What did you eat on Christmas Day? Did you buy/make too much food?

[LegoTherapy]

I don't know why I buy so much yet I do it year after year😩 I think I see and read if Christmas mean and think we'll eat loafs. We never do.
I have a fridge full of food that will last ages.

Breakfast: half a toasted muffin and a cup of tea
Lunch: fried potato sandwich and cup of tea
Dinner: marrowfat peas, honey roast carrots and parsnips, 1 and a half roast potatoes, 1 and a half stuffing balls, cranberry sauce, two sprouts (just to be festive). Small slice of homemade Yule log. Glass of alcohol free wine.

Snacks: handful of raspberries, 2 chocolate biscuits from M&S, bowl of crisps. Water. Can of M&S hard seltzer.

I think I want to experience the Christmas film/book Christmas with lots of food and people but the reality is I prefer just close family and a few special food items but otherwise not much out of the ordinary. Boring perhaps. Eyes bigger than belly definitely. I feel disappointed which is silly.

Do you go all out or are you captain sensible and stick in your ways like me? 😁

We’re somewhere in the middle. I try not to buy too much stuff that I know won’t get eaten but we do have a few special meals and nicer snacks.
Unlike in previous years we haven’t bought loads of extras like party food, sweets/chocolates and big packs of biscuits.
Everyone has their favourites to eat over Christmas but I cut out all the random stuff (both my husband and I have lost weight this year and I don’t want to be tempted to eat lots of stuff I don’t even enjoy just because it’s there).

Christmas Eve: We just had normal breakfast and lunch.
I made a fish pie for an early dinner, followed by lemon meringue pie.
Then we went to a friend’s house in the evening for cheese/charcuterie and mulled wine.

For Christmas Day we had:
Breakfast- Bagels with salmon and eggs/cream cheese. Berry and citrus fruit salad. Coffee.

Lunch- Turkey, couple of pigs in blankets, homemade stuffing (I finally found a recipe I love), 4 roast potatoes (the best bit), sprouts, roasted carrots and parsnips, cauliflower cheese, gravy.
Glass of red wine.

Then we had a break and had pudding at tea time (sticky toffee pudding with ice-cream).
I had tea and everyone else had champagne (I’m breastfeeding so can’t have too much alcohol). Toddlers obviously had juice 😂.

In the evening I had a gin and tonic, some crackers with cheese and a few chocolates.

I didn’t make lots of extra sides/alternative options this year just because we ‘should’ have them (e.g. red cabbage that no-one eats much of or mashed swede that only I like).
I also tried to make sure I made sensible amounts for the number of people we have, apart from turkey everything else can be finished in one ‘leftovers’ meal. In the past we’ve ended up with way too much stuff because I’ve been worried about there not being enough (I’ve got a lot better at estimating portions!)

For Boxing Day:
Breakfast: Finish the bagels and salmon etc
Lunch: Porchetta with mustard dauphinois and buttered cavelo nero.
Dinner: Leek and potato soup with turkey and topped with pancetta.

Tomorrow I’ll make a turkey curry but otherwise we’ll go back to eating and drinking normally.

Compared to you it sounds like a lot but it feels like the right balance for us (nice treats but without being too wasteful or eating things we don’t really want just because they’re there).

Your breakfast isn't a proper breakfast and your dinner isn't a proper dinner unless I'm missing something, so I suspect you ate less than the average adult on Christmas Day.

I had a danish pastry for breakfast, pork/roast potatoes/crackling/green beans for late lunch, piece of cheesecake for desert and crisps and dip for dinner. No snacks. Lots of cheese and crackers for Boxing Day.

Op, your food intake is tiny. I ran Parkrun on Christmas morning and would have eaten your breakfast and lunch when I got back, as a snack.

