The Great 'Posh Nosh For No Dosh' Hunt

rosy

I agree Aldi and Lidl - those antipasti jars are excellent value( I make a quick posh pasta dish with a drained jar of the artichokes and a swirl of single cream added to cooked pasta). The olives are good value too - Lidl's are doing a large jar of the big queen olives ( think £1.60 something - exccellent value for what it is ) and you can make these easily into delicatessen standard at a fraction of the cost - warm some olive oil ( I get mine from Aldi ) and then take it off heat, immediately add drained & rinsed jar of the olives, throw in some strips of lemon peel, crushed or sliced garlic clove, a few dried chilli flakes, a couple of sprigs of rosemary ( admittedly this is free for me, have large plant outside front door). Leave all this to marinade for a day or so and you have luscious flavoured olives. You can change the flavours to suit your taste. I've also done this with the artichokes mentioned above and used them in a mixed antipasta starter ( mozerella, tomato, roasted peppers, olives, salami ).

anniwee

Most people eat turkey at Christmas but this can be expensive especially at this time of the year. just as tasty but a good deal less expensive is shoulder of Pork - a HUGE piece will cost much less than a turkey but will go with all the same accompaniments - even the cranberry sauce is nice with it! Make plenty of stuffing balls, pigs in blankets and roast spuds and it will feed dozens of people!

angelavdavis

Last weekend, I had 15 over for our Christmas lunch (we are away for Christmas and New Year).

I made some thin french stick style mini loaves from dough made in the BM and then baked these in advance.

I then sliced thin slices on the slant and drizzled with olive oil and baked until crispy and golden.

I then topped these with cream cheese (95p - lidl) and Tesco basics smoked salmon pieces (£1) with a dot of dill on top, cream cheese and caviar (£3 lidl) topped with a bit of dill and homemade smoked mackerel pate (mum made this so not sure of actual cost - but certainly not expensive) as hors'deuves to serve with pre-Christmas drinks.

I also made a venison stew (again lidl's £2.99 per pack frozen + £2.99 bottle of chianti, herbs and couple of spoonfuls of lidl cranberry jelly made with whole cranberries - bit dearer at £1.95 a jar)

They went down very well!

mademoiselle_2

I love prawns for a starter at Christmas; here's my recipe for potted prawns.

To serve 2:

Arrange defrosted prawns in two ramekins or small plastic containers (old pate tubs would do), so that they come to just under the edge of the dish. Chop or squeeze a clove of garlic over them. Take 200-300 grams of butter and clarify it: melt slowly over a low heat, and remove the white froth that bubbles up to the surface with a spoon (and discard). Pour the remaining melted butter over the prawns, and sprinkle with herbs. Pop in the fridge to set (takes about 1 hour).

When cool, turn out the dishes onto the plate. Serve with a wedge of lemon and some salad. Gorgeous! And pretty cheap too: if you use frozen prawns from Lidl, this would take about half the packet: two starters for £1.

Loobeylou

Absolutely delish although a little fiddly to make. Take slices of firm shop bought ham, spread with a layer of low fat Philli with chives, pop a prepared thin spring onion at one edge and roll up as tightly as possible. Put in the fridge to firm up slightly, and then cut into small rounds - you can always "sample" the end pieces as you go along! Place the rounds flat on a plate like catherine wheels, and add a little garnish.

Slight variation although obviously more expensive and even more fiddly. Similar scenario with decent slices of smoked salmon, spread with the Philli but no spring onion. Roll up, refridgerate and cut.

And yes, before anyone says it, I know it is not exactly cheap and cheerful stuff, but boy are they good. Just couldn't resist sharing them with you all!

helen_caslass

Loobeylou wrote:

Absolutely delish although a little fiddly to make. Take slices of firm shop bought ham, spread with a layer of low fat Philli with chives, pop a prepared thin spring onion at one edge and roll up as tightly as possible. Put in the fridge to firm up slightly, and then cut into small rounds - you can always "sample" the end pieces as you go along! Place the rounds flat on a plate like catherine wheels, and add a little garnish.

Slight variation although obviously more expensive and even more fiddly. Similar scenario with decent slices of smoked salmon, spread with the Philli but no spring onion. Roll up, refridgerate and cut.

MMmmmmmmmm

lynzpower

wasnt someone talking on here the other day about making home cut vegetable crisps from peelings?

this is moneysaving and posh from what I read, Id love for someone to repeat that so I can have a go at them

elona

Vegetable crisps

Scrub veg and dry it then cut very thin slices using a peeler.
Place on oiled baking tray and bake in hot oven for about 20 minutes - give it a shake half way through cooking.

Tried this with potato and with parsnips so far.

Somerled

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote:

you find that a lot of food that is especially made for the christmas market.....the sell by date.... goes before christmas.....so why dont you start going to the supermarkets in the evening.... when they are doing their final reductions......or even on christmas eve a hour or two before they are due to close......

QUOTE]

Great minds think alike.

Remember being in a supermarket on Christmas Eve - as the closing time got nearer and nearer the cost of fresh Turkeys got cheaper and cheaper - third off and then half off. Didnt stay long enough for them to start paying customers to take them away

It wont belong before a good number of supermarket chains stay open on Christmas daya nd all these bargains will disappear for good.

Make hay whilst the sun shines

susank

After the big day when lots of vegetables roasted and boiled left over - chop them up roughly, i.e. brussel sprouts, carrots, roast parsnips etc and make a cheese souffle but before folding in the whipped up egg white - beat in the vegetables then the egg - makes a great boxing day lighter meal for not a lot of dosh.