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

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Oven is booked in for a festive clean on the first. The fridge is cleaned out next day ready for the Christmas goodies

I add to our dinner sets just before christmas as the number around our table on Christmas day seem to grown each year, I also try to use up a lot of the freezer stuff well before Christmas so there is plenty of room for festive foods, and I love to decorate the kitchen with icicle lights at the window, a festive banner and christmas themed kitchen roll, salt and pepper pots and tea towels all playing a part

Clean it!
Clean the oven.
Restock the cupboards, fridge and freezer with food and drink!

I put my Christmas bunting up around the window and I give the kitchen a good clean!
I have my lovely Christmas Emma Bridgwater mugs and cake stand that come out each year
I always get something new for the kitchen when doing the massive chrmbo food shop

We're not organised enough to do anything much in advance to get ready, so it's a case of trying to take everything out of the fridge that will survive a few days at room temperature, and then squash everything else in.

I like the freezer empty so I can stock it with xmas food and nibbles in case we get extra guests.

I put on a christmas table cloth, Santa hat chair covers, ribbons around the cupboard doors so they look like presents and fairy lights in the window.

This is our first year with only one freezer, so we will have to be eating all the food in the freezer to make space for Christmas food too!

We start creating space in the cupboards and freezer by eating through the supplies, this leads to some inventive dinners!
Everything gets a clean before the big Xmas shop. Hopefully this is the last year in the current kitchen, so next year we should have space for decorations

We have a set of shelves that come in out of the garage to make more cupboard space as we tend to entertain a lot over the holidays but don't really have a booze cupboard for the rest of the year. Likewise nibbles and crackers etc. By 5th Jan they've all been eaten/drunk and the 'party shelves' can go back away.
Otherwise the kitchen is 'business as usual' with Christmas teatowels/hand towels just for fun. I've got a half lamb, a quarter pig and some game coming in early November so the freezer will have lots of meat long before Christmas. It will all be gone soon enough!
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1. Make a list of everything in the freezer and stick it onto the door (one year I realised after buying smoked salmon I already had 7!! packets of it in the freezer )

2. Make pommanders at the beginning of december (and vast amounts of mulled wine simmering constantly) so that even if I forget to take the brussel sprouts out of the steamer in time, the entire house doesn't smell like wet fart....

1. Make a list of everything in the freezer and stick it onto the door (one year I realised after buying smoked salmon I already had 7!! packets of it in the freezer )

2. Make pommanders at the beginning of december (and vast amounts of mulled wine simmering constantly) so that even if I forget to take the brussel sprouts out of the steamer in time, the entire house doesn't smell like wet fart....

oh god it double posted. I'm sorry!!

I use up freezer stuff to make room for Xmas food. Deep Clean the kitchen and pay someone to clean the oven!

We don't do a lot different for Christmas. We just buy the Christmas meal (a fairly easy to prepare one with frozen roast potatoes, vegetables, Turkey or Chicken breast rolls (much easier with the kids) and give the place a good clean and put a few decorations up. I don't go overboard on buying treat foods because the older kids tend to come in every few mins grazing and eat all the nice stuff (far more than their fair share) if I buy too much stuff in advance! So we buy smaller amounts more often over the Christmas season. A few years ago we got 2 tall fridge freezers delivered by you so these mean we have enough space for all the fresh fruit, vegetables, milk, bread, soft drinks, frozen food etc. which is always a big help over Christmas to have enough storage space.

Clean the ovens - it's an annual event in oct/ Nov.
Sort out the larder cupboard as it gets a bit chaotic over time
About now we start to run down the freezer so we can fill it up with winter stuff, I will also find a day when I can deep clean the fridge.
Order Christmas treats (whole Stilton, ham, etc) and work out where they are going to go when they get here
Sort out the fruit gins & brandies to be bottled for gifts.
Once it gets to December the dresser will have cards and fairy lights but otherwise the kitchen doesn't really get decorated.

To get my kitchen ready for Xmas I have a big clean up the oven needs a clean and fridge and all the side. Whilst doing this I will listen to Christmas songs and drink Bailey's whilst in my Xmas apron and rubber gloves. I will boil water with star anise and cinnamon so the whole house smells all Christmasy love it

There is the annual November freezer run down where we live out of the freezer for a fortnight. This can result in some strange concoctions by day 14.
The dog has his festive placemat with his waterbowl on.
Giant snowman fridge magnet gets stuck to the fridge.
I try and clear surfaces a bit and clean cupboards to make life a little easier.

Not much!
Clean it, buy lots of foil trays to cook with and bin, and empty a cupboard to store the Christmas calories in!

I usually run down stocks in the fridge and freezer to accommodate all the extra food and drink. Give everything a good deep clean before Christmas week, get out the festive tea towels and candles.

I run down the food in the fridge and freezer to make room for the turkey and trimmings. I also make sure we have plenty of tin foil!!

Clean the oven...

The last week of November we eat the most random combination of foods to empty the freezer. I also have the oven professionally cleaned that week ready for the big day.

We are thinking of buying an extra fridge/freezer for the garage so we can store more food (not just at Christmas but to batch cook all year round and for parties).

Use up freezer food then defrost then fill up with everything it's like the world is going to end! Cupboards all full new red festive tea towels, oven mitts Tec Santa sign in window. We wish you a Merry Christmas xx

After spending the last few years moving around i'm hoping to be in our new family home just in time for Christmas and I'm so excited! No idea how I will get the kitchen ready but will need all new appliances so will be looking forward to trying everything out. I'll probably make it festive with a little potted tree, candles and lots of fairy lights. Can't wait!