What can you pre-prepare to make Xmas dinner easier on the day?

[maria2bela1]

Any tips/tricks welcome please!!

Why does it depress you?

In-laws cook turkey day before and have it cold with everything else hot

we just get pre made meat from m and s and make all the veg and spuds ourselves

Gravy. All the puddings. Better still, just do posh ice-cream, vanilla or coffee, and pour Jimenez sherry over it like Nigella does.

MIL used to cook her turkey Christmas Eve then just reheat it

How do you do this without the turkey drying out, and do you reheat the meat?! I’m too nervous to cook it the day before in case it dries out!

And also, what recipes for your own gravy are you all using??

Pot Noodle is you friend here.
A kettle, pre-boiled, quickens the pot 'à la table'.)

(Maybe two kettles if you have a number of invitees.)

Jamie Oliver's Christmas Day gravy( make on the day but it's really easy). Cooks away for half an hour while you do other things.

I’m doing duck confit which will have been made and stored this weekend. I’ll do potatoes on the day and finish them under the duck legs so the potatoes are sublime and the duck legs crispy. I’ll have pickled radishes in advance and they’l go in a salad with pears and walnuts. I’ll do another salad with bacon, chestnuts and radicchio. Sherry affogato for pudding. I will buy in the icecream, but if I had an ice cream machine that could be made in advance. same sherry can stay on the table to accompany cheese and pickled figs (made in advance)if anyone wants it.

Mince pies for those who like them later on; ham (cooked in advance) with pickles, cheese, bit of bread if anyone wants more later on.

Can't speak for that PP but I find it a bit sad too. All these women finding so many extra bits to do that they have to make it take days to prepare instead of many hands making light work.

And there's something sad about visualising all these vegetables peeled and chopped and sitting round in water ahead of time. Maybe they do all come out just as well as if they are just cooked fresh but it's an unappealing visual image.

Am I the only one who doesn’t find that the Christmas deal needs to be treated like this massive military exercise?

Peel some potatoes and veg. Parboil and shove in the oven. Stick the bird in the oven too. And towards the end sort out your pigs in blankets, Yorkshire puds etc. The only bit I hate is the cauliflower cheese (daughters insist).

So on Xmas eve day we -

season/stuff the turkey
chop veg and potatoes and put in water
make yorkies

we buy pigs in blankets, stuffing and gravy from the butchers so no prep there.

We buy pre made desserts too.

So on the day it’s just a case of cooking/reheating everything

There are lots of make ahead and freeze recipes available - Jamie Oliver does a great make ahead gravy and a friend of mine has been following Sam Nixon on Instagram, who is doing a whole series of make ahead Christmas prep which she is finding a great help as it will cut down a lot of the stress in the day itself.

Because I've only just started my list!!!

We have dinner at around 5.30 so I actually quite enjoy doing stuff on the day 2pm to 4pm with a drink in hand and after presents all opened etc - I also I’m afraid don’t do anything involving peeling spuds and get nice pigs in blankets from butchers ,

I season the chopped up ox tails/chicken pieces well with S&P and roast them in a deep roasting tray on a very high heat for about 20 mins until they are browned and sizzling. I then add chopped leeks, celery and carrots (I have bags of these in the freezer all the time as I use them in all stocks/gravies/stews etc) a sachet of bouquet garni and fill the tray with water, it's then left either in the oven on low for a few hours or in the slow cooker.
I strain it when cooled and leave to go cold in order to skim off the fat from the top, it then gets boiled on the hob on high heat until it's reduced by about a 1/3 and then depending on the quantity and taste I may add a beef/chicken stock pot.
On the day I then add in any juices from the meats and thicken it with cornflour. We have 2 large flasks at home and to free up space on the hop we usually fill these with the gravy until needed

I prep all the veg the day before. Someone on here said they par boil, coat in oil and then chill them and they then just roast them on the day and it works really well so will be doing that again.
The turkey is brined for a couple of days so it is simply just drying it off and roasting it for x amount of time.
The ham is baked the day before and we have some for our Christmas Eve dinner.
I usually make the red cabbage a month or so ahead, but I've not have freezer space so will be making it a day or so before.
I am buying in pre-made pigs in blankets this year, so I don't need to worry about those. I forgot to make them one year!

I think the best thing you can do is write down the timings and oven temperatures of everything working back from when you want to sit down and eat. It's much easier to do this way before the day, and you can just tick it off as you do each bit. When I started to do this, I found the day much less stressful.

But also, keep in mind, it's just a Sunday roast with a few extras. I find if I have too many proseccos it can make things go a bit awry, so I try not to have too much now. Much more relaxing.

M&S is doing it all for us this year but I usually pre-roast my potatoes & then just chuck in the oven from frozen. No additional fat required and can be made and frozen weeks in advance. Double cooking means lovely and soft in the middle and crispy on the outside. Yum!

But none of them have said they don't enjoy doing it as far as I can see. I love hosting and cooking, I think everything tastes better cooked from scratch so I prepare ahead and freeze so I'm not doing it all on the day. I don't like other people in the kitchen while I cook so they do things like set the table, sort the drinks, carry things in when I ask, and clear up afterwards.

Nope. Once the oven has cooled down I’ll put it back in overnight (to keep it away from the cat). Next day it’ll be warm and easier to carve. Just serve it up with gravy and the other trimmings. No guests just me dh and ds2 for dinner. No one minds 🤣

One of our quick 'roasts' now we're only two, is to use thinly sliced cooked beef (from anywhere decent) and make sure it's out of the fridge early on and pour on the hot gravy.

My cousin does that. She swears that, if the plates are hot, you don't realise the meat is cold, once it's sliced and covered in gravy

Most things can be frozen once cooked without it having an impact on flavour or texture.

We used to make the brussels, carrots, parsnips, roast potatoes, red cabbage, bread sauce, cauliflower cheese and creamed swede in advance and freeze it all. Take it out the night before to defrost and heat up in the oven, or some things like the red cabbage were suitable to go in a microwave. You just need to undercook everything slightly so take everything out ten minutes before its ready. Then on the day its just the meats, gravies and yorkshire puddings. If meat was donated early we would sometimes freeze it, defrost it and cook it the day before as we were always paranoid it wouldn’t be defrosted for cooking time.

If you are having guests get them all to bring/make something. We all tend to make and bring a different dish or side in my family. I usually make the cake but this year we are hosting so someone else is bringing the cake - DH is making the chicken and I am going to make the fiddly starters and decorate.

Pigs in blankets are in freezer as is meat stuffing.
Veg all done the night before.

I cook a Christmas dinner on 23 and 25 December, relatives from overseas visit on 23.

My cooking challenge is Chinese New Year, multiple dishes.