to provide this food...

[Whathashappenedtomyboobs]

So, this Christmas I have 11 family members (including DH, DS and I) coming to my home for Christmas dinner.
I really don't want to spend ALL of my time in the kitchen sweating over a hot stove, so today I went out and brought frozen Roast potatoes, parsnips, mixed veg, yorkshire pudding and peas. Nothing fresh in this house apart from the turkey I'm picking up Christmas eve and the puddings my mum will be making.

[TheCatIsEatingIt]

It'll get you out of having to do it next year.

[TheCatIsEatingIt]

Sorry, hadn't read your update. The new plan sounds lovely.

[HoratiaWinwood]

Good compromise OP. Life is too short to do everything yourself especially when you could be quaffing fizzy pop.

[Greensleeves]

OP - do NOT let this daft bloody thread cast a pall over your Christmas!

Another one here who had horrible tense Christmases as a child (every year - suitcases being emptied out of upstairs windows, people screaming and storming off in taxis at 2am, presents being coldly rejected/binned...the lot )

Everyone has certain elements of this huge sprawling cross-cultural "Christmas" phenomenon that mean something to them. I have to have the perfect crackers. If I can't find silver with frosted red berries then it's not the real deal. Chocolate advent calenders make me shit. DH paics about not finding brandy butter, we all hate the stuff. For some people, obviously it's all about the roasties .

Your Christmas is about YOU and your loved ones, not a load of foodies on the internet. It will be fine. They're frozen potatoes, not carbuncles from the last leper in Hell.

[yellowsubmarine53]

Excellent post, Greensleeves.

My dh too has brandy butter panics each year...

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

Frozen roasties are vile.

You can do your own - parboil and rough up, cover with dripping and then freeze them. Or just do all the veg prep on Christmas Eve, make your pigs in blankets in advance and freeze, the same with cranberry. Stuff the turkey and prep it for the oven the night before and then you don't need to be in the kitchen until a couple of hours before you want to eat.

I do eat shop bought mince pies in the run up to Christmas - ie now! - but I make my own for Christmas week, including making my own mincemeat.

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

I hadn't read your update - that sounds a good plan.

[bedmonster]

Twitchy You must be! I think they're rank and taste of cardboard! My lovely mum serves them as she doesn't like roasties (home made or otherwise) and can't stand the faff of them. Fair enough, and when she invites us for sunday dinner we always accept as the meal itself is a lovely afternoon for all of us, sitting round the table having a few glasses of wine and munching away. But the roasties make me heave!!!

[2ticks]

Blimey - from the comments on this thread you would think you had suggested serving the potatoes still frozen, straight from the freezer!

Only 7 here this year, but we will be using frozen potatoes, parsnips, peas and yorkshires (can't have a roast without yorkshires). No food snobbiness in my guests - thank goodness!

Enjoy the day!

[TerrorNotSoFrightened]

I have read this thread with interest.
And am still going to serve two bags of tesco finest goose fat roast potatoes.
:)

[cate16]

I did this once - BIG MISTAKE! Never again.

I'm all for short-cuts, however....
When you put lots of frozen roast potatoes in oven the temp plummets they take about 4 times as long to cook(and I've got a bloody good oven) - your timings go completely to pot........... frozen veg 'on mass' take ages to boil.
I ended up spending nearly all afternoon in kitchen, dinner was about 2 hours late, dinner was 'so, so' and I was knackered.

We'd had a bad year and I just wanted a simple day for the whole family.

Only ever did it the once, went back to good old method of prep night before- it's so much easier.

[FellatioNelson]

Grrrrr...I was starting to feel a bit sorry for you Whathas until you threw in the word pretentious! What on earth has pretention got to do with this? Since when was chopping and cooking some fresh veg, and actually, you know - making a bit of an effort for what is supposed to be the best feast of the year to mark a special family occasion 'pretentious'?

It's not like anyone has said you are beyond the pale unless you serve seven courses with homemade game pate, vintage champers and hand crafted petit fours, is it?

[FellatioNelson]

The one time we had Christmas dinner at my sisters she served turkey flavoured bisto gravy granules mixed with water (none of the lovely fresh turkey stock was involved AT ALL ) and whacked it on the table in a huge ugly plastic measuring jug.

