How to have an inexpensive Christmas!!

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What kind of turkey should I get? Need to order one soon! What things are good and cheap to do with the kids apart from parks, museums, get togethers with friends? It's winter! I suppose i can keep all unneccessary lights turned off and not use too much heating- layers instead. I can go down to Tesco basic foods. Pretty bad at buying all the pricier things when I do my delivery! Any really good cheap foods or meals anyone can suggest? I will definitely use what is in my cupboards and freezers first! :-) Lentil soup is a good one. Big pots of anything are the best aren't they? Absolutely NO buying of any more presents that aren't totally necessary ie no more at all! I have already spent so much on the kids and really they don't need it all! Selling a couple of things on sites online including eBay will bring in an extra few bucks... Planning all social things and visitors / visits really well to have a schedule so not caught out...

Anyone want to join me in making this a stress-free Christmas financially?

Ok here's what's in my cupboards/fridge. Need inspiration please!

Sweet:

White Sugar (lots of)
Icing sugar
Caster sugar
Dark sugar
Cadburys drinking choc
Peach slices
Fruit cocktail
2 x strawberry trifle mix
Tinned grapefruit
Pudding rice
Plain flour
Baking powder
Pine nuts
Pumpkin seeds
Porridge oats (lots of!)
Oatmeal
Dates
Prunes
Fresh Ginger
Lots and lots of herbs and spices!
Mulled wine spice
Cheap wine (are you thinking what I'm thinking?) ;-)
Any cakes or cereal bar possibilities here perhaps?

Savoury:

Soy sauce, Worcester sauce, mustard
Mackerel
Mayo (mackerel pâté right?)
Chick peas
Quinoa
Rice
Onions
Garlic
Green lentils
Orange lentils
Leeks
Dried mushrooms
Cannelloni beans
Barley
Chopped tomatoes.
(Lots of lentil soup is all I can think of)

Thanks so much for helping to inspire me. I'm not very good at this and really have to not waste anything this December!

Oh!

In freezer:

Sweet corn
Peas
Cod
Salmon

Frozen raspberries

Things to do that don't cost a lot of money:

-take a walk as a family on boxing day
-play charades, board games
-drink hot choc & watch xmas movie on tv
-make mince pies, mulled wine, etc

Meals inspired by your inventory:

-sausage & cannelloni casserole
-fish pie
-dhal curry
-falafel burgers
-soup
-salmon with savoury vegetable rice

HTH

We're also planing on have a (fairly) frugal xmas this year. The dc (4&18m) are getting roughly £50-70 worth of pressies each plus more from family/friends. Dh & I aren't getting anything for each other.

The first four things I don't know how to make but shall find recipes oh yes!

Thanks so much.

Love homemade sausage rolls so will have to make those!!

I have been buying Christmas presents for kids (4 and 7 so more expensive than yours) all year so spread cost but have spent approx £100 on each and that includes many fantastic bargains. I just have to sit on my hands now to stop myself buying socks, pyjamas, more Lego, bath things etc! :-)

Great ideas for things to do. Apparantly there are good films on this year on TV? I hope so!

I have thought of lots of things I can sell too. So will take some photos and put them on a local site I've used before. Well not lots of things but a few.

Do you have Sky/Virgin or freeview?

Interesting question LadyKK. I am in between at the moment as digibox knackered and need to sort out something before Christmas. Should I get a new freeview box or do a new sky or virgin thingy cause I do need to sort out broadband at home!

Go on to www.moneysavingexpert.com and see which is the best B/Band for you but make sure to take into account the cost of a phone line because some providers insist you have a land line which can push the cost up over the more expensive b/band which doesn't insist on a phone line. Once you have decided on a provider, make sure to then sign up to it through TopCashBack to get the cashback.

If things are a bit tight then I would advise to steer clear of Sky or Virgin for TV and get Netflix instead. It is possible to get American Netflix instead of UK Netflix and the selection is so much better, you would just need to google the 'how to' guide for whatever you ran it through (wii, xbox etc).

However, if you do go for Sky or Virgin, make sure to also go through TopCashBack. I don't know about Virgin but Sky are doing a refer a friend scheme so if you have a friend with Sky, get them to refer you and you will get £75 each (for John Lewis, M&S, Boots or Tesco).

Well so far I'm very proud of myself. Have used up lasagne sheets to make yes- you guessed it- a lasagne, made a really delicious lentil soup, pizza sauce and the piece de la resistance is the 28 large flapjacks I have just made that are also delicious and very healthy. Really pleased so far with my cupboard stocks!

How do you make sausage and cannelloni casserole, please?

I am definitely making the Asian - style salmon and vegetables as soon as we've eaten all these pizzas! :-)

Re my tv, I think I will just stick to my digibox channels and just get broadband...

I do need to check out who is offering a good broadband deal at the moment!

I'm on primus, £12 a month incl line rental for 6 months then £14 thereafter if you pay £120 line rental upfront.

I think it's £60 cashback on topcashback at the moment