Does anyone else cheat at the Christmas meal? And I mean really cheat?

[bbface]

I keep hearing and reading about everyone making their own Christmas cake, cranberry sauce, cooking roasties in goose fat, making a trifle, delicious home made stuffing, ordering the turkey from a local farm shop... The list goes on.

Fact is, I cheat at almost everything, and without M&S I would be up the creek without a paddle. I buy one of their ready stuffed turkeys, I buy their sauces, their trimmings, their mince pies. Everyone basically. Oh, I make my own roasties, but the fuss and the mess I create.... You would think I was doing something truly special and inventive, as opposed to peeling potatoes and then bunging them in the oven.

I have to go very quiet when discussions turn to recipes, as I have nothing to contribute, other than the latest new trimmings at marks. I love reading the Sunday supplements about how to cook the tastiest this and that, but I never actually deliver the goods.

My family are all very sweet about about it, and make a big deal about what a lovely meal I have served, when in reality my job has been to manage all the different oven timings for my various dishes.

Does anyone else cheat? Or is it just me, as it sure as hell feels like that!!!!!

I cheat so much that I have never cooked a Christmas dinner in my life. My dad cooks it. He loves cooking, I hate it. Win, win situation.

I half homemade half prepared.
Does make me laugh how some people, (in general not necessarily on here), have to make a point of saying they only buy their Christmas food from M&S! M&S isn't always the best quality.

I have at some point or other, homemade everything - just not necessarily all on the same year! There are some things I would never compromise on - it has to be homemade. Roast potatoes are the one thing there is no good cheaty substitute for imho. However, I am happy to buy cranberry sauce, and ready made stuffing, although I usually pimp it, by adding/mixing extra bits. The times when I made fresh cranberry sauce I was left with gallons of leftovers, as so few people round my table actually eat it.

This is the first year ever that I will not be serving Christmas Pud. My DH can take or leave it, my kids hate it, there is no-one else here this year but us, and I usually end up scoffing the lot for about a week afterwards. I am too fat as it is - I was too disorganized to make one this year, and as I live in the Middle East the only ones available here are alcohol free, so what's the point of that? So I have decided to go without this year, and make something else. Not sure what yet. Will be making mince pies though.

I'm full on home made apart from Aunt Bessie's maple parnips, they are ACE!

I do roast at least twice a month so on Christmas Day I am having a day off. I have bought shove it in the oven party food from, wait for it, Iceland. Oh yes. Judge away!

Sirzy - I can tell Aunt Bessie's roast spuds because they're so good

Painstaking home cookery - home chefery, really - is a bit like home carpentry. Some people can cut, trim, plane, rout, carve and fix to perfection, and enjoy it. A few completely bloody obsessive carpenters grow their own wood and forge their own nails. Most of us can't do it and don't like it, so we buy ready-made. You don't go round apologising for having bought our furniture, do you? Well then!

I love cooking the Christmas dinner, so your way is not for me. But if it makes Christmas happy & easy for you, thats all that matters! I probably "cheat" in some other way that others would dissaprove of, we all make Christmas special in our own ways.

evrrything is homemade, including two types of stuffing and the cranberry sauce.

BUT -this is not a contest. the reason everyhting is homemade is because i am a good cook and do not find it at all difficult or stressful to make it myself.

if you are not a confident cook, or just find it overwhelming, then far better to buy it in and enjoy your chirstmas day then to get stressed out over christmas dinner.

happy christmas!

Half and half here. We cheat on sauces except gravy and delegate puddings, not our speciality to other guests, like DM. I was eyeing up some Tesco finest pre packs the other day but I don't think it would create the same satisfaction!

I cheat!! And I tell everyone I cheat!!!

I don't even go to m&s, Asda is much closer!

We enjoy our Christmas meal but we also enjoy spending time together and not sweating in a hot kitchen.

