What else can be prepared in advance for Christmas lunch?

[Shufflebumnessie]

On Christmas eve we plan to peel the veggies, prepare the stuffing, lay out pigs in blankets on baking tray.
What else can we do in advance to reduce the amount of time spent in the kitchen on Christmas day? Thanks

@EasilyDeleted

Would you mind sharing your cinnamon bun recipe?

I'll have to find my recipe folder and copy it out, it's not online. Will do it later.

Came on to say Jamie gravy - others have too but it really is good. I always hate doing gravy as it's all last minute - this can be done weeks in advance and frozen.

Make your yorkshire puddings ahead of time and pop in the freezer - they literally take 4 min in the oven from frozen on the day

Waitrose sell fresh cranberries. I always used theirs with fresh satsuma/tangerine juice. Probably start being in store around November.
Leeks in cheese sauce goes in freezer so too does red cabbage.
Loving this thread!....I'm making notes

Asda sell fresh cranberries nearer the time.. What with it being ONLY SEPTEMBER they aren't in yet!!

Do the gravy the day before! I always used to make the gravy while the turkey was resting and now I make the Jamie Oliver get-ahead gravy and make it the day before - then I make stock from the turkey afterwards to freeze for another day.

Also prepare the stuffing the day before, and peel the potatoes.

If you do the Jamie gravy, a tip is to use only one star anise otherwise it's quite overpowering

I don't use the star anise at all, I don't like it and think it would ruin the flavour for me.

Cinnamon buns - you need to start early in the evening the night before to allow for the first rise.

2tsp fast action yeast
240mL milk
50g butter plus another 25g
pinch of salt
200g plain flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
50g caster sugar
Icing sugar

Warm the milk and 50g butter in a pan till the butter melts. Allow to cool to hand hot. Sprinkle on the yeast and allow to activate for 5-10 mins.

Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the flour in gradually with stirring till you have a sticky dough. Knead lightly, oil the bowl and cover it, allow to rise in a warm place till it is approx. doubled.

Roll out to a thin rectangle. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together, melt the butter, brush the dough with melted butter and sprinkle over the cinnamon mix. Roll it tightly, from a long side. Slice it into pieces approx 3cm wide and place on their side in a buttered lasagne dish or similar (we use one approx 10" square). Cover and leave in a cool place overnight. Also the night before prepare about a cup full of thick icing sugar and water icing, put it in an icing bag and clip shut.

In the morning heat the oven to 180, cook for 20-25 mins or till brown. Drizzle the icing over the hot buns.

I love this thread OP, thank you.

We're hosting this year and I only have one oven. I'll also have a very little baby. Everything that can be prepared in advance is welcome. DP and his lovely sister will be managing it on the day, but I am a total control freak (and the best cook :D ) so I want to do what I can in preparation while baby (hopefully) snoozes the day before.

roar, I only have one small oven as well. My top tip is to remember that your meat will be improved by a good long rest - a turkey can rest under foil for an hour, large beef joint for 30 mins. This gives loads of extra time and space to whack in everything.

I usually put a layer of tinfoil over the roast, and then insulate it with a towel folded over the top to keep the heat in. This gives a good hour for turkey to rest and lets potatoes cook in the oven and veg on the hob.

@newtb my DM used to do this and waking up to the smell of roast turkey on Xmas morning was just magical!

I do the roast potatoes in November and freeze them. You par boil them, leave to cool then open freeze on baking trays. Once frozen you can put into ziplock bags.
Then cook from.frozen. They work brilliantly.

I also cook the red cabbage and the gravy ahead and freeze. Our butcher makes the pigs in blankets so I collect those when I collect the turkey.

I don't prep anything on Christmas Eve as it's a full working day so I don't have time.

@EasilyDeleted

Thank you!

Always do the Jamie O gravy (but without all the spices etc) a few weeks ahead and freeze. Stuffing is also made and frozen (in foil trays) in advance. Veg prepared on Xmas eve and plonked into a bucket of water.

On Xmas day the turkey goes in first thing, then rests. Beef goes in next, then rests. Then one oven can be cranked up for Yorkshire pudding (batter made first thing and left to rest) and the other is full of roast potatoes, parsnips, pigs in blankets, stuffing etc. Gravy is then finished with resting juices / thickened up / sweetened with veg water etc.

We always have a big freezer clear out about a month before and then refill with lots of homemade goodies like mini savoury scones (great with soup, leftover cheeseboard stuff etc), sausage rolls, gingerbread (sliced / portioned), mini apple pies, cookie dough etc. Plus we try to have a few "meals" (or at least the basis of) so that the few days off most of us get at Xmas aren't spent in the supermarket

@TheUnwindingCableCar

I'm cooking the whole lot on Christmas Eve this year. Nobody minds a reheated Christmas dinner.

I'd rather stay at home than have a reheated dinner. Each to their own though.

@TheUnwindingCableCar Doesn't that just shift the problem? I like Xmas eve to be relaxed and calm.

My partner works all Christmas Eve so cooking it then isn't a problem.

I don't understand the "rather stay at home comment" ? We're not going anywhere and we're not having guests? So only us to please

@TheUnwindingCableCar

My partner works all Christmas Eve so cooking it then isn't a problem.

I don't understand the "rather stay at home comment" ? We're not going anywhere and we're not having guests? So only us to please

I'd eat something else then! Or go elsewhere to escape it!

The 'rather stay at home' meant there's no way on this earth I'd go for Christmas dinner somewhere they'd reheated the food.

I do not understand anyone doing it.

This might be sacrilege but I save some time by buying prepared versions of:

• Cauliflower cheese
• Roast parsnips (mine genuinely aren't ever as nice so I just buy the stodgy ones I love!)

Yorkshire pudding - put in the oven for a couple of minutes before serving up

• When pregnant I have even bought fancy mash potato and added salted lurpack, double cream and nutmeg to it. Comes out perfectly and will probably do this year as I always seem to spend hours in the kitchen on Christmas day too

I love the tip of peeling and par boiling the roast potatoes before hand, this will be a revelation as they always seem to take the longest. Will be putting meat in earlier than usual too, probably 7am on a low heat and preparing it Xmas eve morning

I haven't been organised enough in the past and end up wrapping presents late in the night on Xmas even and then cooking all day on the big day. Not this year, in determined to actually enjoy it for myself too.

Xmas eve*