This month, the only stocking I am thinking of is replenishing a barren store cupboard and freezer after the recent blitzkrieg of snow.  Here are a few suggestions of how to make your festive food shop last far beyond the Christmas weekend and way into January.  A case of being prepared, not just for another onslaught of bad weather but also to avoid paying any extra VAT for as long as possible.

Intrinsic to the British nature is making the best of what you have.  Therefore, it is imperative that what you have will more than suffice this Christmas.  A good place to start with filling the festive larder is a British ham.  At the outset, the price of a whole British ham can be a deterrent, especially when there are so many other necessary financial demands over Christmas. BUT if you consider how many people or meals it will cater for, you will see that, without doubt, it is a worthwhile investment. It will last for weeks and provide copious meals - accompanying poached eggs on toast for breakfast, a sublime sandwich filler for lunch and it is delicious when served with a parsley sauce for supper.  Not to mention all the other meal options from soups to stocks.  If you are ordering one, keep an eye out for a succulent Wiltshire or a  traditional light smoked York ham with its bright pink flesh.  Whilst it is lovely to have it cooked for you and delivered to your door it really is not hard to prepare one yourself. Depending on size, it can take between three and five hours. A simple glaze of British honey and English mustard with the traditional light studding of cloves is very effective.  The British ham is the culinary staple between Christmas and New Year.

Don't shy away from buying a large British turkey and making a variety of stuffings.  These taste delicious served cold on the ensuing days.  Cooked turkey can be frozen and saved for future meals but the breast is best scoffed on Christmas day itself or subsequently with cranberry sauce or stilton in sandwiches.  Although much derided by Bridget Jones, turkey curry - using a recipe such as Jamie Oliver's - is genuinely sensational and so easy to make.

All the major supermarkets are stocking whole Scottish salmon, many at half price.  Just think ten large salmon fillets for around £7.  Poached salmon provides a delicious stock and a baked salmon - taking approximately 2 hours -  is a great Boxing Day lunch, whether you have guests or not, and it keeps the turkey and ham for use on other days. The fish can also be frozen until you need to cook it.

Don't debate it, buy a British blue or stilton.  Cheese and oatcakes were the staple diet in Tudor times. So, when invited or uninvited gannets descend, what better food to allow them to nibble and fill themselves up on.  Add stilton to a pheasant casserole - it is amazing.  Some other suggestions are broccoli and stilton soup, use it as a jacket potato or pie filling, or try stilton scones or dumplings.  If you are worried about surplus you can always cut it into 6oz segements, wrap it in cling film and freeze it.

If you have enough freezer space then your Christmas motto should be make life a breeze and freeze.  British sausages, seafood, vegetables, fruit,  the pastry for mince pies, pre-made mince pies all can be safely stored in your freezer.  If you have room and many guests coming to stay then I would urge you to order a meat box from your local butcher.  Church Farm, along with Riverford, Jimmy's Farm and Lovaton are some of the many recommended online butchers who also despatch meat boxes.  Most meat boxes contain seasonal meat such as beef, pork, goose and game and typically consist of stewing meat, mince, sausages, a roasting joint and bacon.  Highland Game and Bridwell Park Venison offer a venison boxes, the leaner alternative.  It is always worth having some stewing steak and mince in the freezer. The possibilities for warm and filling meals that can be created from these ingredients are endless, from basic mince and potatoes to steak and kidney pie.

Buy milk in bulk, for it can be frozen and then defrosted in the fridge - you should allow about 24 hours for it to thaw.  It needs to be frozen before the use by date and to be consumed within a few days of defrosting - it will go off the same way as unfrozen milk.  Similarly, bread properly wrapped up, i.e. wrapped in plastic and then tin foil,  can be frozen for up to six months.  With homemade bread let it cool before freezing.  To make life easier slice the bread before freezing - sliced bread does not need to be thawed before going in the toaster and that way you are only defrosting on demand.  Otherwise you can defrost a loaf in a microwave or by leaving it to thaw in its wrapper, for about three hours. When I was young, my Granny would always have a pan on the back hob, into which she would just add leftovers and then these would be blitzed into a soup for supper.  We are a little more hygiene-conscious these days.  However, start making and freezing soups now, utilising any leftovers as a base, then by Christmas you will have a stack of winter-warming meals at your disposal. 

If you want a cost-effective, healthier and plentiful Christmas period don't go for a ready-made, pre-portioned approach.  The magic of traditional Christmas food such as stilton, ham and Christmas cake is that they can feed many, they last a long time and you know where they come from - Britain.  Christmas is a good excuse to stock up the store cupboards, the fridge and the freezer.  Many of our most popular national dishes evolved from wartime rationing. Utilising what you have should mean that you can truly bunker in over Christmas and then it doesn't really matter if the weather is bad or not..... As long as the boiler doesn't break......

For a delicious Christmas ham recipe [click here]
For mail order British ham [click here]
For a whole poached salmon recipe [click here]

This month The Sauce attempts to cook a ham.

The Sauce

Nigella Lawson's Aromatic Spiced Ham

• What ingredients did you use and how readily available were they?
  I already had the onion, garlic, peppercorns, paprika, red wine, cinnamon and red wine vinegar.  I bought the  redcurrant jelly and cloves from ASDA and the fennel, fennel seed, anise and coriander seed from Sainsburys.  I could have bought pre-packaged mild-cure gammon from both, although not the correct amount.  I decided to go and support my local butcher for a change. I did note that it is easy to order one online as well.


• What was the sum total cost of the ingredients
  The ham cost £52.42.  Alongside the other ingredients - to include the ones I already had, I would estimate £65.00


• How many people did it actually feed?
  At the moment it has done a week's worth of meals to include sandwiches, an omlette, a risotto and as an accompaniment to a jacket potato. The current tally is 24 - to include it incorporated into meals. There is still some left.


• How easy was it to make.
  At first I thought it was really simple, especially the simmering of the ham.  I should note that I had to buy a new pan, so that the ham could be totally immersed in water. It is an investment though.  I found strimming the fat layer and cutting the diamond pattern a bit of a faff but that was because my knife was not good enough.  Studding the diamonds with cloves was really fun and therapeutic. Making the glaze was really simple as well.


• Did you have any assistance?
  Yes - my friend was there to help me extract the ham from the boiling water and as a diversion, but I did it on my own really.


• Would you cook it again?
  I am currently planning on cooking it every Christmas.......watch this webspace.

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