In January each year I buy Christmas cake and Christmas Puddings. These can be up to 75% off and I have been known to buy expensive Christmas cake for as little as £2. They usually have a best before date of around 6 months or so meaning that they need to be used by the summer at the latest but I have found that because of the high sugar and alcohol content that they last a lot longer and are fine to eat for the following Christmas. I usually buy around 3 to 4 puddings and a few cakes. I don't always save the cakes for Christmas as after all they are fruit cake and can be eaten at any time of the year and at the price I pay are cheaper than a normal fruit cake. The Christmas puddings can be left as they are or turned into Christmas ice cream or cake pops.
I sometimes buy a turkey in the sale too as these do last a full year in the freezer. I double wrap it in plastic and put it at the bottom of my chest freezer. They can be half price or a lot less and before now I have bought 3 or 4 to freeze. One year Marks & Spencer were selling ready stuffed turkey crowns and three bird turkey crowns at £8 each instead of £30+ so I bought 3. I would have bought more but my freezers were nearly full so I now make sure my freezers have space for January sale bargains.
One of my favourite starters on Christmas Day and Boxing Day (I cook two Christmas dinners on both days for extended family) is Coquille St Jacques. I love these and particularly the ones you can buy fresh in a pack of two rather than the smaller ones that are ready frozen and in a box of four. If I see these reduced over the autumn period I buy them and freeze them. I usually end up with around 6 to 8 of them for the two days.
Not everyone likes scallops so I also serve two other starters as a choice or change them on the two days. I serve thin slices of smoked salmon, pieces of hot smoked salmon with prawns, avocado and salad. Again these can be easily bought reduced and frozen. I also serve soup, sometimes home made and sometimes bought in. My favourites are broccoli and stilton or something a little spicier such as spicy parsnip or sweet potato or butternut squash. I have served soup as well as a starter, but I have served the soup in teacups so that we don't get too full.
The smoked salmon in particular freezes really well and I also use this as one of my appetisers. I serve belinis with sour cream or sour cream and chive dip with smoked salmon and some chopped dill. I buy ready made mini belinis if I see these reduced or on offer and freeze these too although they are fairly cheap to buy anyway. The supermarkets often have ready prepared buffet food available at this time of year so I usually see what is available on the reduced counters and buy what I think would be tasty as another choice with the belinis. Hot breaded Camembert or Camembert wrapped in filo pastry is delicious especially when served with a few drops of cranberry sauce.
For dessert we have the Christmas pudding but I also offer another cold dessert and I have already bought an apricot tart which I bought for £1.50 instead of £5 this past week. I will offer fresh cream or ice cream to go with the tart. I make my own ice cream and although it is easy to make when you have an ice cream maker I have found a simple way through using Angel Delight ice cream mix. I don't know whether you can still buy it or not these days. I tried some once and thought it was great so decided to buy some more only to find it had been put on the clearance shelf at less than half price. I cleared them out and bought chocolate, vanilla and strawberry and add anything that I can find from my pantry that I think will taste scrummy such as chocolate chips, mini merengue pieces, chopped dried apricots etc.
A few of the supermarkets have had offers on wine in the last two weeks. Both Tesco and Sainsburys have had an offer of 25% off wine if you but 4 or 6 bottles. I have looked at the half price or reduced champagne and bought a couple of bottles with the extra 25% off to have for our celebrations. I found some Nicholas Feuillatte champagne at Tesco half price from £32 to £16 with 25% off making it £12 a bottle which I thought was a bargain. There were only three bottles left on the shelf so I took them all. I also found some Antoine de Clevecy champagne at Sainsburys reduced from £18 to £14 with 25% off making it £10.50 a bottle. I know they are not the best champagnes in the world but when we have a lot of family round it is great to have a few bottles between us all and we can't tell whether it is Bollinger or not after a couple of glasses. To be honest, I love Tattinger but we save this for just the two of us on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve as this can be quite pricey.
One of my favourite starters on Christmas Day and Boxing Day (I cook two Christmas dinners on both days for extended family) is Coquille St Jacques. I love these and particularly the ones you can buy fresh in a pack of two rather than the smaller ones that are ready frozen and in a box of four. If I see these reduced over the autumn period I buy them and freeze them. I usually end up with around 6 to 8 of them for the two days.
Not everyone likes scallops so I also serve two other starters as a choice or change them on the two days. I serve thin slices of smoked salmon, pieces of hot smoked salmon with prawns, avocado and salad. Again these can be easily bought reduced and frozen. I also serve soup, sometimes home made and sometimes bought in. My favourites are broccoli and stilton or something a little spicier such as spicy parsnip or sweet potato or butternut squash. I have served soup as well as a starter, but I have served the soup in teacups so that we don't get too full.
The smoked salmon in particular freezes really well and I also use this as one of my appetisers. I serve belinis with sour cream or sour cream and chive dip with smoked salmon and some chopped dill. I buy ready made mini belinis if I see these reduced or on offer and freeze these too although they are fairly cheap to buy anyway. The supermarkets often have ready prepared buffet food available at this time of year so I usually see what is available on the reduced counters and buy what I think would be tasty as another choice with the belinis. Hot breaded Camembert or Camembert wrapped in filo pastry is delicious especially when served with a few drops of cranberry sauce.
For dessert we have the Christmas pudding but I also offer another cold dessert and I have already bought an apricot tart which I bought for £1.50 instead of £5 this past week. I will offer fresh cream or ice cream to go with the tart. I make my own ice cream and although it is easy to make when you have an ice cream maker I have found a simple way through using Angel Delight ice cream mix. I don't know whether you can still buy it or not these days. I tried some once and thought it was great so decided to buy some more only to find it had been put on the clearance shelf at less than half price. I cleared them out and bought chocolate, vanilla and strawberry and add anything that I can find from my pantry that I think will taste scrummy such as chocolate chips, mini merengue pieces, chopped dried apricots etc.
A few of the supermarkets have had offers on wine in the last two weeks. Both Tesco and Sainsburys have had an offer of 25% off wine if you but 4 or 6 bottles. I have looked at the half price or reduced champagne and bought a couple of bottles with the extra 25% off to have for our celebrations. I found some Nicholas Feuillatte champagne at Tesco half price from £32 to £16 with 25% off making it £12 a bottle which I thought was a bargain. There were only three bottles left on the shelf so I took them all. I also found some Antoine de Clevecy champagne at Sainsburys reduced from £18 to £14 with 25% off making it £10.50 a bottle. I know they are not the best champagnes in the world but when we have a lot of family round it is great to have a few bottles between us all and we can't tell whether it is Bollinger or not after a couple of glasses. To be honest, I love Tattinger but we save this for just the two of us on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve as this can be quite pricey.
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