The hunt

Yesterday was our last big shop day before Christmas. As a result there was much to find, things we don’t buy on a weekly basis so involve a good look around the shop.

We started early on with a 12.5kg bag of potatoes – we like our spuds you can tell. We progress through the fruit & veg, trying to avoid distracted shoppers & screaming kids. By the time we’d got some sprouts we were already so distracted we forgot to pick up the carrots & new potatoes.

On we go, first to bread & drinks. The Fox is flagging. His hip is playing up. It’s the sheer weight of the trolley that’s provoking it. I, by this time, am trying to find cherry pie filling (to go on the festive cheesecake we prefer for Xmas pudding). As I go in a panic of concern for the Fox, I cannot even find the pie fillings, let alone a cherry one.

We decide to get just the essentials. First we try to find some chocs as a small present for Linda, our new home help, a small thank you for her hard work. The Fox suddenly remembers he hasn’t bought any chocolates for me yet. We get distracted by that choice so we leave the chocolates with no present for Linda.

We have a quick look at cake tins. Our loose bottom one has disappeared – we suspect we threw it out when we had the kitchen done several years ago. I need the cake tin for the making the cheesecake in – that shows how many years ago it is since we last did the full meal thing at Christmas. Of late we’ve tended to eat out with friends. Last year I was still so weak after my stay in hospital, we decided to make Christmas as minimal as we could so no dessert. Anyhow we managed to find an appropriate sized tin. We’re all set for the cheesecake.

We hastily pick up some pâté, a little indulgence for a starter to our festive meal. Then we find some cream & cream cheese.

All got except one very big item – the turkey. We look in one freezer - all the birds are self-basting. I find the idea of buying a bird impregnated with an unknown fat off-putting. I want to add any fat that I want with the flavour I want. We find another freezer – just the crowns. But we love the brown meat of the turkey. We find some free-range turkeys in the end but they’re not very big or the bronze ones we particularly enjoy. We abandon the shop & head for the till.

After this shop, anxious still about the turkey, we head to Aldi, next door. Again all the turkeys are self-basting.

We escape to the golf club for a break & a bit of sanity. There we decide we ought to try Sainsbury’s. We still needed three essentials – a turkey, the pie filling & a present for Linda. The latter was particularly important as today is her last visit before Christmas & so we want to give her the present today.

So after our long sit down, we head for Sainsbury’s. We find the pie filling. That’s a good start. However, the turkeys remain self-basting.

We leave. We decide to try Lidl. No luck there. In the end we head back to Morrisons, our first supermarket. The Fox rushes in, picks up some chocs for Linda & the largest non-self-basting turkey he can find. We head home relieved.

Next year we’re thinking of trying doing the shop on the net & having it delivered. The hassle, cluttered aisles, crowds of people is just too much. Or maybe we’ll go back to the idea of eating out, either locally or on a holiday.

And why has it become so difficult to find a basic ordinary frozen turkey? We don’t want a fresh one as they aren’t usually available to be collected until Xmas Eve & we certainly don’t want to be at the shops that day! We also prefer to do the roast before Christmas, & use some of the leftovers on the day. That makes for less stress on Christmas Day, &, for us, a meal we prefer. Usually we do the roast early in December, put the leftovers in variously sized bags in the freezer & just get out some slices on the day. This year there seemed so few turkeys early on, we thought they must be coming late this year, but they still don’t seem to be arriving in our shops, or they’ve come self-basting.