Christmas dinner - exactly how much can I prepare in advance?

[virgiltracey]

And how far in advance? I have a houseful again - seven adults and four children (3 adults veggie) and last year spent the WHOLE day in the kitchen. help me to draw up a plan!

I par boil the vegetables and put in the freezer, just a question of a quick finishing of cooking. I also par boil potatoes and again freeze them with some oil flat on a tray and then bag them up. If you don't want to do that then prep the day before dna put in water. Can you make a veggie dish that freezes so that all you have to do it defrost and cook? The freezer is your friend.

Make in advance and freeze:
bread sauce
stock for gravy
stuffing
braised red cabbage
mince pies
mini sausage rolls

buy from shop
Christmas pudding
Pre-prepared sprouts

Christmas Eve
Peel and par boil potatoes
Stuff turkey
roll up bacon and sausages
make chocolate log
Do prep for simple starter

Christmas day
Bung turkey in oven
Serve self glass of fizz
Bung potatoes in oven
Bung sausages and bacon in oven
Re heat bread sauce and red cabbage
Cook sprouts
Plate starter
Make gravy while turkey is resting
microwave Christmas pudding
Ignore washing up

so i can do my stuffing balls and bread sauce today and freeze. hurrah that's a job ticked off!

Make the cranberry sauce anytime from now and freeze. I love Delia's cranberry and orange one.

I pre-prepare (is there such a word??!!) all of the dinner - I like to make most of it from scratch, so I do as much as possible in advance and freeze it. In my freezer already are - Winter root mash, red cabbage, blanched chanteney (sp?) carrots, button sprouts, sausages wrapped in bacon. I'll also make and freeze the stuffing, probably this weekend. All the rest of the veg, including par-boiled spuds, are done on Christmas Eve and put in bags in the fridge, and the brined turkey a la Nigella is prepared then as well, ready to bung in the oven first thing. Ditto cranberry and bread sauces. I like to try to get away with as little as I can get away with on the day itself, but still have it as home-made as possible. I always buy fresh turkey gravy though........my gravy is crap