Meal planning Christmas Eve-Boxing day can you talk me through your plans?

[SaxonWassail]

I am working madly until Christmas eve 6 pm. I am usually a demon at meal planning, but simply can't right now as my motivation has been destroyed by exhuastion.

2 adults. 2 DCs. 1 of us is vegetarian. 1 DS needs very plain food due to various issues.

Can you talk me through your Christmas eve to Boxing day plans so i can get some inspiration?

Many thanks. :)

Christmas Eve - all the cheese/crackers/grapes/celery/pickles/veggie sausage rolls/a bit of salad/Mince pies/Yule log

Christmas Day - nut roast / pigs in blankets for the carnivores / dauphinoise potatoes / stuffing / roasted potatoes, carrots, shallots and parsnips, sprouts, peas, gravy / Christmas pud and custard

Christmas Day supper if anybody needs it - cheese and crackers / bread rolls with Quorn chicken slices and leftover stuffing / pickles / mince pies / Yule log / lebkuchen / crisps etc

Boxing Day - either bubble and squeak (will make it with fresh mash and leftover vege) or homemade wedges with Quorn slices, pickles etc / or a vegetable and chestnut soup if I'm craving vege

Christmas Eve - Porridge. Soup and part baked rolls. Pie and mash.
Christmas Day - Croissants. Gammon / sweet potato pie, cauli cheese, carrot and swede mash, pigs / pups in blankets, roasties, Chambord trifle. Nibbles later if wanted.
Boxing Day - Eggs benedict. Leftovers plus Yorkshire Puddings. Cheese and biscuits, party food.

24th cottage pie, one portion of mince and separate mash for the awkward among us.

25h turkey and all the trimmings. Kids can pick n mix

26th leftovers on baguettes (or with pasta for the awkward one) and takeaway for tea.(I don't need a meal, I'll just mainline pigs in blankets, stuffing and buck fizz until I pop!)

Christmas eve - (our actual dinner but having outdoors so non traditional) a big plate for everyone with either Sliced warm turkey with apple sauce or fried halloumi with chilli jam on a warmed roll. Also on the plate will be a finger food pot of roasted sprouts and Parsnips, a stuffing ball, a mini Veggie sausage or pigs in blanket, and a Yorkshire pudding with a pot of gravy for dipping. Lots of mulled wine and then Christmas pudding and custard. The turkey is the Iceland wrapped in bacon one and I will use the leftovers to plate up Christmas Dinner for parents for Christmas day.
Christmas day itself we will have prosecco then a spread of warm gammon and pineapple, baked Camembert, and various other salads and nice food followed by chocolate brownies with vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate dipping sauce or Yule log.

Christmas eve - full english breakfast, picky lunch, ham egg and chips for dinner (dh making the jamie oliver jerk ham recipe).

Christmas day - Christmas tree shaped pancakes, pain au chocolate, crumpets and fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, roast turkey with all the trimmings for lunch, cheeses and picky bits and chocolates in the evening

Boxing day - full english breakfast, turkey sandwiches for lunch, party food, cold cuts, cheeses and a home made sauasage roll wreath for dinner.

Christmas Eve
'Dippy tea' nice bread, deli meats, hummus etc
Christmas Day
Whatever suitable poultry is available at M&S tomorrow with roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots, Yorkshire puddings, pigs in blankets and lots of gravy. Followed by sticky toffee pudding trifle 😋
Boxing Day
I'm actually not sure, my husband will be back at work so it'll probably feel like a normal day, maybe some leftovers if there are any.

Christmas Eve - Pate on Toast
Christmas Day Lunch - Festive Buffet. Roast Chicken, Crusty Bread, Pigs in Blankets, Cheese Board and Chocolate Cake.
Christmas Day Dinner - Indian Takeaway
Boxing Day - Something from M&S. We'll see what we fancy on the day.
xx

I have covid and can't taste anything, however:
Christmas Eve - normal breakfast and lunch. Dinner will be crispy duck pancakes, tempura King prawns, chicken satay skewers and vegetable spring rolls

Christmas day - pain au chocolate, turkey and all the trimmings with Christmas pudding, then cheese and crisps in the evening

Boxing day- leftovers (there will be plenty!)

Christmas Eve
Asda’s reindeer crumpets
If my children were small now, for lunch I'd do something like tomato soup with star-shaped croutons (use a small pastry or biscuit cutter) or make minestrone soup with star shaped pasta www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/sainsburys-stars-500g
Cheese fondue

Christmas Day
Brioche French toast and fruit salad
Sausage plait www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/vegan-sausage-plait/ with roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots and sprouts.
Dessert
Just Love Food chocolate orange Christmas cake (with sparklers in the top!)
Evening snack meal - cheese and biscuits

Christmas Eve will be normal for breakfast and dinner, then we'll have a cheese/grazing board with some picky bits.

Christmas Day:
Breakfast: freshly baked pain au chocolate and fruit salad.

Dinner we'll have about 3/4pm:
Turkey, beef, gammon
Roast potatoes, mash, Yorkshire puddings, cauliflower cheese, parsnips, carrots, sprouts, stuffing and gravy.

Pudding: cheesecake

Don't usually have tea on Christmas Day, tend to just snack if we start feeling peckish. Though will probably do dd (2 on 27th) a light supper of beans on toast or something before bed time.

Boxing Day:
Normal breakfast, and then just leftovers throughout the day.

Also copious amounts of wine and Prosecco to get me through the weirdest Christmas ever haha.

Christmas Eve - going out for lunch at Zizzi then will have picky bits for tea

Christmas Day we'll be at PIL - full turkey roast dinner.

