What is in your Christmas box?

[Justcallmechristmas]

I've just started my Christmas box for this year. I buy a few bits each week with the food shopping from now up until Christmas and save them up for the two weeks around Christmas/New Year. The fresh things will be delivered on Christmas Eve.

The reason they are not put in the cupboards and kept in a box instead (usually in the garage), is so they will not get eaten beforehand!

Does anyone else do this? What is in your box so far?

So far I have four large sharing bags of different flavoured Christmas crisps, a selection tin on biscuits and some dairy milk miniatures to fill my jars up with.

Well at the moment I'm more in the "testing" phase of Christmas shopping and can confirm I do still like Quality Street, morrisons mince pies and Aldi Christmas cake. Although, I'm not sure if they are definitely the best brands as not compared Lidl or Co-op as yet...

A panetonne
2 x bottles champagne
1 bottle pink Prosecco

Thats it so far.

the testing phase. 😂

I just put money aside and do a Christmas food shop a few days before the 25th.

If you can bear a tense last minute shop, I’ve discovered lots of food items/ stocking fillers, crackers etc are heavily reduced on Christmas Eve in supermarkets.!

chocolate biscuits
twiglets
mince pies
biscuits for cheese
quality street

I need to get a box so I can pop things away - we’ve already eaten a chocolate orange.

Great thread OP!

So far I have:
Florentines from m+s
After eights
3x Shloer
Treeslets
Mini cheddars
Asdas version of baileys

Oh and 6 bottles of wine.

I really enjoy buying things when I see them. I find it less stressful than doing 1 big shop.

Just don't do what I have done, forget and find it months later!

Roses
quality street
kp nuts (salted & dry roasted)
box of jacobs crackers
there are a few other things which I can’t think of right now...

Not so much a box as a cupboard and it's only got one jar of chutney so far !!

Oh and a bottle of champagne my dd won on
Summer fete tombola!

Large tins of shortbread
Box of chocolates
Box of truffles
Cheese biscuits
2 x baking bries
Chicken (in freezer)
Baked Alaska dessert (freezer)
Apple pie (freezer)
Vegan roast (freezer)
Chillis/ jams / chutneys
Vegan fudge
Boxes of sweets
Tin of Belgium chocolate biscuits

All courtesy of M&S as I get discount

Actually last year there was a complete shortage of quality street and roses tins! I didn’t buy them in advance as I knew I’d eat them and then the week before Christmas I tried everywhere and there were none!!

My little stash is empty. The visiting students found it and raided it last week.
Start again.

Treeselets, Green and Black's selection box, chocolate biscuit assortment, Baileys.

I buy a couple of bits in each shop but so far I have:

Tiramisu panettone
Popcorn
Starbucks white mocha instant sachets
Crisps / pringles
Chutneys
Various flavour crackers
Appletiser
Hotel Chocolat selector packs
Some treat food for the cats through the day 😹

Lebuchken, M&S turkey gravy, posh nuts, cranberry sauce, tub of celebrations, gold straws ( make every drink christmassy) goose fat, liqueur decorations for the tree, pickled walnuts.

Cadbury flakes, matchmakers and sprinkles for ice cream desserts.

This week will start on filling freezer with mince pies, sausage rolls and sausage stuffing.

Spreads the cost, don't like leaving things to the last minute and acts as a reminder as to eat I need to get!

I have done this for about🤭40years to help spread the cost. I used to start in September when my kids were young but only started this weekend. It is a box in the outhouse. I used it for lockdown too. So far we have a jar of Salted Caramel left from lockdown so will make DH a cheesecake. Chutney- local. Though I usually make some. Marinated King mushrooms which I tried and bought from the Farmer’s Market on Saturday. Sheep cheese and Goat’s cheese ( the yummiest I have ever tasted as I don’t normally like it) Farmer’s Market and some oatcakes. Jelly for trifle x3

Normal things that go in
Lebkuchen
Schloer - children’s wine. Now for the drivers.
Tins of Baxter’s broth for the person that doesn’t want anything after Christmas.
Ginger marmalade
Apricot jam for the Christmas Cakes.
Turkey gravy packets from the butcher to save making it on the day. Ensures there is plenty and I make mine on Boxing Day for leftovers.
Grasmere Gingerbread
Expensive crisps and veggie ones for DD.
Co op honey cashews.
Ginger Ale
Toblerone- because I always bought this for my dad. We like it too.
After Eights.
Some local made chocolates with the dark ones for me.
Vegan chocolate
Sponge fingers for trifle
Chestnuts in some form.
Capers
Anchovies
Sundried tomatoes
Homemade shortbread and gingerbread
Elderflower cordial

Fridge box
Pate
Salmon mousse pate
Cheese. Black Dub, Wensleydale Ginger, Wensleydale cranberry, Smoked Applewood, Stilton, Brie, Blacksticks Blue, Gouda cumin from Amsterdam.

