I am FREAKING out.

[wishthiswasreallife]

I'm cooking Christmas dinner for the first time ever next week,in all my 26 years Iv went to DM for Christmas dinner and Boxing Day and always had the most amazing dinner.

However COVID...So there's going to be 5 of us this year (including me and DD) coming to my house and I'm cooking!I want it to be lovely and not an embarrassment when I burn everything and start crying etc etc

What's your hints and tips?Timings?what do I NEED in a Christmas dinner?nibbles?snacks?cheese?starter?Drinks?

Then your best organising tips likes lists and so on because I'm so ditsy I mainly write shopping lists on my hands to remember and still forget...

Turkey? Check weight and timings (including resting time). Count backwards and see when you need to put it on. Roast potatoes; red cabbage; yorkshires can all be cooked in advance and reheated if you have a freezer.

Decide what you're serving and watch YouTube videos so you know how to cook it properly.

Sit down, use the internet to help, and write out a simple yet delicious menu. Don't go overboard and don't choose anything way out of your comfort zone.

Don't try and do too much. Keep it simple and make as much ahead of time as you can. Don't try to be super woman, there is nothing wrong with a few cheats!!!

Prep your veg the day before and keep them in the fridge. Keep it simple. Don't drink too much before you start or during cooking .

Don’t let it stress you. If need be buy preprepared things from shops - stuffing balls, pigs in blankets, carrots and suede mash and gravy are all good from M&S.

Pick a few veg you like. Carrots, sprouts, peas etc. I cook mine on a steamer pan so they don’t take much room up.

Work out the weight of your turkey and how much time it will take. Don’t worry about fancy stuffing in the turkey. Make sure you remove the giblets from the cavity before cooking. We simply put an apple in the turkey while cooking. We accidentally cooked a turkey upside down once and it was so succulent we tend to give it a couple of hours upside down every time now and turn it the right way for the last hour!
Roasties- practice a few times now. Get used to doing them. They’re no big deal.

Delia Smith’s book is always good for advice. I’ve used it for years.

Starters - don’t go mad. Do something dead simple and not too filling. Last year I did a big sharing platter with hams, melon slices, grapes, mozzarella balls and sun dried toms. People just picked at what they wanted.

Desserts - make it easy. Get a pudding and something different like trifle. Cream is often more popular than brandy butter.

Most of all, don’t let it stress you. It’s your day too. I remember my mum getting so stressed and I swore I never would, even if it meant “cheating” and buying stuff in.

Make a plan with timings and stick to it - take the time to work it all out first. Definitely pays off!

Buy the whole lot oven ready- bird, veg, spuds everything. Bung it all in the oven. Set timers on your phone. Get in loads of booze. Done.

Do you regularly cook a roast dinner? It's just like that with a few more bits if you want them. Definitely work out timings in advance and write yourself a list, and re-write it as you remember things. Write EVERYTHING, from "boil the kettle" to "baste the turkey" or "turn the roast potatoes", and set timers to remind you. Remember the turkey will keep warm out of the oven for at least 40 minutes (depending on size), so you have the opportunity to take it out and let it rest while you're finishing off other bits. If you're at all worried about it being cooked through then buy a meat thermometer, but it's not really necessary.

If you buy a frozen turkey then definitely make sure you take it out far enough in advance to defrost!
Lay the table early, including plenty of serving spoons so you're not dashing around trying to do that or answering questions last minute as well as cook ("have you got any napkins", "can I have a glass for water", "where's the salt"...etc). Work out what you're going to serve everything in, as you always seem to need more bowls than you have, and if you can serve in the same thing you cooked in, even better, less washing up.
If you have at least one person who will help out, then think in advance what would be useful for them to do where they won't get in your way. Getting everyone drinks? Carrying food through to the table? Who can carve while you're dishing up the last of the bits and pieces?
Do you want bread sauce or cranberry? Bread sauce is easy to make, but even easier to buy if you're stressing, and can usually be warmed up in a microwave just before serving.