Why? Why would you do that?

Will nobody think of poor baby Jesus?

[FellatioNelson]

However, will concede that if you are a poor/stressed cook then go to M&S and buy some ready made FRESH stuff. Goose fat roast potatoes and some spiced red cabbage, honeyed parsnips, sprouts with bacon, that kind of thing.

Just not school dinner fodder, pleeeeease.

(I'm clearly emotionally over-invested in this thread now.)

[PearlyWhites]

How do you prepare/ recook roast pototoes? That sounds like something to save me time

[FellatioNelson]

Par-boil your potatoes, until starting to go soft and flaky on the outside but still quite firmish in the centre. Drain them, leaveto stand for a bit so the steam comes off them, then put the lid back on the pan and give them a good shake. Don't go OTT (especially if you have boiled them a bit too much) otherwise they will disintegrate and you'll have roast mash.

After shaking look in the pan - they should be nice and bashed up around the edges; this is what will give you a crispy crunchy coating. Lay them out out a flat try to cool, and dust with seasoned flour. (I use a mix of flour and semolina but it's not a big deal if you don't.)

Once they are cool, put them in the fridge. You can do this the day before.

When you are ready to cook them, heat your fat of choice (for fantastic flavor I always choose either a tin/jar of goose fat or a good old fashioned block of beef dripping. But you can use olive oil (not extra virgin) or lard or sunflower oil - whatever.

It's best if the fat is really hot, so I usually get it to a good heat in a small pan first, then pour it over the potatoes and whack them in a very hot oven. Turnt hem once or twice halfway through. To get them nice and crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside you need a bit of space around them in the roasting dish, but if you have a small oven and lots of people that is not always possible. No matter, it just means you need to allow longer for them to crisp up. If you can space them well and have the over very high you can do them in half an hour flat, but realistically they usually take longer, what with the stuffing and pigs in blankets etc.

Take your turkey out earlier cover it in foil and leave it somewhere to rest while you do all this. It won't hurt to leave the turkey sitting for an hour or more.

Personally I never put the meat juices around the roast potatoes, as although it gives a great flavour it deters them from going really crispy. I use the meat juices for the gravy though.

[musicalendorphins]

I think your last plan is perfect.
Many frozen vegetables are excellent.
I have heard you can peel potatoes and keep them in water in a pot overnight out of the fridge , I would like to know if it is true, and if I could do it for carrots as well?

[FellatioNelson]

Of course you can!

[musicalendorphins]

Thanks :) , I'm glad to learn this, it will free up some time.

[oldnewmummy]

NUFC69

Parsnip and leek mash sounds great - could you share the recipe, please?

Anyone: I've never successfully managed proper fresh gravy - any tips? (Can't buy from M&S as in Australia.)

[Bunbaker]

"I have ordered a lovely turkey and sausages wrapped in bacon from our local farm shop. I will cook my own potatoes and veg but I will be using some frozen bits like parsnips (because they are lush)Yorkshire pud and peas and I'm buying gravy."

I would do that as well. Just tip the meat juices into the gravy and it will have that just made taste.

Am I the only one who doesn't do yorkshires with Christmas dinner?

Also who does do all the veg prep on Christmas day anyway? We have always done that on Christmas eve - even my mum and auntie did in their day.

[FellatioNelson]

No, bun I never do. It's just WRONG.

[RubyGates]

Do whatever you need to do to enjoy your Christmas day with your family.
Do you want to be that poor downtrodden woman from the Asda advert? Thought not.
How id being brow-beaten by a bunch of strangers from the internet any different from being bullied into spending all day int the kitchen by your family?

The only place I hear the word vile is on here! Frozen roasties are not vile! They're just not what many martyrs would chose to serve on Christmas day. If you have niether the time nor the inclination to prepare your own, and you'd rather spend the day acually interacting with your family then they're not going to be a bad option.

Don't listen to the meanies! Free yourself from the shackles of domestic expectation! Grasp your fizz bottle firmly in both hands! Go beyond the kitchen and watch your family have fun and JOIN IN!