Christmas Eve food

[poshme]

What do you all eat on Christmas Eve?
We've got the in laws coming, so needs to be a nice meal. They're staying till Boxing Day.
We'll be having Christmas dinner in the evening on Christmas Day, so lunch will be naice ham, crusty bread etc to leave space for dinner. But I'm stumped about Christmas Eve.
Needs to be easy (I'm not a great cook) and not take too much prep. 4 adults & 3 kids- no allergies.

My daughter suggested chicken nuggets...

If carnivores, slow cooker beef stew with baked potatoes and some green vege. Really easy!

If not carnivores, a big veggie lasagne with coleslaw and nice bread. Make the lasagne filling in advance.

Gammon ham, crusty bread, cheeses, creamy potatoes.
I love christmas eve!

I always used to make a fish pie but last year we had a big (huge! Fed 12) bought meat and potato pie from a local butcher with red cabbage and that went down well with everyone.
It even came decorated with pastry holly leaves

viques Can I have that recipe please? (The macaroni one, not the salad one!)

We have Cottage Pie, which I’m making tomorrow and then putting in the freezer. So easy to do in advance to pop in oven on Christmas Eve and then just needs vegetables if you can be bothered.

This is a take on traditional Italian Christmas Eve supper.

I’ve made it many times, though never eaten it. It is always a hit!

www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/i/italian_baked_fish_with_tomatoes_and_olives.html

We always have ( it's one of our Traditions and no wavering )

Triple cooked chips
Fish fingers for DS
Vegetable grills for DD,DH and I .
Anyone else can have fish (or grills) I wouldn't make them eat fish fingers
Salad
Dips

I used to do pudding but we don't eat it , so ice-cream if anyone wants .

Then a buffet late night . (Crisps, French bread, cheeses , fresh salsa)

We always have gammon- you could always use the left-overs for Christmas lunch. Alternatively you could have smoked salmon for Christmas lunch and gammon on Christmas Eve.

I'm another person who has chinese. I agree a buffet or something like chilli (which you can do in slow cooker) with jacket potatoes and salad.

We have a take away as I don’t want to spend 3 days in the kitchen cooking and washing up 🤣.

We always go to the pub with friends Xmas eve then come back to mine for hot pork rolls

Tradition for us (me and DS) is a Chinese from a local takeaway, delivered around 7.30ish

Its a treat as I don't usually shell out for Chinese as find it rather expensive .

Thanks to a massive family falling out this year it's just me my husband and kids .
And I've decided we're going to have a Christmas Eve "carnival" themed buffet so I've brought a popcorn machine a candy floss machine and a chocolate fountain . I'm also going to do mini hot dogs and burgers and and make donuts and slush drinks ! . It won't be at all healthy but my kids will love it hopefully

Always do a buffet. Party food from various supermarkets along with gammon, breads, cheeses, dips etc. Wasn't going to this year as wanted a takeaway but DD15 was outraged

My family also do chinese takeaway on xmas eve. I'm more excited for that than xmas dinner!

We are doing a cold fish platter this year - a lobster, prawns, smoked salmon, hot smoked salmon, crab, shrimp etc. Serving it with sourdough bread. Easy to prep and if we have to relocate on Christmas Eve depending on elderly relatives it should travel well!

We have a Provencal tradition called Treize Desserts

three fresh fruits [pomegranate, tangerines, grapes]
three dried fruits [dates, figs, apricots]
three nuts [hazels, walnuts, brazils]
three created things [viennese truffles, shortbread, cinnamon stars]
and a central piece [Christmas pudding, because we never want to eat it after a huge turkey dinner]

served with nice drinks - used to be Schloer before they ruined it - and a dessert wine for the drinkers

Because of this we eat high-protein for lunch: classic Full English Cooked Breakfast.

We have had Mary Berry’s fish pie before which is delicious.
Last few years we’ve booked a table at pub/restaurant, love the atmosphere and no stress or washing up!

Not sure how it started but we always have French Dip sandwiches and fries. Not too heavy and really easy, just roast a piece of beef and chuck the fries in the oven. The sauce is time consuming but you could buy it ready made.

sockittome123

No real recipe! I cook the macaroni, then make a basic cheese sauce, ie a normal white sauce , with plenty of pepper, dried English mustard and a grate of nutmeg, ready to add cheddar and a couple of tablespoonfuls of cream cheese later . For preference I buy crayfish tails, which I try to get beforehand and freeze because I don't want to be searching for them last minute, but large prawns also work.

I cook the macaroni and white sauce , cool them down then put it all together later. More grated cheese and sliced cherry tomatoes on top and bake until heated through and brown and crusty on top.

Christmas Eve for us is "party" food from M&S, a few drinks, new PJs and a game.

We don't do a meal as such on Christmas Eve, we keep things quite relaxed.

Were having hot port cobs. Always go down well with our family.

Then party buffet food for tea!

We're having a beige buffet this year, Chinese Takeaway on Christmas day and leftovers followed by cheese on boxing day.

We always have a Chinese take away,I do tons of cooking over Christmas so it's really nice to have something tasty to eat and the only thing I have to do is get the crockery and cutlery out.