Christmas food on a budget - help!

[CharlotteSloane]

DP has unexpectedly been out of work for a few weeks so the budget is tight - it'll be me, DP and the DTs (9yo) for about two weeks before we go back to school/ work routine - I'm trying to meal plan for at least two meals per day rather than us eating out. I'm vegetarian, DTS1 has a very beige diet but DP and DTS2 will eat most things, I just don't have the headspace to work out two weeks' worth of meals for all of us

I've never cooked a roast dinner before in my life either, we'll now be at home for Christmas and I have to decide what to cook I've been vegetarian for years and never needed/ wanted to cook a roast - but now I think I'll need to cook something!

I'm just absolutely at a loss, I'm terrible at meal planning at the best of times and it's sending me into a panic just thinking about it, I know I need to do a big Aldi/ Lidl shop soon whilst the DC are still at school (I have an afternoon left to take off work to do it!) but am stumped as to what to actually buy. Any tips gratefully received!

Some good ideas on here. But more generally, if your DP is still out of work, why doesn’t he meal plan, since you don’t have the headspace to do it?

Christmas dinner is just a roast which is easy to do it's just all about the timings so write everything down and follow the plan. There are some great ideas online for easy roast potatoes etc or keep it really simple and get frozen roasties and Yorkshire, though these will be more expensive. As a veggie, if youre doing a roast chicken you can buy them in a cooking bag, no touching/prep needed you just put the chicken in the bag in the oven, which is more bearable, and just ask Dh if he's a meat eater to carve it

Firstly a massive thank you to everyone who's responded! It's been a hellish Monday but I will look through everyone's responses tomorrow (or today now - aaarrrgghhhh) and reply. I'm making a list of how to go forward from here and hopefully it will help with my stress levels!!

Luckily theres none of us here that are vegetarian and we all eat whatever going

And we do traditional - turkey and ham. I cook on Christmas Day and thats it till the new year

Dont buy your veg until the week before Christmas - it all drops to 19p a bag and I buy LOADS, it lasts for ages in the garage until I can get around to prepping and freezing for the following weeks. I get loads of potatoes, onions, carrots , parsnips - I go easier on the green leaf veg, the roots will be the fresh veg for weeks ahead and if stuff starts to go bendy - soup

Whatever I cook for Christmas dinner, I cook enough veg to last a day or 3 more. I cook a boned and rolled turkey - you get all the meat none of the bones, easy to fit in the oven and easy to carve. Because I do a ham as well , both bits of meat are going to last the coming week where theres Christmas dinner again on Boxing Day,(nuking the left over veg and just doing fresh roasties ) cold meats and bubble and squeak another, ham egg and chips another, a pie another and still plenty for sandwiches and the final bits - in the soup

I do things like bacon and stilton hot rolls for lunch , the soup, toasties , jacket spuds , loaded fries - left over stuffing and gravy

Dont be buying loads of the sweet treats. We dont buy and still end up with loads, neighbours often gift at Christmas for helping them out in the year, bringing in their parcels, putting their bins out whilst they are on holiday, walking the dog etc. And Im always gifted sweets or chocolates from work

Same with booze, I do buy a nice wine, but somehow or another a bottle of baileys will end up here gifted by someone - usually mother :)

I really do keep the "Christmas shop" to the bare minimum. I also scour the yellow sticker aisle for reduced stuffings, cocktail sausages ,cheeses, cream, nice party food which will help liven up a lunch and because we are a use up everything family, and are happy to eat variations of the same for a week, the Christmas shop is really not much more then a normal weeks shop

It may sound tight and mean, but Ive done the years of buying everything in sight - because its Christmas - and thrown so much away. This way we pick and choose the bits that we really do like - a good wine, a nice stilton, prawns for a starter , a nice pate and we eat well and plenty without pigging out for weeks

But thats how I meal plan around Christmas and it works for us

Obviously you have to factor in your veggie option which will add to the cost

If you are going to go for a roast dinner never having cooked one before - dont panic, its not rocket science and take heart in the fact that I could could a roast before I learned how to make an omelette Its all about timing and roasted meat needs resting time. - thats time out of the oven, covered with a bit of foil and tea towel and left out of a draft for between 30mins and a good hour ( depends on size, a turkey can sit for way past an hour and still be hot ) so you have time to concentrate on veggies and gravy and whatever bits and bobs. Also you can cook veg earlier and have them ready to nuke before serving . If you can, get a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature is at least 75oC if doing chicken or turkey

