Take out Xmas food [General]

2015 Dec 5
Hi all,

There have been a lot of family illness this year and my sister and I are discussing who will host and/or cook or if we want to do a restaurant on Dec 24 or 26th or go with catered meal option.

This is not like the US where even grocery stores are offering holiday meal packages. I have been checking things out here to see what the possibilities are. I am interested in more options for Xmas dinner or take out stuff that could cut the food time and would be interested if other OFs found other options and has feedback on some of the listed options from previous years.

1. Le Cafe Turkey takeaway package $199 for 12lbs turkey serve 8-10 and $299 20 lbs for 12-16.
nac-cna.ca/en/lecafe/turkey
Whole roasted free-range tom turkey with rosemary and pear stuffing. Whipped buttermilk Yukon gold mashed potatoes, maple & pepper glazed carrots and fine green beans. NAC’s citrus, cranberry & ginger compote, savory & thyme scented natural turkey gravy.
Available for Dec 24 or 25. Plus tax and $15 handling charge.

2. Brookstreet Hotel Festive Takeaway Turkeys with sides serves 10 @ $219
www.brookstreethotel.com
Whole roasted turkey (15-19 lbs.), Stuffing, Potato Mash, Green Beans, Glazed Carrots, Cranberry Compote, Turkey Giblet Gravy
Available Dec 24 or 25. Tax and 15% gratuity added

3. Red Apron whole turkey (with sides) serves 12 @ $255 and turkey dinner for 2 @ $34.
www.redapron.ca
Whole roasted turkey, savory bread pudding, cranberry compote, gravy, mashed potatoes and veggies.
Available for Dec 23 or 24. Tax ?

4. Cuisine & Passion whole boneless turkey (cut up tray) for 14-16 @$130 half turkey serves 6-8 @$65
www.cuisinepassion.ca
Marinated boneless turkey (raw or cooked), sweet potato stuffing, gravy
Dec 24 only. Tax ?

5. Epicuria take home turkey dinner with sides and dessert for 10-12 @ $289
epicuria.ca
See page 4
Free range Mariposa turkey, gravy, stuffin, mashed potatoes, beans with pecans, roasted veggies, bouche de noel
Dec 24th only.

6. Whole foods Dulexe turkey dinner for 8-10 (5Kg turkey + ham + sides) @ $220. Family turkey dinner for 6 (3kg turkey + sides) @ $120 and vegan holiday option for 2-3 @ $30 others available.
www.wholefoodsmarket.com

7. T&T Supermarket whole roasted turkey $5.49/lb or combo with roast turkey, appetizers, fried rice/noodles, meat tray.
www.tnt-supermarket.com
Closed Dec 25.

8. Supperworks 4lb turkey breast with sides and desser serve 6-8 @ $ 169
supperworks.com
Closed Dec 24 till new year


2015 Dec 5
Thyme and Again has a holiday dinner package for 2 for $40. For larger quantities (6-8 servings) the mains and sides are priced individually rather than as a package.
www.thymeandagain.ca

2015 Dec 5
Thanks strawberry girl

7a. missing info. The T&T turkey dinner package with a Chinese slant on the add-on is $99.

9. Thyme and Again Turkey Brest and Leg, Stuffing, gravy serve 8-10@ $90 with large sides $22-24; turkey dinner with sides, dessert to serve 2 @ $40
link above post
Available Dec 22,23,24


2015 Dec 6
The Whole Foods Vegan meal package is really good.
But for Thanksgiving they ran out of the vegan kale hazelnut roast and gave me a Gardein veggie roast instead.

The Gardein roast was 1kg and was still frozen (not a big deal for me).
I did manage to slice the frozen roast and still have half in my freezer- no one here wanted to eat any (my mom, who was vegetarian suddenly decided she wanted real turkey...she has not has turkey or chicken in 10++ years).

It had nothing to do with Whole Foods,just that she is odd.

The Whole Foods holiday meals you can order them to be made before Chrismas, so even next week if you want.

**I tried to arrange this nicely on a plate for myself, even though I was the only person here and eating by myself.

2015 Dec 6
Thanks prettytastyreview,

My sister is vegetarian and so is my niece's boyfriend. My niece stopped eating red meat but still likes turkey :D Thus I was looking at this Whole food vegan one since it serves 2-3 which is perfect.

Usually they make do with a vegetable quiche, soup and sides but this looks good.

2015 Dec 7
I could only post 1 picture at a time, but also had the packaging from the vegetarian "roast" they substituted.

It was supposed to be a 454 gram hazelnut/kale roast en croute, but they ran out.
The roast they gave, just that is $20 at the store.
Also, not sure what "cranberry relish" was supposed to be,but I did get 500ml cranberry sauce instead of a 250ml (which is fine..it was really good).

I actually had 450ml mushroom gravy, plus this roast had 2 packets gravy also.
Did not try the frozen gravy yet, it is still in my freezer.

2015 Dec 7
FoodTravel- if you want to make a vegetarian main for Christmas, I highly recommend this recipe for nut loaf. It is very easy to make:
www.goodfood.com.au

I am a vegetarian, as are a number of people in my family and this is a holiday favourite. The turkey eaters always take a big slice as well. It can be made ahead of time, doubles easily and freezes well. I usually make a mushroom or similar gravy to have on top.

I've tried all the various pre-packaged vegetarian mains, and they are awful and generally very high in sodium to give it flavour.

2015 Dec 7
Hey hipfunkyfun,

The nut load looks great. Might give it a whirl.

2015 Dec 9
I might try making the nut loaf, but the "problem" is my mother does not want to eat most things I make (even if it is just fresh carrots, cooked veggies)- she is just weird.
I make great food, but when you have a guest like that.

*I was eating at Shore Club with my mother a couple months ago and she started asking the waitress if her tomatoes were organic, because if they weren't they could be poisonous for you in the future.
Also that her potatoes for the mash potato dish were put in cold water first and that is why it was not a very good dish.
She did get the veggie dishes taken off the bill, but how do you even deal w someone like that?
I am exasperated just writing this.

Hope it is ok to post a link to my full review and more pics of my whole foods vegan meal.
I meant to do this blog post last month and never got around to it.

prettytastyreviews.blogspot.ca

2015 Dec 9
Next does a turkey dinner, I ordered it last year and it was excellent. The quality was very good and everything was tasty. Last year, they had 2 locations, the restaurant in Stittsville and Juniper and they had to cut off orders. If you are planning on ordering then I would order soon.

nextfood.ca

Whole Roasted Free-Range Tom Turkey, Caramelized Onion and Brown Butter Sage Stuffing,
Olive Oil and Horseradish Mashed Yukon Potatoes, Steamed Green Beans, Cauliflower with toasted panko and
Heirloom Carrots, Blackie’s Star Anise and Orange Cranberry Compote, Pommery Mustard and Herbed Gravy.
For up to 10 people (17-19lbs)
Complimentrary Apple Pie Serves 8

205+ tax+ grat.

They also have other things you can add on.

I've ordered from Red Apron in the past. It's good, but it lacks that certain something that makes you say Wow! that was delicious.

2015 Dec 17
Okay, my niece offered to do the turkey... At 21, it will be her first lol...

So I have starters and maybe 1-2 of the sides, my sister has soup and my brother has desserts which my younger niece can bake or they can buy. My nephew is a decent cook now and a bit of a foodie. Unfortunately he is on crutches from a fractured leg, so it would be difficult for him to cook, but he could be put to work chopping while seated lol