Thrifty Thursday: Christmas Countdown 6 days

The super six at Aldi today are clementines (600g), Brussels sprouts (750g), Maris Piper potatoes (1.5Kg), parsnips (750g), carrots (1.5Kg) and lemons (5). They are all 69p. That offer lasts until the end of the month with new offers beginning on the 2nd of January. That’s the same as last week.

The special buys today, include the fresh turkeys and other food for Christmas. There are also traditional Christmas gifts like hankies, slippers and socks. I bought some suede moccasin style slippers yesterday for 8.99. I like them! I’m trying to avoid the crowds and most of my guests will spend Christmas with their children and grandchildren and come to my home just after Christmas. I can pick up a few bargains next Friday for my guests. I did buy chocolate liqueurs yesterday, but they disappeared before I got to the checkout. I hope they are on special offer next week!

There are a few special buys worth checking on on Saturday this week, including the Indonesian tiger prawns. Prawns are good with salad because after all the rich food, you need something light.

On Sunday there are more special buys to choose from including a granite worktop saver. I keep wondering whether to have a worktop saver. That one would be suitable for my kitchen…

Aldi’s Christmas opening hours

People searching for information find this blog by searching for Aldi’s opening hours at Christmas. So just for those of you who don’t know Aldi’s opening hours yet, they are in fact opening longer now. They are closing at 6pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. They will be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, so stock up a bit for Christmas! They are also closed on New Year’s Day because it’s a Bank Holiday. The good news is they are open until 10pm all this week (not Sunday that will still be 4pm). Your local store could be different and so check their website.

Don’t forget…

There are things that people forget to buy at Christmas, so check you have things like toilet roll, soap, shower gel and things for the bathroom. The same applies to the kitchen. You don’t want to run out of washing up liquid over Christmas.

Gourmet Christmas

There are lots of things you can do to make Christmas special without spending a fortune. If you have a lot of guests, you can make a fizzy punch quite cheaply. Wine with different fruit and lemonade to give it some fizz, then just add ice cubes to chill it. Salad is quite cheap and you can do a mixed salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions, etc. I’ll serve my salad with ham, a selection of cheese, bread rolls, crisps, a prawn ring, chicken drumsticks and they might even get a slice of Christmas cake. I don’t serve turkey or mince pies, they want something lighter after all the heavy Christmas fare by the time they end up at my house. You can make it more interesting by doing something unusual. I’ll serve chips in a basket too!

Think about people who might be vegan or vegetarian and those who will want alcohol free drinks because they either don’t drink or because they’re driving. You might want to buy some foods for people with allergies or who come from a different culture. A selection of simple foods and a choice of drinks, both alcoholic and on alcoholic seems to work well.

Some traditional foods at Christmas includes tangerines, nuts and dates. I buy nuts for the squirrel that visits my garden and people keep wanting to eat them! I’ll save some so she doesn’t starve through Christmas.

Think about people less fortunate at Christmas. I found out yesterday that a local church is running a soup kitchen a stones throw from where people are spending money like no tomorrow in Asda, so they can gorge themselves at Christmas. I stopped to donate some money to the Rotary Club that is helping to fund the soup kitchen. You might be able to donate some seasonal food to your local food bank and make someone’s Christmas a little happier.

I shall keep writing all through Christmas and so keep visiting. I might even cracker the odd joke…

You can comment if you want or follow me on Twitter.

Advertisement