Can I cook Christmas dinner the day before?

[KalaLaka]

Hello Christmas experts! What can I prepare the night before, for Christmas dinner? I have 3 DC and would like to reduce my domestic duty time for the actual day, so I can enjoy it more.

I won't be cooking any meat, just nut roasts and loads of veg plus yorkshires.

Help please

I always cookand carve the turkey the day before. Saves a load of hassle on the day.Prep all veggies the night before too.

I would prep all the veggies. You can mix up the Yorkshire pudding batter the night before.
Don’t know about nut roasts if they can be reheated.

Yes, and reheat in microwave. Or/and a mini hostess trolley. I am from the seventies but they are brilliant for normal people too; takes away All that brinkmanship of getting everything hot at the same time. Our was from the charity shop (but they aren't expensive) and is a counter top one and it earns its place in the household for this one, stellar performance each year.

The These are the jobs I do Christmas Eve but others will have their own ideas.
Prepare the Turkey so make the stuffing ,start the stock for gravy. Put bird somewhere cool, we use the Garage as it's usually down to fridge temperature. Make cranberry sauce if not already made. Peel veg

Don't be scared of delegating, older kids can peel veg on the sofa watching films. Veg like potatoes, parsnips etc can be par boiled too if you wish but they will need slightly longer residual cooking times to allow for them to come up to temperature

You can do lots it well ahead. Bread sauce, cranberry sauce, gravy, red cabbage, cauliflower cheese, stuffing balls etc all sit happily in fridge for several days.
Mince pies can be frozen as can Yorkshire puddings (I know but the children love them) and just warmed through.
The roast potatoes are actually nicer and crisper if cooked until light golden colour the day before and re roasted for just half an hour on the day.
Veg can all be prepared the day before. I do roasted carrots and parsnips which do in exactly the same time as the pre roasted potatoes.
Microwave is brilliant for pudding and sprouts.

You guys!! That's all so helpful, thank you. mrswooster I'm tempted by the trolley. Unfortunately I have a tiny house filled to the brim with too many things, so it may not be a good idea!

I will be doing the roast potatoes and roast veg the day before, and freezing a million yorkshires.

I'm seriously thinking about cooking the Christmas lunch on Christmas Eve. Then we can have left overs and party food on Christmas day so I don't miss out because I feel like I need to be in the kitchen. My house, my rules....

I don’t cook anything the day before, but I do as much prep as I can, à la Delia.

didi we've done that ever since having DC - it works really well. We have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve early evening - it's kind of become the 'start of Christmas' in our house, we have the lights down low and candles everywhere, it feels really magical

Then the next day there's absolutely no cooking to do (I cook plenty on Christmas Eve obvs!). We have a lovely lazy day, watching each other opening our presents and fridge-picking whenever we fancy it. DH and my older DC usually have another (microwaved) full Christmas dinner, but I prefer turkey sandwiches anyway... it's so relaxing, I can't imagine ever having the faff of cooking on Christmas Day again.

Didireallysaythat we have ours on Christmas Eve too which makes for a nicer Christmas Day as it means we can enjoy the whole day together. It works well for us and takes the pressure off. Exactly the same meal and just as enjoyable, maybe more so with twinkly lights everywhere as it's then dark.

Ok. I'm convinced. But I think I'm doing duck with pancakes on Christmas Eve as we don't like turkey. We don't do the 6+ desserts that MN seems to do either - I can't find a dessert we'd actually like though (other than sticky toffee pudding and that's too much after duck I think) I'm thinking pigs in blankets for Xmas day buffet though, as they don't really go with pancakes !