Easy Boxing Day meal for 14 people for parents of newborn?!

[OliviaMumsnet]

Is there such a thing?! Looking for something vageuly festive and feastlike with minimal effort for my family.

Everyone will have done the turkey and full trimmings on Xmas day itself but in my house it will just be the 4 of us so not enough turkey leftovers to stretch to 8 adults and 6 kids(!)

So emphasis on the EASY as baby may be only 4 weeks old.

TIA MNers,

dine out

or do buffet and ask everyone to bring a dish :)

go to butcher - order 2 large steak pies.

go to supermarket - buy pre-prepared (but fresh) new potatoes and veg.

If doing a starter - buy smoked salmon (always on offer at christmas) or pate and oatcakes and a couple of jars of redcurrant jelly.

Go to phone - ask someone else to bring dessert/biscuits and cheese.

(or make curry ahead of Christmas and put in freezer)

Do a large ham, some jacket potatos and a winter salad. (It's our boxing day standard!) Crusty bread, shop bought pudding and done.

Book your Ocado order now.

Ham + a few salads + pud.

If you must prepare some foods, then order in the ham and plenty of crusty bread; make a spinach salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing, a tray of roasted veg, couscous and Eton mess with shop-bought meringues.

Er, how about no effort? If you will have a four week old, I'd say your contribution is to provide the heat and warmth of the accommodation and make everyone else bring the food!

14 is a lot to cater for if you are planning to get everyone to sit down to eat. I'd say you would be better off having food that can be eaten without formal dining. Either go for cold buffet - help-yourself or a massive pot of something chilli/curry/soup that won't spoil if it stays on a low heat.

Also, ask someone to bring disposable/compostable plates and even insulated cups - no joy in having a houseful if you can't hear each other over the constant repetition of the dishwasher/grumblings of washer-upper.

Order in M&S Xmas food.

Stripey is right, do pot luck. You shouldn't be expected to cook a big meal with a newborn.

Thanks all
Tis family so fully expecting others to pull weight/bring things. Don't think we'll all be sitting down together (dont think we have enough chairs ) just pulling together some ideas - and expat, yes already have my xmas slot with ocado
Have looked at both Waitrose and M&S pre-prepared stuff before, will have another look.

Roast ham or salmon (which you could order in or ask any relative living nearby to cook and bring), jacket spuds and ask every one to bring a side dish like salad or coleslaw or a pudding.

I think a ham and nice bread with salads is as much as you need on Boxing Day. Everyone is still stuffed from the day before. Nothing that needs attention at specific times or needs to be hot is the way to go. To make it a bit festive you could do red cabbage cole slaw.

If you want a bit more then add nice pate/butchers pork pie/ smoked salmon/ selection of salamis etc. Basically get things that you can drape on plates with a bit of rocket. Add chutneys and pickles and you have a really nice lunch.

Add cheeseboard, big bowls of grapes and satsumas and get someone to make and bring a dessert.

we have a buffet on boxing day as its open house for the day. no one visits us on christmas day, so my family and friends usually all drop in sometime on boxing day. we have any left over meat, a cooked ham, loads of nibbles- pringles, crudites, dips, little cakes and biscuits, a cheese board, crackers etc. i also bake a camembert (really easy) and have a tin of roses out. it gets picked at pretty much all day.

Dont do it to yourself, with a 4 week old baby someone should be making you boxing day lunch!

I would go for a turkey crown with lots of salad, fruit and veg, and frozen party food, I know its not 'you' but Iceland standard party fare type things. Just pull them out of the freezer and off you go.

This Christmas pie is lovely and could be made in advance and frozen.

Its what I'm planning on doing for my boxing day buffet, I'm going to make it as soon as the cranberries and chestnuts hit the shops.

Add some pickles, winter salad, red cabbage (also made in advance)

M&S are doing menus for £10 a head I think - you can download their Christmas food brochure online.

Or you can do a warming casserole type thing now and freeze it. I'd probably do beef with horseradish dumplings or something. Bung a big pot of it on the table, serve with warm part-baked bread and steamed green veg. That way you only really have to do the veg on the day.

Pudding, I'd make individual sticky toffee puddings in muffin cases and freeze them now, then do the butterscotch sauce on the day.

Not particularly festive, but very practical.

And agree, a good alternative is to ask everyone to bring something. They'll all have leftovers which they'll be glad to be rid of. I mean, share.

I don't mind a bit of peace Christmas washing up (as long as no one else is in the kitchen and someone else has the baby).

byethemoonlight, that pie looks fab. Do you cook all the Christmas pie first, including the pastry, then freeze? Do you serve it cold?

Last time I made it I froze it cooked and then defrosted it overnight and served it cold.

But this year, I am going to cook the filling and freeze it with the pastry uncooked, take it out of the freezer last thing christmas eve to defrost in the fridge and then cook it boxing day so its warm

Thank you for the tips . Am definitely going attempt it warm for visitors on Christmas eve.

A big vat of soup with crusty bread, cheese and pate.

Even more - fab, thanks.
I personally will be mainlining pate and blue cheese having been missing them since March but this is def food for thought.

When DD1 was three weeks old we'd had the foresight to invite everyone to ours for Boxing Day lunch (they were even given a departure time on the invite). They were invited to a 'Boxing Day bring and share lunch' and we suggested they volunteer two things that they could contribute to a buffet.

It was fantastic. My mother and MiL organised the others, we provided the baby, paper plates, and seating (for most people). We may have provided butter but our guests brought everything else including drinks - DD1 was the first grandchild on both sides of the family so babies were a massive novelty. We had quiche, pies, french bread, salads (rice, pasta, green), lots of lovely desserts and insisted that people's bowls etc were taken home with them (so no washing up).

Perfect.

God, yuo sound like an awful host SE.
Bossing folk around, telling them when to fuck off, ordering them to bring this and that.

Sheesh, I'm surprised you had anyone come at all.

Oh, and I missed the bit about 'insisting' they take their crockery home with them.

SE that sounds perfect, you are not an awful host at all! :)

OP either do that - decide on a 'menu' and ask each family to bring a specific thing, OR do a big chilli/curry in advance and stick in freezer - defrost and then all that needs doing on the day is rice or baked potatoes. Magnums make an excellent pudding! :)