Cheap Christmas Dinner?

Mayday

foxgloves wrote: »

We collected a big bag of chestnuts from a local park which are now cooked & in the freezer

Are these conker (inedible) chestnuts or the sweet (edible) chestnuts ?

http://www.recipes4us.co.uk/Specials%20and%20Holidays/Chestnuts%20Origin%20Uses%20Recipes.htm

Primrose

One year when there were just the two of us we decided not to buy our usual capon for Christmas Day (don't like turkey - too dry). We bought three large chicken breasts, slit them open and filled them with stuffing, then wrapped them round with bacon, and roasted them in a tin with chipolata sausages. It worked brilliantly, didn't take hours to cook wasting fuel and we didn't have to spend time afterward stripping down the carcass to make stock so it was trouble free. We used the spare stuffed chicken breast for sandwiches.

laurel7172

Asda smartprice crackers £1 for 12.

They even have elasticated ties, so you can slip your own present into them if you make your own.

Pitlanepiglet

Always cheap crackers for us, as someone said earlier, they are all full of tat that you don't want so you might as well have the amusing cheap tat.

It has to be a big tukey for us, my childhood memories are full of my mum winning a turkey at Bingo just before Christmas but it was always too big to go in the oven (they were smaller then) so she and my Nan would roll around the place (probably after a few drinks I now realise!) chopping legs off the turkey and tieing it up with string to try to make it fit the oven

I try and buy a half price frozen one when they are special, usually in October and chuck it in the freezer. A big turkey will produce a good number of meals for us and then I freeze any left overs when we really are bored of turkey curry etc. , the bones go into soup so whilst it's a bit of an investment it isn't wasteful IMO.

I'm going to try to make more in the way of biscuits this year but I don't get much time off and I don't plan to spend the whole of Christmas in the kitchen so we'll buy some bits as well. I second buying packets of biscuits and putting them into a tin rather than buying expensive tins.

richj

My folks were speaking to their butcher, who is getting my Lamb for boxing day, and he was saying that the prices were going up in a weeks time or so. So get in early if you can...

tandraig

I had a goose from Aldis last year - never had it before so didnt know what to expect............wow - it tasted fabulous more like very tender lamb than poultry and it fed 14 people with a bit left over! got their roast potatoes (the dearer ones in goose fat and all my veg from there too! didnt do a starter last year and the pud was well...aldis christmas pud! which is frankly absoluteley gorgeous. total cost of christmas meal for 8 adults and 6 kids was about £20!!!
i think lidls do similar items at similar prices but the lidls is much further than aldis which is 5 minutes away from me. if neither of these are near you then watch the press or tv for special offers in the stores near you and stock up now! make sure there is always room in freezer - nothing more annoying than spotting a bargain and you cant get it cos there no room to store it!!!

foxgloves

Hi Mayday, No, not conkers...think they are poisonous, tho' apparently make very good gel for putting on varicose veins! Sweet chestnuts only go into our Christmas stuffing. Easy to tell the difference when you know what it is.

candygirl

We are having an Indian Banquet for xmas dinner, as are all either veggie or bored to death of the usual xmas fare;)I'm making a mahoosive veggie curry, and getting all the samosas, bhajis etc from the Indian bakery which is fab, and my Mum is getting the puddings:p:p
I'm only getting back from Goa on the 23rd Dec and will have wrapped all my stuff before hand, so am totally avoiding the last minute Xmas rush:j:j:j

lindadykes

For the last few years since the girls have grown up we have gone to one of my daughter's for Christmas, but when they were younger, I used to buy either a small turkey or a large chicken, which I boned and stuffed. You can find instructions for boning a chicken via google, it's not actually that difficult to do. I would then line it with either bacon or cooked ham slices and add a sausage meat based stuffing. You then need to "rewrap" it all, wrap tightly in foil and chill till ready to cook. This not only slices easily the "stuffing" stretches the meat and their is no waste.

Owain_Moneysaver

nzmegs wrote: »

wI 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.

White wine with a splodge of food colouring will do the trick. If they don't like it serves them right for asking.