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The Great 'Cheap Christmas recipes' Hunt
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Start looking for "leftover" recipes now and store them somewhere safe on your computer (bookmark them, pin them etc). I have already meal planned for the time between Xmas and New Year and it's all recipes I can make using leftovers. I love planning for Christmas and I always challenge myself to get as many meals as possible from the gammon, turkey and beef.
Take advantage of new customer deals on online shopping to make your money stretch further. Tesco and Sainsburys offer £15 off a £60 spend for new online customers.0 -
Two ideas rather than recipes. I do both of these at Christmas.
The first is a trimmings tarte tatin.
In a large frying pan fry, in a little butter, halved shallots, little sausages, stuffing balls and a few fresh cranberrys until almost cooked and sticky. Then cover with a circle of puff pastry, tuck it in round the trimmings. Then pop in the oven until the pastry is cooked. (You need a pan with a metal handle for this - don't use any other. You wouldn't believe the smell of melting plastic ! Ask me how I know !) Then turn out onto a plate.
The second is a sweet potato stuffing but I use it as an accompaniment.
Peel and dice 4 or 5 sweet potatoes depending on size. Put into water and boil until tender. While the potatoes are boiling fry some cut up bacon or bacon lardons. Drain and mash the potatoes with butter and stir in the fried bacon and a whole load of grated parmesan. Pop into a dish and bake in the oven until the top is crispy.
We always have this on Boxing day with sausages !
RobsonI almost had a psychic boyfriend but he left me before we met.0 -
:xmastree: Christmas Soup a day or two after Christmas
. In it goes any left over meat, potatoes, vegetables, stuffing, bread sauce, ham etc., throw it all in add a stockcube or two (plus any juices from the meat), waste not want not 
Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.0 -
We always use the leftover turkey for soup, which everyone enjoys and you can even include some of the sprouts.
But my best tip is not to buy expensive crackers. I bought a packet of 12 at Tesco for £4.00 and they include all the essentials - paper hats to make everyone look silly, awful jokes to make everyone groan and plastic novelties which just get left on the table anyway.0 -
....for me is the smell of the turkey carcass boiling up in a big saucepan, to make turkey soup. Gran just added some left over veg and scraps of meat. Lovely on a cold day, followed by cold turkey and mash and pickles.
She then boiled the carcass up again in new water, for soup for the 27th, but it didn't taste as good!0 -
Not a recipe but you can reduce your costs by using your freezer! Buy whatever meat you'll be having earlier in the year when YS and put in freezer. Use frozen veg, home grown if possible. You could also freeze gravy previously made so one less chore to do on the day - just reheat gently in a pan or in a jug in the microwave. Then the only thing which probably needs buying at full price is the potatoes.
Won't help for this year but for future years - For the pudding, if you want a traditional pudding buy one in the sale after christmas and put away in a cool, dark place and it'll keep well until next year.
I managed to do this with the cake a couple of years ago as well when they were selling off the cake mix (think it was Delia's) for 50p so didn't cost very much to make a decent cake.
Hope this is helpful to someone.
Denise
You can use cheaper potatoes if you find them before the day or homegrown ones. I just par boil them and then you can either finish them off for mash or bang them in the oven for roasties.
I've got loads of ys stuff in our freezer for over the Christmas period. I just want to laze about with the family and have people round so I've got quiches, sausage rolls, Chinese and Indian bits, savoury bites, etc that I picked up at our local Co-op when they were reduced down to 29p each pack0 -
Make fizz go further: I buy Sainsbury's basics frozen red berries, about £1.25 per bag, and cranberry juice drink about £1 / litre, and put one big berry or a couple of small ones into each compartment of an ice cube tray and fill with the cranberry juice. When frozen, pop a couple of berry cubes into the bottom of a champagne flute and top with your favourite fizz.
Not only does the fizz go further, but it looks very pretty as the ice cube melts releasing the red juice and berries, and also has the advantage of diluting the alcohol to make a lighter drink to help get through all the over-indulging.0 -
thegrannysitter wrote: »
But my best tip is not to buy expensive crackers. I bought a packet of 12 at Tesco for £4.00 and they include all the essentials - paper hats to make everyone look silly, awful jokes to make everyone groan and plastic novelties which just get left on the table anyway.
The £shops are great for crackers in the run up to Christmas, and you can even find them on sale 2 boxes / £1 after Christmas. If you've got the storage room, you can find lots of lovely things for pennies - napkins, tablecloths, table runners, decorations, lights - at the various £shops. I love doing a raid first week in the new year!0 -
Another favourite way to make things go further is to plate up the expensive stuff in the kitchen - turkey, ham etc, and have large bowls of the cheaper stuff - roasties, veg, bread, sauce - on the table for everyone to help themselves. That way they'll fill up on the less pricey stuff while still having a slap-up meal.
I've been watching Masterchef, and now make very attractive looking starters and puds out of not much at all by arranging it all artfully on the plate, and, what's so great, the 'presentation' always gets wows and no one seems to notice how little there is!0 -
This dish, originating in Sri Lanka and called 'mallung', is very, very tasty and can be made using 'tired' leftover lettuce leaves and/or those outer leaves you might usually discard. The shredding (fine chopping) can be done by hand or, if you're making a lot, in a food processor.
SHREDDED GREEN LEAVES WITH COCONUT
Serves 6
2 cups green leaves (e.g. lettuce, white cabbage, rocket), chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
½-1 chilli, red or green, seeded and chopped (optional)
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½-1 teaspoon paprika, smoked if you like (optional)
1 tablespoon of soy sauce or oyster sauce
Juice of half a lemon
2-3 tablespoons desiccated or freshly grated coconut
Put the leaves into a microwaveable dish with all the ingredients except the coconut. Mix well, cover and microwave at full power for about 2½ to 3 minutes. Uncover, add the coconut and mix well. Serve hot or cold as an accompaniment to rice or pasta or simply as a side dish. In my wife's and my experience it seems to go well with almost any savoury dish - including cheese and biscuits!0
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