To ask about your alternative Christmas dinners

[FourteenSixteenTwentyTwo]

Every year I do the turkey roast, make too much food, spend most of the day in and out of the kitchen (drinking far too much champagne to keep up the enthusiasm), only to be left with a kitchen full of washing up and more leftovers than will fit in the fridge.

So not this year. I want to do something different. I'm somewhere between picky food and just ordering a curry. What do you do that's different?

W
How about cooking your usual meal for Christmas Eve dinner with just the veg you will eat then you can have buffet with leftover cold meat and some nice goodies for the next few days? Less time in the kitchen and you can relax on Christmas Day.

Only two of us here now. Aunt Bessie's roasties l, honey roast parsnips and Yorkshires, chicken breast crown, assorted tinned or frozen add ons (veg, fresh mash, ready made pigs in blankets, ready made gravy that just needs microwaving etc etc. Just a matter of timing and checking on a few times. Much easier and all done within an hour and half.

@Reallybadidea

We've started having our Christmas Dinner on Xmas eve and then leftovers/party food on Xmas day. It means all the hard work is done and then we can just enjoy the day itself, opening presents, snacking and watching TV. It works really well for us.

We do this too. We have a good free-range chicken as it's nicer than turkey. DP and I cook together. We tend to have it slightly eastern Med-style – with roast potatoes, of course (we make tons so there's lots cold for the next day), but then rather than cooked veg and gravy we'll do a minty yoghurt sauce and usually a grainy salad with pomegranate and spices, and some simple steamed veg like green beans/green leafy things.

We get in nice bread, pickles, salads, fancy crisps, deli things like potato salad and olives etc for Xmas Day and graze in front of the telly.

I hate cooking Christmas dinner, I'm not a great cook tbh. I've finally persuaded the DC to order in a big Chinese.

For the first time ever, we ordered a curry (delivered) on Christmas Day. It was lovely not to have to cook, although I did miss the leftovers for Boxing Day etc!

We go to an Indian restaurant on Christmas Day night

We don't usually have Turkey, but we do all the cooking and washing up as a family so it doesn't all fall on me. Even Grandad chops and peels, and everyone has time to play with the kids etc.
This year it's smoked salmon mousse (made by my mum the day before, Beef Wellington which will be my contribution, made the day before, and a great big chocolate cherry trifle (Nigella recipe) also made in advance. Very little to do on the day.

@FourteenSixteenTwentyTwo

DP does help, but it just all feels really wasteful. There's only the three of us this year, and DS will only eat the veggies and not the meat.

I like the idea of just buying it all pre-prepped. All my time seems to be spent making a variety of side dishes (which I do like) so buying those makes sense.

This is a very un mums net thing to admit to but, I don't make any of my Christmas dinner from scratch. It's all frozen roast potatoes, frozen veg, aunt Bessie's Yorkshire puddings, oxo stuffing and Bisto gravy. Tell a lie, we do proper mash.

I have two kids who are 6 and 8. They just want to eat chocolate and play. My DH and I just want to enjoy the day with them and relax. We're not entertaining family. I'm not martyring myself for a perfect Christmas dinner when no one cares. My DS asked for pizza and chips for his Christmas Dinner this year because he doesn't like roast dinner anyway. I'm tempted to do it.

We had a massive greasy fry-up instead of a Christmas dinner last year.

It was yummy!!!

I agree that having your big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve works very well for a fantastic Christmas Day. We’ve done that in years gone by just because we like to mix it up a bit (and I grew up with the 24th being the main day for celebration). Another thing is we always have our Christmas dinner at dinner time. Cuts out so much stress because there’s no need to freak out about timings and faff about with cooking a roast first thing in the morning. It’s done when it’s done, no hassle or stress. We always have a leisurely brunch with bubbly and/or Buck’s Fizz, croissants or cinnamon buns, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on German grain bread. And lots of good coffee of course. It feels wonderfully luxurious to laze about and starts the day off so nicely.

a great big chocolate cherry trifle (Nigella recipe)
That is SUCH a good recipe. I feel like making one now, even though it's only me and DP at Xmas this year...

I know a family who have their big Christmas dinner on boxing day out at a local restaurant – it’s much cheaper than the 25th.
And on Christmas day itself they make their own pizzas, they each get a base and sit as a family doing their toppings and sauce etc and eat together once all baked. A bit quirky but they love it, and they always have fun preparing them together.

@HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule

I agree that having your big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve works very well for a fantastic Christmas Day. We’ve done that in years gone by just because we like to mix it up a bit (and I grew up with the 24th being the main day for celebration). Another thing is we always have our Christmas dinner at dinner time. Cuts out so much stress because there’s no need to freak out about timings and faff about with cooking a roast first thing in the morning. It’s done when it’s done, no hassle or stress. We always have a leisurely brunch with bubbly and/or Buck’s Fizz, croissants or cinnamon buns, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on German grain bread. And lots of good coffee of course. It feels wonderfully luxurious to laze about and starts the day off so nicely.

Yes, I find the Xmas lunch thing weird and stressful. I remember my mother getting up at the crack of butt to get the turkey in. Then you just end up having lunch at something like 3.30pm, so you get hungry again at a strange time in the evening. I love brunch so I much prefer doing that. For us though we'll have that sort of brunch on Xmas day, then our leftovers later.

