How to stop over-catering at Christmas

[shapesandnoise]

I know this should be a simple "buy less" and I am generally a frugal-minded, concious shopper. I hate food waste and try my best to avoid it. All our left-overs will get eaten and we will graze through all the goodies but the management of this stresses me out. Every year I say I will try and manage the quantities better and every year I fail! So looking for tips from those of you who manage it. I cooked for 7 and did 5 small roasts each, still loads left! A carrot each, still loads left, 2 turkey joints (to serve 4 each) definitely more than one portion left.

So those of you who are experts at hosting and with minimal left at the end of your festive time, please post your quantity/general tips here.

But what exactly is your issue op?
You have very little left, & the leftovers you do have get eaten.

We were away for Christmas day but cooked our own turkey crown dinner on 26th & we've been eating it since then! Happily so.

We just had the last of the turkey in sandwiches with homemade sage & onion stuffing & cranberry sauce for dnner this evening & they were delicious

We haven't cooked our ham yet so we'll be having that tomorrow night for dinner & we'll eat those leftovers until NYE & nothing will get wasted

Thats criminal, I would be in there with my tupperware.

I think that’s right, OP. Doubling the number of sides means people need half as much of each one. Eg I would want to provide at least two portions of veg per person at a meal, that’s 160g. So if you’re doing two veg that’s 80g of each, but if you’re doing 4 different veg its only 40g of each veg which is minute.

(Before anyone tells me we need at least 5 a day, yes I know. But I find with dinners people don’t routinely serve themselves much more than two portions each unless it’s a very veg-centric meal like shakshuka etc)

Make a note of everything you have leftover this year and buy less of those items next year. Nobody ate the cheese selection or the crackers selection last year so I didn’t buy any this year and nobody noticed, except me - I won’t be eating cheese for the first two weeks of January this year!

I think my issue is the excess. The organisation of it, the feeling I have spent more than I need, the planning of how to use stuff up. I have grown up with two post-war scottish parents who don't throw away or waste anything. I find a full fridge unsettling, as I worry what will go off or need to be chucked. If I am visiting someone and they are chucking food away at the end of a meal, I feel uncomfortable. But on paper, I know it is a very privileged problem to have. I was just interested to hear how others manage the planning of it.

I had a spreadsheet with 5 days worth of meals on it.

I think when you are having "a feast", you have to do a bit of over-catering.

Carrots were 9p a bag, so there is really no need to be frugal. You can still put any leftovers in tupperware. Same with sprouts.

I like a bit of leftovers as it means I don't have to do a lot of cooking the next day.

I made a pie with the leftovers.

Blue cheese, make a pasta sauce with it.

@shapesandnoise i still don't understand though. Is your aim.to cook roast christmas dinner for 5 people & have zero waste at all? As in exact measurements? I think that's v hard to.do without undercatering.

If you are eating the leftover cooked & uncooked veg etc for other meals then how are you wasting money or food?

I solved one of the cheese situations - had cheeseboard earlier right next to air fryer making prawn toasts and ended up with a melted Brie and not in a good way .

In my family 5 adults is more like 9 adults.

I have tried to explain, it ok not to understand me :)

As long as you don’t actually throw anything away it’s not a waste. I did 5 roast potatoes per head, all eaten but made DS do the entire bag so had about 30 left over. DS and his Mum ate 5 cold each for supper Christmas night, they are stick thin and have uber fast metabolisms. I then chopped up the 20 plus all the veg for bubble and squeak on Boxing Day. I have a lot of cheese left and we are now going away for New Year but it shouldn’t get wasted.

I do one big meal a day and the other meal is help a yourself to any leftovers meal plus a cheeseboard and crackers. Every thing Christmassy (apart from the cheese) was gone by Saturday morning.

I don’t see what the problem is - we had loads of leftovers and just ended up having Christmas dinner three days in a row!

The reality is that a lot of people wont think twice about chucking food in the bin so dont see it as a 'problem'

I see that as a huge problem so I totally get you. I also play fridge chess and its a bit wearing and leaves no space and time to get other foods in and risks things getting stuck at the back and needing the bin

I freeze as much as I can or mix it up, like my soup today, and freeze that instead.

OP have you ever made a Christmas dinner leftovers pie? You put all your leftovers in a pie or flan dish with some gravy, top with pastry and bake. You can add mash and more gravy or just have a slice as a meal.

I bought Tesco Maris Piper and then their 15p potatoes. And no one could tell the difference, they all tasted lovely.

So if some 15p potatoes get left behind for the next day, they will happily get eaten. Not a huge expense!

Also, 2 portions of Turkey crown left over is also not a disaster, that would make nice leftovers.

Most people are happy not to have cook again on 26 Dec and / of 27 Dec! What you see as disorganisation is actually organisation by many!

Eh? First of all, shesaid roasties, which could imply halved or quartered potatoes that are cooked.

She then clarified this as small potatoes. So why are you going on about jacket potatoes? No one has mentioned jacket potatoes 🙄

Meal plan

we had turkey and baked ham and did loads of veg. Boxing Day had leftovers of ham plus newly cooked cauliflower cheese so not just the same. Following day Turkey curry.

if there was no leftovers we had plenty in freezer to cook a pasta bake or whatever

since Xmas eve we’ve had two ‘party food’ meals - a buffet where anything can be used up but also included some yellow sticker party finger food items

weve now eaten everything except mince pies which is DH’s dault for buying four boxes on Xmas eve

I have not hosted anyone thank god - just us 4 adults

We over cater in our house but will be adding a sidenote to my existing Christmas food list for what to cut down on for next year. We had a lot of veg left over, potatoes coming out of our ears and I over bought on sweet treats which could be scaled back.

I love eating but I’m quite sick of the sight of food already and still so much left to eat!

That doesn't sound like loads left to me!
If you can and will eat the leftovers (roast veg reheat very well) then what does it matter, it just saves cooking so much for a few days?

Tbh, if you don't have leftovers after Christmas dinner then I'd feel like there wasn't enough. Christmas is not a meal I'd want to serve just enough at personally.
Personally I'd cut back on the massive amounts of snack foods and shitty selection boxes and mince pies people seem to acquire. But not be stingy with the proper meal.
I don't really buy myself much on the way of extra snacks now, I told myself that if I WANTED a load of biscuits or crisps I could buy them again from boxing Day, and I like baking and cooking so prefer to make an extra nice indulgent meals or snacks rather than mainlining Pringles.
Also, I have no self control, so the crisps I DID buy before Christmas were gone by the 22nd 🤣🤣

Op I hear you.

For me it’s buying a bit of everything causing the over catering. There just aren’t enough meal times for it all. Prawns, smoked salmon, blinis, a selection of cheeses, lots of pickles and chutneys, desserts as well as Christmas cake, pudding and Yule log.
I know that we will have lots of leftovers for sandwiches and bubble and squeak but forget that is already another complete meal.

We call this Boxing Day pie. I love it

Do the other people in your house feel the same, or do they enjoy having an abundance of leftovers available? As if it's just you then sure, try and pare it back. But it honestly sounds like you have a anxiety/stress issue rather than a leftovers one.