What do you do for Christmas dinner?

puddy

its not really money saving, but what do you have on the table for Christmas dinner and how many does it usually serve?

I'll start. I usually get nearly everything from Marks, even though its expensive because its v tasty.

We have 5 of us, might be 6 this year, not sure. I will get a chicken roast, beef roast and lamb roast (come in their own little tin and you just cook em for about an hour or so), 2 bags of Aunt Bessies roast potatoes, carrot and swede mash, 2 sides of bread sauce (my favourite), sausages in bacon, brussel sprouts, gravey, little cheese and garlic bites (bit avant guard), 3 different stuffings (love stuffing), cabbage, cranberry sauce, horseradish sauce, mint sauce.

then for afters yule log, christmas pud, plain clotted cream (cant stand brandy butter).

i dont like turkey and not over keen on chicken so dont like doing a roast, hence the 'roasts' in tins, dont get any left overs either, it all goes.

yum

ALIBOBSY

Well personally I cook it all from scratch and throughally enjoy every minute. Doing mince pies and my yule log etc on christmas eve (and the few days before)makes me and the kids feel so Christmassy and the house has that wonderful Christmas smell mmmm.

I have yet to find any prepacked food that is even close to what I can cook from scratch, either price wise or taste wise. However I can see for many who either dislike cooking or are no good at it a prepacked Christmas would appeal. If I was to go that route I would plump for M&S or Sainsburys (no waitrose up here but believe they can be quite good for stuff like that).

For me and our family the joys of Christmas include preparing and enjoying the food together.
This year we are having a nice beef joint and a free range chicken from a lovely local farm (the farmer, his wife and family are lovely and you can go see the animals and how they are kept-spring is lovely with all the new born lambs), for me teaching my kids the "circle" of life and to value the food we get is part of it all.
We also take a trip for fresh veg to a different local farm, where we can also get many other local products-cheeses,farm butter,ice cream,special mayos (the lemon is yummy) etc etc.
We will have beef and chicken my gorge homemade yorkie puds (my granny was from yorkshire and taught me to bake and do these) pigs in blankets and all the usual veggies.
This just leaves a few fresh bits I get either from the market, local shops or the supermarket.

Most of the other stuff I buy as we go from October onwards and I am a "price tart" eg we have bottles of pepsi stacked up from the morrisons offer a few weeks ago.
We use up leftovers on the next few days easily as there are 5 of us (6 next year-sat here with bump lol) plus will see the family on various days so need to be able to whip up butties/snacks quick meals-leftovers used for this.
Almost forgot have to have trifle at christmas, mind is non traditional with fruit and jelly on the bottom (splash of sherry/booze in the jelly) home made custard on top (this can be made the week before and frozen, to be defrosted in the fridge on crimbo eve) and plenty of whipped cream mmmmmmmm.

Love Christmas.:j

BTW also hate brandy butter, and turkey. Don't like bread sauce but make cheese sauce so we can have it on our cauli when the kids prefer their plain.

ali x

In fact going to do my first lot of mince pies next week for the kids school christmas fair (mind you the teachers usually buy all mine up before they get to the stall, last year the headmistress took them straight off me and said "we will have to put these extra safe in the staff room lol")

leveller2911

I like a nice goose at Christmas........;)
I did a cracking Beef wellington the other year......

keith969

Alibobsy, nice to hear someone else makes "pigs in blankets". I love them, always make them when doing a roast chicken, and they always disappear quick!

I always make them with good sausagemeat, stuffing mix, sage and wrap with streaky bacon. Delicious!

LeeSouthEast

Had beans on toast last year. It was very cheap. Sadly, I'm serious. I don't recommend a marriage breakup at Christmas time.

This year is slightly better.. mum is doing hung roast beef with all the trimmings!

puddy

yes, i have to admit beef is my favourite, thats why its on my list. i love cooking and would love to have the patience to do it at christmas but ive learnt over the years that my time is better spent relaxing with my feet up

i forgot the yorkshires and of course my favourite (cos no one else seems to eat it) cauliflower cheese, yum

[Deleted User]

Hi,

well I live alone, so don't need anything fancy.

