What food are you buying on a budget this Xmas?

[Lottie4]

Just wondering what food others buy who need to keep food spending low at Xmas. Money is tight this year, but we'd still like a few treats and to feel it's Xmas. What do you buy for Xmas Day & Boxing Days meals etc, tea, snacks for guests?

We may have friends Xmas Eve and family one afternoon, so will do something snacky. We've got my Mum Xmas Day and mother-in-law Boxing Day (DH feels we should cook for her so need to think about two different meals and she has to have meat, nothing fancy).

So far I've bought some Lidl crusty bread to bake, Lidl Stollen cake, pickled onions (while on offer) and have got some Tesco value tortillas and nuts. Husband has been making some homemade wine (not sure what visitors will think, but that's what'll be on offer - actually it's not bad!).

I personally think a turkey (if you like it obviously) is a good buy because we tend to have it in sandwiches, with home made chips and pickles, and of course a curry in the days and weeks that follow! Good mileage is what im saying
Then other budget ideas: in your next few shops buy a few small treats to put aside (nice croissants/pain au chocolat, crackers, chocolates) from Aldi to spread the cost of a big shop. Make christmas cookies, and plan some different ways with your veg dishes for the big day.

Have a good one!

TheRealMaryMillington please please please could I have your recipie for the cinnamon rolls. They sound lovely!

Ok, must read further down the thread! thanks for posting the recipe

With that recipe you can sub in proper butter, and dairy milk. And add an egg to enrich the dough, should you wish. Also you can also make double and freeze the dough, rolled up with the cinnamon.

Bread and butter pudding with lashings of custard instead of xmas pudding, you can add all sorts to it, fruit, booze etc, or keep it really simple.

general food snacks bought are for our family

pretzals tubs of choc
custard jelly ice cream picked onions
mince pies double cream sweets wraps ham
own brand value fresh orange juice/apple juice
cans of coke as i dont drink alc very often kids fruit shoots
festive snacks what ever they may be
turkey for xmas day gamon and beef
full veg bacon cocktail sausages
pringles
crisps
crackers
cheese

this year i want to add curry things as fancy a change :)

Got 6 bottles of wine for £25 at Asda, a couple have awards.

After Eights £1.50 at Asda.

Pringles £1 at Asda.

Strangely, I do my main shop at Aldi! Do a top up shop at Asda but have been getting quite a bit there recently.

Going to Lidl tomorrow to get so e yummy bits, apparently their Salted Caramel fudge is marvellous!

Been to Lidl today, their Deluxe cream liqueur is lovely, very like Baileys at around £6.50. Also like their spiced biscuits and gingerbread.

Very easy to do nice tarts (savoury or sweet ) with pre made pastry. Just roll out, cut into squares and layer stuff on. I do sliced apple with sugar and cinnamon.

Agreeing with people who prefer chicken to turkey, and Tesco's chicken crown (serves 5/6) is £1off just now and will give plenty of easy left-overs for the two of us.
As a Christmas/Birthday treat, I make a cheesecake in stages, stored in freezer and assembled last minute, better than bought, costs much less and lasts 2-3 days.(in theory).

If you do want a whole turkey or poultry - shop around. We used to go to one good food retailer that friends raved about but their turkeys were always too large. This year I've found that one of the big four supermarkets does small sized ones so there's less waste/people getting fed up of endless turkey-themed leftovers. Duck is often a good alternative- unusual enough to feel Christmassy and if you look around, much cheaper than even a turkey crown.

Not buying items labelled "for Christmas" or "Christmas this/that". Some supermarkets do a bag of "vegetables to roast for Christmas" - if you bought them all separately it works out cheaper! Same goes for things like pigs-in-blankets (roll your own; it's easy), nuts, salmon, hams and trifles.

Be careful what you put on "advance orders" - in practice I find you really only need to do this if you want a special roast - eg a turkey, or a Beef Wellington - if you are having a standard joint of beef or lamb, or just a normal whole chicken, buying a normal joint/bird from the aisles is much cheaper (and there should still be plenty in stock on Dec 21 or 22). Many supermarkets offer advance orders for things like stuffing, potatoes, trifles / log cakes which are much cheaper from the aisles, and sometimes are the exact same product!

