Well the big day is getting nearer so I thought we should have a thread with tips, ideas or anything to do with Christmas.
The DinnerMy daughter a few years ago instead of cooking a turkey bought some ready cooked turkey from the deli counter at her supermarket. I mean the proper turkey, not the plastic stuff that they slice. It's the one that they hand carve. She bought a biggish piece and it was sliced up for dinner. It was just the same as cooking a turkey herself, but without all the hassle.
We have started buying frozen honey glazed roast parsnips from Aldi, they are really nice.
We also have frozen mashed potatoes from Morrison, we like them the best, no peeling, heavy pans to lift and drain and no mashing the spuds. Just put them in a bowl and whizz them around in the microwave. We also sometimes have their simply the best frozen roast potatoes, they are nice.
I never use to like frozen veg (apart from peas), never thought that they tasted the same as fresh, but I have now changed my mind, we always use frozen veg now.
When I did use fresh produce I always prepared it on Christmas eve, potatoes where left in water overnight and veg once prepared was put in the fridge in plastic bags. This meant that I spent more time with family on Christmas Day and time doing dinner was cut to a minimum.
We now use disposable foil trays for cooking roast potatoes, parsnips etc in. (have to be placed on a tray) Normally get them from the pound shops. Saves having to scrub trays after dinner, just throw them away. If the budget is big enough and you put cooked dinner out in serving dishes use foil trays/containers for that, again saving on washing up afterwards. I always put a red paper table cloth down, decorated around the edges with silver tinsel and then the silver trays on the table, all looking festive.
Better still.....................get yourself invited to someones house for the big day and let them do it all.....well we are ill aren't we even though we don't look it.
I have what I call my Christmas book. In it is my card list, addresses and most importantly my master shopping list, with anything and everything I need for the big day. I refer to it every year.
I've also put in it weight of turkey and how many it fed and what was left over, this then is a guide of what weight to buy without guessing.
I also leave myself messages in it for the following year. How much wrapping paper, cards, crackers are left and where in the loft they have been placed. This works if my husband leaves them where they where put and doesn't tidy up the loft during the following year.
I always like my Christmas tree to look full and when my girls were younger I would buy the bags with the mini bars of mars bars, kit kats etc and wrap them up in nice paper, put some ribbon on them and hang them on the tree to look like little presents. They then would have one everyday, when I use to take the decorations down after Christmas I would find a few hiding, my guilty pleasure.
I think that's me done for the time being.
Anyone else with any tips for the big day, do post and share.
Lets see if this thread will be active until Christmas.
Paula x