Starter will be whatever is left from the soup I made the previous Sunday, either, lentil, split pea, broth, vegetable, pasta, kinda stuff.

Main course, home made vegetable lasagne, (red onion, mushrooms, green, red, yellow peppers, chilli, sweetcorn, tinned tomatoes, and of course, brown lasagne sheets).

Make it June/July, and freeze it in the little trays that folk get their mash in from the supermarkets, about 4"x3".

Served with a baked potato, (size of a tennis ball), 3 pickled onions and diced pickled beetroot, (two tablespoons).

Followed by numerous cans of lager.

Same next week for New Years Day, because I make two lots lasagne June/July.

Door shut, no visitors, leave me alone, don't bother me.

Have a nice Christmas.

Bah, humbug.

Nile

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ALIBOBSY

jenner wrote: »

yes, i have to admit beef is my favourite, thats why its on my list. i love cooking and would love to have the patience to do it at christmas but ive learnt over the years that my time is better spent relaxing with my feet up

i forgot the yorkshires and of course my favourite (cos no one else seems to eat it) cauliflower cheese, yum

You need 3 kids like me lol. They are great at prep, they actually enjoy sorting out the brussels and carrots lol. They also enjoy baking (my 6 yr old knows the ingredients for a sponge/fairy cakes off by heart).

Plus going off to cook gives me some peace in the kitchen from all the noise rofl.
Mind you my trusty "chef" is by my side through it all, love my Kenwood. Wanted one for agggggeeees. Finally treated myself a couple of years ago when I won a cash prize from ITV (doing comps is another hobby I love lol).
Best thing is to do whatever makes you happiest on the day, wether that is all from scratch, bought from shop, traditional or non traditional. Make the day special.

Actually we are a bit Christmas obsessed in this house, love the Christingle service at church and sing Christmas carols from the 1st onwards lol.
Decorations up at weekend (yes we are the annoying neighbours with all those lights outside). Just need it to snow!!!
ali x

BTW my birthday is on the 31st of Dec so get a Christmassy birthday as well :T

SunnyGirl

It's my first year of doing Christmas lunch here as we've always gone to my parents but they're coming here due to health issues & the noise levels of 4 kids :rotfl: I'm actually doing our big Christmas lunch on Christmas Eve for the 6 of us and a buffet on Christmas Day when my parents will come down too.

For our main meal I'm doing prawn cocktail or melon starters (bit of a retro kick ), then roasting an extra large organic chicken (we don't like turkey much either), roast potatoes, roast parsnips, carrot batons, broccoli, lemon & rosemary stuffing & sausagemeat, bacon & mushroom stuffing, pigs in blankets, cranberry sauce & gravy. For desert I'm planning on a big fruit salad, a pavlova and Christmas pudding with cream. I'm buying the cranberry sauce in as only DH & I like it but the rest will be made by me. The kids are all helping me do the veg prep on the 23rd.

On Christmas day I'll serve a roast ham that I'll cook on the 23rd, cold chicken & stuffing, pasta salad, salad, hot buttered new potatoes, cheeses, crackers, some dips (when I've thought of which ones to make!), veggie sticks, crisps, a cheesecake and a Christmas cake (which my Mum has kindly made for me).

It's good reading what everyone else is doing too

SassyMoneySaver

We have a mix of home cooked and a few bits. Always have turkey and a pork roast and we love pigs in blankets. sometimes we make our own and sometimes we get a tray of them ready made.
We have sprouts with chestnuts, broccolli, peas and carrots with roast parsnips. I do stuffing and stuffing balls and both roast and mashed potatoes. Noone likes bread sauce or cranberry sauce so we don't bother.
We have christmas pudding or mince pies or both for pudding. We normally make a trifle (Birds packet) with sherry thrown in to have later in the evening or on boxing day with the cold meat.