To ask how you do a Christmas Dinner?

[Hofuckingho]

By that I mean, how do you get everything cooked ready at the same time? How can you roast meat, cook roasties, parsnips, Yorkshire puds, stuffing for a lot of people, with a domestic oven?

I have 12 coming, help.

We always have lots of veg
I do some kind of roast dinner every week or so and always have 2 potato type options and 5-6 other varieties of veg

Agree with simplifying things until you can manage and using good quality bought items and pre-making things at home in advance. Its better to have a simple but well cooked meal than a more complicated one you messed up a bit.

sushi depends where you live. My family would be in uproar if there were no Yorkshire puddings on Xmas day!!!

There would be a riot if I didn’t do homemade Yorkshire puddings. If you cook them early do they go soggy?

No not at all. I cook 12 every Sunday morning then reheat what we need. The rest go in the fridge or freezer to be eaten during the week.

Get yourself a hot tray! I've found mine really useful as it keeps stuff hot while you're waiting for the rest. Put tin foil over the turkey and a tea towel on top, it stops the heat escaping and will stay hot for ages xx

Yorkshires definitely won’t go soggy. I would do them before eating if thy did, as they’re one of my favourite parts of a roast. I cook them the day before, then pile them in the overn a few minutes before we want them and they’re perfect. Everything else is fine for me, but heating the oil till it’s spitting hot, then keeping the oven door closed for 20+ minutes is a right pain when you’ve got other stuff in there. I give you my MN word of honour, they won’t deflate or go soggy.

My regime is get up and make cup of tea whilst contemplating the tasks...

Prep turkey - season it, make the stuffing and put some in the bird. Then I put a bit of water in the bottom of the roasting dish and wrap it tightly in foil. It goes in the oven around 9.30 - 10 depending on its size.

Then I peel the potatoes and leave in a pan of water. When ready I boil them for around 10 minutes. Drain them and bash them around in the pan a bit to fluff them up. They can be left for a bit oil you are ready to cook them. They go in an hour before eating.

I prepare the sprouts and carrots for microwaving, I hate sprouts but others like them so I do them. They get 5 minutes zapping just before I serve them. Red cabbage is prepared the day or 2 before. I cook it in the pressure cooker and it's delicious. It just needs warming through. I never parboil parsnips. I cut them into strips, coat them in olive oil and chuck in the oven for 30 minutes when the turkey comes out otherwise they are cremated.

The turkey is basted every 60 minutes for the first 2 hours and then if it needs more cooking, every 30 after that. 30 minutes before it's ready, I chuck the sausages in (no pigs in blankets here as we don't eat pork). Potatoes go in at the same time as the sausages. Turkey comes out 30 minutes before we are due to eat then the parsnips and stuffing go in the oven. Starters plated up, microwave starts and we eat.

I write all my timings down then as the alcohol flows, I can keep a track of what is going on. Keep the booze going then if you have any minor mishaps, nobody will care. Good luck!

All my prep is done the night before or when I get up.Probably the latter this year as working 24th.
Turkey gets put on first.
Then everything else just follows as and when it needs to go in.

Never taken my turkey out half an hour/hour before everything else is ready,it'd be cool/cold. Not poisoned anyone yet.

Also, let your meat come to room temperature before you cook it, makes cooking times more reliable.

I cook the pigs in blankets and stuffing for the last 20-30 mins the turkey is in the oven. Turkey is then rested for an hour while I put in the potatoes, then parsnips and Yorkies. Pigs in blankets and stuffing are then popped in for 5 mins to reheat. Sprouts and carrots are done on the hob. Gravy comes in granule form because I can't be arsed and sauces come in a jar

Do it all in advance. Parboil the potatoes, rough them up and then open freeze on a tray. When frozen, put in a freezer bag. Cook from frozen on the day. Parboil the parsnips, and then as above. Parboil carrots and either freeze or leave in fridge, then roast on the day. Stuffing and bread sauce - make ahead and freeze.

On the day, decide what time you want to eat and then work backwards. There is no need to be faffing about with much on the day - and the roast potatoes are so much nicer from frozen .

Remember it really is just a roast dinner.

Apologies for the Daily Fail link (and the patronising tone of the article), but here's how I do it all.