Anyone else not able to buy Christmas food shopping til Christmas Eve?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Due to isolation we can't get our Christmas food in person til Christmas Eve. Deliveries are pretty much a no go as slots are none existent and there's no guarantee they can even fulfil the order.

I'm taking a laid back approach and have basically told the family that the meal will consist of what I can get hold of on Thursday. If it's turkey, great. If not, it'll be beef/lasagne/curry. Basically, whatever Aldi have in when I walk in the door.

It'll be ok right? There isn't going to be barren shelves?

[Charlie63849]

Hope not. Iv got the main bulk being delivered but still need some extras!

[Nowaynothappening]

In ordinary years you’d most likely be fine provided you arrived early in the morning. This year, I’m not so sure. I think many people will be panic buying due to the border situation. If you’re happy with lasagne then you’ll be fine but you might struggle to get some veg and definitely struggle with turkey.

[BluebellsGreenbells]

No idea! Whatever you eat will be fine - jazz it up with some crackers and festive music.

As for baron shelves? No idea but would assume the freight sitting outside the UK will have more of an effect than Christmas shoppers normally.

Good luck!

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Dd would be delighted with plain pasta and I've got heaps of that in. Ds and dh eat anything and are just happy to be fed. I'd bloody love it to be as traditional as possible but needs must.

I've got a stash of frozen veg just for standard and in November I froze a pack of pigs in blankets. I can make my own yorkies.

[Whatsnewpussyhat]

Do you have Prime? Amazon fresh delivering.

[BarbaraofSeville]

We almost always shop on Christmas Eve, early in the morning. We don't order anything either. Seems totally pointless as nearly everyone I know has things missing from pre-orders and/or has to queue for hours to pick it up.

We go to Morrisons at about 6 am on Christmas Eve and there's always plenty of food. Drop in at M&S on the way back for a couple of extra nice bits if needed.

I appreciate that this year might be different, but it's probably salad stuff that will be in short supply, not Christmas dinner ingredients.

Potatoes, sprouts and parsnips are grown in the UK so not affected by the border situation and will only run out if people buy more than they need.

[damnthemanatee]

For the first time in years I haven't relied on a last minute supermarket shop. I was worried about needing to isolate etc so managed to get a click and collect shop and ordered my joint from the butcher.

I'm usually very happy with shopping on the 23rd/24th.

The supermarket was fine last night, not too busy and plenty of most things.

[Roominmyhouse]

There will probably be loads of huge turkeys where people have scaled back and picked smaller ones.

[alltinselandbaubles]

We're in almost the same boat, self isolating until the 25th. I've got a food voucher from the council to pay for lunches for the DCs but there are no delivery slots available. We'll just have our xmas lunch on another day.

[housemdwaswrong]

Supermarmets have loads of stock this time of year. There was a supermarket manager on a thread on here saying their stock is fine even with the freight embargo.

In some ways it's pressure off Christmas for you whatever is there is dinner, but I think it will be okay, supermarkets here are looking absolutely fine. Plus, no choice so tough. It's like a lucky dip dinner. :) Enjoy.

[chipsandgin]

We always do our Christmas food shopping on Christmas Eve just before the supermarkets shut - hasn’t failed as a strategy yet and there has never been a year (in 15 years of doing this) where we’ve not bought everything we needed.

The only thing that I’ve thought this year is that if more people are doing this, we may not get some of the bargains as in previous years (including turkey crowns for £3, a £5 organic leg of lamb one time, a rib of beef reduced from £60 to £6 & often all the veg for 10p a bag each amongst other things!).

We like the Christmas Eve jeopardy game & it’s the most fun doing in with less than an hour to spare (& in previous years have fed 16 or more people doing this, as there will only be four of us it should be easy..). You’ll be fine OP, you may even discover it’s a strategy you want to use from now on even when you don’t have to, good luck!

[Oddbutnotodd]

I think it will be fine as everyone else will be shopped out. People will have bought all the lettuce though! Good luck.

[ChristmasUserName2020]

There was so much meat to pick from in our local Aldi yesterday. Turkey’s of all sizes and loads of different joints of meat. I’m sure you’ll be fine on the 24th, especially if you can get there early.

[AlwaysCheddar]

Go early, it’ll be ok!

[CeeceeBloomingdale]

It'll be fine, you have the right attitude

[allthatglittersaint]

Have you got a 24 hour Tesco near you? I'm going to ours in the early hours tomorrow, not because I'm worried they'll run out of food but I want to avoid the crowds so I'm going about 5am.

[TooManyPlatesInMotion]

Oh yes, it will be fine. The shops round me are busy as hell with big queues but actually well stocked with trad festive stuff and the usual too. You should be fine. In all honesty it might be a bit calmer out there by then.

If you are concerned about any items in particular then could you ask a friend to pick them up and leave them outside your door?

[Bumply]

If you buy a frozen turkey make sure you have the means to defrost it safely in time.

[housemdwaswrong]

Tesco have said they have plenty of Christmas supplies in, but may run low on salad and cauliflower :)

www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/tesco-issues-panic-buying-warning-ahead-of-last-minute-christmas-rush/ar-BB1c8odH?ocid=msedgntp

[Champagneforeveryone]

I've just been to Waitrose as passed by on my way back from the chiropractor and there was no queue.

Lots of stock and staff frantically filling the shelves. Ominously there were very few potatoes, and I had to buy organic parsnips as there were no regular ones. Apart from that they had everything I needed.