Thinking of copping out this year...

[Follyfoot]

....and doing an M & S Christmas dinner instead of homemade everything. Who's tried it and would you recommend it over cooking everything from scratch? In particular (and specifically for the children!), are the roast spuds decent? This is the one we're thinking of.

I don't suppose the veg would taste as nice and "fresh" like if you did it yourself but if you find the whole Christmas dinner thing a bit stressful then go for it.

Mmm thats what I'm worried about tbh, the 'fresh' thing. Dont find the cooking particularly stressful, it just seems to take up so much of the day.

i prefer frozen to fresh veg..and i belive it holds more vitamins then fresh...

id prob only go with fresh chicken/meat and sausage meat

I know exactly what you mean we were going to go out for dinner this year but it was just too expensive for all of us. Also I like the idea of leftovers in the fridge I find that saves on cooking for a few days. How about on of those ready prepared turkey joints and some ready made gravy.

I spent years resenting having to cook Christmas dinner - not because I necessarily hated the cooking, it was because I didn't want to spend half the day in the kitchen and miss out on being with the children.

For the past few years I have cooked Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve.
We then have the left overs on Christmas Day and I buy extra so it stretches to Boxing Day too.

It felt a little strange the first year eating on Christmas Eve but I soon felt fine about it when I managed to spend a leisurely Christmas morning with the family without having to dash off to stick yet another thing in the oven!

Will probably go back to cooking dinner on the day itself once the children are older but for now, it works well and I'd rather do it this way than have a less than enjoyable version from M&S etc

MY ILs served up a mass M&S Xmas dinner a few years ago and tbh I found it a bit dissapointing.

That said I would never say anything and was glad for a rare Xmas out of my own kitchen, but it did make me think it is not something I would do in future (had considred it myself before).

Why not choose a few items instead of the entire meal?

I have done M&S at Christmas and don't see it as a cop out at all. The veg is fresh. I don't think I did the roast potatoes because if I remember correctly they were done in goose fat and I had a veggie coming. I think I would probably do my own roasties anyway but the rest of it is great.

Go for it

I'm a vegetarian and haven't got much experience of cooking meat so to keep everyone happy I do M&S ready prepped turkey crown & their gravy & tend to buy their red cabbage & pigs in blankets but then do fresh roast potatoes & parsnips & other veg. Everyone seems to like it. The timings are very clear which is what worries me about roasting etc

Hmmm, depends what you're family likes and doesnt.

Of teh meal you've linked to, I dont like stuffing, could live without teh bacon things and roast potatoes. And my husband doesnt like tirkey!

But if that sounds like your idea of a perfect Christmas dinner then go ahead, try it! If it doesnt work out, then do something different next year.

I do an M&S Christmas after spending one year in the kitchen and missing out on so much of dd1's second Christmas.

I cook a roast from scratch most Sundays so its not as if I find the cooking tricky, I just resent the time away from the dc. They are only young for such a short time and Christmas day only happens once a year.

So we settle for a slightly less impressive roast because that means we can be together for most of the day.

It also means dh isn't in the kitchen for ages after dinner cleaning up. Most of the trays are throw away and that is a big plus!

I make chutneys, pickled onions, sausage rolls, Christmas pud, Christmas cake etc months in advance so we still get the homemade feel on the day anyway.

Why not try some of thr potatoes in advance - like a trial run?

If they don't hit the mark, par boil your potatoes the night before - drain and leave them dry, shake them in flour or semolina and then just add them to a tray of hot fat in the morning?

A short cut I do is all the veg in a steamer or tray in the oven. . I've stopped faffing with pan fried brussel sprouts in Marsala with pancetta cubes etc - it's all wasted on my dh and ds!

So parsnips &carrots in one foil tray, sprouts in the bottom of the steamer, with lighter beans and peas on the top as they need less time.

It's the one time of the year I treat myself to a few foil trays - I can still recycle them and it makes life so much easier.

I always make the gravy in advance too.

We had the marks and spencer christmas dinner last year
: christmasfood.marksandspencer.com/Templates/CFTO/Controls/Commerce/Festive-Feast.aspx

It was good , it wasnt as good as made from scratch , but much less hassle . I have ordered again this year , but i will be doing the roast potatoes myself and the turkey gravy wasnt great .
On the plus side there was loads of food for the money , i think it is good value .

We did it the last 2 years and it was perfect for us! Just me, dh and dc and it meant neither of us was in the kitchen peeling veg for hours etc.

I do the same as Thisisjustgrape and serve a cold buffet on Christmas day - cold turkey, beef, lovely salads and new potatoes. Means I can spend Christmas morning doing stuff with DD rather than poking my head in and out of the oven getting hot and bothered.

And, I don't even do roast turkey on Christmas eve, just roast lamb or beef. Probably most of my guests would prefer a traditional christmas lunch, but as I tell them, they are welcome to host and do the lunch they'd like. Not that I'm bitter or anything (13 years solid of hosting).

We never have turkey either as none of us really like it! Always a lovely huge joint of beef from local butcher, I also boil a gammon joint that afternoon so there's always plenty of cold meat for the next two days.

It's not the same as having the big roast on Christmas Day but we still make it a special meal and it gives Christmas Eve a focus for the children rather than a day where they get over hyped up waiting for Father Christmas!

I did an M&S Christmas meal the year I was massively pregnant, it was great and so easy. It didn't cost as much as I thought it would either.

At the time I felt it was a cop out but it was all delicious, I really didn't think I'd enjoy pre-prepared roasties but they were really nice. Why don't you buy a pack sometime before Christmas and check you all like them?

I didn't do it as a set deal like you linked to, I just went in and picked the items I wanted, I chose the fresh range rather than the frozen range if it makes any difference.

Thanks for all the suggestions, am going to try some of the items in advance to see how much difference there is. Oh and make my own roast potatoes.

Last year I got the M&S roasties and parsnips and they were absolutely delicious.

I am buying that "meal deal" this year along with a few additional extras.