What do you do for Christmas dinner?

lil_me · 27 November 2009 at 1:53AM

Only done it a few times but will never look back after making the choice to have dinner at home with the boys.

I buy from the farm shop only, about same price as Tesco but it's wonderful (beats ANY supermarket)

Cooking before the day means more feet up time, I will do some the day before.

This year I will do turkey, beef and gammon. I will cook the beef & ham the day before. Crown for the day, with beef. Turkey legs done as stuffed cracker rolls & a Nigella cola ham will be cooked. They will all last for ages, some will be frozen.

fatlad9 · 27 November 2009 at 4:42AM

my ideal christmas meal would be:

chicken vindaloo, special egg pilou rice, keema naan, onion bajhi, poppadoms, and mint yoghurt.

looks like we're going to my parents, where i'll have a traditional xmas dinner.... would still prefer a curry though.

Molly41 · 27 November 2009 at 8:01AM

Im dreading cooking christmas dinner this year - will have to get my kids organised. Mainly because Im now quite disabled and wobble around a lot when Im on my legs. I also have a habit of dropping things so thats very helpful when trying to cook the most important meal of the year:eek::eek:
So in years gone past I used to cook it all from scratch but this year it will have to be brought...ready made...ready prepared and then bunged in the oven. Hope no-one minds as its not very money saving but needs must!

[Deleted User] · 27 November 2009 at 8:26AM

Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast and a glass of champagne. Croissants and raspberry conserve

I am making individual beef wellingtons this year as no-one wants turkey. All the usual christmas veg. Hm trifle made with raspberries and fresh custard. Hm christmas pudding for those who want it. Best chocolates and fresh coffee

Hm mince pies and a thick cream whipped with a little something alcoholic

People should end up feeling happily full but not sickly stuffed

Nuts chocolate and crisps will be available all day after lunch

Tea, sandwiches made with home cooked ham, various pickles and some salad. Christmas cake

oooh well that has helped sort my mind so now to get my shopping list ready

I think I`ll but a goose breast if I can find one as you can`t beat roast potatoes in goose fat and I`m not paying £3 for a diddly jar

ELIZA_D · 27 November 2009 at 8:27AM

i usually have bagels with salmon and cream cheese for breakfast but love CHES idea of the gammon joint to eat with eggs
dinner is nigella style turkey with home made gravy. roasters. sprouts with bacon. pigs in blankets. stuffing mixed with sausage meat. honey parsnips and carrots and one other veg usually cauli or broccoli ( the more veg the better for bubble and squeak boxing day !!!!!)
pudding is trifle

cheese board and home made pickles for tea with turkey sarnies for the extra hungry !!!

thriftlady_2 · 27 November 2009 at 9:07AM

jenner wrote: »

I usually get nearly everything from Marks, even though its expensive because its v tasty.

I would rather serve my own liver up for Christmas lunch than do that. How odd.

Christmas lunch is just a roast dinner, it is one of the easiest meals to cook unless you buy into the tellychef idea that you have to make every single dish a superexperience and have five different vegetables all 'cooked up' in a different way and three different sauces each using a different kind of alcohol and two kinds of stuffing.

All you need is a big bird or joint of meat plus roast potatoes and a couple of other veg. Gravy is a by-product of the meat so that's easy and a few simple thrifty extras like stuffing and bread sauce will stretch your meat.

Christmas pudding is also a doddle to make- all you do is mix a load of ingredients together and you do it well in advance. Don't bother with brandy butter or any other fancy sauces, just have cream the pudding is rich enough.

Mincemeat- I can't believe people buy this. It is the easiest thing to make. All you do is mix dried fruit, apple, sugar and alcohol in a bowl and leave it for a couple of days then pot into jars. The hardest thing is grating the apple.

Christmas cake is basically the same thing as the pud and mincemeat with flour, eggs and butter. Again really easy to make-just mix it altogether and bake. I don't bother icing and marzipanning I think spoils the cake and uses far too much sugar.

It is my belief that Christmas dinner has become way too complicated and indulgent. I think this is because we feast all year round so we have to make this one lunch even more rich and over the top.

Christmas lunch in the Thrift household will be -

No starter- we've never had starters for Christmas lunch, if there is one meal that doesn't need adding to it is this one.

Roast goose, roast potatoes, carrots and peas, goose giblet gravy, apples sauce and sage and onion stuffing. I might add a few chipolatas wrapped in bacon(I don't buy these ready made- it is hardly taxing to wrap bacon round a sausage).

Christmas pudding and cream or fresh fruit, shell nuts and cheese.

There will also be mince pies and Christmas cake around.

I do not make a special breakfast. The kids eat Father Christmas chocolate for breakfast and I have coffee.

I don't buy crisps, or other salted snacks. Why would you? You're not going to go hungry on Christmas day.

