When do you start eating the Christmas food?

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Or “open the Christmas cupboard” as we call it in our house?

For us personally I clear space in one of the cupboards in October and I buy a few none perishables to add to it every week in the food shop including both snacks and drinks. This is firmly the Christmas cupboard and out of bounds to everyone. This helps us spread the cost out a little bit as when I pull it out before the big Christmas food shop i’m always shocked at how much I’ve managed to collect without seeing it hit the bank balance massively.

On the 19th next week I will do a “BIG” Christmas food shop, expiry dates permitting. I will probably have to top up the veg a bit closer to the day but Tesco is just down the road. I’ve just announced to the family the Christmas cupboard will be open from Saturday 20th so cheers all around. Silly tradition but something we all look forward to and have lots of snacks with a festive film. My friend is here and stated that she doesn’t allow her family to eat any Christmas food until Xmas eve.

Just wondering when you start eating the Christmas food?

Are we including mince pies in this? If so, then mid-November 😆

Otherwise - as soon as school breaks up! That's when the tub of chocolate gets cracked open and the nibbles start coming out 😆

The chocolate baubles on the tree don't get touched until Xmas eve though.

So far we have eaten 2 lots of pigs in blankets and 2 tubs of miniature hero’s.
Most things will be coming out on the 19th of December because that is when my 18 year old comes home for 2 weeks for Christmas. H normally lives 4 hours away so I am very excited to see him.

Omg no otherwise I am guilty of being incredibly early too! I had my first mince pie in October and buy a packet every second food shop 😂 purely “Christmas period” food

For us it will be the last day of school, the 19th 😭

I’m sitting here filling my face with shortbread from a tin with a picture of a stag on it - so I’m guessing about now 😁

Phew! I stockpile them from November onwards. 😆

In theory on Christmas eve, but I've had no self control this year and have already eaten and had to replace some chocolates and crisps

When they start selling it 😊 I've been eating mince pies since October 💕💕💕

Talking of chocolate baubles, has anybody seen any this year? I can't find any shops with them at all.

I’m eating some florentines now.

To early we are trying to hold back this year maybe the next weekend I'll let some loose ?

We rarely spend Christmas at home so don’t really start until we get to where we are staying. That could be Christmas Eve. Having said that, we have been eating the odd mince pie since they appeared in the shops in mid June or whenever.

Next Thursday when dd visits.

Tesco had some in our local one!

No way! Mince pies in June! I recently discovered hot cross buns were actually sold all year round but I had no idea mince pies were too?!

Cracked open the Christmas cake last night which I bought to take to my sisters for the Christmas meal. Need to go out and buy a new one now. Although I have done well given that I’ve been stockpiling all sorts of treats to take on the day and the only thing I’ve given in to is the cake…

When our youngest finishes school and our oldest gets home from uni. That was yesterday!

Thanks - I've just been to the corner shop which has expensive Cadbury ones in lurid 'Cadbury' purple and not very festive! I'll try Tesco next.

What kind of stuff do you put in your cupboard? I’m intrigued! We’re on about our tenth box of mince pies, have worked our way through one big bag of Aldi Xmas German biscuits and the kids like some Aldi Xmas tree pretzel shapes. That kind of thing?

The main stash will probably come out when kids break up on 19th. But we did share a mint choc orange last night, and a caramel one a couple of weeks back- although that was for taste testing purposes! Like caramel, and like chocolate, but we were not too keen on caramel flavoured chocolate!
And mince pies have been around from first weekend in December.

Oh we are on the 4th bottle of Baileys

I don’t buy ahead so straight away.

pausing with a pig-in-blanket halfway to mouth

whuh?

I buy in loads of stuff, but it's not put out until Christmas Eve! I've got a small cupboard in our living room (we live in a flat, so nowhere else to store it) and nobody knows what is in there until it's emptied on Christmas Eve - I love the time between October and December where I can put things in it - drink/non-perishable food etc. I even end up forgetting half of what I've got!