Looking around for alcohol bargains - many supermarkets are now discounting red, white and even sparkling wine - some discounts are as much as 50%.

Hopefully everyone has got their Advent Calendars by now, but for chocolates - don't buy the novelty ones (eg chocolate Santas) too far in advance at full price. As it gets nearer Christmas they start getting discounted too - or turned into multibuy offers. As long as you are flexible about buying chocolate reindeer if the chocolate Santas run out, or buying snowmen if reindeer run out.

Conversely, I find that the discounts and marked down prices for mince pies, stollen and gingerbread biscuits are right now but will revert to full price on Christmas Eve/Day. For fruitcake and puddings it tends to be the opposite.

Lidl's Christmas pudding is £3.99 and award winning. Last Xmas we compared it with Tescos luxury. Everyone preferred Lidl's!

Look in any pound shops/99p shops/b and m bargains ect that you have near you.
We managed to get Turkish delight/liquor chocolates/matchmakers/candy canes(15 in a pack)all for 99p a packet in a 99p shop near us.They tend to sell lots of Festive boxes and packets of sweets and lots of them sell nice biscuits in box's/tins and decent crackers and tubs of savory snacks,twiglets/pretzels,different types of nuts.

I make quite a few things myself not because of cost but because DH and the 5DC prefer my cooking to ready made,but it does end up costing us less as well.
We always have a turkey crown as none of us like dark meat.I buy one bigger than we need that way some can be carved and laid out with the tea in the evening and then boxing day DH and the oldest 2DS like turkey sandwiches for supper.

Iceland sell really nice turkey crowns/different joints of meat that are really inexpensive and they come in they're own roasting tray(so saves a bit on the washing up as well)we also like the prawns and the prawn rings they sell and they sell some lovely desserts near Christmas as well.

For the stuffing I use smartprice stuffing mix(it tastes really nice)I add sausage meat to mine,you can use sausages if it works out cheaper.Just leave to defrost and skin them.

went to Lidl yesterday, might have to go back for more

I make my own fudge and chocolates. They are delicious, easy to make, cost a lot less than in the shops and far more filling and rich than shop bought.

Some suggestions
Peanut butter and chocolate fudge
Rocky chocolate road fudge
White chocolate fudge with orange, spice, currants/sultanas etc.

Homemade fudge is the best!

I've brought all the Xmas treats already - from Lidl:
The little stollen things.
Pistashio nuts
Chocolates with cherry's in them.
Gingerbread house.
Box of prosecco
Spiced biscuits (we are all crazy about these)

From previous years I know not to go too crazy. We are going elsewhere for Xmas dinner :) And we like to bake.

I would like to revisit LIDL to get more nice treats to drop off at the food bank before Xmas too, but they are hard for me to get to.

We have bought this Christmas Turkey Pack from Meatpacks for the last three years. For £54 you get a delicious succulent turkey, plus two other joints to roast another time (if you have a freezer), a tray of chipolatas, a packet of stuffing mix and some streaky bacon.

www.meatpacks.co.uk/Special_Offers/TheChristmasTurkeyPack

just to say those large Thorntons santas and reindeer are £4 in Tesco atm.

We make our own mince pies (using bought mincemeat, so cheating a bit ) Much nicer than the bought ones, which are overly sweet and probably cheaper too, though I haven't costed it out.
No turkey, we do chicken with all the Christmas trimmings. It's cheaper, nicer and lasts till Boxing Day

Totally agree with you all. I used to buy an item a week from September and would have a huge stash of food by December. Last year, because I was a single Mum, I just bought a few bits nearer the time. Guess what!! No-one noticed and I didn't end up with a cupboard full of food to get through in January.

I've been tempted to make a trip to Lidl (we don't have one locally so have never been to one). Can anyone recommend what I should buy?

Does anyone have a good homemade stuffing recipe? I have some pork mince but can't find a decent looking recipe that includes it...

Mandy
I started this www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat
hope it helps

sorry
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2251558-Off-to-Lidl-today-What-should-I-get?

Thank you TheRealMaryMillington