@Reallybadidea

We've started having our Christmas Dinner on Xmas eve and then leftovers/party food on Xmas day. It means all the hard work is done and then we can just enjoy the day itself, opening presents, snacking and watching TV. It works really well for us.

Yes! We do this too - game changer.

My parents come for Xmas dinner on the eve, ILs come Xmas day for buffet, I don't have to cook much & get to enjoy the DC opening presents while I sip bucks fizz.... everyone is happy!

Ours isn't alternative, but it isn't the huge leftovers and chaos of many people's Christmas dinners. We have a goose, or a duck depending on numbers (duck for 4, goose for 6) and the sides are just like a normal roast. So if you can cook a Sunday roast without the insanity, it's really no difference. We have roast potatoes, broccoli, carrots and sprouts with gravy. Cook only what we need for a normal dinner. Costs less and is a lot less stress.
I always say Christmas is what you make of it. You can cook anything. If you want to pre make a lasagna, do it! There are no rules. For us Christmas is about having a day where we do what makes us happy, no expectations.

We had curry one year (homemade) but usually I do a roast of some sort. This year will try and pre prep all the sides and freeze. We'll have roast chicken and homemade gravy. It's not too much faff and at least I can hide in the kitchen !!

I've ordered the M&S fillet of beef and pre-prepped dauphinouse potatoes, so just need to make a gravy which I'll do in advance and some green veg on the day. Then we'll have pudding, cheese and snacks in the evening.

Last year I bought a £65 turkey for the four of us, spent all day getting increasingly frazzled and drunk in the kitchen, and we ate about a quarter of it. Even the cats got sick of it in the end and we threw masses away. Really shameful.

We are not religious so treat Christmas as a midwinter festival/break. When the children were little the big focus was on their presents, but they are adults now, so it's really just a chance for the family to get together uninterrupted.

I'm a firm believer in doing what works for you and what you will all enjoy, not just what you think is expected. Consult the whole family and make sure the other two understand that they should be helping out with food preparation and clearing up if that's what you want.

I really enjoy cooking and eating a traditional Christmas dinner, and I've done it so many times now it's not difficult, so I'm perfectly happy to get on with that, and I also clear up as I know what I want to do with the leftovers, and I am also one of those saddos who can't stand other people stacking the dishwasher the wrong way. Then in succeeding days there's sod all to do in the way of shopping and cooking as we just graze on leftovers and the treat stuff until it runs out.

This wouldn't work for everyone. Lots of people find it nervewracking or don't enjoy cooking. Clearly lots of people feel put upon that the whole load of organising this high stakes meal falls on them. In those cases, you need to look for a better way of doing things. I like reading about other people's Christmas dinners. One day, when I'm a bit more doddery, or if it ends up just being the two of us at Christmas, I will probably have to accept we need to do things differently too, so I am storing away ideas.

@Hoolihan

I've ordered the M&S fillet of beef and pre-prepped dauphinouse potatoes, so just need to make a gravy which I'll do in advance and some green veg on the day. Then we'll have pudding, cheese and snacks in the evening.

Last year I bought a £65 turkey for the four of us, spent all day getting increasingly frazzled and drunk in the kitchen, and we ate about a quarter of it. Even the cats got sick of it in the end and we threw masses away. Really shameful.

That painted such a delightful mental image! 🤣

If you ever end up with 3/4 of a turkey again, do portion it out and freeze it as it means you don’t have to try to eat it all in the week after Christmas.

Your fillet of beef and dauphinois potatoes will make a glorious feast. If I can make a suggestion for a side, I’ve found that roasted beetroot with red onion and balsamic vinegar makes a lovely pairing with beef. If you’re interested I’ll try to find the recipe I use.

Our local butcher makes fresh turkey parcels with ham and stuffing wrapped inside the turkey. They are individual portions and when the kids were small I’d get these to save faff and waste. I’ve already ordered my turkey from a farm for this year as I do like the traditional dinner and don’t find it stressful - I cook the turkey and gammon the day before so just reheat and the pigs in blankets etc are made in the weeks before and put in the freezer. We just defrost and cook what we need at the time. It doesn’t have to be a chore

This year on Christmas Day we are doing M&S - Seafood cocktail, lamb with classic veg selection with dessert tbc. We're booked into a fancy hotel for a Boxing Day lunch with all of the trimmings as we couldn't get Christmas Day tables anywhere.

I cook the turkey on Christmas eve, then carve and cover with gravy in an oven dish. It can be reheated easily on the day. I also buy most veg and trimmings pre-prepared. For one day I don't mind using aluminium disposable ttrays.The dessert is also premade, usually M&S! Christmas, for me, isn't for spending in the kitchen. There have been years we've had steak instead, another easy option.

@FrenchBoule Capons in the UK are a rare thing ! Surgical castration of the male bird is legal, but not many poulterers do this anymore. We always had one for Christmas as no one liked turkey. I've not seen one in a butchers shop for years now.

We grill a beef tenderloin filet, and order the rest of the sides & such from Cook.

Job done.

We did BBQ last year and a turkey crown as we like the leftovers. And a sea food platter ready made from local fishmonger. We had an eclectic bunch of people staying for whom Christmas isn't a big thing. It was really nice.

If there was just 3 of us I'd probably do a whole fish in the oven or steaks on the BBQ.

Or buy it in from M&S, we did that one year, everything ready made apart from the roasties (my roasties are fantastic) and it was easy if expensive.