I don't get the big deal over Christmas food shop

[NeverUseThisName]

Thread after thread about the hideousness of the Christmas food shop, starving to death in queues, hysteria in the pickles aisle, road-rage in the carpark, substitutions and OOS in the orders etc etc.

Why do people put themselves through this?

Why don't people prepare early? It reduces the strain and spreads the cost.

We prepped all our meat and froze it a few weeks ago. Everything that can be made ahead or is long-dated, like cake, pudding, biscuits, booze etc, was made or bought in the past month or two. Ingredients that are essential for last-minute cooking were also bought early. All that's left to buy is fresh stuff, like milk and veg. Not huge amounts of stuff, and things that we can compromise on if something's OOS.

Are we weird to do it this way?

And this is not a stealth boast. We prepare in exactly the same way for any big festive occasion.

(Post edited by MNHQ)

It's not people buying a last minute bag of carrots and a box of mince pies that is the problem.

It's people buying absolute mounds of food they think they'll need, most of it going to waste.

Found it in the news. Sorry, that was absolutely not intended. I'll ask MNHQ to edit my op.

Trust me OP before too many years have passed the 'easter food shop' will become a thing! I hope your DC3 isn't a teenager or the booze will be all gone 😂

Agree with PP it is just a fancy roast dinner. There are only two of us tbf so just a roast dinner and plenty of snacks and drinks. But even on years when I've hosted family it hasn't been any bigger a deal, just buy bigger quantities.

Well personally it's cause I've been ill with hypermesis for the last 2 months and had no desire to plan for a Xmas meal when the mere thought of food made me vomit. But tbh I haven't found it that hard/busy/stressful maybe I just shop at the right time.

I don't do a big shop either OP.. I buy bits in gradually over the previous month... and buy fresh bits over this past week... and few days... but understand why others do it differently..

I don't understand, Gemini, but apparently that makes me a boastful blogger.

For many people it's finding the space in their heads for one more thing to plan ahead for. When you have fifty zillion things going on in life, there isn't mental space to add on a slow burn christmas shop for weeks on end.

I ordered my shop in October and could add to it until Thursday 😎

well.. I think it's more to do with having the time.. storage space and money... people may have the time but not the money.. or may have the money but not the time.. or not have the storage.. to keep food in for longer period... each to their own I say... whatever works...

I was in my local supermarket this morning picking up a Caterpillar Cake.. and it was weirdly quiet... I really expected mayhem...

I buy non perishable stuff in a bit at a time in advance but i have no room to freeze meat in my normal freezer alongside normal weekly shop.

Its not being better than the rest of us or more clever its down to luck you can afford to buy in bulk and store it.

And tbh i cant see the difference in saving up and getting it all at once or buying bits in advance. Its all the same in the end. And if you are hosting a big family xmas then of course your trolley will be loaded up. What difference does it make to anyone else how much a person apoears to be spending? They arent spending my money do i dont care.

Been in and got final bits today and there was no problem getting round shops, no carnage in the aisles no one fighting over the salmon en croute just normal shoppers.😀

I'm not stressed. My dh did all the food shopping, and enjoyed it, the weirdo.

We have spent £400 on food in one shop. This is potentially stressful.

You may boast about peeping and freezing your food weeks in advance. I personally don't freeze food and prefer to buy it all fresh. I do that all year round so why not this week

I never stress about it-my husband does it

I have 3 home from college and if l bought too much stuff too early they would think Christmas had come early and tuck in. But saying that my trolley wasnt flowing over or anything. It is all a bit mad.

Snowman no more of a boast than saying that you always cook from fresh. But to me that's a perfectly valid reason, anyway.

I dont quite think you understand its not cheaper spreading the cost..... why would it be cheaper to spread the cost, your still spending the same amount, however you've just spread it over weeks/months, but the cost is still the same. So no savings where made!!!

I dont have time to buy/prepare in advance, I work full time and have 2 very active children, we buy when we can get the time off work, and I pretty much imagine thats what most full time workers do also.

To be honest OP I just couldn't be arsed with all that. Rather take a couple hours out of my life a day or two before Xmas to battle the crowds blocking in the hams, than spend weeks dealing with it all. Plus DH would rather starve than cook pre-prepared frozen food. He's an irritating food snob but what can you do.

I was expecting the supermarket to be rammed when I went today, but it wasnt.
I had to do a big shop today as I've been in hospital for weeks with my DD. Don't have house space to stockpile much in advance.

We did our Xmas food shop in Waitrose on Thursday. I really enjoyed it. Got a parking space right outside and scanned everything as we went round. There was no queue at the till. We did spend a lot but had a £27 off voucher. I am not a great one for the freezer as I prefer to eat fresh food.

i like fresh stuff like veg, milk, bread and meat to be fresh
there is only just space for my weekly shop in the house not really room for much additional stuff
We quite often don't know how many we are shopping for and what meals we are going to produce until quite close to the day. It could be 20 for Christmas eve ham, or 5 for Christmas day, or 15 for boxing day pie or whatever and the different combinations have different dietary requirements.

Sanctimummy.

I think if you enjoy spending months planning and preparing for Christmas, that's great. It would ruin Christmas for me though. I've tried it once or twice and it just stressed me out. The longer I spent planning and prepping, the more stuff I found to do. It was the least enjoyable Christmas ever then, because it just couldn't live up to all that prep and hard work. Just doing what I can be bothered with/manage/afford in December makes it more chilled and therefore more enjoyable for me personally.

It is cheaper if you have some idea of how much the thing you want costs and buy it when it's discounted.

I'm sitting here wrapping presents in paper that I bought last January, but I mustn't say so because that's boasting

my friend was in a shopping mall in Glasgow around 11am and said the exact same thing.. that it was weirdly quiet.... I told her everyone must be food shopping lol lol maybe not then

I don't want to prep meat and freeze it weeks in advance. I want to buy it and cook it fresh. If that's ok with you obvs OP? As for the rest of it, I've been buying stuff for weeks but most of what we use is made and eaten fresh. Go me.

Do what you like OP, but be a dear and let the rest of us do the same without judgement.