One oven! One! Five guests. HOW??!!

[roarfeckingroarr]

I'm a control freak who loves to cook and normally do everything at my parent's house with guests and my fiancé. This year we have a tiny baby so people are coming to our London flat. It's going to be me, partner and baby, DP's sister, my dad and his dad. COVID police - bugger off, support bubbles.

We have one oven and one microwave and a job with four spaces. How can I even start to do a proper Christmas dinner?!

Even worse, I won't actually be cooking becauSe of aforementioned tiny baby, so DP and his sister are doing it all while I hold baby and drink champagne. They're not bad cooks but what can I do in advance well so I don't have to trust them with everything?

I usually cook Christmas dinner for 18 with a single oven. It's doable OP honestly.

Take the roast out to rest. Wrap it in foil with a couple,of tea towels on top, it’ll be fine for an hour.
Have the spuds parboiled and all ready to go, so they can go in as soon as the meat is out - along with parsnips, pigs in blankets, etc.

For about 40 years on the trot my poor MiL cooked Christmas dinner for 10 or 12, with just one small oven in a tiny kitchen. You do need to be organised though.

Don’t bother with a starter! Just some nice canapés are fine on the day. I usually raid M&S for these. And never mind doing lots of different veg, 3 different kinds of potatoes, etc. Keeping it fairly simply is the key to low stress - plus (very important!) write down timings, working backwards from when you’re going to sit down. Include everything, from when to switch the oven on, down to when to put the spuds on to parboil.,
Then write it out in time order, and stick it on the front of the fridge, where it’s not going to get lost or buried under all the debris.

We have one single oven, no microwave, and a kitchen the size of a postage stamp.

DH still knocked out dinner for 7 in it last year. Write all the timings down and get organised.

@WhereverIGoddamnLike

Buy a counter top oven. They're between £40 and £80 for a 22litre one. They just take up the same space as a microwave.

We’ve got one and it’s a game changer. We’ve cooked for ten people. The slow cooker idea is genius.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER this is the app I mentioned above and it basically does what your saying but it "dings" when there's something to do and runs the timers for you.

apps.apple.com/gb/app/mealtime/id1016295040

Have you never seen Eastenders? One oven. A turkey that they forget to defrost and 17 random people most of whom were only invited in the Queen Vic the night before. They will be fine 😊

Even with a single oven you can cook the meat on a higher shelf and put potatoes and veg under it.

But you can cook only one type of meat.

Choose what you want to cook according to your kitchen. Don't worry about it.

Don't be snide, people- OP is a young mum just starting to enter the true adulthood of having to be the grownup who's responsible for festive meals. Even though you cooked at you mum's before, this is actually the real end of your childhood OP - Christmas won't be the same as it was, ever again. Good luck with your Christmas adventure!

@ElizabethG81

This is pure Mumsnet. You obviously need one oven per 2.5 guests, plus one for the baby. Divide the number of ovens by 2 and you can work out how many dishwashers you need.

Genius - that's where I have been going wrong all these years with DH Self, his 4 and my 3 for Sunday Lunch. Which is what Christmas lunch is with a few trimmings) for the last 25 years...

Can I have an MBE please as I've never had or needed a microwave.. ?

Where does OP say she’s a young, inexperienced mum?

As others have said it’s perfectly doable. If you’re worried you could pre cook meat so it will just need warming through (but be careful about dryness). That’ll leave most of the oven free for pots / veg etc. I’m sure between your DP and your SIL they can manage, just sit back and have a glass of fizz and leave them too it

My friend cooks for her family of 11 with one oven

I can’t believe this is even a question.

We have 15 people over on a normal Xmas. We have one oven. It’s easily doable.

I have one small oven,got a Hostess trolley from eBay a few years ago.It is one of the best things I ever purchased for catering.Takes all the stress out of hosting.

I think the OP is trying to be amusing.

