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?

When you were assigned female at birth, did they not drop off the courtesy goody bag of oven mitts and cookery book with your vagina?

I'd ask for a refund.

I can do it. I just don’t want to, I don’t like eating it (I don’t like Sunday dinner either) so I’m not standing cooking it.

We have buffet in our house, lots of M&S party food, a nice ham. Easy and no stress.

We get a takeaway full Christmas dinner from the local hotel every year. Awesome and no cooking for anyone!

A Michelin starred chef said once that they just shove the turkey in the oven and hope for the best. That's pretty much my approach except I don't like turkey so will have another lump of meat instead.

Nope, you're not alone. DP does 80% of the cooking in this house (inc the Christmas dinner) simply because he enjoys cooking more than I do and he does a far better job of it!

I can cook, but nothing that requires more than two pans being ready at the same time. So no roasts, even a proper full English is beyond my capabilities.

I always get invited to family for Christmas- there's a massive difference between the people who genuinely enjoy cooking and my poor ex SIL for example, who got really stressed, but felt like she HAD to do things a certain way. Everybody appreciated the effort, but it would be a lot better to have less food and fancy stuff, and have the person in charge relaxed and happy, surely.

I do, but I don't enjoy it. I like makinģ one pot dishes. I am praying for a lockdown so no-one except my mum can come round tbh.

I can do it ...but I hate to say it and would never tell him , my twat of an ex cooked the best xmas lunches ever.
I go to my mums for lunch now
My brother does the xmas lunch for his family because sil readily admits she cant cook

Christmas dinner is incredibly hard. I do it, but I get the whole family to help with chopping veg, doing preparations the night before...also DH helps on the day. Can't imagine how anyone does it completely alone!

Never tried, but let long term vegetarian, so I would struggle.

Me! OH is an ex-chef and can whip up a Christmas dinner with minimal effort. I, on the other hand, would get the timings all wrong, probably burn stuff and end up in tears! 🤣 Plus I refuse to spend Christmas Day in the kitchen!

I do cook the Christmas dinner in our house as I love doing roasts in general and I am a Christmas nut. HOWEVER, DH does the rest of the cooking year round as I am not very good/interested.

He also jointly made our first Christmas dinner when we hosted people. He would be perfectly happy doing it but I am a control freak and like to do it myself!

DH always does xmas dinner at our house. I help out but I couldn't do it all myself.

Any one can make a Christmas dinner it’s not rocket science.
You choose not to which is perfectly acceptable.

I can't cook stuffing. It always goes stodgy.

I also can't get nice crispy Yorkshire puddings either so I leave both of those to my OH.

@scrappydappydoooooo

I don't really like Christmas dinner. I think it's bloody stupid. It's just an extra faffy roast, a fucking faffy never worth the effort dinner in the first place. With extra faff thrown in. If it was up to me, I'd make a simple dinner of a favourite comfort food like a big pasta bake or fajitas and salad. Something delicious which takes about 20 minutes of cooking and is simple to clean up after.

The big stupid roast just absolutely ruins Christmas day. It's not the past any more, it's not an amazing special feast of foods that we could never normally eat. Hours spent making the same food we could all eat every day of the week on a day that should just be spent happily soaking up our children's joy. I spend Christmas day at my parent's house and my mum is always there stressing herself out to make a big stupid dinner and I end up feeling compelled to help out even though I just want to chill with DS and it's my dad and brothers who care about the ridiculous dinner. Then I end up having to eat loads of food that I genuinely don't want to eat. If I'm going to stuff myself into an uncomfortable level of food, it better be absolutely delicious, not a boring, overly complicated roast. So many years of me going, no, I don't want turkey and ham, I don't really like turkey on a roast dinner, I'll just have ham. And then feeling like I'm being a spoilsport for not eating the damn turkey.

Don't go round there if you appreciate it so little and resent helping!

It's roast dinner, hardly any cooking skills needed, just prepping and the physical exertion of opening the oven door, putting something in. You could get pre-prepared everything from any supermarket these days, pencil a list of times, watch the telly while it cooks and shout at DH whenever the oven dings.

The "Christmas" worthy part of the meal is quantity of food and little things like brussel sprouts (stick in oven), cranberry sauce (jar) or goose-fat roast potatoes (store bought in foil tray), which I & DH never eat any other time of the year, plus added fancy desserts like a yule log.

I can do it, I'm quite a good cook. I just usually refuse as I, and everyone else in the house, prefer other food over a roast. The few times I have done it though- it is just a roast dinner. I'm not sure why I'd have to get up at stupid O'clock in the morning to do it.

I cook lots of different things from different cultures and I swear, a typical English roast with all the trimmings is the most cumbersome and tricky meal to cook.
We do have Xmas dinner but it’s very simple. Roast meat of some kind, roast potatoes and 2 or 3 veg and gravy (which isn’t too tricky when just deglazing the pan and adding a few bits. Helps with the washing up too)
Just cook to your strengths. You can still have an enjoyable meal without going all out and getting stressed.

@TeenyTinyDustinHoffman

I can do it, I'm quite a good cook. I just usually refuse as I, and everyone else in the house, prefer other food over a roast. The few times I have done it though- it is just a roast dinner. I'm not sure why I'd have to get up at stupid O'clock in the morning to do it.

I assumed the only reason people get up early to cook is because massive turkeys take ages? We don’t have turkey so don’t know for sure, but always thought that was why.

I once watched a programme where a family sat down for Christmas dinner and the dad said "best meal of the year". I really don't think it is! It's nice enough but it's nothing that special...I like all the extras...canapes, cheeseboard, chocolates etc but the actual meal of Turkey, potatoes and veg is pretty dull to me. Yeah you can make it nice and have interesting, tasty side dishes but even if it's all delicious and well cooked its boring.

@Pandoraslastchance

I can't cook stuffing. It always goes stodgy.

I also can't get nice crispy Yorkshire puddings either so I leave both of those to my OH.

I use packet stuffing (quelle horreur). I finely chop an onion and gently cook it in loads of butter. If you add that, including all the melted butter, to the mix, plus some cranberries/chestnuts or whatever, it is much lighter.

I think there's a lot of pressure filtered down from from the likes of Jamie Oliver, nigella, Gordon Ramsey to do perfect roast potatoes, perfect turkey and fancy sides.
When my dc went vegetarian I ditched the whole goose fat thing and went back to my old straightforward way of doing roast potatoes, and they generally come out very well.
Ditto I just boil carrots and sprouts, I don't grate anything on them or bother with chestnuts.

@Lalalatte

I think there's a lot of pressure filtered down from from the likes of Jamie Oliver, nigella, Gordon Ramsey to do perfect roast potatoes, perfect turkey and fancy sides. When my dc went vegetarian I ditched the whole goose fat thing and went back to my old straightforward way of doing roast potatoes, and they generally come out very well. Ditto I just boil carrots and sprouts, I don't grate anything on them or bother with chestnuts.

I don't think you can blame them. The fuss over Christmas dinner started long before those chefs ever got involved.

Christmas dinner is just a roast

Cancel the cheque!!