Old Style preparations for Christmas 2012!!!!!

chirpychick

Soworried wrote: »

That is even more reason to be sorted out chirpy. It will give you more time to spend with the little one when the time comes. :j

I have a problem on freezer space but I am fine other wise, I can put it under the bed if need be.
My next buy is going to be Robertsons mincemeat, 20p a jar at MrT at the moment. :j

I brought 6 jars of the mincemeat from A$da the other week :j I am hoping that when my house is finally clean I will make up my mince pies for the freezer and go scrumping for the apples for apple pies too.
We also have lack of freezer space, hoping to pick a small one up from freecycle as our 2nd little one broke and we were using it for reduced bread etc and it comes in handy for storing things i make

gildius wrote: »

What a good idea! Have you started present shopping yet? I'm one of those people who leaves it until far too late and then regrets it...

I have nearly finished! :j

pigpen wrote: »

I don't understand this.. do you not eat the rest of the year? The shops are closed for a whole 1 day why the great need to behave like there is a famine coming? It is this famine mentality which means there is a lack of bread and milk and veggies on the shelves.

I have a family gathering (for about 25-30) Boxing Day for which I buy biscuits and bake cake and make jelly for.. and other than that we eat as normal.. Christmas dinner is nothing more than a Sunday roast.

I can't be the only one that doesn't get worked into a frenzy about food shopping for Christmas...

How much do you all end up putting in the bin after New Year?

We never bin any of the food we buy for Christmas and New Year! We use all left overs.

Last year I spent £50 on food shopping for Christmas & New Year we hardly brought any extras in at all and it was fine but it wasn't special, we didn't have any treats at all.

This year I want to buy in advance mainly so I don't have to go shopping with a newborn, but also I have no store cupboard so it's not like the stuff will be wasted, if it doesn't get used I will keep it in my store cupboard and it will help in future months when we are low on cash. But also one of the biggest reasons for me is that all year we eat "value" everything, for Christmas & NY I like to buy Birds, Cadburys, Heinz because most of it does taste nicer and is much more luxurious and a real treat for us. But it is also more expensive, so buying a bit eat week really helps to spread the cost.

I think you will also find that it is people "like us" who buy things throughout the year that don't cause the famine mentality of empty shelves on Christmas eve or on the first snow fall because actually we will usually have all we need in the house already :rotfl:

I am not at all for buying in excess and throwing away £100's worth of food away at all but sometimes it is easier to buy a few bits of food each week than it is to save up the cash.

And I see no harm in having a few extra luxuries at a special time of year when we spend so much time and effort scrimping and scraping the rest of the time.

And also from my experience it is old style, my grandparent's always start filling their larder for Winter/Christmas from the end of the summer holidays so there is always treats and luxuries in the larder for visitors and for when you feel blue in the cold. So they spread their cost out too and my Nan always says it was the best lesson her Mum ever taught her.

Sambucus_Nigra

Soworried wrote: »

I like christmas to be extra special. Far, far from a normal Sunday roast. Each to their own though.

But how is it not extra special with regular food?

I find all this C*mas gluttony completely OTT.

And you are in a flap about it in August? Completely irrational.

pigpen

so you add a few crackers and get a bottle of pop.. Dinner essentially is still a Sunday roast.. meat, veg, gravy, yorkies etc.. your stomach doesn't expend 4 fold for the 1 day so you can physically only eat the same amount... = much more waste.

I know some people add a starter but if you do this then you need less of the meat/veg etc as your stomach is already half full from that. Children have usually devoured half a selection box by then so they eat half a pea and are stuffed.

And how many women spend half the nightwrapping and putting out presents, get up after an hours sleep to spend the day in the kitchen cooking food to throw in the bin? I watched my mother and stepmother do this for years and swore I wouldn't..

Each to their own but think about what you are doing.. buying for the sake of it? .. this is about money saving surely.. if you won't use it.. don't buy it! Write down all the foods you buy and then what you throw in the bin after New Year!

Fun things like crackers and candles I can understand.. you can put away what you don't use.. Last year OH, against my advice, bought a cheese mountain then ate nothing but cheese for a week.. he admitted he maybe bought too much after he had turned into a mouse!

And please leave some potatoes on the shelves for me!

whiteguineapig

i don't get it either but i think i'm probably in a minority

pigpen

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

But how is it not extra special with regular food?

I find all this C*mas gluttony completely OTT.

And you are in a flap about it in August? Completely irrational.

My point exactly.. and maybe rather more succinctly

I love christmas.. I am excited about it all year.. my children say I am part elf.. but we don't do the gluttony.. it is the people we are with and the things we do together that make it special... not the alcohol (that just makes some of the people tolerable and some intolerable!) or the sweets/treats (that just means the childre are sick) and definitely not the wastefulness or expense.

shellsuit

We only buy 'special' food and drink for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Certainly doesn't take me months to make a list and shop for.

We get it all on the morning of my bday, 22nd Dec, up, dressed, out, shop, come home, put it away and enjoy the rest of the day and night!

Soworried

I am planning on sorting the menu first. Then I can make a shopping list and try to get it all between now and christmas hopefully reduced.
I want a goose and a beef joint for the main christmas dinner. That is as far as I have got with the planning.
I think I will sit down this afternoon and menu plan. I love christmas. :j

whitesatin

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

But how is it not extra special with regular food?

I find all this C*mas gluttony completely OTT.

And you are in a flap about it in August? Completely irrational.

That's why we are here, those of us who love Christmas, because we are completely irrational, LOL.

I don't tend to over indulge for most of the year and certainly hate waste but it adds to the excitement of the season (granted, only for some) to get in special food. Maybe it comes from childhood memories/experiences.

Horses for courses, yet again. Live and let live, once again.

Sambucus_Nigra

pigpen wrote: »

My point exactly.. and maybe rather more succinctly

I love christmas.. I am excited about it all year.. my children say I am part elf.. but we don't do the gluttony.. it is the people we are with and the things we do together that make it special... not the alcohol (that just makes some of the people tolerable and some intolerable!) or the sweets/treats (that just means the childre are sick) and definitely not the wastefulness or expense.

We traditionally have chilli on C*mas day - nachos at 11 after our trip to the allotment and chilli later in the day. This year though, with our hooge harvest of spuds we may well have a normal roastie in the evening, the only concession is the OH chooses a different spectacular pudding each year and I make it - and I make yorkies with the roastie. Very little extra spend and none of this putting stuff away for months.

bossymoo

Lol, my kiddies have had just two and three Christmases each so far and I can soooo identify with them only eating half a pea. They are far too excited to sit and have a proper meal

None of us really care for mincemeat, Xmas cake or pudding. We usually end up having different deserts. Stepdad likes apple pie and a gallon of custard, mum likes lemon meringue, mil likes pavlova and we buy profiteroles as that's what dh would have. I like cheesecake and FIL would generally have a bit of everything.

Me, mum and mil have split the shopping so we each buy a meat item and a pud or two, I do the veg, mum gets the wine and mil does a couple of her special dishes. It's good to share, no one gets the stress of shopping or paying for or cooking everything.

I have collected a few bits for our DVD afternoons that I've seen on sale; popcorn, marshmallows for hot choc, Pringles and the kids favourite biscuits, together with some schloer for me and some crafty bits.

We will probably buy advent calendar contents (we have our own to fill) nearer the time and a tub of celebrations.