Christmas food stash

[Governoress86]

Hello all,

I am looking at starting a Christmas food stash and just wondered if anyone else does this and what items you get early ?

My Christmas food stash would never last until Christmas.

Yes,we've been doing it for years - we just buy things when they're on offer. We start with the less perishable items like alcohol/soft drinks/tins of biscuits, jarred pickles, Christmas pud/crackers. We stopped buying the quality street/roses tubs a couple of years ago and now just buy Lindt chocs when on offer as they're far nicer in our opinion.

I have started. Today I got a bottle of port and Irish cream knock off Baileys (I don't drink it, but dh says it's a good substitute). I'll see what is on offer next week. Everything then goes into the shed until December.

stash the money instead

Got some good ideas. I'm going to be working over most of Christmas so it will be nice to get a lot of non perishable items now and then all fresh stuff nearer the time.

I will be doing a clear out in the next few weeks to make room for my stash.
I'm gonna start buying my alcohol in next week and maybe some chocolates

I'm going to see if M&S still have their nice biscuits on offer so I can stock up on those. I might get some other snack options too. Then I'll hide them from myself! 😂

Yes I do this from September. I get one or two items a week with my weekly shop and it really helps spread the cost

Also I think it’s not just about spreading the cost, but spreading the thinking and the carrying!

I still have an unopened bottle of Diet Coke from last year so does that count as having started?!

Just make sure you make a spreadsheet/list of where stuff is. There's been a Christmas pudding stashed somewhere in this house since about 2012. Still haven't found the bloody thing......

The problem with stashing is that you can get carried away and end up with lots of food that doesn't get eaten.

Don't forget to check expiration dates - even food with a long shelf life can go off well before Xmas.

Don't forget to stock up on non food items - roasting trays, foil, sellotape, batteries.

I do a Christmas hamper every year, usually get going in October when the festive food lands in Aldi and Lidl - chocolates, fake Baileys, Advocaat, panforte, stollen, nuts and biscuits and so on. I love the build-up.

Last year I did go a bit mental and ended up filling 3 hampers (there are only 3 of us in the household) I will try to rein it in a bit this year. I may give up on Quality Street too, as they really aren't terribly nice these days. I usually buy a Panettone from M&S but may try a different one this year as our local branch has closed.

I’m going to start buying the booze and hotel chocolat goodies on next pay day. Then it will be the boxes of M&S biccies.

Ooh love a Christmas post. I haven't bought anything yet but will start keeping an eye out for things once school has resumed. I always start thinking ore of Christmas when they start a new school year after the long summer holidays. Like others have said will keep an eye out for offers and expiry dates. Like some others of you have mentioned we have gone off Quality Street a bit now after buying every year. Although my husband bought me one of those tins of them last year that John Lewis were doing in some stores of a pick and mix tin so you could pick all of your favourites. You have to choose a minimum of 3 types though. I chose coconut eclair, orange and strawberry cream 😋. We always make sure we buy a box rack of the die hard classics like After Eights and mint and orange matchmakers ☺️👍🎄.

Over the years I’ve found that it’s too easy to over estimate how much food we need. And if I buy the nice stuff early, I have to buy it again, and again, and again as I have no willpower.

What I have found useful is to buy extras of store cupboard basics (salt, pepper, oil, ketchup...) and non-edibles (tinfoil, toilet paper, hand wash...). Buying these in December as well as the dinner and treats adds ££ to the bill so I top up supplies over a few weeks. But they won’t go to waste and will see me through January when cash can be tight.

I usually buy a £10 gift card from my local supermarket each week from September so I have a lump sum to spend on Christmas goodies in December....... I would eat everything if I started buying things now!

These are really good. I have also gone off quality street and roses so I don't think I will be getting them this year.

I also like the idea of buying supermarket vouchers to help with cost. I may also do that this year as well

How many people are you hosting?

Unless hosting a big crowd for several days a “stash” seems unnecessary.

It’s just one big meal, plus some perishables and snacks.

My dh gives out boxes of biscuits to various departments at his work so I have to start buying them early. And we often give bottles of booze as family presents so again I have to start soon. I don’t get tempted to eat or drink any of it I usually store it all in the garage.

I used to do similar as above, and put £10 on my supermarket card each week from about September, didn’t notice it come out as much really as was only an extra tenner on my food shop, and the temptation wasn’t there to open things with a promise to replace. (Plus storage space). Was fab doing a huge food shop in December and feeling like I wasn’t paying much for it.
Last few years with being disabled I have to get online shopping so not sure if I can pay online with the gift cards now, I top up my amazon account sporadically instead.

We don't really eat sweet stuff and if we bought booze in, there is no way it would last until Christmas.

So I just do what another poster has suggested and I make sure I have plenty of store cupboard things in like sauces, pickles etc and plenty of toilet roll, kitchen roll and cleaning stuff. We also put a little money aside each month for the big Christmas shop. The big shop tends to be a lot of fresh stuff so by having my dry goods and non food stuff already sorted it's less to think about/transport/unpack.

I wait to buy wine until Tesco does it's deal, which is usually around the end of November.

I just bought two Terry's chocolate oranges today they were on offer in Sainsbury's for a £1 each. Stashed in my cupboard for Christmas :)

I think (know) I will end up eating it so I am going to buy the stamps. I might pick up cranberry sauce and bits and pieces though. I always make the Jamie gravy and freeze.

I'm wary of brexit price rises and possibly shortages so buying as much as I can early.