A few weeks ago, Aldi laid on a banquet for Irish Times consumer affairs editor Conor Pope: Thousands of people blow unconscionable sums in Marks & Spencer, McCambridge’s, Morton’s, Donnybrook Fair, Fallon Byrne and all the other high-end food shops across the country that sell us the promise of a premium Christmas at a premium [...]

Our very own Peter has a great piece in the Irish Times Pricewatch section today on ways to enjoy a cheap and cheerful Christmas. He has tips for restaurants and good pub food all around the country.  There’s also recommendations for country bars that will arrange transport for their customers, alternatives to pub crawls and [...]

I’ve got my Christmas presents more or less organised now and am looking forward to only having to buy DELICIOUS CHRISTMAS FOOD for the next couple of days.  Hurray! I won’t be the one cooking Christmas dinner this year so don’t need to get a turkey or a ham, but do need to get the [...]

Looking for some ideas from you, our lovely readers.  My work department had booked our Christmas dinner in a tapas restaurant next Thursday (15th Dec). Unfortunately the restaurant just cancelled as they had double-booked us.  Now we need to find another restaurant in Dublin city centre that is affordable, nice and will seat 19 people.  [...]

We’ve been fortunate this Christmas, with samples of festive treats coming from Superquinn and now Marks & Spencer. They sent us a bag with some party food, sweet Christmas treats and a festive soup. Mini Chicken Kievs (€6.79) – these little breaded kievs can be oven baked. I’ve been ranting on here recently about how [...]