To ask if there are other WOMEN who can't produce a Xmas dinner

[JudyShakes]

Every year on MN there are threads started by women saying that are fed up of doing Christmas dinner, or they don't feel well enough this year etc. And posters will pipe up "get DH/DP to do it!"

DH does the Christmas and most other cooking here. Am I the only FEMALE who would really struggle to produce a Xmas meal that was special enough to deserve the name?

I come from a long line of slatterns do it's marks and Spencer all the way for me.

Put everything in the oven, spend 3 hours in the kitchen getting drunk and emerge with a beautiful Christmas dinner for 6. Perfect.

@Rosebel

Whenever I read these threads I think I must be doing something wrong. Christmas dinner in our house is just a, roast plus pigs in blankets. Since I do a roast every Sunday it's no different but maybe I should be doing something a bit more special.

Well we have tortelli as a starter as DS loves pasta and is not fussed about a roast dinner . It is me who like the roast with all the trimmings. This makes the start of the meal complicated as you try to cook tortelli while doing the last 15 mins of the roast

We also have vegetation options and meat to cook so the oven never really has enough space for everything ( even when the meat has been taken out to rest). I ended up pre planning which trays to use for what and how they would fit in the oven at what time and which serving dishes to use the last time I cooked for 10 at Christmas. I even labelled them I also have ADD which meant this planning took.me absolutely ages. It did work in the end but it was definitely stressful.

It's just like a Sunday roast. You must be the only female in the whole wide world OP

I can do a good roast/Xmas dinner but I resent being tied to the kitchen for a large portion of the afternoon and waiting on our guests!

A couple of yrs ago it was just the 3 of us and we stayed in pjs all day, ate chocolate and finger food. It was great!

Both myself and DH have taken it in turns to cook a Christmas dinner. The trick is not to be drunk before you take the main course out of the oven.

For everyone who hates it/can't do roast/should not be allowed near an oven...don't do it. Go for a slap-up buffet, arrange for a delivery,
organise a hot-plate (where everyone cooks their own food) or make Christmas Pizza a tradition.

It's not compulsory to have a turkey or nut roast with all the trimmings. Be adventurous!

It’s just a roast.

Equally if you CBA, the whole thing can be replicated with M&S foil trays and a bit of sliding in, sliding out.

I've never cooked a Christmas dinner in my life! Married twice....both husbands did more of the cooking than me!

I'm autistic and dysphraxic and do struggle with timings for things like this.
But I'm also vegetarian so there are ways to pre cook eg beetroot and stuffing Wellington or whatever.
I need a sous chef as otherwise I would cut myself and everything would be ready at different times.
But I make nice roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings (which we will eat on Christmas).

In my defense I have grown my own sprouts this year.
I seem to cook them ok.

DP has worked in vegan restaurants as a sous chef and can do a roast dinner with no troubles but she isn't a man.
My dad could cook (and has cooked) a fab roast for Christmas. One year he did all vegetarian mains etc to accommodate us, but dd had been looking forward to something poultry related so she was a bit miffed.

Before when I lived alone with small dc, I used to scour the reduced ready meal cupboard in supermarkets at Christmas eve and serve up something passable and slightly past the use by date. Everyone seemed to live though it. And we had more room for dessert.

Tl:dr
I am a woman.
I could, but would need help.
I would prefer someone competent to do it.
I think roast dinners are quite challenging even if I am good at making some components.

Neither of us can do it or have any interest in making one. Lucky M&S have us covered. I can’t do a fry up type breakfast either. Two many things to serve warm at the same time.

I have done it, but I hated it, mainly because of the turkey. I'm a good cook generally but I hate cooking a whole chicken or turkey - I find it hard to get right, I follow instructions and cooking times and it's still pink inside, etc, or I cook it too long to make sure it's safe and then it's dried out. And there's all that conflicting advice about stuffing and whether you should pit things inside and all that. And I hate dealing with it afterwards, yuck.

