feeling festive but can't face shopping - what can I do to prepare? any lovely ideas for the freezer?

[hatwoman]

that's it really. I want to get started but refuse to go to town on a Saturday. and don;t particularly want to spend all day internet shopping. any other ideas for something I can do?

You could make gingerbread in festive shapes and freeze them? Or make cookie dough (the sort that you refrigerate in a log before slicing and cooking) and freeze.
Make some veggie soups and freeze them.

Or salt dough decorations.
Make Christmas cards.
Listen to an internet christmas radio station.

yes I nearly always do some soup - tends to be the first thing. gingerbread - last year we did houses which were lovely - but the size and shape of the pieces are to critical to freeze - they would break in teh freezer. might see if I can make the dough and freeze it.

What recipe did you use for the gingerbread? I really fancy making a house. Is it easy to get it to stay together without it all collapsing?

I'll have a look for the recipe. It wasn't easy no - but good fun (as long as you're not a perfectionist). I googled to find a template for the shapes. But the problem is they get a bit distorted when you cook them - you need to use a fine grater to shave them back into shape. The key - imh and inexperienced opinion - is to get a proper piping bag, to use proper - home made - royal icing (sets like concrete) and lots of it. You need lots of tins - full food tins to hold the various bits in place and preferably an extra pair of hands. You need some foil covered ply or similar to build them on. I wouldn't particularly recommend trying to construct them with the kids about. I built them one evening with kids in bed, and then dds and their cousin decorated them. They really enjoyed doing it and were really proud of them.

It sounds quite scary!!! I think I'd like to try it though. How long will it keep once I've botched made it?

keeps for ever. we ended up throwing some away - probably in feb or march! the fun bit is getting a load of jelly tots, all-sorts etc and decorating them. If you google about it you end up ending this parallel universe where people spend their whole lives ocntrsucting gingerbread eiffel towers

check some of these out

Bake mince pies. Easy, easy, easy.

oh wow!
I'll be happy if mine has four walls and a roof that stays on.
mmmmm to jelly tots. Saw some in a cardboard tube in woolies yesterday and it was a real flashback moment to getting them for christmas when I was a child.

BK - I looked up my gingerbread recipe for you but seem to have misplaced it - wasn't anything special though - I;m sure you could find one (maybe on some fanatic's website...)