Cooking Christmas dinner for first tome.. Help!

[Minniemee]

Hi there

Looking for some help to ease my panic about cooking Christmas dinner! My partner and I have just bought our first house so will be hosting Christmas dinner for the first time ever- for 8 people.

I have a job where I work long hours, leaving the house at 6am and getting back around 8pm.. so cooking is always the last thing I want to do when I get in and we live by the ready meal. My father in law to be is a bit of an a* and always calls me lazy about cooking, joking that Christmas dinner is going to come as a ready meal from Iceland as I can’t cook (not that he ever lifts a finger in his house).

So essentially, I want to prove to everyone that I can make a lovely, homemade Christmas dinner but trouble is, I’ve never made one for that many people! I only have a 4 ring hob and single oven, so I’m panicking how I do everything.

So far I’ve ordered the turkey from m and s and have decided I will do a gammon in the slow cooker which I’ve tried.

When it comes to veg, do I need to make it all from scratch or is there any shop bought veg that can almost pass as home made (ie red cabbage). Ive spent hours looking at different receipes on bbc good food! I’ve read some not so great reviews about the m and s veg so that’s why I never bought it.

So this is a plea for any tips anyone can give me please- what can I buy that tastes as good as home made, what can I make homemade that I can do in advance and freeze/chill in the freezer and what do I need to make on the day.

Oh and it will be aunt Bessie’s all the way for Yorkies.. I think attempting to make those might just tip me over the edge! 🙈

Thanks so much

For the yorkshires I'd get the pre made ones in the chilled section in m&s or asda, rather than the frozen ones. They taste way better and can pass for homemade. The same for gravy as well, all the supermarkets do good premade ones in the chilled section. You can also get the premade stuffing which tastes good as well. Most butchers sell stuffing and pigs in blankets which are good and just need to be popped in the oven, ours does them or those foil trays so minimal clean up after.

I think you could do your whole menu to be honest. If you do the meat on the morning or the evening before. Then all you have to do are the mash, roasties and veg.

I did Xmas dinner for 16 with turkey and beef with a baby belling and a microwave. It is very doable.

You need a 3 tier veg steamer. When veg comes out the pudding can go in. Do potatoes and Yorkshire’s the day before and just pop them into to reheat once the meat is out (the meat needs to stand anyway)

Don’t do mash it isn’t a Christmas lunch veg and it is a hassle

I can’t thank you enough for your such helpful comments and words of encouragement.. I feel so much better now about how to approach it.. I know to many of you fantastic mums you are dab hands at this, but with also suffering from crippling anxiety I’ve been losing so much sleep thinking about how to make it perfect. Partly to prove my FIL wrong and also for my own mum and dad as we’ve lost both my Nan and grandad this year so know the day will be a tough time for them.

Thank you so much x

Check through your equipment and make a list of what you’re cooking and serving in each dish/pan/tray.
You’re going to need a meat thermometer and lots of tea towels, and good oven gloves (singles- not the kind that join together).

There’s a huge spectrum of cooking between Mrs Beeton and a ready meal, and frankly buying a fair bit in from Iceland (or Aldi or M&S) is sensible. Lots of extremely competent cooks do that in order to actually enjoy Christmas Day. It’s obvious that your fil hasn’t the first clue about anything so file away his comments as irrelevant. The goal of the day is to put up a nice lunch and enjoy time with your families. Don’t spoil that by over extending yourself.

There are lots of ways to cut corners and still produce a delicious meal. Often it’s about adding the right little extra ingredients.
Turkey: get a “magic turkey bag”, bung it in the turkey with a shake of flour, salt and pepper and it will cook away without needing to be basted and be perfectly succulent.
Cook ham in slow cooker. Then cut fat into diamonds, stud with cloves and cover in brown sugar, mustard and honey mixture and cook in oven while turkey rests. It will look and taste amazing.

Mashed potato: microwave a bag of frozen mash (stir every min) and add butter and milk and season to taste. Sprinkle some finely chopped chives or parsley on top.

I’d get all the veg pre made. You can tweak the flavours a little if you want (though you probably won’t need to)

Cook some finely chopped bacon (low heat so that the fat renders- you won’t need extra oil) and add Brussels sprouts (buy these pre-made so you don’t have to spend ages washing, peeling and cutting x’s)

A dash of lemon juice can cut through the sickly sweetness of a jar of cranberry sauce. A teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and a smear of Dijon mustard gives an edge to a shop bought gravy. Add a little, and taste. You can add more, but you can’t take it out.

Add a swirl of cream, a sprinkle of parsley and a few croutons to a carton of soup. Though I’d recommend smoked salmon and brown bread as it can be made in advance and requires no cooking.

Roast potatoes are worth the effort of making from scratch, but if you use frozen just be sure to cook them in goose fat/duck fat.

Do your own stuffing- it’s very easy and tastes completely different to anything shop bought.

I always have a list that has all my timings on for example
1.45pm parsnips and stuffing in onen
2.30pm carrot, swede and spouts put on to boil
You get the jist, I write it backwards so eat at 3pm and go from there.
It also means if you get held up hosting others can help out as the list is slap bang in the kitchen and they can either do it for you or shout you to do it.

Don't out so much pressure on yourself, you will be fab.
Just don't try to do too much, it's a recipe for disaster.
You don't have to accommodate every body else's traditions.
Start your own and just enjoy yourself

Frozen peas are easy , just dump in boiling water from the kettle or put in the steamer

I've ordered veg from Cook this year.

I'm a hopeless cook too. Have my mum who is veggie coming this year too.
What way do you cook roasties we only ever use frozen ones and also I normally just steam veg. When putting in oven do you pre cook them or what do you cover them in

Roasties: peel potatoes and put in a pot with cold salted water. Bring to a simmer for about 5 minutes and drain.
After turkey is cooked, turn oven temperature up and put a metal tray with a few spoonfuls of goose fat/ duck fat in. Add potatoes a few minutes later to tray (careful of splashing fat. I add garlic, rosemary and salt and give the tray a gentle (careful) shake to coat the potatoes. They cook in about 15-20 minutes. Sorry that’s all approximates but I’m a wing-it kind of cook.

There’s very little difference to cooking frozen potatoes except you save on the peeling and par boiling. In terms of taste, you generally get a better class of potato than the frozen ones which can be a bit bland. Our families would identify the type of potato on the first bite and have animated discussions on the subject in the same way other people might discuss wine pairings But if you’re not related to potato connoisseurs there’s nothing wrong with frozen ones!

Sorry @mummyof2boys30 just noticed your mum is a veggie. Instead of goose/duck fat, you might try an oil with a high smoke point like rapeseed, but be generous with seasoning.

I’d suggest if budget allows buying a steamer for your veg. That will free up your hob.

Par boil the potatoes the day before.

Yes to preprepped veg. Most supermarkets do it so all you have to do is cook it.