A tit-for-tat turkey price war promises to put the brakes on punishing increases in the cost of Christmas dinner. 

The headline price of a fresh turkey is around 25 per cent more expensive than a year ago, largely because of increased farm costs and the impact of bird flu.

But supermarkets are vying with each other to offer the cheapest shelf price.

Last week, Tesco announced it would be selling whole British fresh turkeys to Clubcard customers at £4 a kilo (£1.81 a lb) while other shoppers would pay £5 per kilo. It also promised crowns at £8.50 a kilo (£3.85 a lb) or £9 for others. Yesterday Aldi went one better by cutting prices of its cheapest fresh birds to £3.99 per kilo and crowns to £8.49 a kilo for all customers.

Lidl has also entered the fray with fresh turkeys at £3.99 a kilo. Aldi staff pinned up makeshift signs in stores to promote its lower turkey prices with the claim: 'We won't be beaten on price.' 

A spokesman for the store said: 'Aldi has once again cut the price of its fresh turkeys, to remain the cheapest of all supermarkets this Christmas.' Its Ashfields British Whole Turkeys is £3.99 per kg and available in three sizes – small (2kg to 4.49kg or 4.4lbs to 9.9lbs), medium (4.5kg to 5.99kg) and large (6kg to 8kg).

It said the Ashfields Fresh Turkey Crown is £8.49 per kg and available in a range of sizes – from 0.9kg to 4.5kg. Tesco, Aldi and Lidl are also making a virtue of selling cut price vegetables with packs coming in at 19p each.

Tesco All Rounder potatoes (2kg), carrots (1kg), parsnips (500g), Redmere Farm sprouts (500g) and broccoli (375g) are now at 19p each. Its chief executive, Jason Tarry, said: 'This year, household budgets are under more pressure than ever so we are absolutely committed to helping customers with the cost of the Christmas shop.

'Hundreds of thousands of fresh turkeys will be arriving in store and we have some unmissable deals.'

A leading turkey expert, Paul Kelly, of the award-winning KellyBronze brand, suggested that if supermarkets are selling birds at a loss that will hit small independent retailers. 

'There is no doubt they are loss leading on a grand scale,' he said. 'It's the item in the Christmas shopping basket with the most focus and a great way to get consumers to do their whole Christmas shop in their store. 

'It does make it increasingly hard for independent retailers as they cannot afford to sell at a loss.'