No more Sunday roasts until Christmas!

NanaNancy I think you may find that there are other threads where gransnetters post links to charities they support to help the needy, whether they are physically able to help themselves or just to support with money or goods.

I doubt there are many people on here who are able to feed themselves without too much worry who do not put donations into the baskets for the food banks, even if they could not afford to give much.

Gransnetters are a good lot.

Oh what a difficulty to face? OK Grannies where is our grace? There are so many that would be head of heals happy just to have a dinner. I provide thousands of years in service to elderly low income "seniors"; and they celebrate the fact that they receive the "old" unsold goods from bakeries, so that when we cook their Christmas dinner with ham and many other items they are truly appreciative and so we continue to learn from our elders. Be happy you have.

Forgotten what a Sunday roast is haven’t had one for years and years if you are on your own there’s little point, so Sunday Monday Tuesday .... all the same really jacket potato or a curry or stir fry
I m looking forward to my Christmas dinner

It’s sounds lovely Jan,

Hee , hee, Chewbacca! Yes, freezers defrosted , oven cleaned, and stuff sorted and discarded! No more big roasts until THE DAY! That’s what I start out saying. BUT, our two lovely grandchildren are now teenagers and take a lot of filling! Every week , at least once, they come for dinner and because we are now in a 2 bed bungalow as opposed to a 4 bed detached, they have to take turns to sleep over. However, who stays over gets to choose what we eat on the night! They let me know a couple of days in advance.
Yes, I know lots of you will be saying, ‘why are they choosing, your home, your choice ‘ , but this is all part of the fun of having grandchildren! And it is fun, loosen up , and realise you won’t have them forever! Sometimes it’s chicken in a sauce with a couple of hundredweight of roasties, plus the same weight of veg!! Or fish, or roast pork loin, or a pasta dish, or Jambalaya, or just fish fingers with some sort of potatoes and veg! (And ketchup!) I could just sit at the table with a glass of wine, no food, but just loving the buzz that they bring! My husband, their Grampa, has Vascular Dementia, but they are very aware of this and keep him very much in ‘the loop’, and we have so much fun.
Enjoy. XX. (Sorry, I have burbled on, but family time with,or without food , is just the best!). And , YES, I realise how lucky I am.

My son is a vegan and his Christmas dinner is roast giant portobello mushrooms with an onion and sage stuffing, brussel sprouts and roast potatoes. The rest of us get a turkey roast with exactly the same trimmings, all done using vegan margarine. Bisto onion gravy has no animal additives, so we all have that. A starter of beetroot and goat´s cheese salad (tofu in the vegan option) and lemon sorbet and fruit for pudding. Everyone´s happy and minimum of work for me. Took a few years to figure that one out though.

When I first got married Mum was horrified that I wasn't cooking a roast every Sunday.

Same as you Feeling.
Good idea Floor!
Don’t knock it Inish I’d love it if somebody (anybody!) cooked Christmas dinner ...

We had a ham yesterday, as it would have been out of date in a couple of days. I bought it just before DH very unexpectedly ended up in hospital for a couple weeks . He came out on Friday and it's his favourite roast, so I treated him! Love a Sunday roast, always do one.

OH would have a roast everyday if he could. He does often cook the roast and it's super, but the kitchen afterwards!! I am happy top go along with roasts every week or even more often, and I can't wait for Christmas Day as turkey is an absolute fav.

I don't often cook roasts anyway as we need to eat fairly soft food now. We both have fewer teeth now.
I remember one year at work, having fish and chips in the hospital canteen on boxing day and it was absolutely delicious after all the Christmas stuff.

Mine will be bbq this Christmas as I’ll be in Australia so I’ll have good old roast weekend before I fly.

Christmas day roast for me as a child was more than just special it was bl***y unique
It was the only day the family got to eat a roast on time, unlike our usual sunday roasts when we had to wait for father to get home from the pub, as our local closed on Christmas day.

Love a roast, even a Christmas one is a roast just xtra trimmings. Still have one on a Sunday if we are home or even one in the week.

OH and I love roast so we still have it most Sundays. Not a large joint though and sometimes chops so no leftovers. Can't do without the roast potato fix.

Yes, it is a great way of making the Christmas dinner special. We eat especially lightly before Christmas too: soup, salad and smoked salmon, for example.

We are having leftover fish fingers from the freezer tonight to make way for the Christmas delights. That will help too.

I cut back on roasts to only have 1 or 2 in early December before Christmas. Instead I also tend to do more stew, casseroles, shepherd's pie and lasagne. My lot eat most things so all good.

inishowen keep us posted on recommendations

or we could always pop round to yours and test for ourselves

My husband does the cooking at christmas and is forever trying to find the best turkey and ham. Therefore he buys a few trial ones leading up to Christmas. Yesterday we had Iceland ham for dinner (really nice) and two weeks ago we had a Lidl turkey (again very good). I wish he wouldn't do this as by the time the big days comes I'm tired of turkey and ham.

We went out for a Carvery lunch yesterday as I was feeling lazy but I do more or less the same- no roasts until Xmas its all paella, lasagne , curry, shepherds pie for us on Sundays.

We are having salmon for Christmas lunch and a Christmas dinner when some of the family come over on Friday. Son says he doesn’t mind how many Christmas dinners he has as long as he has Christmas pudding after.

Can't afford to have the oven on that long with no really good reason, so when I do a roast chicken, I actually cook three of them and freeze portions of chicken & gravy for a later date.

On the subject of the thread, December is using up what is in the freezer and cupboards. No roasts till the 25th.

Ann, just retread my muddled post. What I was trying to say was that removing the pressure to use cutlery seemed to take away some strain from Mum and she felt independent eating finger food. Dry food she could lift. Once I realised she had forgotten that she didn't like certain things the menu opened up in a different way. We also ate little and often. I think I sometimes just was hiding in the kitchen but do what you have to to get through the day.

Hello Annsixty, I am sad for you both with the cloud of Alzeimers hanging over you but hope that sometimes there are still moments of laughter. My mum's eating habits changed completely and sometimes I was completely confused(!) as she like things she hated and vice versa. One constant like was oven chips - she seemed to lose her sweet tooth. But certainly I found that finger food was the way to go and once I stopped expecting her to manage a soup spoon or knife and fork, mealtimes became easier. I just dished very small amounts if she wanted seconds she got them. I learned to live with different table manners and a little waste. Chips, small pieces of chicken, even fish or chicken dippers (ugh) potato croquettes, roasted veg that she could pick up, went down well - she always seemed in a sunnier (relatively) mood if she was happy with what she ate. Being helped to eat was a Nono so I had to adapt . Hope that helps a little. Thinking about you.