I'm good with organisation and I can happily time lots of trimmings, veg and roasties to coincide (if I'm left alone that is - cannot stand people hanging around the kitchen and getting in my way), but the fucking turkey always throws a spanner in the works. So, a few years ago I stopped doing it and will only cook a turkey breast or turkey steaks to go with the rest. SO much easier, and nicer IMO. If someone wants the full giant bird they can do it.

Since splitting up with ex though, it's usually just a small thing with the DC and not crowds of people, which suits me a lot better.

I don't either, never tried! DH quite likes cooking, and especially likes the fancy, Sunday-dinner-roast sort of cooking, so Christmas dinner is definitely his thing when we're at home for Christmas (I help out, obviously, but he's very much the boss!). Other years when we're away from home it's either my mum (who also doesn't like anyone else messing in "her" kitchen) or whoever we're staying with - again I'll help out where needed (peeling, chopping, being an extra set of hands) and set tables and stuff, but am more than happy to leave all the turkey-wrangling and complicated timings to someone else

@ArosGartref

I come from a long line of slatterns do it's marks and Spencer all the way for me.

Put everything in the oven, spend 3 hours in the kitchen getting drunk and emerge with a beautiful Christmas dinner for 6. Perfect.

You see even this is too simplified to me. Most of those trays have different cooking times, some have different temperatures. If you are cooking for 10, you need quite a few of them so they don't fit properly.
My view is that m& s stuff saves a bit of prep work which is great but the actual cooking it on the day still requires timers set and being on call to the the kitchen to put different things at different times and playing jigsaw puzzle with the oven trays

In the end I'd rather do my own prep as the food tastes better to me when it is done and I don't mind that bit. It is the actual getting it all done at the right time that I don't like.

Come on OP you'd be able to do better than Denise in a Royle Family classic Christmas dinner - Cup-a-Soup "with a twist - it's going to be in a bowl"

I've never done one. My husband is a great self taught cook and really happy to do it all from scratch. If it was just me, M&S pre-prepped options would be the order of the day.

For the last couple of years we’ve just bought pre-made from M&S, and you stick the foil trays in the oven for whatever time they say on the packs.

We do prefer to cook from scratch, it’s just not worth it on Christmas morning when we want to be spending time with the kids.

I could produce "a" Christmas dinner. Especially this year with the limited numbers.

I couldn't produce the quality of Christmas dinner DH usually does for the number of people (usually 25-29) in the way he does.

I would find the oven Krypton Factor of trying to fit everything in at the right time incredibly stressful. Same with making loads of different side dishes, I'd have to limit to a couple. Whereas DH finds it relaxing and enjoyable.

I used to do Christmas dinner, now DH does. Who cares?

I've never cooked a Christmas dinner or even a roast dinner as dh does the cooking here too

The potatoes sometimes take twice the time it says on the packs though, worth sticking them in earlier!

Probably could but I've never tried. Never done an ordinary roast either, DH does all our cooking.

We usually share the cooking if we are both at home. It’s much easier and quicker to prep if there are two of you peeling and chopping and with some music and wine it’s a nice part of the Christmas Day morning or Christmas Eve evening.

Another one here my DH has always done the Christmas dinner and any other cooked meals I haven't the patience.
I don't mind baking and I prefer to wash up the dishes as DH isn't so good at that so we made a compromise which we are both happy with he cooks I clean.

I can cook it fine! It's just 4 hours late, at different temperatures and I'm pissed by the time it's served.

@Herja - yep, this is me! I once bought a fresh goose for our Christmas Eve dinner at 6.00pm and it was finally dished up on the table, with all the trimmings and sauces and veggies imaginable, at 00.30 the next morning. To be fair, we were all quite pissed by then, but also hungry!

Dh always cooks the Christmas Dinner in our house, he makes the best roast dinners. I set the table, keep the drinks topped up, sort out pudding and clean up after.