closed
- Boxing Day: 10am to 7pm (convenience stores 9am to 7pm)
- New Year’s Eve: Usual opening time to 7pm (convenience stores 6am or 7am to 8pm)
- New Year’s Day: 10am to 7pm (convenience stores 9am to 8pm)
Waitrose
- Christmas Eve: Open
- Christmas Day: Closed (except Welcome Break Service stations and Shell forecourts)
- Boxing Day: Closed
- New Year’s Eve: Open
- New Year’s Day: Closed
Marks and Spencer
- Christmas Eve: 6am to 7pm
- Christmas Day: Boxing Day
- Boxing Day: Closed
- New Year’s Eve: 8am to 7pm
- New Year’s Day: Closed
Morrisons
- Christmas Eve: Opening hours vary but the vast majority will be open between 6am-6pm
- Christmas Day: Closed
- Boxing Day: 9am to 6pm
- New Year’s Eve: 7am to 7pm
- New Year’s Day: 9am to 6pm
For more festive fun, we’ve rounded up the best mulled wines for Christmas