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!!!!!

Hell yes I cheat, life is too short to slave over the stove when it's not my favorite thing to do.

It's only from browsing the selection at M&S that I've discovered people apparently eat red cabbage at Christmas. I had no idea. Cranberry sauce I learned about from this thread - what's wrong with gravy? Or do you have both??

I had aunt bessie's spuds at a friend's last week and they were utterly divine!

Best of both worlds here.

I'm in a Christmas cooking circle with my family. We all do one thing. So one makes the cranberry, another apple sauce, another chutney, another chestnut stuffing etc etc.

This yearly contribution is spiced cookies which are delicious.

Everything else is done on the cheat. Apart from the carrots. I buy ready batoned but squeeze my own honey and cut my own rosemary from the garden.

Sainsburys roasties in goose fat are better than Markies btw

I buy Christmas puddings and mince pies and sometimes cranberry sauce and sometimes butcher made fancy stuffings. If someone else can make a tasty version at a reasonable price I'm happy.

narked if I had a brother I would think you were talking about my family. Except that we would have a goose which must last for the following 7 meals. And red cabbage? I mean really, horrid stuff that it is.

For the good of the nation I have taken it upon myself to try various ready-made roast potatoes and can confirm that the best ones are Tescos finest roast potatoes cooked in goose fat. Tip them into baking try, bung in oven, eat. Delicious.

You're welcome

I'm the biggest cheat of you all - I invite my sister to stay and she makes the whole lot. All from scratch to the highest standards.

She loves cooking, I hate it.

I provide the house, the ingredients and the children (for the 'magic Christmas sparkle'!), she makes the dinner. Deal.

Look op, getting those oven timings is hard. It takes GOOD organisational skills to do that. Its not cheating, not at all!!

I cheat by going to my in laws

I'm probably about half and half. I cook or bake the things I want hone made, or enjoy cooking, and buy the rest. I don't always do the same things every year- tbh, most years I do a big 'show-stopper' for a big family Boxing Day buffet. I agree that a good Christmas is about family, fun, love, joy, peace on earth and goodwill to all etc. That's what the food should be part of - whether it's bought or home made.

I do it from scratch but only because we don't have a traditional Christmas dinner and it's not really possible to cheat on what we are having. The one and only time I did an actual roast with the trimmings I cheated on everything!

I don't cheat I out source

We have a turkey crown in a tray, its already basted I just have to put it in the oven.

DP will peel and chop the veg but I will cook it.

Aunt bessie made our yorkshires

Aldi supplied our mince pies

Tesco will make our trifle

Bisto will make the gravy but I will stir it

Morrisons made the stuffing

Tesco made the pigs in blankets

MIL made the christmas cake

I will make the roast potatoes.

I love cooking but christmas day is about being with family, not spending the whole day in the kitchen, its the one time of year that I refuse to supply homemade food.

FFS, it's a good job I read this, you've reminded me that SIL is vegetarian and the frozen roasted are done in sodding goose fat.

Vegetarian frozen roasties anyone?

It's not cheating. If you don't like cooking and you do like ready made food then have it and enjoy it.

On the other hand, cooking from scratch doesn't equal a child neglect scenario on Christmas day. We manage to play with the children and cook from scratch, by preparing a lot in advance and eating at 6pm rather than at lunchtime. But then I love cooking and want to do it, so why not? No one should martyr themselves on Christmas day or any other day.

I do some cheating and some cooking from scratch.
This year I have bought the stuffing, cranberry sauce, vacuum packed chestnuts, gravy and Aunt Bessies honey roast parsnips. I have never made Christmas pudding and don't ever intend to - I don't want to turn my kitchen into a sauna, and I can't taste the difference between bought and home made anyway.

I will do the veg, roasties and bread sauce myself.

Yep, in our house it isn't just Christmas, it's an m and s Christmas

My turkey is being delivered, ready cooked, in a hat box, together with cranberry sauce and sausage stuffing, from the Mandarin Oriental hotel. Do I win?

I am going to steam some sprouts and carrots and cook some Waitrose roast potatoes.

If I'd have known you could have a cooked dinner delivered...! How much does it cost?

I haven't got the time or patience to do it all myself. I have ready prepared (frozen) parsnips, tinned soup to tweak, ready prepared turkey for the meat eaters, jars of horseradish sauce and cranberry sauce, and a ready made pudding. Oh, and ready made custard.
I'll be doing potatoes and the rest of the vegetables. And drinking sherry!

I only host Christmas every 3-4 years and absolutely love doing all the cooking, it's a huge part of Christmas for me, and my house a a bit open plan so I don't miss out on stuff.

If I was doing it every year, r fr miserable people then that would be a bit different I think and I would buy more pre-prepped stuff in. But thats not cheating, it's just practical!

Hahaha RMPMBT, see my post upthread about 'expat meals on wheels' at Christmas.

I dont cheat. Nothing I will serve up on christmas day will have been prepared by me, however i don't see it as cheating. I see it as managing my time effectively. When I have the time, I will spend hours preparing food. On Christmas day I do not have the time. I will be busy figuring out new toys/finding batteries/assembling lego/taking the toddler for walks. If my lot want to eat they'll eat what comes out of the freezer :)

Same goes for our belated christmas day aka 'the day/s the rellies come to visit'. Last year I bust a gut providing my best attempt at a christmas dinner and spent way too long in the kitchen. No-one helped to prepare/serve/tidy/washup and no-one paid much attention to the children either which meant it was carnage. If they arent happy, they can go down the pub :)