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)

Amusing how many posters assume that I prep early because I'm some sort of wealthy Real Housewife. I'm not. We both work (I have two jobs) and we have school-age children, one of whom is being assessed for ASD and ADHD.

For me, having lists and ticking things off the lists is de-stressing. Similarly knowing that I've got important things squirrelled away means that I don't need to think about them. I understand now that it's quite the opposite for other people. Also the fact that others dislike frozen meat was new to me.

I occasionally use OL food shopping during the rest of the year. We tried it a couple of times for Christmas and had our fingers burnt: one year the delivery was cancelled because of snow, another there were too many things OOS. Therefore a Christmas OL food shop would be a source of stress to us.

So how are you getting your fresh stuff, OP?

For many it's not just Sunday lunch with crackers. It's a huge amount of effort and enjoyment preparing the absolute best meal of the year. If it's just a Sunday lunch, frankly you're doing something wronggrin

Or maybe I am doing something right.

Why put yourself under all the stress.

Just getting ready to go out to buy everything now. Will do my Christmas shopping this afternoon and wrap this evening. All done in one day

Got my turkey yesterday, and it is brining in the garage; cocktail sausages were bought when reduced (at the British shop, and they are Waitrose!!), so they were bought early, as was the sausages at the same time. I made a large pot of cranberry sauce, some is in the fridge, and two pots stashed in the freezer. The gammon (lugged back from Devon to Belgium) is about to go in, and I cooked the red cabbage last night. Did the Jamie Oliver make ahead gravy as well, as poultry here is sold without giblets. Got a very odd look when I ordered the turkey and asked what they did with the giblets!!

Brussels are easily obtainable here, it is their home after all, and apart from the cocktail sausages, everything else is fresh. I have cooked every Christmas dinner since 1986, so the list is in my head, and bits are done automatically.

Tbh OP, what you do is what I o tend to do every year but never do. Actually I'm pretty good on presents, done and dusted by November, but the rest not so much. Never get cards written or do any of the intended baking. Food itself is just a posher version of say birthday or Easter for us so not such a big deal. Christmas Day here now and only 6hrs since I did the supermarket shop haha. It was fine though I did notice prices were a bit higher than usual.

Merry Christmas all

Just to add that I'm currently in an almost empty coffee shop in my local shopping centre, which is no busier than a normal Sunday (and has an M&S and a Sainsbury's).

Maybe Xmas eve shopping is the way to go!

All done. Personal best time of 4 hours and 33 minutes

Food shopping and presents for everyone.
Now I just have to wrap them.

I don’t have a spare 5 pound here or 10 pound there All my spare money goes towards paying for all the shit that the schools put us through.. you know tickets for Christmas concerts, school trips, xmas fair etc. Even putting money on the gas meter is a priority

I am also on sick pay from work as I had an accident and I didn’t get paid till the 22nd

Op clearly has no idea of the realities of xmas for many people

We have no big Christmas food shop. DH buys the meat for Christmas day with his Nectar points and the veg from the market, that's it.

I don’t really get the cook and freeze ahead idea. There are so few foods that don’t suffer by this strategy, and freezer space is still a limited resource. And defrosting is no picnic.

I’ve been off work for over a week, so I can just shop and cook in real time. It would make no sense to do Christmas cooking when I am feeding my family in October and November while working.

To me, Christmas lunch is a roast dinner with a few extra sides. It’s not hard to do, with a little planning.

What is harder is feeding 3 meals a day to a large family for three weeks, day in day out - not necessarily the cooking, but thinking about what to have and negotiating rotas.

I just shop for what I need every day. No massive stress, no waste.

The other thing is that Christmas nowadays is ridiculously drawn out. My DD was commenting today that it didn’t feel particularly Christmassy —perhaps due to my shorts and flip flops— . No wonder as neighbours have had garish light displays since November.

We don’t need to celebrate Christmas in November and early December. The traditional seasons are very well designed. If you follow them, you don’t run out of steam on Boxing Day.

I'm sorry to hear that blackheartsgirl. Principally Christmas is about live and sharing and I hope you have enough of that.

What stuff gets reduced in price? Surely most of it’s sane price all year?

OP, I get what you mean. I absolutely think everyone should do whatever works for them and their family but I do find it a bit silly to be overly dramatic about Xmas shopping especially when people haven't been that sensible or when people are being unreasonable fussy.

As long as you can afford some food it shouldn't matter too much if things aren't perfect.

I bought my fresh turkey today at 12 Noon when it was reduced by 50 % in price. I also waited for all the party food to be reduced. I can't afford to waste money buying in advance and I don't have a spare fridge and freezer to do advance shopping. I enjoy the last minute scramble it adds to the fun!

Well loads of Christmas cheer here then

I prefer my food fresh.

Me too OP but do you know what? Maybe those who are attacking you don’t worry about waste, tacky overspending and last minute stress inducing Christmas Present buying panic? Fair play, each to their own. Don’t you dare try to share any ideas, creative planning or waste reducing tips EVER again! 🤐 Btw I work, have two kids a husband who works away a huge majority of the time and funnily enough I do exactly the same as you! How amazing! 🙄🙄🙄

Didn’t prepare early in terms of food shopping but haven’t gone overboard either. We are at family’s xmas dat but bought a few bottles of wine/fizz for myself and for anyone that pops in between now and the new year. Bought some stuf I fancy for Boxing Day and will male a little buffet. It doesn’t have to be stressful, even if you don’t cook your turkey 3 weeks in advance.

As an aside.. went to M&S today to see if there was anything good reduced and it was dead. Very stress free. Some of us enjoy using the excuse of xmas to go an buy ourselves some treats we wouldn’t usually buy the rest of the year.

Not always possible. We get the dry goods like Christmas cake etc in early to spread the cost but can’t prep and freeze anything as our freezer space is tiny. I shop little and often on a day to day basis using multiple local shops and markets to get bargains and reduce the amount of food that gets thrown out so I can’t really justify getting a bigger freezer just for Christmas.

last minute stress inducing Christmas Present buying panic

Shopping Christmas Eve is very relaxing

You need to have a big freezer to do this & more storage space.