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

[Doubtfuldaphne]

I put a few decorations up in there but could probably make it look a bit more festive. I love collecting mistletoe and holly from the woods near our house to hang up and add some fairy lights. I also make sure the oven has a good clean before the big day. It's a pretty boring job to do but I do feel satisfied afterwards. I'm easily pleased!

[NoImNotSpecial]

Xmas cards blu tacked onto the two glass kitchen doors. Tinsel round dog's bed (it's okay, she ignores rather than eats it). Various failed experiments of drying fruit such as slices of lemons, oranges and pomegranates lying discarded in corners. Makes the kitchen smell lovely though!

[arat]

Can't cope with decorating the kitchen!
But we do try and empty the freezer as far as we can and have a big sort out of the cupboard under the stairs to clear out the various out-of-date food items etc

[NoStraightEdges]

We eat all the cupboard food to make room for the Christmas food.

And clean it!

[theresamustgo]

Got to get a new stove this year. Also I burn German incense in a little metal house - it smells of cinammon or baked apples or roasted almonds to really get in the mood.

[sharond101]

I pre cook as much of Christmas dinner as possible and freeze it so an empty freezer is essential. I am moving house 2 weeks before Christmas this year and doing Christmas dinner for 10 so good luck to me I'd say!

[nemno]

Just before last Christmas we started using our newly constructed kitchen. It is designed to make cooking and entertaining large numbers of people a pleasure for everyone. The oven was chosen to accommodate a giant turkey, the microwave doubles as a third oven, the warming drawer gives somewhere to heat the serving dishes and plates and afterwards the 2 dishwashers make cleearing that much easier. I moved my old freezer and fridge into the adjoining garage to be turned on in December. The table seats 12 and the fireplace makes the sofa area cosy. It will all be fully decorated for Christmas including 6ft real tree. I love Christmas and large family gatherings.

[Theimpossiblegirl]

Half term is next week and we are buying very little food so we can run down the cupboards and the fridge freezer to make room for early Christmas bargains.

We will also be making the Christmas cake and the sloe gin has been on the go for a few weeks.

[TeenTimesTwo]

Clear all surfaces and clean.

No decoration - too stressful.

By extra strength tin foil.

That's it I think.

[TefalTester123]

I use the pyrolytic cleaning function on my ovens in about mid Dec. Had them about 7 years or so and the extra expense has definitely been paid off in not having to have someone in to clean them.

Also am studying German, so have been working my way round different German cakes/biscuits eg Pfeffernusse, Vanillekipferl, Lebkuchen, Stollen. Need to find a new one for this year.

Often make Delia’s Chocolate Truffle Torte or Nigella’s Clementine Cake, as kids not big on Christmas cake.

[CheeseEMouse]

Clean up. Dig out christmas crockery. Run the freezer down a bit!

[freefan]

I really keep the kitchen decorations to the table, the table cloth and centre piece with maybe some tinsel around the door, the rest of the house meanwhile gets the glitter effect :)

[ButterflyOfFreedom]

Definitely empty the fridge & freezer, defrost & thoroughly clean!
Oven also gets a thorough clean (which is rare!!!)
We'll don't decorate it though as the rule is that everyone apart from me (chef!) must stay out of the kitchen when I'm cooking!

[beckyinman]

We have decorations up in the kitchen - and even a Rudolph that hangs on the fridge with a rotating nose that says naughty or nice. We also have some big Christmassy themed bowls and pitchers for food and drinks

[meepmoop79]

generally we buy a frozen turkey, which means we need to create space in our freezer to fit in. Which in turn means sometimes eating some unusual food combinations!

[foxessocks]

I don't think I do anything but now I feel like I should!!

[sbruin1122]

tinsel everywehre!

[alsproject]

we empty our fridge out and have weird combinations of food on the run up to Christmas so we have space for all the Christmas food

[thesockgap]

Definitely don't decorate the kitchen as it's too small and poky, so nowhere to put decorations! I suppose my only concessions are, clean the kitchen and particularly the cooker, and spend the 2-3 weeks beforehand trying to empty out the fridge and freezer so that they can take all the stuff bought in the "big shop" ;)

[YoumeandlittleP]

We generally try and work out how we're going to fit the Christmas dinner in the oven to be ready at the same time, as there's usually so much food!

We start baking and preparing a week before and freeze quite a lot of the snack foods which has been possible since we got our American style fridge freezer.

This year I intend on baking with my daughter as she's at the right age to make a massive mess and we'll both enjoy it.

[Catmadroo]

I don't do anything, I think I have a Christmas fridge magnet but that's it

[Byrdie]

Our fridge is so teeny tiny that we have to use the "Christmas fridge"! Which means getting the fridge in the garage up and ready to take the bulk of the Christmas food. If it's raining it's such a pain but there is absolutely no room in our kitchen for a bigger fridge.

[honeyandginger48]

I use the garage (which is freezing cold in winter) to store vegetables, drinks etc which frees up the fridge for the lakes of cream and mountains of cheese.... The freezer is usually packed with ice cubes for gin and tonic!

[babba2014]

The kitchen needs to be the cleanest place otherwise it becomes stressful and everything is a havoc.
The first step is cleaning up everything. Then the day before is used to bake and get food prepared. Of course this means a complete clean over again! But it must be done for a clear mind.
The night is spent getting everything in order and put away so we wake up in the morning with a clean home. It makes us all feel fresh and up for the day.

We put up a table and lay out all the sweet and savoury treats, add some bunting and then wait for everyone to join us.

[lhlee62]

My husband cleans the oven, we used to decorate the kitchen window as it looked out on to the street, but now we just decorate the living room. I will be eating out the fridge as we are doing dinner for 10 so we need the room