Kirstys handmade Christmas... !!!!!!!!

oldtractor

I have a xmas pud bought last year cost about £3. a turkey crown £10. home grown veg ,but if buying cant be more than £5 a bottle of wine £3.50 total cost less than £25

lostinrates

robmatic wrote: »

Trademarks aside, opting for a free range turkey* is worth it. My folks usually get one from one of the local farmers who raises a small number every year. It might be more expensive but it's a different meal if you can actually taste the meat. I suppose if budget is an issue there is always the option of being thriftier with the accompaniments (ditching those M&S pre-made things for example).

* Was going to say 'nicely reared bird' here but I think that's a different conversation!

fwiw, I found last year the most ethically reared turkey frozen was cheaper than a less ethical fresh one.

aklmatthews

I think the point was that program was saying £50 was a super scrapers Christmas diner but I think it is more an average Christmas diner not luxury or budget the example I gave of doing it for £20 I would say is defiantly very budget but would give a diner of turkey stuffing sausage and bacon mash potatoes roast potatoes veg Christmas pudding custard and a glass of wine I did it buying everything from a supermarket and using reedy made pudding and packet stuffing I think if you shopped around and used your local market for veg and made your own stuffing and pudding you could save a bit and use to get slightly better meat but it would be an ok diner for any one on a tight budget but I must say mine will cost a bit more

PasturesNew

julieq wrote: »

One small Kelly Bronze Turkey in itself is £50+ - a £20 one is going to be mass produced, full of water and not great quality. Honestly, when you've tried a Kelly Bronze there's no way back.

Years ago dad splashed out and bought a "Butterball Turkey" - best one I've ever had. Not seen/had one since... but it was nice.

I guess there are four parts to Xmas:
- Xmas Dinner
- The gluttony items
- The rest of the week
- Whether people come round

I always think of Xmas as just being Xmas Dinner. While growing up I dreamt of gluttony items, as an adult I've never bothered. The rest of the week you'd be eating something anyway, so you can't count a whole week's food into the Xmas spend. Nobody's ever come round to our house for Xmas (heck, even we've all been trying to avoid it for decades!).

I'm still having the Xmas I remember from the early 60s.

PasturesNew

Just looking it up, a lot of websites say a turkey should weigh 1lb per person it's feeding. As that's not just meat, but total bird weight I was wondering.... how big's your turkey going to be then?

Feeding 5-6 would be a 2-3Kg bird.

aklmatthews

I have ordered a 6lb turkey crown from butcher and will get pork as well for 5 adults and a toddler but this will do more than one meal

Pennylane

robmatic wrote: »

Trademarks aside, opting for a free range turkey* is worth it. My folks usually get one from one of the local farmers who raises a small number every year. It might be more expensive but it's a different meal if you can actually taste the meat. I suppose if budget is an issue there is always the option of being thriftier with the accompaniments (ditching those M&S pre-made things for example).

* Was going to say 'nicely reared bird' here but I think that's a different conversation!

I disagree. I've been cooking Xmas dinners for many years and we've had free range turkeys straight off the farm or from the local butchers. We've also had frozen and fresh turkeys from supermarkets and I honestly do not think there is much difference.

The worst turkey dinner is where it's bland, badly cooked and everything accompanying it is from a packet or jar.

If you prepare your turkey (defrosting correctly if necessary) and make your own stuffings, gravy, bread sauce etc and have all fresh veggies and think about the colours on your plate, you won't go far wrong.

I have a turkey crown in my freezer (reduced from £26 to £8 Sainsbury's) and also a Lidl £9.99 Frozen turkey. We could have either OR if I see a good bargain locally I may buy a fresh one.

julieq

If you're prepared to play chicken (as it were) at Tescos on Christmas Eve, you can get fresh turkeys for a fiver. Raiding Tescos for the reductions which start early afternoon has become a bit of a Christmas Eve tradition with us, last year we got fresh ducks for £2, great big chunks of fillet steak for £3, and so on. You can fill the freezer for months. They practically chuck the reductions at you because I think they want to go home as quickly as possible.

SUESMITH_2

to get back to home made gifts, my mum was an amazing knitter and embroiderer and her sister was a seamstress, home made gifts from them were always fantastic, anything that i had knitted or sewed however would not be a good gift!

christmas dinner is just a big sunday lunch. i make everything from scratch mainly cos it's cheaper and it just tastes so much nicer, i'm lucky that i can do all my prep on christmas eve. wine and booze are part of our dinner - this year i'm cooking for 8, i will do the food and our friends are bringing the alcohol. its the one time of year when we have a little luxury so sorry but gravy granules and smart price don't do it for us.

last year my huge xmas shop which was everything for a full week (and we had people over) was just over £200 pounds and i had stuff left at the end of that time.

rosieben

Pennylane wrote: »

Someone actually reported my post as offensive because I dared to say that the snow globes were like something a child of 6 might make.:rotfl:

Please don't lie! I reported you for being abusive to another poster as you very well know because I told you I had done it and why I had done it, and you subsequently apologised for it! I think other comments on the thread show just how popular you were.

I don't understand why you feel the need to post over 20 times on a thread that's about someone you obviously hate? I couldn't be bothered but then, I have a life.

eta - you may have deleted your post from that thread but several of us quoted it