Boxing Day we'll now be home so it'll be a buffet of leftover turkey, ham, rocket potato salad, caramelised onion hummus, beetroot hummus, tempura prawns, part-baked rolls, salad, pigs in blankets, sausage rolls, tuna, Sopaipillas & Pebre, guacamole, tortilla chips, crudités followed by Chocolate Yule Log & Christmas Cookie Bars.

Christmas Eve:

• lunch: soup and nice bread
• supper: Asian salmon and vegetable stir fry

Christmas Day:

• breakfast: brioche / croissants etc with pistachio creme rather than Nutella (thanks Costco for stocking it - a new find and so yummy!)

- lunch: whatever bird is left in the supermarket now our plans have changed (we’d self-isolated and I’ve got twice weekly swabs courtesy of work😠) pigs in blankets, apple and sausagemeat stuffing, sprouts with bacon and chestnuts, roast potatoes, and if I can find some cranberries (if there’s a turkey!) I’ll make some spiced cranberry sauce. If there’s no Christmas pudding left, then a Plan B of either baked Alaska (did that last year and it was fab- including making the ice creams - one orange and another saffron and cardamom) or something like profiteroles /shop bought. -supper: left-overs or cheeses

Boxing Day:

• lunch: gammon with parsley sauce and veg and the Boxing Day Trifle - this year with orange and dates for the fruity layer, in honour of my MIL who always makes the best trifle in the world.

Christmas Eve - indian takeaway
Christmas Day - pancakes and coffee
- full roast so probably nothing after
Boxing Day - leftover potatoes and sprouts will become bubble and squeak, vol au vents, 56785 cheeses, any other leftovers, pickled walnuts. If I'm feeling the need for greenery I will have a pear, blue cheese and walnut salad. I have an apple strudel in the freezer if we fancy a pudding.

Christmas Eve: Chinese takeaway

Christmas day: croissants, pain au chocolat for breakfast
A quick sandwich for lunch
Dinner at 7 ish... Linda McCartney country pies, roast tatties, mashed tatties, roast carrots, cauliflower cheese, peas, vegetarian gravy. Bit of an odd assortment but that is what people want and will eat. Raspberry and lemoncello trifle and Christmas pudding for dessert.

Boxing day...no idea, just whatever I fancy making.

I have a low stress rule for Christmas having spent years faffing around trying to make amazing meals that my small children didn't eat.

Xmas eve: normal breakfast, greggs lunch (usually we would get a festive bake in town and go to cinema)
Dinner: Brie en croute, crudités, houmous, crisps, charcuterie platter and hopefully salad

Xmas day: I’ve got options for breakfast, nothing heavy, I like French toast made with panettone
Dinner: pate with sourdough or a fish starter (still to be bought); chestnut and lentil soup; turkey, stuffing, pigs in blankets, roast and mash potatoes, sprouts, carrots, red cabbage, cauli cheese, parsnips, bread and cranberry sauce and a Yorkshire puddings for dd2 🙄
Choc orange Xmas pudding or a fruity mousse thing
Supper of cheese and crackers if anyone can squeeze it in

26th: whatever anyone fancies from the leftovers from above.

I very much fancy the christmas eve picnic in Rosamunde pilcher's Winter Solstice.

french onion soup in a flask laced with sherry, crusty bread rolls with real ham, apples and fruitcake.

Christmas Eve.
Normal breakfast, quick tortellini for lunch.
Evening- cheese, crackers, pâtes, pickles, mince pies, shortbread, Christmas cake.

Christmas Day- breakfast panettone, croissants, pain au Chocolat.
Lunch - roast with all the trimmings. Tiramisu.
Evening: (half) toasted bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese. Satsumas and chocolates.

Boxing Day
Toasted panettone left over from day before.

Lunch: Bubble and squeak, cold roast meats, pickles, salads.
Christmas pudding and brandy cream.

Evening: more cheese, crackers, pate, olives. Mince pies, Christmas cake, fruit or whatever everyone fancies.

Christmas Eve I have bought normal lunch type bits, and in the evening we'll have party food bits. Probably a bit of the Christmas Day gammon, rolls etc

Christmas Day, we have pork pie for breakfast during presents and then bacon sandwiches, then we will do traditional lunch. Tea will probably be more party food.

Boxing Day- turkey leftovers and any of the Christmas treats that are left. We are planning a super lazy day on Boxing Day so probably chocolate orange and toblerone will also feature!

It's so nice actually to have these three days where it doesn't matter, I'm really looking forward to just going with the flow when normally the whole holiday is a blur of meals with different people

Xmas day - crossiants and orange juice. Usual roast dinner with choice of turkey, salmon and nut roast as we all want something different. Later leftover turkey or nut roast, sausage rolls, dips, crisps, and have quiche and pizza with salad if someone wants that.

Xmas Eve and Boxing Day - rumblings of DH and DD doing something both days, but neither has given me a list of groceries and I basically got everything on my list this morning. I have loads of cheese which I'd be happy with, but they don't like

Christmas Eve - picky buffet tea including prawn ring , smoked salmon bagels , sausage rolls mince pies cheese board and Waldorf slaw salad -

Christmas Day - scrambled eggs with smoked salmon served on English muffins , with Buck’s Fizz or Clementine juice
Lunch this year is M & S slow roast lamb with roasties, parsnips , glazed carrots roasted cauliflower and stuffing
Followed by a choice of profiteroles or lemon roulade
( gammon sandwiches / cheese board mince pies for supper if anyone is hungry

Boxing Day will be a full fry up for breakfast.
Then lunch / tea will be gammon and left over lamb with bubble and squeak and mash with dessert left over from yesterday

Seeing it all written down makes me think I’ve gone a bit over the top - but I’m soo looking forward to it