WIBU to do Christmas food shop on Christmas Eve?

[LuckyAmy1986]

We are away until the 23rd when I think we will be too tired to do the food shop. WIBU to do it on Christmas Eve or will a lot of things be sold out? It's only me, DH and DC at home so only have ourselves to cook for but we would like all the good Xmas stuff! Not planning on getting a turkey as we will have chicken and beef but worried about things like all the veg and sides and dessert. TIA

Oh, that was Sainsbury's too...

I've found christmas eve is the best time to shop (for anything) - everyone assumes it will be dead busy so it never is :)

I would feel a bit panicky about doing a big shop on xmas eve incase the shops were sold out. My xmas food, apart from veg, is all bought.

Not all shops deliver on xmas eve. My local supermarket doesnt.

The thing is, it is only us four so no one to 'impress' as such so I guess we can afford to gamble! I did just check though and Sainsburys is only trading normal Sunday hours Xmas Eve

If you are in England/Wales/Scotland, shops will be restricted to Sunday opening hours and will probably be open an hour early for filling a trolley to overflowing 'browsing' but I expect that day to be hell.

Big supermarkets will probably open until midnight on the Saturday before closing until about 10 am on Christmas eve, and may be quiet in the evening, but availability will probably be pot luck and they still might be busy.

I remember another year where Christmas eve shopping was effected by Sunday trading and can't remember how the days fell, but the shops opened at midnight on the Sunday evening/Monday morning and they were very very busy at that time - basically lots and lots of people had stayed up to go when they thought it might be quiet and it wasn't - aisles were gridlocked with queues to pay getting in the way of people trying to get round the shop.

We're having Christmas Dinner at relatives this year so won't be cooking ourselves, but I will be out as early as possible on the Saturday (6-7 am) for the last shop before Christmas to stock up on bread, milk, nibbles etc and no more visits to any shops will be made until 27/28 December.

You could buy things for the freezer in advance (big chicken, frozen stuffing and pigs in blankets) and maybe just go to a farm shop or greengrocers on the Sunday to get fresh veg if you want to avoid supermarkets.

I would still do an online shop / click and collect and at least then you are hopefully only having to buy the unsatisfactory / oos items which you reject

It will be nuts but it can be done

The main thing is the pigs in blankets. Buy those like NOW. And freeze ;) nothing else comes close in importance!

If you are prepared to wing it wait. Every year DH goes to Tesco early Christmas Eve for any perishables. He always comes home with loads of extras because prices are reduced.

DD (age 9) is very disappointed this year we won’t be at home for xmas so won’t be doing our normal 6am xmas eve shop!
Since she’s been 5 she has (put of choice) come with me to the supermarket. We go to a really big Sainsbury’s which is about half hour drive as we are rural and are there waiting when they open. We then do a big shop for most things (although I tend to pick up things like meat and xmas pud etc ahead of time and freeze /store. But the supermarket has never not had anything we needed apart from 1 year no sprouts but we popped to Waitrose and got some on the way home.

We always used to, early morning, anywhere between midnight and seven am. Never had a problem, just make a comprehensive list.

If there's anything you are dead set on, get it prior and freeze. I did my food shop xmas eve a couple of years back and did get some good deals, was just manic!

It depends where. Our local Sainsbury's understocks for Christmas, so they've run out of a lot of things by Christmas Eve.

It will be nuts - on a Sunday - probably do what they did last time - open for an hour of "browsing" before opening the tills at 10am.

So you get people run in at 9 whip round and line up for the tills waiting. It is a nightmare to get round.

It being a Sunday with restricted hours is what will cause problems, not just it being Christmas eve.

I've struggled to buy veg on Christmas eve before.

However, I did manage to buy a huge real Christmas tree for 1p from Sainsbury's on Christmas Eve one year! It was a fab tree too - lasted well into New Year and was about 7ft tall. We'd planned to go to my parents for Christmas but they cancelled due to illness, hence the late shop.

Remember that Xmas Eve is on a Sunday this year. Not sure if that is going to affect stores opening hours?

Yep I work in asda and our normal hours are 11-5 for trading. We usually open at 10:30 for trolley filling browsing but I believe that this year we will be opening for browsing at 10am but we legally can't trade for any longer, Christmas Eve or not.

Also as it is Sunday trading we are legally not allowed to trade after 5pm (obviously a transaction started at 4:59 can be completed but we can't start one at 5:01), so please bear this in mind and don't kick off at shop staff if they tell you to go to checkouts before 5pm and keep your eye on the time because staff can and will turn you away if you're not being checked out by 5 (and yes we have got people scheduled to work late to set up for Boxing day but who also know they will be resolving a lot of abandoned shopping too)

Also if the staff say they are out of stock of things, we are probably 100% out of stock. We are in the business of selling and Xmas eve is a prime selling day so if we have stock we want you to buy it ... if it's not out on the shop floor then (unless they're in the process of actively restocking) it is not going to be "out the back". Asking us to "just check again" is going to mean us going to the warehouse, looking at the products empty space for 5 minutes and then coming back to tell you that we're out of stock.

And finally ... if we don't have what you want, we as retail staff have not ruined your/your family's/your DCs Christmas, your lack of preparation has.

Be warned, I pre booked a Christmas Eve delivery from Waitrose thinking I was very clever unfortunately when it arrived, even though they had had my order for months, they hadn't put anything back for me and we got a goose because there were no ducks left. My mother wanted a duck and it was her last Christmas, she didn't enjoy the goose, it still makes me feel very bad.

Go early and take minions - give them each a section and a list - make sure they know exactly where to go and what to get. They can have a treat if they get you in and out of there in under half an hour.

Anything that can keep or freeze, get before you go away.

to melj You'll need it when your shift finishes on Christmas Eve.

In my previous post I meant Ireland as E/W/Northern Ireland have restricted opening times, of course Scottish supermarkets will be open longer. Something to bear in mind if a dawn raid on Christmas Eve is your normal tactic.

A combination of not cooking a Chrismas Dinner this year and Christmas eve falling on a Sunday will steel my determination not to go to any shops on Sunday 24th. It will just be too crazy.

Usually get our veg and things on Xmas Eve morning. It might be a good idea for you to get your meat and freeze it in advance? Just so you're not worried about it as I think that's the hardest thing to get sometimes.

Can you order your meat at a local butchers? I did that last year - ordered a week or two in advance, picked it up on xmas eve, no risk of not getting what you need.

I get an online food delivery on the 22nd or 23rd, then there's still time to pop out on 23rd or xmas eve if anything is missing / looking ropey.

Oh and some butchers will deliver too!

You could order meat from your local butcher or if you have a farm shop ask if you can order all that you need for collection. We always drive out to the farm shop, go to a local cafe, a walk and make a bit of a Christmas trip from it. My kids think that is one of our Christmas traditions now!