Your shopping list:
Eggs
Tins of tuna
Pasta
Rice
Oven chips
Frozen veg and fruit
Big tub of vanilla flavored Greek yogurt
Tins of tomatoes
Mayonnaise
Mild mustard
Onions
Garlic
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Sausages
Bread
Joint of beef for roasting
Chicken for roasting
Mince
Bacon
Sliced ham
Cheese
Flour
Sugar
Milk
Butter
Potatoes
Baked beans
Dry lentils

All of the above can be made into plain but tasty meals. Your family needs to eat leftovers too.

Thank you again to everyone - I've got a couple of days off work (much needed, as today and yesterday were soooo busy) and am hoping to do a big fridge and freezer tidy up, although I also have to spend a fair amount of time at the dentist I also want to go through - well, I would say the pantry, but it's just a big cupboard and doesn't justify that title!

Just to clarify, DP is back at work now, it was the unexpected couple of weeks off work that threw us. His job is mainly on construction sites and whilst the work is usually continual, for some reason there wasn't anything available and he was at home phoning round to find something! He's hoping now to work through until almost Christmas, back first thing in the New Year; he's usually out of the house 6am - 8pm though when he does work and often works Saturday too, so still a lot of the cooking/ cleaning/ childcare falls to me...

I'm trying to reply to everyone but please forgive me if I miss anyone out! Thank you to @NC10125, @Meadowfinch, @steponacrackbreakyourmothersback, @Autumndayz77 , @Cerialkiller, @mitogoshigg and @mathanxiety for the meal planning tips, very useful

@suki1964 I'm definitely going to try to stock up on cheap veg, we're lucky enough to have a chest freezer which obviously is great in many ways, but also means some things stay in there for much, much a bit longer than they probably should...

@Gruach thank you for the link to the veggie site, very interesting!

@AllTangledUpInTinselAndTiaras thanks for suggesting the chicken + sides, chicken is pretty much the only meat I think they will all eat, I'll probably have to go with some form of that! @Phase2 I'll definitely look at the turkey for DTS2 as well as he enjoys turkey, something simple to carve like that would be good for him.

@Pineapplewaves we maybe eat out once a week at the moment at a local cheap & cheerful cafe, mainly because the DC have sports clubs which we can't get home to eat between the timings! I would love to go out for Christmas dinner - there's an Indian restaurant nearby which is doing a good deal - but can't really justify the cost, especially as DTS1 wouldn't eat anything we usually go to MIL's house for Christmas dinner as she actually enjoys doing dinner, but this year she's away having a well deserved break.

@Thatsinteresting if it was up to me I'd definitely eat pizza I will get some in just in case and some little treats too!

@beetr00 and @OldTinHat I'll hopefully get to book an Iceland delivery too, thank you for the tips

@ODFOx we don't have a specific budget, just trying to keep it sensible and not overspend so there's some left over for trips out, etc - we have Aldi, Tesco and Sainsburys locally, plus a small Asda and Iceland. I'm going further afield tomorrow to visit Lidl, such excitement!

@Bjorkdidit we're not at the point of using the food bank yet (I always donate what I can as I know there's people a lot worse off than us), but I've put an early morning trip on 23/12 in the diary, great idea.

@greengreyblue I love Christmas pudding, that is definitely on the shopping list!!

I always do chicken. Not British, so could have done my own country's food also but is quite specific, so don't do this. Also, double the potato portions.

Instead the sides, make it all into a sandwich. Pigs in blankets, some stuffing, and cranberry sauce between two slices of bread, it is very delicious.

Aldi bit cheaper than say Sainsbury's or Tesco

I agree with the poster whom mentioned Iceland, they deliver for free over £40 and good for frozen stuff - they often do money off codes too.

I got a frozen quorn 'roast' as veggie also, will see if I can find it. Iceland not so great for veggies etc but could get them elsewhere.

https://www.iceland.co.uk/p/quorn-roast-454g/18634.html

Out of stock but they might get more in? Or can buy elsewhere as well.

I’ve just seen this thread. I’m glad your DH has found work OP

Have you manage to organise meals now?