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?

If you have a tiny baby, let everyone else do EVERYTHING this time! Turn off the control freakery and resume again next year! Sit, eat, enjoy the tiny baby x

Steam the veg?

@LubaLuca

Just the one turkey between all of you?

Fear not; this is a Mumsnet turkey!

@DisgruntledPelican I didn't really think about other people but I guess I assumed most people live in houses not flats so probably have a double oven. I thought it was standard.

@Bearbehind We have one because it was just the two of us until a couple of weeks ago and we didn't need more. We're looking to buy a house with a bit of space, proper kitchen etc next year.

Anyway - thanks for advice and hope my sleep deprivation and lack of common sense provided some amusement

@RowanAlong great advice. Everyone in the house can cook pretty well (except the baby; he struggles to boil an egg) so I will step away and just enjoy the day.

Ah @roarfeckingroarr I’m sure everyone’s just having a bit of a laugh and all commentators have got tongue firmly in cheek! I’m sure no one is actually being aggressive...

It’ll be fine. You’ll spend the day having baby snuggles and everyone else can do the work. It’ll honesty be fine.

My grandad once famously (in our family ) cooked a full roast dinner for 6 "with PROPER gravy" on a Baby Belling so I'm sure you'll manage with an oven, 4-ring hob and microwave.

We have one because it was just the two of us until a couple of weeks ago and we didn't need more. We're looking to buy a house with a bit of space, proper kitchen etc next year.

Some people on MN really don’t seem to have any sense of awareness of the situation of others

You do realise not everyone has the option of buying a bigger house and getting a ‘proper kitchen’ with 2 ovens, just because they’ve had a baby 🤔

Millions of households cook dinner at Christmas with 1 oven

I assumed most people live in houses not flats so probably have a double oven. I thought it was standard.

This is quite mind blowing!

Get a turkey crown - doesn't take anywhere near as long to cook and can be as others have said wrapped and left to one side while everything else cooked.

Pre prepare veg and pigs in blanket and leave in fridge for next day - consider Aunt bessies roasties and if you want yorkshires just for time saving

All done!

yeah one oven normal - I actually have two ovens but only use the one for the most part. We might switch the other on over christmas but we don't really need it.

We are doing chinese this year - woo hoo

I've got a house and only one oven. I'M SUCH A FAILURE!

You and your guests will be fine OP and congratulations on your baby

See I own my own house, it's not a tiny house. It's a 3 bedroom semi but we only have 1 oven. And we have 2 children. We manage fine cooking for 4 everyday and more when we have family over. Other than my parents I don't know anyone else with more than one oven tbh.

Listen to Delia.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2001/dec/09/foodanddrink.recipes1

Do not fanny about making sauces from scratch though, especially minging ones like bread sauce. Skip those bits of her plan then it is super easy.

Remember nobody wants your homemade cranberry sauce: www.tiktok.com/@oceanspray/video/6899120137702558982

Nigella probably has a method with fewer steps and a fuck of a lot more salt. You must pretend to be Nigella while cooking her recipes. This applies to men too. DH does a marvellous Nigella dirty laugh and wink through his ginger annoyingly real ale beard.

Jamie probably has a method with eleventy million steps he swears take 250 milliseconds each but take you and three helpers 250 minutes each.

@StrippedFridge that reminds me of my dad making homemade bread sauce on the Aga when I was growing up. It took him days. He was obsessed. Of course he forgot to bring it to the table 😀.

Well I've learnt something new today - double ovens aren't standard in houses. Blow me down.

@StCharlotte

I've got a house and only one oven. I'M SUCH A FAILURE!

You and your guests will be fine OP and congratulations on your baby

Thank you! He's delicious; more than dinner could ever be.

We’ve got a double oven, but we’ve only lived here for four months.

@Bearbehind a quick advanced search and I see you're not one for humour. Probably best left there.

@HollyandIvyandallthingsYule you've made it in life

When our children were tiny and we were in a too small house with too many guests, we forgot to cook the pigs in blankets. This is taken as the ultimate sign of parental exhaustion in our families. We were invited to other people's houses for a good four years after that. Nobody was going to risk another pigs in blankets shit show ruining Christmas. They never say anything to our faces but we know they will never truly trust us again.

Not sure what I'd do with a double oven?! I have a small top oven/grill but assuming this double oven business means 2 full size ovens. I mean if you're a family of 10 I can see the point. But for a normal family of 4 - not sure I'd ever use the second one. Even at Christmas I've never struggled with one.

[quote roarfeckingroarr]@HollyandIvyandallthingsYule you've made it in life [/quote]
😆😆

Surely its doable? We have one small oven and four kids.

My mates mum did a full roast with trimmings for 20 of her daughters weding guests the day after her wedding with one oven.

We cook for 12 without a issue.

Just plan your timings I guess unless your going for very complicated meal.

[quote roarfeckingroarr]@Bearbehind a quick advanced search and I see you're not one for humour. Probably best left there.[/quote]
That's pretty snide of you OP.

We've got 7 kids and have between 3 and 7 of the extended family over each year and manage just fine with 4 hub rings and an oven.

Even better is our kitchen is only 120x180cm. So it can be done.... Best roasties on the planet, I'm told.