My fridge, right now, contains :
half a roast duck, a few roast potatoes and some sausages.
Some stuffing
Braised red cabbage
6oz of baked ham
Assorted pickles
Salad
Cream
Half a pack of smoked salmon
Eggs
A drawer full of assorted veggies.
A huge amount of cheese (received as a present)
A bottle and a half of champagne

I also have 20 iced gingerbread Christmas trees
7 home made mince pies
Half a box of Ferrero Roche
A milk chocolate Father Christmas
Half a tub of ginger ice cream

DS is off to his dad's for 6 days, so I will eat the duck and ham with salad & pasta over the next few days. I won't need to shop until new year. Nothing will be wasted. 😊

OP - surely you're taking the piss???

Who the hell eats a 'fried potato sandwich' ie chip butty for lunch on Christmas day?

Are you on a diet?
I don’t know any non diet people who would know exactly to half a potato how much they eat on Christmas dinner really.

We buy loads od lovely stuff, eat loads of lovely stuff over the three days. The amount fluxtuatea based on if it's just us or family as ell. Anything left with good dates on will last in fridge for NYE. It's the time of the year when even when I was in the middle of serious weightloss, tracking was turned off😁

I had a bagel with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast with a couple of glasses of bucks fizz.

Lunch was roast turkey and trimmings. I couldn't tell you precisely how much I ate, but it was a lot and I had a second helping.
Cheesecake and ice cream for pudding.

Dinner was a turkey sandwich and a slice of pork pie.

Also during the day i had a slice of yule log, a few chocolates, a handful of crisps, a couple of glasses of prosecco, a glass of white wine, 3 ciders and a gin.

What you ate is probably less than most people eat on a normal day.

I ate loads and bought loads so I am going to postpone my Saturday Ocado order for a couple of days to have a chance to use it up

A fried potato sandwich is not a chip buttie. It's fried left over mashed potato. Fry until it forms a patty and cook until crisp on both sides. Place between two slices of buttered bread and add plenty of salt. Food of the gods and a Lego family tradition. I'd looked forward to it for ages and it was amazing.

No, I'm not on a diet.

I know I ate 1.5 roast potatoes because I put 3 on my plate and thought I'd eaten them all but had 1.5 left.

I don't eat meat so no turkey.

I thoroughly enjoyed my Christmas dinner and was satisfied with the amount.

Today will be more FPB, homemade mini pizzas in the shape of Christmas trees, mozzarella sticks and halloumi fries, crisps, chocolate, and whatever else I fancy.

Brekkie: ranola yoghurt and fruit, toast and marmalade (treat as normally avoid bread)
Lunch: Baked camembert with toasted sourdough, side salad and picky bits
Snack: christmas pudding
Evening: Enormous cheeseboard - bit of ham,salad, pickles, crisps. Ice cream.

I don't cook ( aside from the oven on for the camembert) on Xmas day anymore. Doing a ig beef joint tonight.

Breakfast.... Belgian truffles and a mince pie

Lunch... roast beef, chicken, roast potatoes, parsnips, Yorkshire pudding, pigs in blankets, broccoli and carrots, gravy. Sounds like a lot but a fairly small portion of everything.

Then...buffet at my dsis house where I ate and ate and ate....prawn toast, spring rolls, brie and cranberry tarts, cheese, grapes, biscuits, chocolate log etc etc

Came home stuffed but had some left over cold roast beef dipped in horseradish

Op that’s a wierd post - sorry

strange lunch on Christmas Day and then no meat or alternative for the actual dinner ?

How is it a strange Christmas dinner? I enjoy all the veg and never bother about a meat alternative. I did made a quorn roast and the dc had that but my mum and I don't bother with any main bit. She's not veggie but says she doesn't miss the meat. She used to bring some with her but not any more.

We all really enjoyed it and that's what matters.

We've never been one for fancy breakfasts at Christmas and we eat dinner between 5 and 6pm and find no one is hungry afterwards so no cheese and crackers.

We don’t eat breakfast on Christmas Day (or any other!) so we had: Turkey crown with bacon, roast beef, roast potatoes, honey roast parsnips and carrots, peas, cauliflower, brocolli and leek cheese, mini pigs in blankets, stuffing balls, Yorkshire puddings and gravy. But only a modest amount of each so the plates weren’t heaving! Later on two of us had a slice of Black Forest Gateaux. We always buy plenty of pickles, cheeses, crisps, chocolates, for the two week break that we have from work and for people who call in over the festive period. Anything uneaten then gets packed up for my husband when he returns to work and normality resumes.

