Go on, help a vegetarian with a Christmas Meat selection....:)

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I have company for Christmas.
I can do the vegetarian food no problem. But need ideas for meat meals.

DBro is bringing a turkey crown and some Yorkshire bacon/sauasgae.
(They;ll have the bacon/sausage for breakfast)

Last year I'd bought bacon and some Sainsburys cocktail sauage (the outdoor reared ones)
I bought braising steak from the local butchers (an hours queue so busy and popular) and made a steak pie.

So this year.
Christmas Eve
We always have veg grills (DH and I) fishfinger for the DC. I'm going to buy some fish for everyone else

Christmas Day:
Turkey, sausages (tiny) bacon over the turkey to go crispy.

Boxing Day:
Roast Beef or lamb? Is lamb even in season?
DS won;t eat steak pie, but he might eat beef (if I cook it ) He tried School Dinners roast beef and said it was "like leather".


Sunday:
maybe chicken roast Sunday Dinner (basically a less fancy Christmas Dinner) with Quorn for the vegetarians

Their all quite 'plain food' eaters, so no "3 Bird Roasts " or Beef wellington here

So.....................where should I buy /where to avoid?
Ideally, I'd like as ethically sound as possible. Though it's my choice to be vegetarian (and DH is) I'm not going to force my diet on everyone else. But I want to make sure what I cook is Freedom/Free Range. I'll buy a smaller piece of meat and serve less rather than buy a huge piece of standard.
I don't want loads leftover . Don't want a fridgefull of foil wrapped bits. They're not the turkey sandwich types

TIA

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Ooh could do gammon/ham but would that be too much if they have breakfast sausage and bacon?
It wouldn't be Nigella Ham in Coke either

Monday could be stirfry or pizza

[jeanmiguelfangio]

Boxing day we always do a buffet! There is normally loads leftover and you can have bread rolls (part bake), crisps, cheese, meats, pickles that kinda stuff. Means you can have a break from cooking, if not boxing day then what about Sunday?
Curries are always a win too, most meat eaters wont miss meat in a curry and its one less meal you have to make lots of things

[jeanmiguelfangio]

Ok ignore me, they arent sandwich people! Your local butchers are brilliant, most are local and organic and will be able to advise best on cuts and cooking too

[LibrariesGaveUsP0wer]

You really don't need roast three days running.

Boxing day leftovers. Then curries or a pie or something?

[Flomplet]

That's a lot of meat even for meateaters! Surely 3 days in a row of different roasts is OTT?

I would think it would be easier to do a ham for boxing day, then turkey/ham pie (try Hairy Bikers) on Sunday to use up the leftovers from both days. You don't need to keep to recipe proportions, just chuck in what you have with some white/leek/cheese sauce. Both meats also lend themselves to pasta dishes.

One option for sourcing the meat is veg box providers. No need to brave the butchers but reasonable quality, hopefully. You can review the ethical credentials at your leisure and know exactly what you're paying.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I could do a couple of pasta dishes ,mear lasagne and fancy Macaroni Cheese (ok, it's macaroni cheese with crispy breadcrumbs on top ) and a pizza for DS (I can make the dough to slow rise then he can do the toppings)
(They can all be done in advance and the pasta dishes can freeze)

We do a buffet late Christmas Eve, so that's got a lot of vegetarian, nice rolls, maybe some soup, and a pork pie ?

So if I do (for the non vegetarians)

Thurs:fish/chips
Fri: light breakfast, Christmas turkey
Sat: big breakfast, pasta/pizza
Sun:chicken roast
Mon: steak pie

That'll even it out a bit and I can do a shedload of the prep ahead.

(My parents aren't curry eaters, neither is DD or DS)

[shadowfax07]

If you want a do ahead vegetable soup, we had this last night with some roast chicken rolls, and it was lovely. Even DP, who is a confirmed carnivore, loved it. I'll be doing it ahead, freezing and reheating it for Boxing Day, when we are having a buffet.

www.deliaonline.com/recipes/galleries/winter-vegetarian-soups/slow-cooked-root-vegetable-soup.html