I do virtually everything the day before so the actual day is no more complicated than putting things in oven at the right time.
Stuffing make ahead and chill, chop veg and cover in water, you can even parboil potatoes and parsnips and coat them in fat, then chill, once coated they won't go black. Cook turkey earlier then remove, wrap in foil and towels and allow to rest while you whack the heat up on the oven and put the roasties, pigs in blankets and stuffing in. I cook for 16-18 each year with a single oven and 4 hob rings. Totally doable

We are a family of 5. We cook in our spare oven in our spare house.

(Sensible answer: Some of us are vegetarian and some aren’t, some also have allergies, so we have a combination microwave that we use occasionally).

Ignore all this advice. Your job is to cuddle the baby and say how wonderful the meal is.

If the cooks need advice part cook any veg you are roasting the day before. When the meat comes out to rest then put the veg in. Get someone to bring some Jamie Gravy (no star anise). If they are stressed by a food warmer. Buy nice desserts and starters from Waitrose.

Good luck with the baby

I grew up in a family of 9 children. We would have in laws visiting at Christmas. We cooked everything in one oven and four gas burners. Get a grip of yourself!

We have one small oven 2 shelves and have four rings on the job - 5 of us Christmas Day - cooking different types of vegan pies, vegan Wellington, Richmond vegan sausages delicious! With all trimmings yum !

We had to be inventive with one small oven when our Aga packed up last year. Use the oven for the turkey only at a low heat then let it rest for an hour or two covered in foil and clean towel while you put the pre-boiled potatoes, carrots and parsnips in to roast. To avoid having to take things out to warm plates either soak them in a bowl of hot water or use something like this:
https://www.robertdyas.co.uk/tower-t19015-double-insulated-electric-plate-warmer-10-plate?gclid=CjwKCAiA8Jf-BRB-EiwAWDtEGj-nlTQEeIp6jf25SkwiiI2crEpomsaZBYGid12KbB0wpj2LNSTTBoCqbYQAvDBwE so Make the bread sauce, cranberry sauce and red cabbage if you have it the day before. And I know MN is divided on this but we always make Jamie's get-ahead gravy a couple of days before (without the disgusting star anise). Put that on to the hob to heat while you microwave the red cabbage and cook sprouts (we like to pan fry them with pancetta and chestnuts - so only only one space needed for that). So you could do all that with one small oven.

NB that was for 9!

I grew up in a family of 9 children. We would have in laws visiting at Christmas. We cooked everything in one oven and four gas burners. Get a grip of yourself!
I think in order to get this grip of which you speak so highly, OP was looking for helpful advice on the more practical side.

Lol, I've cooked for 20 with'just' one oven

Tiered steamer for veg like carrots, sprouts and brocoli etc (plug in one which uses no hob or an over pan one which will take up one ring) Buy posh gravy in a sachet thing (can add meat juices to it so it's bit more 'special') Pre cook roast potatoes to almost done day before and chill then put in fridge until you take your meat out of oven at end of cooking when you can then turn oven up and finish the potatoes and even cook parsnips in that 20 mins or so meat is resting. Pre Prepare your pigs in blankets and whack them in at end with potatoes and parsnips too. Microwave your gravy, use 3 remaining hob rings to do any fancy sauces for veg (or to sautée sprouts with bacon etc if that's your thing). Just write a plan and adapt around things not all being cooked at exact same time or being half pre prepared. I lived in a tiny tiny cottage for a few years and often cooked huge roasts for 5 or 6 people when I had family visit me. They always went down really well too.. in fact i had one friend who stayed most Saturday nights when I was single so she'd get my roast dinner on a Sunday haha. I loved cooking for her too. Most of all don't stress and enjoy it... its just a big roast and its the company that matters most xx

If it’s only one oven for five and you can’t do anything, then I wouldn’t bother at all. Just keep drinking the champagne instead.

oh and as for deserts... local farm shop home made deserts which are frozen (like crumbles and pies etc) with some fresh custard are perfect. Buy small selection of cheese and biscuits for later too but let people serve that themselves off kitchen counter (can eat that on laps in front of Christmas Tv in the evening). It'll be magical and nobody will care about perfect food i promise