"meal treats" in short supply?

Sarah, I think that’s what is implied. However I don’t care if they’re in short supply or not, but I would miss my Brussels sprouts
Anyway, as we’ve now got an extension or flextention, or whatever it’s called, I assume the shops will be stuffed full of pigs in blankets and all other festive foods. I wasn’t really convinced by the arguments of shortages anyway.
Or is there a shortage of pigs?

I make my own pigs in blankets as I get about 40 for the price of a ready made pack of 10 or 12. We love our pigs in this house!

I think the suggested shortage of pigs in blankets (Wwhen did they start being called that? They just used to be sausages in bacon.) is down to lack of workers.

In this house, doing the PiB has always been the children's job on Christmas Eve! Free labour, even if the end results weren't that pretty.

On other convenience food, one of my daughters was entranced when she went on a sleepover and for breakfast they had pancakes made out of the contents of a plastic bottle. 'All you to do, mum, is add some milk and then you cook the mixture!'

The other thing which baffles me is crumble mix, to which you just add butter.

Personally I can't understand why seasonal workers comes into this. Presumably these pigs in blankets are put together in factories where people work doing other such boring jobs to make our Christmas less busy, so what are these people doing when seasonal workers are bought in? And why are they anyway? What do the factory workers do when the 'seasonal workers' are putting pigs in blankets together? A bit more scaremongering by the BBC if you ask me. I've never heard anything so ridiculous. Of course it's all down to Brexit isn't it? At least that's what they want us to believe.

This is hilarious. I wonder if the snowflakes ask themselves how the holes get put in the sourdough and the avocados peel themselves and get mashed.

Im glad my daughter has it easier ( domestically) than me ...as I had it easier than my mum....and she had it easier than her mum. Need I go on, or are we all to think each generation gets lazier. My daughter does a four day week of 9 hour days...then she does her second job where she has to rush of thursday evening to different parts of the country to lecture Friday/Saturday to teachers/head teachers . Then she comes back Sunday to do washing/cleaning /bed changing/hoovering before falling into bed to start all over again in the Monday! Don’t tell me that’s lazy. Just doing pointless domestic chores , which really DONT need doing every day is martyrdom!! Thank goodness we’ve moved on from that crap of stuffing mushrooms !! We need strong working women NOT domestic goddesses!!

Did anyone else feel desperately sad last week at the sight of apples being left to rot in orchards because there are no workers willing to do the job?

I'm not sure what exactly we're going to 'take back control of' but if we can't grow and harvest our own very basic food then the future looks even more grim than I'd imagined.

I make everything myself. Not only is it far cheaper and less plastic waste but my children get involved too so I pass the skills on to the next generation. Crumble, pastry, pigs in blankets, better mix- nothing comes out of a packet pre-prepared. It's lazy!
Christmas day despite my disabilities I do the lot. Including two huge trays of pigs in blankets around 100, there's 7 of us and by the end of the day, there's none left. Three courses made from scratch.

Talking of laziness, I am the real lazy icon - I don't cook xmas dinner at all. Too lazy to even go out for it. Basically we just eat the various mince pies, christmas cake and sweets we've bought.

I had three children under 3, DH worked away a lot and his schedule could not be planned. I managed to make pigs in blankets, stuffing, mincemeat pies, Christmas pudding, cake and did the same when out at work. Really there is too much allowed in the name of busy parents. If they actually stopped spending so much time on mobile phones and computers the could have hundreds of pigs in blankets made!

Ah, Flexiblefriend, our generation were taught basic cookery and housekeeping skills by the women who brought us up. I think of a great-aunt every time I hang washing out, as she taught me that woollies went in the shade and white washing in the sun. My mother taught me to cook and bake and my paternal grandmother to be organized.

And that is the nub of the matter. Today's busy families (who as you said, are no busier than we were) have a tendency to do everything at once instead of one thing at a time, which is never a good idea.

Count yourself lucky.
Many families and single people are living in poverty and will be relying on whatever food banks can offer them.
Sleeping on streets doesn't give you access to a Christmas dinner either.
A shortage of treats? Don't make me laugh.

Pigs in blankets was just an example. Why so many of you got huffy about people not making their own is beyond me! The point is that migrant European workers are going home in droves. The fallen value of the pound is one reason but the uncertainty over whether they will be allowed/welcome to stay is a massive consideration and many are either leaving for other nations or not bothering with the potential hassle of coming here for seasonal work. Brexit has a lot to answer for.

Snowflakes?? Why?

What I call pigs in blankets are from an Evening Standard recipe in the early 70s.
Make a slit lengthwise in pork sausages put some mustard (your choice) and a strip of chedddar cheese inside. Then pull the edges together to reseal and wrap a slice of streaky bacon around the outside. Bake in the oven. They also make a great cheap roast dinner if you add roast potatoes, veggies and gravy.

I have already bought mine (pigs in blankets). I have been known to use them as a snack (often out of necessity). Yes, I could make them quite easily for Christmas, but I would have far more than I could easily use up in those two or three days. As the children and grandchildren are quite grown up - we are waiting for the next generation, and we don't get too many visitors!

I first remember pigs in blankets in the early 2000s when my son and his wife came to stay over Christmas.
A welcome addition to the day. They are tasty and as I said the children make them.

I saw an expensive box of pancake mix for sale.
Just add milk and eggs!!

I hardly dare post this.. I'm a frozen Yorkshire pud fan. My oven just can't cope with a roast joint, potatoes and Yorkshires. The frozen ones sit on top of the cooked potatoes and just need warming up.

This is hilarious. I wonder if the snowflakes ask themselves how the holes get put in the sourdough and the avocados peel themselves and get mashed.

Gosh, Did you mean to sound so condescending of the generation that your generation parented?

Does no one wonder why adults are the way they are today? Perhaps because their parents raised them that way? Stop blaming the younger generation and look in a mirror. Good lord

I do those stupid pigs in blankets every year by hand cos I want to use free range products from butcher. They are a pain to do. Get eaten like locust invasion. Then last year saw M&S do free range version. Too late for me by then. Assuming they won’t have them this year. So I’m back to the wrapping....

I really don't like pigs in blankets

Do (some) older people really feel so insecure that they have to sing their own praise of their cookery skills while putting down the younger generations. There will be good cooks, convenience cooks, trained cooks, poor cooks and those for whom it just doesn't matter in every generation.

Well said GracesGran!

I stare in wonder at ready made mashed potato, pancake mix, and jacket potatoes, but my real favourite is instant poridge. You have to add milk and put it in the microwave. I make a real effort; I make mine from scratch by adding milk and putting it in the microwave.