Have plenty of tea towels out so you can just grab one when you need one.
Make it clear that your guests are helping, not just being waited on as it is your Christmas too, and they can help wash up.

My only tips would be to prep everything you can beforehand, work out your timings back from when you want to eat and stick to them, and to work out what pan/tray you're going to be cooking everything in, and also that all the trays that need to be in the oven at once actually fit!

Do what you can the day before. Peel veggies and store in water in the fridge. If you are doing a ham as well as the turkey, then cook the ham the day before. Christmas pud can be cooked in a slow cooker.

It's just a roast dinner!
I cook the turkey the night before (cos two of us are veggies and hate the smell on the day and it also means I don't need to worry about timing it with everything else. I often do a pork joint as well. The instructions for the meat should be on the packaging... you don't have to do anything clever to it if you don't want to!

Peel spuds, boil for 15 mins to soften.. bung in a tray with oil or goose fat (not for us). Put sprouts in a steamer (or boil if no steamer) ditto cabbage if you have that; carrots and parsnips to roast in a roasting tray. Make up paxo stuffing .. that can be bunged in the oven same time as veg (about hald an hour, 45 for roast spuds more or less)
Ready wrapped pigs in blankets... bung in oven. Gravy... buy ready made!
We also have yorkshire puds as we like them, and often mushrooms with our roast.. you can have whatever you want, and as long as the meat is cooked so you don't poison anyone, everything else is easy.

I don't understand why people get in such a flap about it all... fine if you want to make it all from scratch.. but if (like me) you just want a decent dinner and no stress.. keep it simple!

My best and only tip is to buy everything pre prepared from M&S

It's the only roast dinner I ever make so saying it's only a roast dinner doesn't help!

I second the Delia Smith Christmas book, it’s a bit old fashioned now but great on timing and planning, I use it every year

Work out all your timings so you don’t end up with everything ready apart from uncooked sprouts

Before xmas day:
Make jamie olivers gravy and freeze it.
Write a shopping list on paper. Plan other meals.
Check you have space in the fridge. Source cool boxes if need be.
Id recommend chridtmas dinner rather than lunch. Its less stressful.
Check you have a roasting tray big enough to fit the turkey.
Buy stuff thats already prepped. If you can cheat, do.

On the day:
Use delia smith for timing - shes v accurate.
Drink.
Write out your timings.
Drink.
Take out as many eg potatoes as you need and put the excess back immediately.
Drink.
Get others to set the table in good time.
Drink.
Roast in foil trays to save washing up.
And drink again!

Biggest question is what pans and dishes and oven/hob you'll use. Plan ahead what is going in what- saves last minute stress when you run out of baking sheets, serving dishes.

What are you going to cook- several veg in one pan? a separate pans? Steamer? Make good use of slow cookers- keeping soup, gravy or veg warm.

Lay the table ahead of time, crackers, serviettes, servers etc.

I buy frozen goose fat roast potatoes. No need to stress about home made ones.

Take the Turkey out and let it rest, covered in towels to keep it warm. That leaves the oven free for pigs in blankets and potatoes.

While that's doing have a starter- either cold (pate and melba toast, all preprepared and plated up), or soup.

Main thing - keep it as stress-free and simple as possible. There are some really really delicious posh festive 'ready meals' (beef wellington etc) in Lidls that you can literally just shove in the oven. Side dishes and desserts too - you can make it really special without having to stress about cooking. Get some lovely crackers and table decorations, some well-priced champagne (again, can't beat Lidl!!) and enjoy!

I always cook the turkey the night before and put all the roasting tin liquid in a jug. The next morning all the fat will have risen to the top, there's your oil for the roasties and stock for the gravy 😀

I've found letting the boiled potatoes go cold makes the outsides more flaky so even crispier. Halfway through give them a light press with a fork to open the edges a bit.

