down grading meals until christmas

mandragora_2

I thought it was just me - I've been doing this for years!!!

When the kids were little, I decided to do no roast Sunday lunches in December, and also avoid roasting chicken breast/legs in the week, instead doing meals such as mince/stews etc for Sundays. That way, Christmas dinner always seemed a bit more special, and I also felt like I'd had a little treat in that I'd not had the faff of preparing a roast dinner for a month! OH didn't ever really cotton on to what I was doing, and along the way I imagine we saved a bit of money, too.

vgstar44

Very rarely do we have a roast any time of the year so when we go to my mums for Christmas dinner its always an extra special treat.

this year we have really knuckled down and tightened the grocery purse.
So far this month i am trying to use up the contents of the cupboards and with a freezer full of left overmeals so far December has really been pretty frugal.

looking forward to getting a good turkey dinner with all the trimming for free!!! love my mums cooking so much and she always buys tons so ill be having it 2 days in a row.....cant wait :j

oldtractor

I think the downgrading is a fabulous idea.
i am going to do the same thing.

VfM4meplse

Rummer wrote: »

In the main we don't over indulge at christmas time, except for panatone as I adore it and it is really only freely available at this time of year

Yum, I love panettone and latte for Christmas breakfast - but I find them freely available and an extra bargain if you wait until the end of Jan / Feb, the 99p shop seems to have stacks of them!

valk_scot wrote: »

After Christmas the seasonal goodies plummet in price so that's the time to eat them, lol.

You beat me to it! I was serioulsy considering buying the M&S Christmas cake at 1/2 price this afternoon (despite having loads of my own) as it is so delicious, but looked at the sell-by date and thought it's likely to be reduced even further after Christmas .

meritaten

I do something similar - tho not so extreme! I refuse to do Sunday Roast in the week before christmas - I also dont do a lot of meat or any 'heavy' rich foods. The kids used to complain they ate like rabbits before christmas! winter salads and plain meals were the order of the day - timesaving too!

jpscloud

I also will not be buying much extra - I remember one year going shopping for Christmas booze, and buying £94 worth of it. I'm a singleton who hardly drinks!! I just felt that I had to have it in, for visitors and staying friends, etc.

I never repeated such a terrible waste of money but have been guilty every year of buying Christmas puds, brandy butter, brandy cream, a special roast or two, finger foods and assorted crap.

This year Mum and I will be on our own, and we've decided we'll have a really nice chicken dinner for Christmas. I never get my Mum's roast potatoes at any other time of year, so that will be special too! We'll have a few nice things in the way of chocolates, and I will make some marzipan fruits instead of a cake, but this is our year for not going over the top.

In a way it's a huge relief - I have a sense of calm and tranquility amidst the fevered crush of pre-Christmas shopping!

nannygladys

Reading all these posts has made me realise the SIL and myself ate a box or Terrys Orange segments last night between us that were originally for Xmas. I am also very guilty of over buying and in the past although I had a good job I have been on my own with the children, and I dont know if it was to compensate but I have always gone overboard and bought loads and loads of goodies that were taken into work in January because we were fed up with them, so this year I havent bought very much at all (changed jobs, work PT so money tight) and certainly wont be replacing those Orange segments (although they were very morish)

At work today one of my colleagues was saying that her and her husband were having a curry for Xmas dinner as it was their favorite meal, so not a roast in sight!!!!! Me, Im off to DD3's for Xmas dinner but Im making the pudding and taking it with me, but it wont be Xms pudding but cheesecake and perhaps a choc torte ( if a friend pulls her finger out and gives me the recipe!!)
Jxx

mandragora_2

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1357/decadent-chocolate-truffle-torte

or:
http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/popular-cuisines/french/chocolate-torte-recipe

or this is great, if you have chestnut puree:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/170604/chocolate-chestnut-torte

DODO_2

I am on soup most days at mo. !

kitschkitty

With just me & hubby in the house I can't say we limit or deliberately change what we eat at any time of the year. We rarely eat roast dinners so Christmas dinner is always a nice change. There are very few "Christmas foods" that we specially buy or only buy at this time of year, and they tend to be things that aren't available during the rest of the year - Lebkuchen gingerbread's from Lidl, oh and Profiteroles from the Co-op (the best ever) but they only sell them at Christmas time round here.

My hubby is a chocolate addict, so we always have loads of chocolate in the house and I never buy tins or boxes of chocolates at any time of year as it would work out too expensive the amount he eats every week!