The Christmas Shopping List

Have you done all of your Christmas shopping yet? I'm not talking about presents, stocking fillers and Secret Santas but your grocery shopping. You may have ordered the turkey, stocked up on booze and filled the cupboards with peanuts but are these the essential items you need for Christmas? The supermarkets may only be closed for one day but do you want to be rushing out and panicking about the stuff you don't have in the house? So while there's still time here's a list of items you should be popping in your shopping trolley before Christmas.

Toilet roll – Of course you buy toilet roll regularly but do you normally spend so much time at home, with more people in your house while consuming much more food and drink? I'll say no more on the matter...

Tissues – Cooped up for a couple of days you could find coughs and sneezes spread rapidly.

Kitchen roll – Spills, splashes and wipe downs are the order of the day.

Milk – With hygge all the fashion this year there could be plenty of milky hot chocolates this year. If the Danish trend hasn't hit you think of the endless cups of tea and coffee that are served up over Christmas. Remember you can freeze milk so that's something you can take off the last minute shopping list.

Cooking oil – You may be someone who barely uses oil normally but think of roast potatoes, cooked breakfasts and using up those vegetable leftovers in bubble and squeak.

Batteries – If you have kids you will know that so many toys need batteries even if you wasn't aware of it when you bought it!

Mixers – You've got the gin, rum, vodka or whatever your tipple is but have you got soft drinks to mix it with? Don't forget not everyone is a drinker so make sure you have plenty of soft drinks in.

Bread – Make sure there's a loaf for the turkey sandwiches, midnight snacks and bacon sandwiches in the morning.

Carpet and upholstery cleaner – Red wine, coffee, lots of people about - the combination is bound to end in spillage at some stage.

Butter – If the fridge is full a block of butter in a proper dish on the side will free up some space.

Sticky tape – Don't be there on Christmas Eve staring at the empty cardboard roll. Over the course of the year you'll use the sticky tape so you may as well have plenty in the drawer.

Stock -Whether you use fresh stock, little pots or crumble a cube having some stock available is so useful. With your leftovers you can make soup, risottos and curries.

Have you stocked up for Christmas? What's on your essentials list?