It’s just a big roast dinner. You can do those; they’re simple. This is exactly the same, just a bit bigger. Timings and lists are the key. Decide what time you want to eat & work backwards. Separate your shopping list into sections (drinks, nibbles, meat, veg, etc) and get as much non perishable stuff as you can this week, so you have less to lug home. Decide when you’ll do your fresh shop and get organised. Lists, bags, club card etc. Check you’ve got enough salt/pepper/cooking oil/butter etc. Christmas Day is not the time to be experimenting with new recipes or doing stuff a bit challenging.

Lay your table Christmas Eve. Depending on her age, get your DD to help by doing place settings (bit of card folded over with name and a picture of a snowman type of thing). Will you need ice for drinks? Make sure it’s in the freezer.

DH gets up super early so he takes the turkey out of the fridge to get to room temperature and it goes in around 8am. Gordon Ramsey says to rest it for the same amount of time you’ve cooked it for, and if it’s good enough for Gordon... Just make sure you skewer it in loads of different places once it has cooked to check your juices are running out clear.

We don’t do starters. Too much of a faff and nobody has room. Just lay out some nibbles; easy, ready made stuff, posh crisps, nuts, chocolate etc. Stuffing and pigs are made & in the freezer and there’s a To Do’ list on the freezer with reminders to take stuff out of the freezer in time to defrost. You can do the same for gravy (or use Bisto - so much easier). I cannot be bothered with a million different types of veg, so we have sprouts and parsnips (honey roast Aunt Bessies; much better than fresh) and I buy those individual packets of Findus veg that you steam cook in their bags in the microwave. Takes two minutes and tastes fab. Buy a ready made dessert (M&S is good) and if anyone offers to bring something, accept!

I buy a tin foil Turkey tray as well as tin foil cooking trays. All recyclable once the fat is gone and saves ages on washing up. If you’re running short on oven space, cook things in stages, wrap them in tin foil so they don’t burn and put them on a tray on the floor of your oven. Either that, or play oven Tetris with tin foil trays/measure your oven shelf and ask someone to bring one of theirs with them! Once everything is in the oven, put your plates on the hob to warm up. Delegate pouring drinks to one of your guests. In fact, give everyone a job. Everyone will be happy to help and you are not going to have a fab time if you’re slaving away in the kitchen!

You’ve got this! The absolute number one thing to remember is that nobody is expecting perfection and everyone would much rather have a fun, relaxed day with a happy you, rather than a stressed, upset you because the turkey went in ten minutes late!

Delia Smith for timings! It's perfect!

I always do a starter of boiled quails eggs, with blinis, creme fraiche and smoked salmon.

Easily prepared beforehand. Quails eggs easily found at waitrose. Put in cold water. As soon as water starts to bubble (not boil) turn off and leave to cool. Then peel, halve and serve with celery salt.

Easiest and most luxurious starter EVER!

One big advisory - if having turkey, cook it the day before and warm in a casserole dish in the oven with some saved juices. I've done this for years now and it makes it soooo much easier (even when there's only two of us!). Other than that, don't get too hung up on sitting down at 'x' time; just go with the flow and enjoy...

I am not a massive fan of turkey. I prefer to cook a few roasting chickens to cover the numbers. easier to handle.

Keep it simple.

Light starter only, something prepared in advance.
Just one or two vegetable dishes is plenty
Plan everything with timings.

I find it best to get as organised as possible before anyone arrives. Once the house starts to get busier then it all tends to go to shit whilst everyone gets settled with a drink, hung up their coats, put water out for the dog etc. So nail up as much as you can whilst you have some peace. And set up a bit of a bar so people can see to themselves a bit. And anything you can cook in advance and then quickly reheat, do it. Get all the serving dishes out ready and lay the table well in advance. And give some thought to leftovers - have boxes and cling film and foil and stuff ready to go as that will speed up the clear up immensely.