Old Style Christmas Preparations for Christmas 2013

whitesatin

Maybe TKMax?

Just_be_2

I'm cooking Christmas dinner this year, first time ever! And I have a VERY compact kitchen. Anybody got tricks/tips of what I can prepare before hand, space saving ideas? Anything!! I'm all ears

Just_be_2

Should have mentioned tht I'm only cooking for six of us but I foresee myself having a meltdown over cooking/preparation space!

mum2one

Just_be wrote: »

Should have mentioned tht I'm only cooking for six of us but I foresee myself having a meltdown over cooking/preparation space!

Have you got a meal plan sorted - have you got to do starter as well as main and pud.

Prep-
Prep as much as you can ngt before,
potatoes, veg - can all be peeled and put in saucepan water
pigs in blankets - prepare and put back in fridge
stuffing - I do mine in round shapes (balls) prepare ngt before

Turkey - cook that the day before - to reheat in oven - put in cooking foil and add sprinkle of water to stop it drying out.

Day-
Oven guessing 2 shelves
-top - put in roast potatoes
-middle - roasted veg (cheat and use bag of frozen chunky veg - thinking of Aunt Bessies (there be other brands)
-bottom of oven - share tray -cooking foil to line *use 2 sets) side 1 have stuffing balls, side 2 stuffung

I'd put this at the start of the cooking as lower of the oven is cooler so it will be cooked if you allow full time of cooking ou can always move shelf around.

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Plates - warm them in a microwave or pop them under grill put them in when you start using the oven no need to put the grill on as heat from Oven rises

Bread Sauce - Get 2 packets of bread sauce these can be cooked in microwave or on hob
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Hob
4 rings-
1 ring - boiled potatoes
2nd ring - gravy
3rd ring - veg - do you have a pressure cooker (or can borrow one) chuck sprouts, peas etc in there
4th ring - free unless you need to do veg in saucepan

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Main meal
Turkey
Roast and boiled potatoes
Chunky veg
Sprouts, peas,
Pigs in blankets
Stuffing
bread sauce

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Pud
I always cook mine in the microwave - you can start cooking this cleaning away main meal

brandy sauce - Cheat - I use sachet from birds just add hot water and whisk, or you can buy it prepared and just warm in microwave or on the oven.

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Sorry to ask - better be prepared check whether you have any vegetarians, vegans or fussy eaters - so u can have plan b.

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I brought myself a book fro local market 4 items for Xmas - each recipie needs no more than 4 items - I can have a look at starters in you need any ideas
do you want cold or hot??? xx

Annie_99

:mad::mad:Hi Everyone. I went all round town today to try and find baskets or similar to make some presents but they seemed quite pricey, around 7 or 8 pounds and up.
I went in P**undland and found Charley Boormans book Long way Down, full of Beautiful photos etc, was 25 pound (and well worth it) and I got it for a quid!!! Bought it to put in my husbands present mound!
I had a really strange moment in Town. I sat my 20 year old daughter down and asked her what she would like as a main present and she said she had seen a Pandora ring for £40 and would that be ok.. She never ever asks me for anything and knows money is tight so I agreed and we went to buy it.. The girl oozed money and clearly usually serves much richer folk than us!!! This was a BIG purchase for me and my daughter as before we were debt free we could never have done this...
The assistant said, is this ring for anything special? Christmas my daughter said, she looked as if we had 3 heads and said, Oh but you will be getting more things???? What on earth!!! I was annoyed that she tried to ruin my dream of buying a what in our eyes is a special thing. To her it was probably peanuts but to me it was massive!! :mad::D

iammumtoone

Annie99 that is an awful way to to treated, I would be sending an email off to head office to complain. I hope it didn't ruin it for your daughter too much.

CookieMonsta

Annie99

What a donut! Don't take it to heart hun.

From personal experience, people who act rich and look like they have loads of money are usually in loads of debt.

You are being sensible and generous to others within your budget. That is such a good example to your daughter and the best present you can give her xxx

CookieMonsta

Can anyone recommend somewhere to get baskets for hampers please?

I want to make my friend a nail care hamper with a nail oil pen, instant nail polish remover pot, a Nails Inc polish bought in their lucky dip and a 99p OPI polish.

Arthien

CookieMonsta I got some lovely baskets for my wedding confetti in Homesense, if you've got one of those near you? It's basically the homeware section of TK Maxx, so you could also try there if that's easier. Otherwise, are there any independent craft stores near you? Or nick-nack secondhand-type shops?

Also, for those wanting to do scrabble letter crafts, both ebay and amazon sell them. I notice there's some reasonable prices for buying in bulk (rather than individual letters) from the USA, so perhaps that might be a cheaper way of doing it if you're looking at using lots of letters, even once duty has been paid.

HTH

mum2one

CookieMonsta wrote: »

Can anyone recommend somewhere to get baskets for hampers please?

I want to make my friend a nail care hamper with a nail oil pen, instant nail polish remover pot, a Nails Inc polish bought in their lucky dip and a 99p OPI polish.

What about using some cello wrap and put the items in the bottom and bring it up so it can be tied with ribbon.?

I picked up baskets from car boots and alike, or if you have a small box - like the coffee sachet boxes (in poundland - latte coffee mixes £1 there lovely) but if you open the box carefully you can decorate the outside of the box in xmas paper, in the bottom put some shredded paper (tissue paper or pop a coloured piece of paper through a shredder and use that), the top flaps of the box, use a hole punch - then some curling ribbons as handles.

xx