Ready made Christmas food recommendations, please.

A couple of years I did the whole Christmas dinner from scratch. I was bloody knackered by time we sat down and my kitchen was unbelievable. Would i do it again? No way, I cut as many corners as possible now. M&S, Lidl & Aldi will be my go to shops this year.

Wiztend, you just reminded me of the time 29 years ago to be exact I’d just had my 3rd baby and asked my DH to get food for Christmas Day and he did the entire shop in M&S everything was pre-made I think I still have the receipt somewhere 😂😂

Aldi do some excellent Christmas products if you choose their Specially Selected range for a much more affordable price. They do a lovely round Christmas cake with no marzipan or icing which is very moist and lasts very well if stored in a cake tin. It’s the same as the more expensive version from M & S. Their mince pies are always excellent too and I wouldn’t be surprised if their Christmas puddings were just as good.

Gogo84

I have bought my entire Christmas Dinner from cook except the Pudding. They deliver and I have always found their meals the best in taste and variety.

You don't live near me, do you Gogo84? All I want is their nutroast but I would need to spend over £45 for delivery. Fair enough, but my local store is 40 miles away.

Aldi Florentine and their Specially selected boxes of chocolates they are exactly the same as Hotel Chocolate
groceries.aldi.co.uk/en-GB/p-specially-selected-dessert-selection-assorted-chocolates-180g/4061463228024

I have bought my entire Christmas Dinner from cook except the Pudding. They deliver and I have always found their meals the best in taste and variety.

escaped

The bubbles when you make it .....

Look amazing! I tried making a starter and feeding it , but my starter went off! One day I'll try again.

SueDonim

Thank you for all the replies! I’m laughing at the cracker confusion. 🤣🤣 I’ve just bought these crackers, which look nice. www.marksandspencer.com/8-christmas-crackers-red-and-gold-stars-design/p/hbp22592558#intid=pid_pg1pip10g4r3c4 I don’t think they’re made of sour dough.

I can shop at an Aldi and M&S which are located bang next door to each other so that’s very handy.

Donald Russell are near where we used to live so I’ve used them before. We also have local farm shops so I should go and browse there, too.

Several years ago, my son and his wife offered to bring cheese for a cheese board. I separately asked my daughter to bring some crackers. We were supplying and hosting the rest of the meal. My son brought enough cheese to feed an army. I said, where's the crackers [daughter]. She said, I gave you them when we came in and you put them on the Christmas table. Yes, she did. They were the pulling crackers. We made do with some oatcakes and digestives I had hanging around but we were eating the extra cheese until about February

Sadly only the golden oldies at our Christmas table like Christmas pudding now, so we always try to have someting different. Last year we had a white chocolate Christmas log from M&S but it was so sickly that most of it was thrown away. This year the grandchildren have ordered "special trifle" which we make from ratafia biscuits and cherries, using the juice from the tin for the jelly and one of those lovely creamy vanilla real custards from the supermarket. Not much trouble to make at all.
I wish there was a good chocolate log I could buy, but they're always so sickly. I'll probably make a chocolate swiss roll, pretty easy to make I can do it the day before using clotted cream and frozen berries. Chocolate butter cream will be liberally applied to cover up any cracks!
The Christmas desserts at Cook look good, but I'm not sure how sickly they are. Has anybody tried them?
www.cookfood.net/menu/christmas/desserts?srsltid=AfmBOop1NZcdUpKBM29sWUeJdw32Ed8HVWnUH3ekYgqz8BmKl5aQ9LNC

None of my lot like icing and only a couple of us like marzipan so a traditional cake is wasted on us. If you put "fruit covered Christmas cake" into Google you get loads of delicious looking offerings - including recipes.
We don't much like very rich fruit cake so I sometimes make what my mother used to call a boiled fruit cake, soaked fruit baked up into a less rich fruit cake, and top it with fruit and nuts before cooking. I've found it works best when baked as a slightly shallower cake rather than a traditional very deep cake. The fruit doesn't sink into this so much and (as it takes less time to cook) the fruit and nuts don't brown so much.

