December food shop ideas - please help me!

[IntoP20]

Hi all,

So I’ve never (shamefully) had to take responsibility for Christmas as generally we spend most of our time with family over the festive period, but this year it looks as though we’re all going to be in our own homes a little more.

I’ve never had to really think about food delivery slots or stocking up on those Christmas bits. Fortunately (for all involved) I’m still not going to have to think about cooking Christmas lunch, but I’d really like our house to be plenty plentiful throughout December. We’re generally the kind of people who go to the supermarket every couple of days and rarely do a big shop. I’m going to book a click and collect slot at the end of November and half way through December. I’m so organised at work and with anything related to our DS, but can’t seem to transfer this kind of thinking to any form of food shopping.

I’m looking for advice on what food/ drink (and anything else) I need to think about buying? I’m not really talking meals, just more the bits that make
Christmas that bit more special. My mind has gone blank and immediately feels muddled when I start to think about it. So far all I have on my list is mulled wine, normal wine and cheese.

Please help! Thank you xx

I'd order 3 smaller shops in the lead up to Christmas rather than two bigger ones.

You'll have the opportunity to add fresh stuff and spread out the longer date stuff that way.

Cheese (at least 5 varieties)
Chutney
Pate
Grapes
Olives
Crackers and hovis digestives
Breadsticks
Cheese straws
Houmous
Garlic and onion dip

A big pork pie with cranberry or such like

A ham that you can cook in marmalade and then graze/have sandwiches from

Tubs of celebrations etc

Hot chocolate, marshmallows, squirts cream, lebkuchen

Wine, mulled wine, apple juice, cider, cinnamon sticks, cloves and oranges

Slab of Christmas cake, mince pies, Yule log, raspberry meringue roulade thing, cream

Pringles, sharing pack of posh crisps, nuts, twiglets

Party foods - pizza, pickled onions, Indian snacks, little sausages, pretzels, sausage rolls, quiche.

Oh wow. Thank you so much for this! Brilliant ideas. I’m going to work through them and add them to my shopping bag

Btw if you are pushed for fridge space you can store things like veg in a box in a cold place - I use a plastic box and put it in the porch.

Thanks for the tip @wowfudge. We’ve still got our old unused fridge out in the garage. I’m going to give it a good clean and turn it on over Xmas

No problem!!

I forgot Brie and cranberry bagels. So good and a nice simple thing to make

Get some puff pastry. So handy to have in the fridge over the festive period (& lasts ages). Perfect for impromptu cheese straws, sausage rolls, mincemeat swirls.
Christmas themed crumpets are great.
Clementines
Mince pie ice cream
Shortbread
After eights
Pickled cornichons

Firstly plan your menu.

Then decide what you're going to prepare beforehand. I'm doing to freeze a vegetarian pie and the prepared roasties.

Get those ingredients first

Start putting bits of what you might need in your weekly stuff, booze, biscuits, crackers etc.

If you are having meat, order it now.