What's on the menu for prisoners this Christmas?

The country's prisoners will enjoy a simple but hearty Christmas lunch, costing about $6 per person.

Corrections say more than 30,000 meals are being prepared and cooked by prisoners under the supervision of qualified tutors as part of industry training.

Corrections national commissioner Rachel Leota says the Christmas Day menu is the same across the nation's 17 prisons and meets nutritional requirements.

"It costs about $6 per prisoner, a similar amount to every other day," she said.

The lunch meal of chicken, potatoes, carrots, peas and gravy, followed by apple pie, is a regular weekly prison meal on the national menu, which would normally be served in the evening.

The only additional items on the menu on Christmas Day are custard and two mini fruit mince pies at lunch and a roast beef filling in one of the evening sandwiches.

"It is not a lavish meal. Prisoners are here because they are being held to account for their crimes, but they do have a right to basic food and to mark Christmas in some way," Leota said.

By the numbers - Feeding the nation's prisoners on December 25:

• 2625 chickens
• 1600 kilograms of potatoes
• 1200 kilograms of carrots
• 1200 kilograms of peas
• 1100 litres of gravy
• 10,500 apple pies
• 1100 litres of custard
• 21,000 mini fruit mince tarts

- NZN