Christmas groceries shop

enthusiasticsaver

I have just, hopefully made my last visit to a supermarket this year or certainly before Christmas.

Having done 3 online shops and 2 supermarket visits I wondered which establishments other people visit for Christmas and if you use different supermarkets to the rest of the year?

All in budget this year too or actually £4 under which I just stuck in charity pot outside Lidls.

I normally shop at Lidls with a monthly shop at Waitrose for gluten free bits for son in law and lactose free stuff for OH. Lidls is not great at providing food for intolerances. At Christmas I have

Ordered organic meat and veg online from riverford for Christmas dinner- expensive luxury we don't normally do at any other time of year
Bought gluten free stuffing, smoked salmon and some cheeses and other luxury bits from Waitrose
Bought coffee pods for coffee machine online
Ordered basic groceries and frozen desserts from Tesco online as cannot bear crowds coming up to xmas.
Bought wine, soft drinks and household bits from Lidls.

Anyone else finished yet?

maman

I've done all the non perishables, mostly in Aldi. I finished off yesterday in Sainsbury's and pretty horrified at how much more expensive it is but I didn't have time to shop around.


I'll be hitting Aldi on Friday or possibly Thursday for fresh stuff and that'll be it.


P.S. They have an expanding gluten free section in Aldi so it might be worth taking a look in the New Year.

suki1964

I've just cleaned the fridge and freezers and taken an inventory and written ' the list'

Ham and bacon already bought from a local farm

Goose from lidl already bought

So tomorrow will hit lidls to get the carrots, parsnips , sprouts , onions, frozen things, tea bags etc

Potatoes are being delivered tonight in exchange for eggs and kindlers

Christmas Eve will pop into a supermarket to lift the dairy, bread and whatever nice Christmassy bits that are reduced. Last year I done very well with half legs of lamb £1 each, pork, beef and turkey all at very little cost and sausages and stuffing enough to last through to Easter

Oh and a bottle of baileys.

This will be the last time I hit the shops for food until sometime in the new year.

Lidl Northern Ireland have a huge selection of gluten free all year round

Ferryboat_Woman

Yep! All done. I have a final delivery from Ocado on Christmas Eve.I won't go anywhere near a shop until 2017 now!

PasturesNew

I am leaving one bottle of milk and one loaf until the last possible minute... I've no need to use either until Christmas Day so it'd be daft to buy either now.

If I get to the shops and they're out then I'll just have to do without. The world won't stop spinning.

I've got everything I "need"; it's just down to what I might randomly fancy now. My list contains things I could have, might fancy, might as well get in as it's Xmas .... nothing what you'd call "essential".

The more times you go the more your eye catches things you never went in for, so it's all best avoided.

I'd like 2 satsumas, just because they're traditional ... but I'll probably not end up buying those. Looked in a few shops, but it's all boxes, nets and big bags.... so not bothered.

I've not had to get a lot; gone out and got it all myself. There's nothing there others would call "Christmassy"; no special meats, no booze, no cakes/mince pies etc. All I got was a turkey breast, parsnip, spuds and the usual veggies really.

Shops are only closed 2 days; there's nobody here that'd whine about missing out on something as it's just me

I might get sausage rolls, or I might think "You know what .... s0d it".

Anything bought now would be gratuitous greed and eyes bigger than my belly to be honest.

iammumtoone

Not got anything yet, I never do. I will get everything on the one shop late night (24hr supermarket) on 23rd.

Its not normally very busy if you go late, and son doesn't mind being dragged round the shop as he thinks its exciting being out so late

I do buy a few 'treats' mince pies (will be the first this year), brandy butter, squirty cream (for posh hot chocolate Christmas eve).

The rest will be stuff for dinner, I always find they still have plenty of what we need. If they have sold out of whole chickens I will get some breasts/legs or whatever they have. There is only ds and I so no one to impress, I won't stress if we have to substitute something last minute

Doom_and_Gloom

iammumtoone wrote: »

Not got anything yet, I never do. I will get everything on the one shop late night (24hr supermarket) on 23rd.

Its not normally very busy if you go late, and son doesn't mind being dragged round the shop as he thinks its exciting being out so late

Do check when the store closes Christmas eve as normal times aren't likely to apply. The store I work for is usually open until 10pm but we're opening an hour earlier than usual but closing at 6pm on Christmas eve.
I worked Christmas eve last year and it was packed most of the day.

Edit: we celebrate Solstice and that's tomorrow so no real problem there, got most of it as it is. We're at my parents for Christmas and have bought what we need to take.

iammumtoone

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

Do check when the store closes Christmas eve as normal times aren't likely to apply.

We are going late Friday 23rd. I won't be going christmas eve tried that before when I had forgotten something. Never again, if I forget something we go without!

I think it will be worse this year with it falling on a weekend, people wont have had chance to go the weekend before as 7 days beforehand would be too early for most. Ideally I would like to go late on Thursday 22nd but as I have to be at work Friday not sure if I can stay awake :rotfl:

Doom_and_Gloom

iammumtoone wrote: »

We are going late Friday 23rd. I won't be going christmas eve tried that before when I had forgotten something. Never again, if I forget something we go without!

I think it will be worse this year with it falling on a weekend, people wont have had chance to go the weekend before as 7 days beforehand would be too early for most. Ideally I would like to go late on Thursday 22nd but as I have to be at work Friday not sure if I can stay awake :rotfl:

Ah yes, still probably be busy even then though because as you say it's on the weekend; a Sunday. It's going to be manic. I'm soo happy I'm not working Christmas eve this year. It's going to be bad enough working the Friday due to the people coming to avoid the eve!

nearlyrich

I got my veg last weekend it's all in a box in the garage lasts for week Tesco had a deal at 39p for 500g carrots, parsnips and sprouts etc. All the veg anyone will eat at Christmas will already be in plastic bags somewhere so no reason to wait. Just inventoried the cupboards so I don't buy stuff we don't need last shop on fr4iday when I collect the fresh meat. Then no supermarkets till January 2017 for me

enthusiasticsaver

Lots of organised people around then. Just panicking my fridge won't hold all the food ordered from Tesco which arrives on Thursday. Garage freezer packed up so no more freezer space for anything other than the ice cream tub I have ordered. May have to requisition my OHs workbench in the garage as additional cold storage area and hope the cold spell lasts at least until boxing day so I can store veg and bread out there.