I do not make a special tea, there are usually hm sausage rolls and some sort of winter salad to eat with cold goose and cold ham. I'm baking a ham on Christmas Eve with the intention of having plenty of leftovers.:santa2:

winnie81 · 27 November 2009 at 9:11AM

No roast for us this year :j I am doing a banquet of Indian and Chinese dishes for us all (10) :drool:
We all get fed up of the roast dinner and I decided that by doing Indian and Chinese dishes I can prepare 99% of it the night before which leaves me all day with the kids and not the kitchen! We mainly eat chinese or Indian foods anyway so OH and I will get stuck in Christmas Eve and it really won't take too long to do

Mum and her boyfriend were a bit miffed by my menu choice but if they don't like it they can do there own lunch as every time I have attempted to cook a turkey its been a disaster so I don't bother anymore :rotfl:

So for us we'll have on a large table for everyone to help themselves a choice of...

Onion Bhajees
Sheek kebabs
Samosas
Butterfly prawns
Prawn Toast
Satay Chicken

Chicken Korma
Biryani with Tandoori Style Chicken
Lamb Balti or Mongolian Lamb
Bombay Potatos
Chicken Sweet & Sour
Beef and Black Bean Noodles
Chow Mein
Prawn Crackers
Keema Naan & Cheese Naan (OH addicted to cheese)
Keema Rice (OH makes gorgeous keema rice!)
Egg Fried Rice
Mint yoghurt, Mango Chutneys, onion salad

Fr puds whatever the 4 kids decide on as that's there choice but definitely a crumble and cheesecake of some sort as its all our favs :j
:drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:

If my mum, her boyfriend and my brother want alcohol with dinner they are bringing it as we don't drink and hopefully we'll make enough that it will do boxing day too

Edit to add: OH always cooks a full english breakfast for us all on the morning at about 9/10 so dinner is always late afternoon so no need for a tea as the above dinner will be supper too! Its the one day the kids are allowed a little chocolate early on so they take advance of a choc bar or two while opening pressies lol
Claire x

puddy · 27 November 2009 at 9:27AM

thanks everyone, yes thriftlady, i knew that it would upset some people, marks and spencers is NOT money saving, but everyone has different levels of stress and although I like cooking for people, OH and his kids are v fussy. Im not keen on chicken for a start, OH's kids love chicken, no one likes turkey and kitchen is v small, so to meet everyone's needs and to allow me to feel as relaxed as poss, I like it ready made.

I love the idea of some of the breakfasts on here, although I like to save myself for lunch as its a big lunch.

my problem this year is that my fridge freezer is a lot smaller than my old one and I will have to have enough food in for 5 of us for several days, I dont relish the idea of shopping at christmas. OH and his kids dont and wont eat leftovers which limits what I can serve up, bit of a nightmare really!

lowesy · 27 November 2009 at 10:05AM

thriftlady wrote: »

I would rather serve my own liver up for Christmas lunch than do that. How odd.

:rotfl: LOL thriftlady LOL!

My Mum is a Christmas day veteran and as such is yet to accept any suggestions from me as to how to make things easier for herself. For example, cooking up the bread sauce, mashed swede and cauli cheese in advance and then reheating in the microwave. I think she's still a bit scared of the micro tbh :rolleyes:

We have roast turkey, roast pork and pigs in blankets with loads of veg and gravy (which is made in Pimms jugs as there's so many of us!), bread sauce, cranberry sauce and of course, stuffing. Mmmm could eat it right now actually. We tend to have a piece of Christmas pud each for afters and then everyone collapses in the lounge room and looks at their pressies.

Later in the evening Mum will say, "Is anyone hungry? and be met with a resounding no, so she'll say, "well I'll just do a bit of tea" and she'll prepare cold sliced gammon, pork and some of the turkey with some salady bits and my favourite, the pickles!!! And even after the resounding no from all of us, we sit there eating like we've never been fed before :rotfl: After that it's Christmas cake and cheese or mince pies.

Blimey, we do go through a lot on Christmas Day but we love it and it's never wasted!

Oooooooooo I excited now I can't wait for the big day :xmassmile

cyclingyorkie · 27 November 2009 at 10:20AM

my sister is going to her m-i-l's - I haver never known someone so good at getting out of Christmas lunch!

We have roast ham on the 23rd - family tradition...and a buffet on Christmas eve...so there is already lots around for nibblers....

We will start with something simple - fruit or toast and copious tea (for me at least).

Lunch will be free range turkey and all the veg and sausage,stuffing etc with a bottle of something bubbly. I get a disposable roasting tin from M&S - not very OS - but it makes a difference to the washing up!

Youngest (15) refuses to eat turkey - so this year wants a kids spag bol from M&S - fine cos it's microwaveable.

Christmas pud for 3 of us (Siansbury's) with custard...chocolate gateaux for the fussy b*****s.

Tea is self service....plenty available - plus home made Christmas cake.

My main worry is forgetting to get the gateaux out of the freezer......so many times has it been cut into slices and served 'chilled'

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What do you do for Christmas dinner?

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