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

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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. My mil does it all!

Seriously though, as long as you like it then what's the problem? My sil cooks everything from scratch because she enjoys it. I don't think that makes her smug and I do make sure I make nice comments about the food as she makes so much effort.

I cheat - I either get Aunt Bessie to do it all, or one of my relatives owns a hotel and they do us a takeaway meal!

Life's to short!

we used food to order from marks a few years ago and it was great,i caved on sunday and did it again this year.i want to spend christmas day playing with my kids not cooking.

I have a cold buffet, for between 10 & 15 or more people.
All of the prep is done the day before, turkey roll cooked, ham sliced etc, just assemble some salads on the day.
I live in the hot end of Australia, its always hot on Christmas day and still people cook a big roast dinner.martyrs
We do have air-con but it just doesn't work as well with the oven going.

I always say that we can have a hot lunch and a cranky and possibly hysterical hostess or we can have a leisurely buffet, sitting around and actually enjoying it. I don't call this cheating - I call it sensible.

I cook everything from scratch (except the pudding) but I still cheat because we actually eat our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve

I spent years rushing off into the kitchen as soon as the kids had ripped open the last of their stocking presents and barely saw them until lunch time. I used to hate it.

Now we all have a lovely meal together on Christmas Eve, which makes it a really special day (it's my favourite day of the year) and all I have to do on Christmas day is boil and mash some spuds to go with all the leftovers.

I now get to laze about all day playing with the kids new toys. Win win

We're all going out to a restaurant for Xmas lunch.

So I can't even pretend I do any cooking on Xmas day!

DH and I don't buy pre-prepared. We've worked out that we can get most of the prep done the night before and that is really the time consuming bit. On Christmas day it's pretty much just a case of sticking things in the oven/steamer and then serving up.

But you know, I don't judge people who do buy pre-prepared stuff. It annoys me when one person in a couple spends most of Christmas doing the cooking while the other lazes on their arse. If that were my situation, I'd probably buy pre-prepped too.

oh but smells that is the best! DH playing with sticking in front of a film our DD while I get to hide away in the kitchen and play! (I like cooking, and get pleanty of time with DD throughout the year)

I cheat...

I distract DH with some lego and snog my boyfriend in the kitchen!

Only if his name is Jack Daniels

I broken my thumb. If I didn't cheat there would be no christmas dinner this year

Both buying ready made and cooking from scratch are absolutely fine. I don't really like it when someone who cooks from scratch claims any moral superiority for it or there's an implication that cook from scratchers are doing when they should be playing with their kids. Both are absolutely fine.

Let's see 22 years married and never cooked a Turkey in my life, usually make chicken parcels with sausagemeat and ready-roll puff pastry, paxo stuffing with more sausagemeat, Aunt Bessie for roasties, yorkshires, carrot & swede, stuffing balls, parsnips, packet for bread sauce, bisto gravy, gammon joint and whatever other veg I can squeeze on the hob. Maybe some sausages just so no-one starves, after all there are four of us!

A traditional Sunday dinner round our house is Spaghetti Bolognese. I actually enjoy making Christmas dinner because we go all out so rarely but I still take all the pre-prepared help I can get.

Was really looking forward to making Christmas Dinner this year, I've taken to having my netbook in the kitchen whilst I cook at weekends so I can get some writing done, this would have been a bumper writing session, would have got a couple of chapters done but we're going to MILs instead. Still I'll do the big Christmas Dinner blow-out sometime over the Christmas / New Year period just because I like doing it.

I cheated, I married someone who thinks that he is a secret Roux brother, he probably thinks someone going to turn up unexpectedly and assess him for Michelin stars.

I rarely go any where near the kitchen, cooking makes him happy, so it would be mean to stop him, I can cook, but it's better to leave him to it.

my children do a lot of cooking, so there rarely an opportunity for me to get a look in, I am how ever informed, that I am allowed/expected to make my special bread sauce this year.

My tip is marry an obsessive foody person, and you will never have to cook again.

DCs and DH have been talking recipes and gathering ingredients for weeks, they love it, vegans, vegetarians,pescatarian and carnivores to cater for, they are having fun.

Pastry, stuffing and yorkshire pudding all one one plate, with Aunt Bessie's roast potatoes, Bisto gravy granules and a dried packet of bread sauce?

I hope you're a good writer.

microwave mash! Which sounds a disgrace but every year I cook it and every year everyone smothers their mash in gravy, I done it with a roast last Sunday and nobody noticed so now I feel perfectly justified :) I like to cook the tasty things myself, like the gravy, Brussels in pancetta and chestnuts, and stuffing, but the potatoes are being bunged in the oven (no peeling!) as are the pigs in blankets and the cranberry sauce is ready made as only a couple of us like it
I like to potter and create :) in the kitchen, so peeling a million veg is not for me, also my because I can prep all the timely stuff the night before it mean I can spend more time with the family without stressing

No peeling the roast potatoes?

Sprouts in pancetta sounds good though.

No peeling because they are m&s ready to be thrown in the oven Felliato :) along with the mashed potatoes waiting to go in the micro! I just can't seem to get excited about the potato aspect of Xmas dinner it seems, my sprouts are delish tho :)

I usually do the whole thing from scratch but this year it is going to like one massive ready meal. I can't wait and feel quite liberated!

My MIL does everything from scratch. She starts early, making a christmas cake that no-one eats because she makes it with rock hard icing and sickly sweet cake. She makes tiny mince pies with pastry like carboard. She makes two different stuffings that no-one likes. She gets up at a ridiculous time to shove a massive turkey into the oven to cook until any hint of moisture has been removed from it. No-one wants to eat the dark meat, but she still buys a whole bird. The veggie alternative is an authentic 1970s recipe nut loaf. Then everyone gets two roast potatoes each and a couple of bits of broccoli. No seconds, all preplated in portion sizes fit for a 5/6 year old, with the exception of the red cabbage that everyone feels obliged to have a spoonful of leaving the bowl 7/8ths full by the end of the meal. The spare turkey gets made into sandwiches and the dark meat's then served with a boaky sauce she's been making for the last 30 years.

There's a lot worse than M&S.

I forgot the sprouts. Which are counted out so everyone gets 3. Seriously.

I was zesting limes and lemons for the goose last Christmas Eve until 11.30pm when I had a DD who refused to sleep so I knew I would be up at 5am at the latest after a night of broken sleep and BFing. FIL refused to sit down and eat Christmas dinner.

I won't be zesting lemons at 11.30pm this Xmas Eve. I will be in bed after having had a nice Baileys watching the Muppet Christmas Carol. FIL is not invited.

I am just a bit sad that the OP considers it "cheating". Who cares. I can cook great stuff from scratch. I can also pop a packet in the oven, open a jar/tin.
I think we should agree to just lose the guilt.

so, what are aunt bessies spuds like?

I cheerfully get everything from M&S. I have had a go at making some things from scratch and it tastes no bloody better.

Mum is bringing along some homemade red cabbage and Christmas pudding for an authentic feel ( just hoping she doesn't bring any disgusting homemade apricot stuffing )

I'd like to think that everyone will be suitably grateful to have a nice meal prepared for them, its still about 100 times better than what you get if you go out for a Christmas dinner and considerably cheaper.

narked on the plus side you wont feel bloated by overeating after that feast eh!