...to think I will get a turkey on December 20th?

[Weddingblues23]

First time hosting Christmas. Very confident cook but have never shopped for a turkey before and not sure if they get sold out weeks in advance like advent calendars and the middle of Lidl special buys 😄 If I order a turkey to click and collect from a Tesco megastore on December 20th, will I actually get one? Or should I try to get one in advance and freeze it?

YABU - Are you crazy?! Those things fly off the shelves (can turkeys fly 🤔)

YANBU - you'll have a turkey to gobble, no problem

The turkeys are always BB Boxing Day OP. Personally I've ordered one from tesco to be delivered on 22 Dec. I usually go for 23rd but we're seeing Father Christmas on 23rd, and with Christmas Eve being on a Sunday, I'd rather have some time on the Saturday to pick up anything that might be missing from our delivery.

Aldi have loads left in the freezer on 24th

Aldi sell them reduced on Christmas eve any time I have been in. There's usually loads in stock.

My DH is working xmas.day so we are having our Xmas dinner on boxing day...if I go to a supermarket middle of Xmas eve will I get bargins?

Having had a turkey crown that was absolutely rank from Sainsbury's, I would never personally risk buying fresh turkey that early.

All right, Nigel Slater, calm down. I’m pretty sure the OP will be fine getting a turkey from a supermarket, like about 98% of the population do with no bother every year.

Also, I’m laughing at “your butcher or farmshop”. Not sure where I’d find a farmshop here in the city, and of the two local butchers, one doesn’t even stock free range chicken, and the other one is kosher and would be very surprised if I popped in asking about Christmas turkey orders.

You will get one, but that’s very early unless you are freezing it. Can you not get a click and collect slot a few days later?

No I totally missed the boat! Clearly i should have booked it at the same time as I ordered my turkey from 'my butcher or farm shop', ie weeks ago

TALKING TURKEYS by Benjamin Zephaniah

Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas
Cos’ turkeys just wanna hav fun
Turkeys are cool, turkeys are wicked
An every turkey has a Mum.
Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas,
Don’t eat it, keep it alive,
It could be yu mate, an not on your plate
Say, Yo! Turkey I’m on your side.
I got lots of friends who are turkeys
An all of dem fear christmas time,
Dey wanna enjoy it, dey say humans destroyed it
An humans are out of dere mind,
Yeah, I got lots of friends who are turkeys
Dey all hav a right to a life,
Not to be caged up an genetically made up
By any farmer an his wife.

Turkeys just wanna play reggae
Turkeys just wanna hip-hop
Can yu imagine a nice young turkey saying,
‘I cannot wait for de chop’,
Turkeys like getting presents, dey wanna watch christmas TV,
Turkeys hav brains an turkeys feel pain
In many ways like yu an me.

I once knew a turkey called…Turkey
He said “Benji explain to me please,
Who put de turkey in christmas
An what happens to christmas trees?”,
I said “I am not too sure turkey
But itÕs nothing to do wid Christ Mass
Humans get greedy an waste more dan need be
An business men mek loadsa cash’.

Be nice to yu turkey dis christmas
Invite dem indoors fe sum greens
Let dem eat cake an let dem partake
In a plate of organic grown beans,
Be nice to yu turkey dis christmas
An spare dem de cut of de knife,
Join Turkeys United an dey’ll be delighted
An yu will mek new friends ‘FOR LIFE’.

Don't be part of the Christmas animal holocaust

Slightly off topic,
Any recommendations for goose or duck. Any supermarket venison at reasonable prices. Only venison I see is more expensive than beef.

I wouldn’t buy a fresh turkey on the 20th. Get frozen if you want one then.
i was in M&S last Christmas Eve at 4:30 pm and there was absolutely loads of everything. Absolutely nothing was reduced though.

I volunteer with a Food Waste project & we get
loads of turkeys on Christmas Eve from Aldi as they can't sell them all .. never forget the year I spent Christmas Eve rushing around trying to find freezer space for all the Turkeys ! We've now changed our system and open the Project on Christmas Eve so its first come first served for anyone who turns up for a free Turkey

I’ve mentioned this before but DS used to work at Tesco, he would text me surreptitiously when they started marking down the fresh turkeys on Christmas Eve.

you can get a frozen one nearly all year.

I think if you order click and collect you'll be fine. I went last year on the 24th to try and get a turkey off the shelf and I went to two supermarkets and neither had any, then I went to Sainsbury’s and they only had the ones that are £80