I'm having christmas for the first time this year. I've done a cake, cranberry sauce. I've parboiled potatoes and put them in the freezer for roasties, and made spiced red cabbage and gravy and put them in the freezer too. I've ordered the turkey and ham and stuffing and chipolatas pre cooked from a butcher, so just need to heat everything up on the day, and do some extra veg and pudding. Ill make one dessert and buy an alternative one. Buying in pâté/ starter type stuff. So I think I've done about half and half homemade and 'cheat' stuff.

BigShiney I don't think there's anything wrong in mentioning where I do my shopping. People do it all the time.

Are we allowed to mention Aldi, Asda, Tesco etc etc but not m and s?

Half and half. Like lots people here I love cooking and dont see cooking the big Christmas dinner as that stressful, get a lot of the preparation done on Christmas Eve to. Will always have home made roasties in goose fat and fresh veggies, make my soup and puddings but sauces, gravy etc - no. Its not smugness, I just prefer it.

I'm going the M&S route this year. I can cook and usually do,(although I don't enjoy it) but this year I just cba!

I'm even contemplating M&S ready made roasties!!

I've sat watching all these pretentious cookery progs this last week sighing and saying 'why bother? Just get it ready made from M&S.' lol!!

Went to M&S for the first time in years and got some stuff this year to - but thats only because I got a £100 voucher for joining Sky - no way did the trolley look like £100 of food!!

I'm picking uo Christmas dinner from Marks on Christmas Eve. I don't look at it as cheating, I look at it as paying a professional to do something I can't be arsed to do myself.

I have made my own cake though, but that's the easy bit.

Two styles of Christmas dinner, one cooked from scratch by my mother. She creates a gourmet delight. I can't bear Christmas day at home. My dmil "cheats". She creates a meal that we all enjoy but much, much more importantly, a welcome, warmth, patience and acceptance. If people like cooking from scratch, go ahead. And sometimes it's not a financial option, of course. But as to cheating? Rubbish. Have a lovely Christmas. The reason why your family is gracious about it? Because they know you've got your priorities straight and create a warm, loving Christmas.

Last year everything came out of packets and it wasn't cheating because everyone knew, it was kind of a last minute thing due to issues at SiL's.

ItWasFineTiggaxx

I'd like to pull up OP for saying her family are sweet for saying what a lovely meal she's served - she has!

I think the key to a "perfect" Christmas is everyone being relaxed and happy. For me that means pottering about in the kitchen basting my brined turkey and having a moment of quiet. That doesn't make me better than someone who gets that by being in the midst of the action the whole time and having a self-basting turkey crown.

I don't see it as cheating. I'm not doing it this year but last year got a ready to roast turkey crown, ready to cook veg, stuffing balls, turkey gravy and pigs in blankets from m& s. I did make the soup, dessert, bread sauce and roast potatoes but would have been just as happy buying them.
I still had to cook the bloody stuff and serve it so don't think I cheated at all.
So pleased to be going to my mums this year!

I do exactly the same bbface. I don't really consider it cheating as long as it tastes good.

I prefer baking to cooking so I make homemade cakes and cheesecake but the meal itself is not from scratch. I also buy veg already cut etc and trimmed sprouts so although it is fresh veg I don't actually prepare that even.

I do know women who stay in on Christmas Eve with other female family members and peel all the veg and pots whilst the men go to the pub - WTF? No chance of that happening in our house!

The only thing Waitrose aren't providing for our Christmas lunch is the sprouts and that is because they come with chestnuts and DS couldn't have them. They're even doing the roast potatoes for us, I looked at the catalogue and decided £6.50 was a small price to pay for not having to faff about peeling, par boiling etc.

This thread has been brilliant for me.

So the one thing I used to do, the roasties? Well, now I feel perfectly happy to buy them ready made too

I make the easy stuff, cranberry sauce/bread sauce, fancy-ish veg but I buy the stuffing and the pigs in blankets ready done.

The turkey is the bit I want to get right.

Yes Christmas is care of M&S this year, a relative gets a staff discount so well worth the extra money to save the hassle. Also means I don't have to traipse round Tesco getting everything and spending more money on extras that take all of Christmas holidays to get eaten.
My Mum is possibly making cranberry sauce and brandy butter and I normally do the roast potatoes but it all comes as a nice easy package this year :)