Cheap Christmas Dinner?

tori.k

Reading the food shopping thread they raved about Lidls turkey crown's, i cant comment as im veggie and to my shame always brought a pre cooked chicken christmas eve to do for the kids.
i do second a food slicer i got one cheap of ebay and now cook up a couple of joints of meat and slice them for dinners/sarnies for the boys its saved me a bomb over the last 8 months.
i dont know if you already get a sack of spuds but it works out alot cheaper then buying from the supermarket.
also as someone else said ask everyone to bring a dish,my siblings and i now do this boxing day when we decend on mother, so she's not stuck in the kichen for hours playing the martyer

nzmegs

wow - you guys are brilliant thank you! I think sharing the load is a wonderful idea and I have just remembered I have a pile of paper plates in the cupboard. No washing up for me this year!

Any ideas on alcohol? I guess stocking up over time from supermarkets is best and only buying what you liek to drink. Everyone else can either bring their own or lump it. I remember one year having to pop to a shop xmas eve becuse one member of our party wanted red wine - we hate it. I hate that feeling though when the face drops "oh have you got any red???" "no - but give me 20 minutes and I'll get some for you...." Won't be doing that again.

Toonie

As far as drinks, I think the bringing your own is the best way to go about it, as that way you can't complain. That is what I always say to anyone coming over for any type of occasion. I do tend to have juice and lemonade on hand though for anyone who wants a soft drink.

The Jus-Rol website has lots of suggestions for what you can make with pastry which can be useful if you are stuck for ideas for starters/nibbles http://www.jusrol.co.uk/jusrol.htm

piglet6

Sharing the load is definitely the best way (and I think it makes your guests feel better, too - everybody knows that hosting Christmas dinner is not cheap, so it takes away the guilt of knowing that you are costing your host a lot of money, and allows you to feel a bit more "equal"! ).

We always have chicken, because none of us like turkey, so if there are lots of us, we just cook two chickens (and when we have had last minute extra guests in the past, we defrosted a couple of extra breasts from the freezer and cooked those, too - sliced them up and added them to the serving plate in the kitchen, and nobody was any the wiser). We keep an eye out in the weeks up to Christmas for yellow-stickered items and pop them in the freezer, and last year we actually bought 2 x M&S Dine in for £10 offers in November when they included large chickens and froze the chickens (and kept the sparkling wine!) for Christmas. I know M&S isn't always MSE, but overall, by careful choice of the biggest chickens (yes, I did go through the whole shelf to find the largest ones! ), we actually saved over £8 on each £10 deal, so felt that for a special occasion, it was justified!

You can also keep an eye out for yellow stickered veg in the run up to Christmas and prep and freeze that, too.

Crackers: we used to (pre-MSE :eek:) spend more on crackers to get "nicer" gifts in them. Then we realised as we were clearing the table, that 9 times out of 10, people leave their gifts on the table anyway, so now we buy cheap (but pretty! ) ones with "rubbish-y" plastic gifts that amuse folks while they are at the table. If we want to, we then buy additional little "table gifts" which are chosen specifically for each person (you don't have to find something that fits in a cracker, and it often works out cheaper than the £5+ per cracker (:eek::eek::eek:) that we used to spend on the ones with the "nice" gifts). Much more appreciated than that mini silver photo frame or bottle stopper that they didn't really want anyway!!

Lastly, as many others have said, we don't really need all the extra food items that the supermarkets tell us we have to have. I always moaned that I put on a few pounds over Christmas (and couldn't work out why...). Then I realised that I manage to get through the other 11 months of the year without big tins of Roses/Celebrations, barrel tubs of mini cheddars/twiglets, enormous bags of peanuts ("yes, of course, we need to have salted and dry roasted..."! :rolleyes:), and an endless stream of mince pies and sausage rolls (for those all-essential between-meal snacks! ) and I don't feel deprived, so why do I need them over Christmas? If you do want some of these things, then consider buying a smaller "normal" size packet/box - the special bigger packs produced for Christmas are much larger than we actually need...but we all fall for them (who hasn't ended up throwing half packs of leftover things away in January when the dreaded "New Year's diet" starts?! :rotfl:).

Merry Christmas! :xmassmile

Piglet

jc2703

Today Chickens are on offer in Asda for £2 each - buy two; freeze them; defrost and cook for xmas day (cook a bit longer so they are a bit dry!) smother them in gravy and call it Turkey ! Hey Presto Bob Cratchetts your Uncle ; Merry Christmas!!

MrsE_2

piglet6 wrote: »

Crackers: we used to (pre-MSE :eek:) spend more on crackers to get "nicer" gifts in them. Then we realised as we were clearing the table, that 9 times out of 10, people leave their gifts on the table anyway, so now we buy cheap (but pretty! ) ones with "rubbish-y" plastic gifts that amuse folks while they are at the table. If we want to, we then buy additional little "table gifts" which are chosen specifically for each person (you don't have to find something that fits in a cracker, and it often works out cheaper than the £5+ per cracker (:eek::eek::eek:) that we used to spend on the ones with the "nice" gifts). Much more appreciated than that mini silver photo frame or bottle stopper that they didn't really want anyway!!

