Do you leave everything to the last week and then buy 1/2 the supermarket content for the sake of the holidays..? Do you buy most of your Holidays food and drink in one store, and stand in enormous queues with loaded shopping trolleys..behind hundreds of others...or do you fill your freezers up over the previous weeks slowly adding an extra bit here or there that you might not ordinarily buy. Perhaps you don't shop for anything extra at all, and make everything from home..or not even make anything more special than normal. A friend of mine arrived at one of our largest supermarkets yesterday at 9am ..(parking for 4 thousand people)...and couldn't find a Space to park!!!! She said it was bedlam, hundreds of people with loaded trolleys..as if there was going to be a food drought for a year ..and this is 9am more than a week before Christmas Personally I buy a few little extras..and I don't go near the usual Huge Supermarket Chains at this time of year except for organic Milk..(oddly our Farm shop doesn't sell it)....and If i do need to go then I go late after work when it's quieter. On the way home last night I popped into the farm shop..there was only 6 people there...unlike the supermarkets and other stores and the roads which were mobbed...and I bought.. Venison steaks Veal steaks Calf liver Kangaroo Steaks Chicken, Wild Mushroom and Tarragon Pies Loads of fresh fruit and veggies Soda bread.. Salmon fillets Stilton and Camembert Cheeses Several different bars and packs of quality Dark chocolate.. There was no queues ...and it only added another half an hour to my commute home...fantastic!! No standing losing getting frustrated in a supermarket queue a mile long..That'll do for me....
I will be doing all of the shopping with my daughter next week. She is only working on Tuesday next week, so we will be running around as is the norm at her house. Saturday we are going to the mall in San Jose for last minute Christmas shopping...it will be a zoo. I'll probably sit down in Nordstrom's and get on their wireless and play on my iphone. We are leaving the house at 7:00 am. Then at 4:00 PM her Danish friend Hanne has invited us for appetizers, she is a great cook. Tomorrow I drive there and have a 12:30 PM hair appt for highlights, so I have to leave early in the morning. That's all I know so far.
I don't need much besides shrimp for Christmas Eve. No cooking for Christmas Day, as I will be a guest this year.
I am! I've never seen it in the states. Googled it and it does sound very healthy. Lean and low in Cholesterol. Tell us more about it...is it a special meal item or is it eaten regularly. How is it usually prepared?
Kangaroo steaks are fairly widely available. ..and yes they are very low in cholesterol and fat.. not a food that's eaten regularly by the majoirty of people as it's so expensive to buy usually and perceived to be a 'gourmet meal'...and often only available in high end shops or farm shops.. It's cooked in the same way as one would cook a good steak...or you could marinate and simmer in a red wine or cream sauce for a few minutes...it's inedible if it's been overcooked
Since several years ago my sister is who takes care of the Christmas family dinner and the one who does all the shopping for it. She buys most things with anticipation except fresh produce and meats/poultry/fish, depending on what she is going to serve. I still have an after-Christmas or before-Christmas personal celebration at home, and while I like to get my shopping list done at least one week ahead, many times I feel nostalgia for my childhood days going with my parents downtown, feeling the joy floating in the air and represented by the crowd in both streets and stores, besides the city illumination and street/store-displays decor. Today illumination is history because with the supposed energy-saving plan, there is no lighting at all in the city; and I say supposed because you can see light poles turning on anytime of day or night all year round. But well, back to Christmas, holiday season decor in streets is mainly limited to the downtown area, and scarce. The festive ambiance is now a mix of stress, rush and even anger when you see all those people coming back and forth. Only crowd at stores remain, as the Salvation Army collecting funds outside of some. Even though, this sole fact, recalling my childhood days, may move me to visit a crowded store (usually Walmart) and stay there standing for hours to pay for something that I may not need at all, but just seeking for past time memories and sensations.
this is the first time in fifty years that I haven't shopped and cooked the holiday dinners. I got out of having to go to someone else's Thanksgiving dinner, because I had to take my brother home after his knee surgery on that day. I was going to try to spend Christmas at the Va hospital, but a friend out thought me and said she and her family, (with little kids, and an 84 y/o aunt), could come and get me, and no excuses allow. So I gave up and promised I'd drive the 45 miles up there. I know when to give up, and she blackmailed me with the kids. So no Christmas food shopping for me this year, but I used to start my shopping weeks in advanced. It took it seemed like tons of food. We always did a turkey, ham, and beef brisket, and then all the trimming. I would have pipe dreams of leftover dinners, but I was doing good it I got a hash out of it.
No is my answer. I avoid Christmas shopping for food in supermarkets. With canned goods like fruit cocktail and ingredients for spaghetti (our traditional new year dish), we stock on it as early as November. Don't even think of going to the supermarket on December 24 because you will spend hours in the line for the cashier and the parking is a big problem. However, we were in the supermarket last December 31 to buy some fruits. We were fortunate that there was not so much of a crowd.