Old style Preparations for Christmas 2011!!

Gettingtherequickly

mummygems wrote: »

Not sure if it will help or not but I went to Costco on Monday and between me and the MIL we got 150 sheets of wrapping paper (15 different designs I think) for £12. They had lots of different ones but I thought this was the best offer (andeven better when you can split it with someone). This lot of paper will do me this year and probably next (and maybe even the year after lol).

Oooh! Will be going there sooner than I had planned me thinks!

MandM90

poppett wrote: »

Can someone point me in the direction of how to make mars bar vodka please????

I found this and find the dishwasher version intruiging; looks v. easy! I've heard of people cooking salmon in their dishwasher too, though to be honest don't find the idea particularly appealing :eek:

Mars Bar Vodka

katkins78

I am thinking of making mars bar vodka number four on my to do list, my sister would lurve it, so I was thinking of getting some pretty bottles and doing different flavoured drinks as presents. Does anyone know if it seperates out over time (don't want her to think I've bottled raw sewage!- sorry:o), also does anyone know where to get pretty bottles cheaper than lakeland.......and anymore vodka recipes- I was thinking of a chocolate orange one?

Molly41

splodger_seedswapper wrote: »

i am going to run off and hide somewhere after submitting this post :rotfl:

i don't suppose there is a preparing for no xmas thread anywhere is there?

i shudder at the thought of it (especially in sept)

as far as i am concerned i save money by not being sucked into the commercial hype that xmas evokes - i don't give presents and i don't send cards - although i have been known to deliver bags of manure to people in december (so that they might feed their roses)

so that'll be a bah humbug from splodger (who is now running to hide in greenfingers forum :rotfl:)

Just put us on IGNORE and yes you are a Bar Humbug :eek:

shoei

Wow I am def making that Choc Salami!!!

NoahsPennilessMummy

what a lovely story:T

rosieben

I'm mostly a lurker here, but I'm glad to see that others have been thinking of preps. I did my menus and shopping lists about 3 weeks ago - my sis had to go and lie down for a while when I told her what I was doing.

I made loads of notes after last christmas, including a list of everything I threw out so lessons to be learnt there for this year.

I don't send cards except to close family and I make those myself, I donate to a charity in lieu of the other 80+ I used to send :eek:

Thinking of doing more home made food this year (been lazy for a few years!) and will make stuffing, yorkshire batter, pigs in blankets etc early in December and freeze, and also make a couple of desserts instead of buying some overpriced tidgy little cheesecake or something.

Last year I started to decorate for the seasons, any one else do this? thinking particularly of Yule at the moment of course, but I'm aiming for more natural decorations and less glitz - except for the tree decorations which must be as glitzy as possible

Phoolgrrrl

Well_Preserved wrote: »

Phoolgrrl - it's a bit difficult to say what might be cheap for you; what kind of ingredients did you want to use for chutney making? I mean, have you got any ingredients like apples, marrow etc available at low or no cost? 'Cos that would obviously reduce the overall cost. I've got quite a lot of recipes in books if you can give me a bit more to go on.

Also you don't necessarily need to buy new Kilner jars. With chutney you could use recycled jars so long as the lids are vinegar-proof. Well-sterilised coffee jars aren't bad. Not everyone likes to use recycled but you could always make a topper from Christmas fabric or even wrapping paper if you wanted to disguise them.

I have no free fruit or veg I was planning on doin a chutney to go with chesse. I think I'm goin to check the reduced fruit and that will decide for me eg lots of reduced pears, some sort of pear chutney!

Can you use just plain white vinegar instead of cider vinegar? That would make it a bit cheaper.

We use quite a bit of pesto, would pesto jars be suitable?

Thanks.

Bobbykins

Ooooh, going to have to subscribe to this thread - I love all the build up to Christmas. I especially like getting everything done early so that I can relax from the middle of december when everyone else is rushing aroud! :D

phoolgirl - blimey you must have a posh chutney recipe! I've never used cider vinegar:o. If it helps, I find white vinegar is fine - I've also been known to use ordinary malt vinegar if I've been stuck (but only in a very dark chutney, like spiced plum or damson). Pesto jars would be fine I think, just check the underside of the lid and if it has a plastic-y type coating on it it will be fine, just not if it#'s a bare metal lid or only has a cardboard ring in it. The idea is it has to be vinegar proof so that it doesn't corrode.
Good look with your chutney making!

MandM90

Has anyone got any tips for jazzing up recycled jars for chutneys etc on a budget? I don't want the jars to be immediately obvious they are recycled; I like the 'rustic' look but don't want it to look cheap

Also, those of you who have done hampers, where do you get the baskets from or do you have any other ideas of where to put the bits in?