Share with AO.com how you get your kitchen prepared for Christmas! £300 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[EllieMumsnet]

Christmas can be a time to be with family, indulge in all your favourite foods, share gifts and have some well needed relaxation. However it can also be quite hectic, particularly within the kitchen all that food has to be stored and cooked somewhere! With that being said, AO want you to share how you get your kitchen ready for the Christmas period.

Here’s what AO have to say: “At AO we’ve got Christmas wrapped up, helping take the stress out of the festive season. We know that Christmas is more than the decorations and the presents, your home has to be ready too. Don’t risk a kitchen disaster when you're elbow deep in sprouts and cranberry sauce!

So deck your kitchen out with our fantastic deals. Think large capacity ovens and cookers for the BIGGEST turkey and all the trimmings, fridge freezers for stocking up on all those snacks and drinks and dishwashers to make that post-Christmas clean up a dream. You can even buy now and pay nothing for 12 months on selected appliances, so you can cook, toast and feast to your heart’s content.

When you shop with AO, you can rest assured we'll make it easy for you, with 1000s of appliances to choose from, delivered and installed in time for the big day. So you can concentrate on planning the best Christmas, ever!”

Do you decorate your kitchen to give it a Christmassy feel? Perhaps you have an ‘eat up everything in the fridge’ dinner to clear some space for the Christmas food? Maybe you buy extra kitchen utensils to ensure you’re not short of anything on the big day?

Whatever you do to get your kitchen prepared for Christmas, post it on the thread below and every MNer who posts will be entered into a prize draw, where one lucky winner will randomly selected to receive a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

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I bake and ice the christmas cake, make mince pies and do lots more baking so the kitchen smells lovely!

We have an extra fridge freezer in the garage that we only use at Christmas and for parties so the first job is to get that thoroughly cleaned and then load it up with goodies.

We make sure we eat up all the odds and sods from the freezer to make room, but from about October, we add something to our weekly shop every week, to ensure we have everything in time for Christmas and it hasn't felt like it has cost us an arm and a leg, buying it all in one go. So whether it's a jar of cranberry sauce, chutney, a box of biscuits, crackers for cheese, a box of biscuits etc, every week we put something in our trolley to help spread the cost.

I try and do a big clean out and tidy ready for Christmas goodies!

I can't say I do more than a deep clean before I start Xmas baking. I can't be arsed to decorate it!

My kitchen is cleaned to within an inch of its life for Christmas. Everything gets a declutter and most of the first week of December is spent eating odd combinations of things lying around. Space is tight so I couldn't cope without doing it. Then it's a string of lights round the window, and the Christmas fridge magnets on the metal noticeboard!

I have to scrub everything top to bottom and clear out all the cupboards!

get the festive towels, oven mitts and apron out

I clean the kitchen from top to bottom inside and out before Christmas, I also defrost the freezer and empty it ready for leftovers and for prep. I do a fair amount of baking over the holidays so me and my toddler do practise runs a few weeks before also. I always tend to need to buy something for the kitchen too, last year it was a huge big roasting tray as we had more guests than usual! I love a bit of Christmas and decorate the whole house, we have a red stag head that goes up on the wall in our kitchen and he gets decorated with fair lights, and lights all around the tops of the cabinets. Love Christmas!!

Booze gets stored in the garage. It's cold enough even for white out there. That frees up space in the fridge.

I cook biscuits with the children and light up the scented candles. Oh and the Christmas fridge magnets are put up.

We 'eat the freezer' as we need to make room for the frozen turkey :)

I usually put a poinsettia on my windowsill, swap my tea towel/oven gloves/apron for a red set, and since I have a kitchen/diner I also have my Christmas tree in the dining room part.

I'll also add some seasonal scented candles and stick the glittery shite lovely things my kids have made in previous years to the kitchen cupboard doors.

And I really want a chest freezer! Not really Christmassy but it will help me store vast quantities of food, which is what Christmas is all about after all . . .

In December we get out the Christmas mugs and plates and tea towels. Paper napkins are Christmas themed.

Have a tidy up and do a draft menu plan/plan recipes and if possible in November get a few things cooked and into the freezer.
Gradually stock up on some of the bits in the run up - things like wine, drinks, mixers, snacks, sauces etc.

Will give the kitchen and the oven a good clean a week before, so it's all ready, though I don't usually decorate it as such. The rest of the house is a riot though!

I need to paint the kitchen before Christmas after I had an accident with a hand whisk and some butter icing yesterday.

I put fairy lights up, and some little Christmas trinkets on the windowsill. Plus the ubiquitous poinsettia.

Make sure everything (including the oven) is completely clean and there’s no clutter on the surfaces. I like some fairy lights round the window and I have a tacky af special festive apron

Nothing!

Ponsettia on the window sill is a must, deep clean and eat everything! we have a very interesting buffet the night before the xmas shop is done! Freezer tapas! I like a nice cinnamon and apple candle in the kitchen too, and festive tea towels.

move shelves around to fit turkey in.
get the sausages in freezer.
we have a big box in the utility to put veg or things that don't need to be in the fridge but are 'kept away from hungry mouths' crackers.chocs etc.
decorate kitchen slightly.fairy lights along the wall.xmas cards on display on a wall hanger.the Christmas twit.table cloth.

Clean the fridge and get rid of any old jars, to make as much space available as possible.
Get out and wash any special dishes and glassware I'm planning to use.
Make sure I've got a good supply of napkins and tea towels ready.

The kitchen is quite small so I don't decorate it, though I often put up a jug of holly or Christmas greenery for Christmas week.

I defrost the freezer to ensure all the part food can fit in... clean out all the cupboards so all our biscuits and chocolate tubs can fit in. This year we will be buying a new oven as we have family round.
I decorate with a little tree and some fake snow on my window and windowsill ... woo I’m exited already!
But I prepare all my food stuff the night before ready for the big day.

This year I won't have a kitchen! It's being ripped out and replaced, appliances as well and the builder is running over. Forecasted start date 18th Dec!!!

Think of us with our micro Xmas meals and disposable plates this Xmas 🙄

I call on my lovely oven cleaning guy to give the cooker a professional clean. This only happens once a year

I have a blackboard which counts down to Xmas in the kitchen, I start the countdown as soon as the summer hols are over.

I might defrost the freezer soon, that's going to need doing.

I honestly don't do much - apart from tidying up, so I have as much space as possible, both on the surfaces and in the fridge/freezer.

I do buy disposable foil trays, to roast the goose and the roast potatoes and parsnips in - that way I don't have to wash up greasy roasting dishes, I can just bin them.

We already have two fridge freezers, so I generally have enough space for everything, but if I run out, I put things like veg, that don't need refrigeration, in a plastic crate outside the back door.

I do make use of the freezer, in the run up to Christmas - I prepare things like stuffing, chestnuts, stock etc, ahead of time, and freeze them, so I have less work to do on the actual day.

We eat up what we have in the fridge and freezer then use our garage fridge freezer to store Christmas food. I tend to have the kitchen fridge for Christmas Day and then the other one for Boxing Day. Wine and beer stored outside rather than use up valuable space.

We have a Christmas table cloth and napkins that we use over the Christmas period. Am also borrowing my daughters mini fridge from University so we have enough room for all the food.