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Christmas pudding is excellent and full of whole fruit and nuts.

The Costco mince pies are the only ones I can enjoy.

Depends on preference. Iv found Lidl or similar had positive feedbacks so shows it's not always the price
In. A Nice dish nice sauce cream etc goes a long way

Thanks Aldom, I’ll get myself to Waitrose.

NotSpaghetti

Doodledog
I'm looking for crackers too.
Ideas welcome.

The eco-crackers bought last year were rubbish!

I used to make crackers for the family years ago - but I'm not going to do now we are 20 plus!

I nearly always buy pretty bog-standard crackers - most important thing being the appearance on the table - must look very Christmassy rather than ‘tasteful’.

To me half the fun of them is the daft tat you get inside - though will admit that a set of mini screwdrivers has come in useful. Now and then I’ve tried more ‘luxury’ crackers, only to find that it’s still largely useless tat that eventually ends up in the bin.

A dd who was working in Ethiopia at the time but home for Christmas, once raided the M&S post-Christmas sale for crackers to take back to Ethiopia for their Orthodox Christmas dinner on (IIRC) 6th January. Her team of locals had never seen such things before but they were a resounding success!

Waitrose do a good steak pie, (Waitrose own brand). I occasionally buy the individual pies as I no longer make my own. The meat is tender and full of flavour, also well filled. Excellent shortcrust pastry. There's a pie which serves three or four people.
Various steak, plus, whatever fillings.

Not strictly a Christmas food but can anyone recommend a good readymade steak and kidney pie? One of my dd’s favourite foods that we have sometime between Christmas and New Year as a tre at. I’m not up to
making my own this year.

Allira

There's an Aldi about 6 of 7 miles away but it's quite small.
Another one about 20 miles away, might be worth a trip.

Are they better than Lidl's offerings? We do have a Lidl not far away (and Waitrose).

We have a Lidl in walking distance and an Aldi a drive away.

They each have good things IME. Lidl has its own bakery, which is excellent. Aldi just has wrapped items. I think the fruit and veg are about the same. Our Lidl is much smaller than the 'local' Aldi, but I don't know if that would always hold true - I live in a small town. Aldi stollen is much drier than the Lidl stollen bites, which are delicious, and Aldi Christmas puddings are fab.

After that, I don't really know. I get the Christmas things and sometimes call into Lidl if I'm passing and need something, but I don't use either for a main shop. I think the 'Isle of Dreams' stuff (the things you didn't know you wanted) is much of a muchness.

Oh, and Lidl don't do the cosmetic dupes that Aldi sell. I love their fake Laura Mercier honey bath foam and the Rose face serum. The dupe Jo Malone reed diffusers aren't bad either.

Here's another option for anyone who wants an easy way to make Christmas Crackers themselves...

shop.shelter.org.uk/products/fill-your-own-christmas-crackers-christmas-trees

Thank you for cracker 💥 suggestions.

Notspaghetti I put this on Doodledog’s post.

www.marksandspencer.com/8-christmas-crackers-red-and-gold-stars-design/p/hbp22592558?extid=af_Sub+Networks_Skimlinks_-_-_-_-_AWIN-ms_-_-_-_78888_&sv_campaign_id=78888&sv_tax1=affiliate&sv_tax2=793456%7C793458&sv_tax3=Skimlinks&sv_tax4=gransnet.com&sv_affiliate_id=78888&awc=1402_1731884894_58e9d0a0896ce21d5bb2755acad3af65

Sorry for the long url.

I find the marzippanning the most difficult part. I can’t roll it evenly and whether egg white or apricot jam I can’t get it to stick to the sides of the cake. Agree re preferring royal icing, roughed up on top into a snow scene. If I could buy a marzipanned cake ready to ice I prob would, and drip feed the brandy through the marzipan.

escaped

The bubbles when you make it .....

Sorry, my humour!!

Doodledog
I'm looking for crackers too.
Ideas welcome.

The eco-crackers bought last year were rubbish!

I used to make crackers for the family years ago - but I'm not going to do now we are 20 plus!

The bubbles when you make it .....