Mine
Mrs Bell’s Blue, Crofton goat’s cheese, vegan garlic cheese as I can’t tolerate cow’s milk now.

Double local cream for the Pavlova
Pancetta for the sprouts (shredded, stir fried, tsp caster sugar) added at the end.

Great idea OP 😃as I can pick out old favourites and new ideas for my lists.
We have enough turkey left over to send the 3 boys home with a plate each plus guest or two and enough for us for two to three days so we don’t have to cook.

I have ordered the turkey and the seafood platter. The veg box can’t be ordered until a fortnight before.

Two households, one for December generally and the other more Christmas focussed.

Lebkuchen
Festive flavour crisps especially Tesco Christmas pudding ones( they taste like ultra crispy biscuits)
Biscuits
Veg crisps
Tin of Roses
After dinner mints
Christmas beer
Prosecco
Cava
Decent red & white wines.

We have always done this, it isn't just about resisting temptation but having a set menu for 10 days as is our tradition. It means when we go to get something we don't realise someone has inadvertently eaten it. I have teen boys. Nothing is safe in this house.

I have a spreadsheet with all the stock cupboard things we should have in and make sure they are full or we have another jar ie wholegrain mustard which we use in lots of things but is part of our Christmas eve maple, mustard ham. I do not want to shop on Christmas eve to get another jar because I didn't buy ahead. Just because the shops are open does not mean I want to be in them. My spreadsheet also has a buy ahead section (crackers, tortilla chips, chutney, drinks etc specific to Christmas) which is where the Christmas box comes in. That means when I do my Christmas shop usually on 23rd and at the crack of dawn in my lovely 24 hour supermarket I am not feeling overwhelmed half way round due to the sheer amount of food being bought.

My Christmas food shopping list is also divided down into sections, fridge, freezer, fruit and veg etc. Again it is on a spreadsheet meaning I don't have to write one out every year.

Same here!

So far I have some chocolates and some port. Have various other bits added to my next few online shops and will hit Aldi soon for lebkuchen and stollen. We’re hosting 17 so want a good variety of snacks

Oh yes…if it can be bought early, it has already been bought. Anything from tinfoil and cooking oil through to snacks, chocolates and alcohol. All are currently stored away from the kitchen.

i have a template list and use the same one every year. I also have notes from the previous Christmas such as don’t buy this that or the other, or buy more of something or less of something else, so the template list does change from year to year.

All that will be left to buy in the days before Christmas Day is anything fresh that has a very short shelf life.

I am another one who has no intention of setting foot in a shop out of necessity over the Christmas period.

So far:
After eights
After eight straws
A large box of ferrero roché
M&S cheese straw
Tesco butterscotch and double cream shortbread
Tesco milk chocolate & honecomb shortbread
Fortnum & Mason Boxing Day pickle
Terrys chocolate orange truffles

Ours is a box on top of the fridge in the garage. And I tend to buy them when I see them on offer and they go in the garage so they're out of sight

We also have a drawer in the freezer in the garage that currently has:
M&S Pigs in blankets
Tesco scallops wrapped in bacon
Part baked bread rolls

It spreads the cost out

I do it for alcohol, sweets and biscuits.

So far I bought Lebkuchen, Spekelatius (spiced German biscuits) and Stollen. Still need more Stollen though.
Also some Lindt chocolates, chocolate coins and Galaxy truffles. We are Germans, so we do Nikolaus where DD will get chocolate in her boot and her advent calendar is also filled with chocolates.

I will get a second lot next weekend most likely. We have chocolate on the tree and in Germany you have so called Bunte Teller (coloured plates) which is a plate in Christmas design filled with orange, chocolate santa and lots of other sweets for each person which come out on Christmas Eve. And beware to eat from another person's plate, that meant war.

I buy alcohol when on offer, so far I have white and red port and a sherry. Plus there is still a bottle of champagne left from DH's birthday and the sparkling wine I got for our wedding anniversay but we never opened.

I would think it could increase the cost if things are bought early, eaten and then replaced.