Your days food would be a bit frugal to me op...I think it's the fact there's no real main to the dinner...

Breakfast was mini pastries (supermarkets' frozen kind we baked ourselves), fresh fruit salad, juice and coffee.

Lunch was crisps.

Dinner was turkey, roasties, roasted roots, and later on, plum pudding. We didn't bother opening the cheese later.

We had bought a small turkey so have just about enough for 1 dinner today (or DD dinner and we do something else, if she doesn't want the chicken she had asked us to get in). I have about 4 roast potatoes left (I chop my large potatoes into smaller ones), a tub of roasted roots (about 2 servings), a tub of stuffing (same), and a 150ml bottle of gravy. And half a pudding. So a perfect pint of leftovers.

Bones are just finished cooking for stock, will make soup later and probably freeze some for risotto in a couple of weeks.

Breakfast: croissants with jam
Snacks: mini cheddars, naice crisps, honey roasted cashews
Lunch: turkey, mash potatoes, roast potatoes, honey glazed parsnips, Yorkshire pudding, carrots, broccoli, green beans, pigs in blankets, leek bake, cauliflower cheese and gravy. Then we had a dog walk and ate pudding later which was tiramisu cheesecake.

Also drank champagne, shloer, coffee and white wine.

In the evening we had more nibbles on mini cheddars etc, baileys and after 8 mints.

I feel ginormous today and looking forward to getting back to healthy eating.

Lots left over - more than usual - but we’ll make a point of using it all up - I hate wasting food. IMO I was not allowing for the fact that 3 Gdcs wouldn’t eat very much Christmas dinner.
To me, one of the best aspects of the few days after Christmas is all the leftovers, very little actual cooking.

I definitely buy too much for Christmas day but I'm buying for several days' worth of easy and slightly indulgent lunches or dinners afterwards.

Breakfast: one (really thick) slice of toast with apricot jam.

Christmas dinner at 2pm: thick slice of turkey, two kinds of stuffing, three pigs in blankets, three roast potatoes, a spoonful each of sprouts and carrots, bread sauce, gravy.

4.30: bowl of trifle

7: slice of Christmas cake, couple of slices of cheddar

9/10pm film snacks: couple of handfuls of treeselets, a few mint chocolates

We were at my parents' for the day so today I'll go and pick up bread, milk, tissues for my little bonus Christmas present of a cold 🙄, and see what's on sale to be cooked for a few days of cold cuts to have with salads and pickles.

I suppose people would find it odd that we don't have a main. Thinking back to childhood Christmases we'd have fried potato butties or bacon butties, Christmas dinner was around 2pm I think and my dad would cook turkey, ham and beef. We had prawn cocktails as a starter. Never had pigs in blankets or red cabbage and cauliflower cheese was something we never ever ate anyway. Always Yorkshire puddings. I only remember a Christmas pudding one year because only my dad liked it. Occasionally Christmas cake but again only my dad liked it. I made those as a teen sometimes or my nana. There'd be sandwiches early evening and cheese and crackers. Quality Street, Matchmakers, those pretzel snack things, nuts, and probably crisps. We had lemonade and coke at Christmas. Buck's Fizz at breakfast for the adults. There was always a lot of waste especially with the meat and I remember clearly the horror of how much the meat cost. We were always struggling for money so it upset me that food got thrown away but my dad insisted on all 3 meats.

My mum is 85 and has a small appetite. She struggles to chew done foods. She hates a plate piled high with food. I put everything in bowls and everyone can take what they like. My plate was full enough. I don't like gravy and although I like a nut roast I've been referred for a possible nut allergy so that wasn't an option even if I'd wanted one. The dc were happy with the quorn roast. I don't eat much ultra processed food because it makes me feel weird and affects ds's behaviour (adhd).

