Super Scrimpers

maman

JBD wrote: »

I found the woman who was cooking Christmas Lunch for £50 rather irritating TBH. When she said 'how do I turn this into a Christmas Lunch' I just thought 'stop moaning woman'. I noticed there was still a load of wasted food on the plates afterwards. if people can't eat everything dished up then you've cooked too much.

I found that strange too. I'm sure I saw her bringing things to the table in serving dishes (I remember seeing disastrous looking roast potatoes that looked like they'd been dropped on the floor:D) but there was loads left actually on their plates. I'd be furious about that: even our children know to take what you can eat and then go back for more if you're still hungry. I always do huge plates of veg so nobody goes hungry then anything left makes bubble & squeak.

daveandjadea

Had to turn over, it urked me so much, it was like so many other shows that talk about scrimping/saving it's aimed mostly at middle-classes who have money to spend on £50 for one meal. It's the same as TV chefs who talk about how cheap it is to eat healthy...seemingly not realising some of us can't even afford to shop at Iceland/Lidl/Neto/etc. let alone buy luxuries such as vegetables and meat/poultry/fish! Or the show that was on last week where the guy was checking comparing prices...on his few hundred pounds worth of smartphone...

Honestly, my usual Christmas dinner is a ham sandwich, if you choose to buy luxuries at Christmas then of course it's going to cost! If money is such an issue, don't be so wasteful, greedy, or snobby about what you eat or where you buy from. I'm going with 'bah humbug' here, I don't celebrate Christmas this year due to unemployment, I've done it before thanks to being raised by a single parent, past homelessness and long-term unemployment, I just get irritated by people complaining about the cost when they do it to themselves.

*ducks from angry replies* :P

MandM90

I'll admit to not being thrifty or moneysaving at Christmas, but for those that are, would anyone mind sharing their menu with rough costings?

lostinrates

daveandjadea wrote: »

*ducks from angry replies* :P

I don't see that you should get any. I rather think those of us who have choices should thank our lucky stars for them more often. I will certainly hope 2012 is a lucky year for you, it sounds like you are due your fair share.

katieowl_2

OK...my turkey was a breast joint bought in Bookers months ago. It was massive and on special offer. We sawed it in half, and froze it. That will be our turkey (cost £23 IIRC) I'll have to dig it out and look at it, there are going to be 6 of us, but I think we'll only need one half. Last year I cooked breast roasts from Tesco for four of us, the ones that are 2 for £8, and it took an hour and a half to do dinner, so much less faff, and so much less electric, I vowed never to cook a whole turkey again.

I've already got 'finest' chipolatas in the freezer, again they were whoopsied a while back, I've got pancetta cubes from Aldi (reduced to half price) for the stuffing (also in freezer) and vac packed chestnuts from last year. I'll need some sausage meat for the stuffing, and a couple of other 'normal' kitchen things, apple, onions etc. We'll need some basic veg, but do have carrots and green stuff in the garden.

Xmas pud was made last weekend, using OH's mums family recipe, I discovered a few years back that I could replace the various dried fruits it called for with the same total weight of Basic dried fruit...no one noticed the difference! I've also made a fruit cake, and will make mince pies.

Booze was bought using Mr T clubcard vouchers doubled up...so we have finest wines that cost basically about £3 a bottle.

I've made some crackers, using a kit and some nice little brooches, and I did buy a few new decorations this year...but I don't do that every year. I don't think I've gone mad moneywise, but I'm sure dinner will be great. One day...one meal. Why would anyone need to spend more than £50?

Kate

MandM90

katieowl, that sounds really nice. I suppose puddings, crackers and things tend to get reduced after Xmas? I've never really thought about it, nor have I considered buying my meat frozen in the year...we usually order it in Nov and pick it up on Christmas Eve...

Northern_Princess

katieowl wrote: »

One day...one meal. Why would anyone need to spend more than £50?
Kate

Because their going out for dinner?

I completely agree with the basics fruit for cakes and pud, there is no difference. I use the basics range for mincemeat/cakes and puds and no-one has ever mentioned it tasting any different from the top of the range ones. I started using turkey crowns years ago as we do have a lot of waste from a full turkey if we have dinner at home and your right it takes much longer to cook

katieowl_2

MandM90 wrote: »

katieowl, that sounds really nice. I suppose puddings, crackers and things tend to get reduced after Xmas? I've never really thought about it, nor have I considered buying my meat frozen in the year...we usually order it in Nov and pick it up on Christmas Eve...

Oh yeah I forgot, I also picked up two half price boxes of 'finest' crackers for cheese last week, they were half price cos' the boxes were damaged - I managed to peek inside and see that most of the biscuits were still OK :rotfl: so lobbed those in the trolley. We will have a nice cheese board too, as I can get some fabulous local cheeses at trade!

Wilkinsons, had some christmas cracker kits very cheap, so I got two lots of Cath Kidston brooches, that came in threes, and have split them between the six crackers. I also bought CK tissue paper, and have covered the outside of the crackers in that, so they look quite posh at a fraction of the price of the CK ones, and have nicer stuff in

Kate

Firebird

Well this year I am aiming for as little expense as possible for dinner. I usually make everything from scratch and try to incorporate different countries traditional Christmas food throughout December, so this year I have decided on an easy dinner. So far my turkey was free - sun tokens. Parsnips,baby carrots,etc all knocked down to 10p, blanched and frozen ready for roasting. I have £5 tesco voucher free with Sun tokens = pudding, a £5 free Morrisons voucher = starter. Still working on the rest.

lostinrates

re fruit: I agree for a basic fruit cake basics is fine ...but I'll be honest....my fmily would notice the difference from the family recipes, stuffed not with raisins and currants but dried figs and whole dried apricots.

I'm perfectly happy with froxen meat: mine is frozen. and agree with buyin pudding the january before. I make a pudding but dh loves them and does that.

second edit: I notice a lot of peple are budgeting using cheaper meat and animal products. I just have to reiterate, I'd sooner serve a vegetarian meal, spending more on the animal products used in it. We don't eat meat that often, but if I reall wanted to serve meat and felt I couldn't affford it we'd eat lest eat in the months preceeding in order to afford eat/cream etc from sources Im happy with. I realise this isn't everyone's choice (or everyone's ability to choose) but I feel as strongly about it for us as people who have other belief held dietary restriction.