Even the most expensive crackers contain tat:mad:
I always buy pretty ones in the sales & stick in the loft, but I never worry about the contents as they are all rubbish.

They should do crackers with after dinner mints, at least they would be useful;)

Butterfly_Brain

I always buy my crackers in the sales as well. In fact I have been getting a few extras every week since the beginning of September.
So now I have all the sweets, nuts and biscuits a lot of the soft drinks and mixers, 8 bottles of wine and a few Spirits I am going to have a go at making HM Tia Maria this year - I already make my own Baileys.
I have only got 6 presents left to buy - I so love Amazon!
This week I got some Gammon Steaks £1.99 for 2 in Aldi and I am just waiting for them to get their Turkeys in because they were the cheapest around last year.
I prefer to make my own bruschetta, garlic bread, cheese straws, mince pies, pickles etc
I make all of these the last week of November and freeze them ready for Christmas

slowandsteady_2

great thread! I might be totally mean and cheap but this year i have decided to go to Mr M and get one of their whole turkey legs that cost the grand total of £3.29! I have two in the freezer at the moment, i will probably use just one and put it the slow cooker for a few hours and each time ive done that its come out beautiful, i also have a huge pork shoulder joint in the freezer which was half price also in Mr M and cost less than a fiver so depending on who comes i may cook that as well. I usually have to work xmas, being a nurse, but we usually end up at MIL at xmas and if not its usually just me dh and my dad if we are at mine. MIL sometimes goes to her partners family for the meal, personally i prefer to stay at home as i hate anything with cream in it and dislike sprouts and every year im coerced into eating trifle and sprouts and if im really unlucky mince pies! As you can tell we arent very traditional.

For anyone who is interested though Mr T have frozen turkeys at half price at the moment and also whole salmon-i grabbed one yesterday, might be a good deal to get now if wanted and keep in freezer?

ChapelGirl

Why not get your kids to make their own Xmas crackers? Or do it yourself, if they are too busy on the Playstation!

example:
http://www.fredaldous.co.uk/shop-online/cracker-snaps-and-accessories.htm

Then you can put a couple of wrapped after-dinner mints or whatever you fancy inside. Or you might find a funky keyring or a toy car or a bouncy ball or something in the pound shop. For the ladies, what about a small nail varnish, lipstick, chapstick or eyeshadow? All you have to worry about is whether it will fit in the cardboard tube and whether it is within your budget.

Have fun looking up and writing out or typing corny jokes and mottoes from the internet to go inside. You could even personalise them for your chosen guests. Grandpa likes golf, so find a golf joke. Aunty Sarah goes to karate, so find a karate joke or a cartoon. If you do that, make sure you put their name or initials on the outside so you know where to put them on the table.

Make your own crepe or tissue paper party hats to go inside. All you need is the paper, a bit of glue and a pair of scissors. Decorate with stick-on gold stars or whatever takes your fancy.

Not only will your home-made crackers be a lot more fun for your guests they could work out a lot cheaper than shop-bought, or if not at least everyone will get a thoughtful gift instead of another plastic thimble which ends up in the bin.

ab7

ChapelGirl wrote: »

Why not get your kids to make their own Xmas crackers? Or do it yourself, if they are too busy on the Playstation!

example:
http://www.fredaldous.co.uk/shop-online/cracker-snaps-and-accessories.htm

Then you can put a couple of wrapped after-dinner mints or whatever you fancy inside. Or you might find a funky keyring or a toy car or a bouncy ball or something in the pound shop. For the ladies, what about a small nail varnish, lipstick, chapstick or eyeshadow? All you have to worry about is whether it will fit in the cardboard tube and whether it is within your budget.

Have fun looking up and writing out or typing corny jokes and mottoes from the internet to go inside. You could even personalise them for your chosen guests. Grandpa likes golf, so find a golf joke. Aunty Sarah goes to karate, so find a karate joke or a cartoon. If you do that, make sure you put their name or initials on the outside so you know where to put them on the table.

Make your own crepe or tissue paper party hats to go inside. All you need is the paper, a bit of glue and a pair of scissors. Decorate with stick-on gold stars or whatever takes your fancy.

Not only will your home-made crackers be a lot more fun for your guests they could work out a lot cheaper than shop-bought, or if not at least everyone will get a thoughtful gift instead of another plastic thimble which ends up in the bin.

If anyone is interested in make your own but like me are terrified of starting from complete scratch, poundland were doing the basics for 6 make your own crackers I've got lynx bullets/poundland fm radio thing for the men, and travel hand cream for my mum, nail polishes/lipsticks for the girls. Can actually get the boys involved by getting them to make it and hope it makes them feel important