The only year anything we had got 'wasted' was the year when I was very little and most of my male relatives still worked in farming - the pigs got out and the dog stole the turkey carcass while all the adults were trying to get them corralled back into their field. I think one of the reasons I've never felt bad about the amount we buy and cook is that everything gets used. Leftovers in sandwiches or with pickles, turkey and ham pie, bubble and squeak, leftover meat used in curries, risotto, soup.

A goose and joint of beef for 6 of us. I'm on Mounjaro and parents eat like sparrows, but that's another dinner for today and the pets will eat well!

This will be the last year we go nuts. It's only my second year of doing family christmas dinners but I accept now I went completely overboard and I'm over it. Next year, if I do it and don't go away, it will be a one pot wonder, couple of veg and that's it.

We were sensible, we make Christmas lunch but don't go crazy.

Yesterday I ate:

Brunch: 2 boiled eggs, 1 slice ancient grain sourdough toast, skimmed milk decaf latte, an orange.

Afternoon Xmas dinner was:
2 slices turkey, 1 sausage, a few roast potatoes, a little cranberry sauce, a big pile of carrots, brussels sprouts and brocolli.
One glass red wine and a Crosta & Mollica chocolate and hazelnut tartufi gelato.

The rest of the family had the same although DH, DS17 and DS20 had a huge pile of potatoes each and some gravy and DS17 had roast salmon instead of the meat and no wine.

Everyone was happy and we had fun playing board games all evening while DH and DS20 finished the bottle of wine we'd opened for dinner. That was enough alcohol for us all.

Evening: I had kefir with almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, brazil nuts and pecans with cacao powder mixed in. Everyone else had a bowl of mixed nuts.

DH, DS17 and DS20 had different breakfast from me. They also munched on chocolate through the day, but I didn't.

My mum and I were talking about it today and how my sister had done loads of food today and how she couldn't eat much. Christmases of years gone by with sausage rolls and pork pies, cold meats, open sandwiches, pickled onions. I remember those Christmases fondly although the jelly on pork pies is the work of the devil and made me heave even as a meat eating child. Trifle. There was trifle that fascinated me but I never ate. No idea why but I guess I didn't fancy it. Those liqueur chocolates that at a young age I was allowed to eat 😁
I'd like to say I've eaten more today but in reality I've just snacked more and had things like crackers instead of a hot meal. I'm failing at eating festive food 🤣

I normally buy far too much chocolate/treats but this year have reined it in as I want us all to be a little healthier so have definitely been a bit more mindful. With that said we did eat well yesterday:

Breakfast: Freshly baked croissant, berries, yoghurt and Buck’s Fizz
Late lunch: Christmas dinner comprising of Turkey, honey glazed carrots and parsnips, stuffing, pigs in blankets and gravy
Late tea: Christmas pudding (we were too full after lunch) charcuterie board

Boxing Day:
Breakfast: Homemade granola, fresh berries, yoghurt and honey
Lunch: We strolled to our local pub that serves delicious food, I had an Asian duck salad
Late tea: Turkey roll and chocolates

I had great intentions on being ultra healthy but it’s Christmas after all. What I have discovered is how disillusioned I’ve become with the usual buffet items, year upon year we have the same stuff. I would honestly rather a nice salad.

I’m in full festive fatty mode!

Christmas Day started with bacon sandwiches and Buck’s Fizz around 9.30am. Snacks of the bacon off the top of the turkey plus various chocolates and more fizz. Dinner started around 3.30. I had a starter of smoked duck with rocket, then turkey, pigs in blankets, stuffing, roast potatoes, roast carrots and parsnips, sprouts (many as I love them!), broccoli and swede mash. With lashings of gravy and cranberry sauce. We had pudding around 8pm, I had chocolate cheesecake and cream as I don’t like Christmas pudding.

Today we had more bacon sarnies for breakfast. Then buffet of beige delights and some salad, olives and coleslaw etc. Followed by profiteroles and cream. Just been snacking on tortilla chips and dips.

Got more beige party food leftovers to graze on tomorrow too!