down grading meals until christmas

COOLTRIKERCHICK

ok i dont know down grading is the best wording to use, but as i am slim-lining our christmas food, I was thinking of not doing any sunday dinners etc until our christmas dinner.

basically beans on toast, no indulging on mince pies or any of the yummy chirstmas food they are now starting to sell in the lead up to christmas.

each year by now i have scoffed loads of mince pies, christmas puddings and yes even christmas cake, so by the time christmas day comes i am just about sick to death of them all:o

so hopefully by saving all the nice food for christmas it will be like when i was a kid.. when we only had these foods on or just after christmas day. This will make us injoy the food on christmas day even more, as lets face it christmas was the time for people to induldge on foods they could not afford throughout the year etc. now we can have big dinners, big dinners and sweets all year round

I am going to do it at easter as well with hot cross buns

SailorSam

I don't think i'll change the way i eat the rest of the year.

adelight

That is a really good idea!
It will also save a fair few quid that can be saved or spent on something nice for xmas day or for post-xmas blues(once it's all over who doesn't need a pick me up in jan?).

117pauline

We are doing the same thing!

I defrosted our big freezer last night so will get some bargains hopefully in the next two weeks if
I time it right. So it's using the bits from the cupboard.

We decided to do it because we were bored with all the extras by the end of New Year. We have also decided to cut down on the amount of extra treats we have this year but we are choosing what we have more carefully. In previous years we have just wandered about thinking - mmmmm have some of that! So this year it will be conscious consumption.

Even the tins of chocs have stayed in the car so they can't be eaten!
Pauline

rachbc

we never have christmas stuff we finish work for the holiday apart from if we are out- so at my december book group we have mince pies an mulled wine, and we are having a christmas fuddle at wok on the 21st. All the goodies at home will be opens 23rd and go through til New Year.

We are having a few cheap dinners (egg and chips, jacket spuds) in the next few weeks to make more room in the budget for christmas stuff

zcrat41

I'm tyring to do somethiing similar. I'm doing a roast for some friends tomorrow and after rubberizing the chicken it's going to be freezer supplies and beans on toast. We've got OH's work do next Fri night which will be another roast which will keep us going till the 23rd when the relatives start arriving, Christmas kicks in and I crack open the pringles, heroes, cheese, white wine, kettle chips, red wine, mince pies, port, turkey, stuffing, pigs in blankets, sloe gin, christmas cake, christmas pudding, quality street........

I can't WAIT till Xmas.

[Deleted User]

Much as both my late OH and I loved Christmas and all that comes with it he always said he like it better after Christmas when life got back to 'normal' and you didn't feel obliged to eat up all the bits extra.I usually get lots of left over jars of pickles beetroot etc that are bought by my DDs which I happily take home and use up.I buy some 'extra bits' for my DDs as I am either at one or the other ones house from Christmas Eve evening until New Years day so from around the 16th of December I am usually 'running down ' my fresh food anyway.

Years ago when we lived in a larger house in London my OH would phone everyone we knew up and say what ever you are sick of looking at indoors bring to our house and we would have a big party with everyones left over bits, and when folk went home they could take whatever they fancied from the big dining room table home with them.Our parties went on from around 8 at night until the early hours and we always ended up with almost all the Christmas food gone and used and not thrown away.I remember seeing one of our friends going up the path with half a Black Forest gateux in a box on her way home which was the idea that everyone went home with something different that what they arrived with.Folk also brought bottles of stuff they had been given in office parties that perhaps they didn't like and there was always someone who preferred maybe Cinzano to Rum or Whiskey to Beer, or Malibu to Vodka and red and white wine often got shuffled around.It was a sort of recycling of Christmas food and drink and we did this for several years back in the 1980s and it was apreciated by all our friends.Plus it was a great and inexpensive way to have 'a bit of a do' for all of us.The house was always full of people,kids and we had lots of silly party games that everyonne joined into.Instead of slumping in front of the t.v. and filling up on too many sweets on Boxing Day everyone could get up and have a dance or a singsong and it was good fun.

Sambucus_Nigra

One of the best things we did was to stop having a big Christmas Dinner. Because we don't, we don't stock up on stuff and we don't feel that 'want to get back to normal' feeling.

We usually get one tin of Quality Street from a relation, and having that hanging about is bad enough.

We have a few Christmas dinners out with friends, family, work and that's ample.

We have a roast when we go to my brothers, and nachos and chilli on Christmas day. And a home made pud [I'm going for a raw chocolate ganache this year, thanks to Hugh FW]. Plus we make our own wine so will have a mulled version on the go at some point.

Hardup_Hester

I gave up chocolate 12 weeks ago when hubby gave up smoking, I used to buy 2 or 3 tins of sweets/biscuits at Christmas, but I always get given them at work so haven't bought any for a couple of years, any I get this year will be passed on to my DD's & their kids. My real Christmas treat is some prawn or smaked salmon, yum.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

each year we have cut back, and cut back,

no silly party foods bottles of spirits... trifles, loads of pickles and chutneys... and fancy chocolates here..

its only me hubby and our 2 teenage boys, never have anyone over or visiting... its just us .

I have found as we have sunday dinners regular, even during the week, when it comes to christmas dinner its not much different, as we have never gone for the full hog of pigs in blankets etc.

so this is why i want to stay away from doing sunday dinners etc, so on christmas day everyone will injoy their turkey christmas dinner. dont get me wrong we do injoy, but i just want it to be a bit more special on the taste buds this year

Jackie-o those parties sounded fatastic.... and TBH would be fantastic for those who like having parties etc, and in these times.. i am sure they would go down really well.....

VfM4meplse

I agree - have stocked uo the drinks cabinet nicely, made loads of Christmas cake, bought mince pies and chocolates and that's it for the season.

I hosted a Christmas do yesterday, but unfortunately couldn't get the car started so ended up walking to the supermarket and could only buy what I could carry home...so dinner was courtesy of Aldi, but earned praise and compliments all round. I'm going to eat the leftovers until they've gone, got plenty of expired yoghurt to get through and when that's done am back on the freezer trail. If anything, I'll be cutting back on shopping now.