First year hosting

[jerometheturnipking]

Experienced hosts, help please! I've found DH and I to be hosting my side of the family this year (Parents, brother, partner, DN, sister), and we have quite a small home, so I'm looking for tips for the logistics. The dinner itself is fine - I've made a Christmas dinner for the 4 of us before, but how much more should I be buying? E.g. currently, I have a 1.5kg boneless turkey breast joint on order (based on old plans, and this does the 4 of us twice, plus sandwiches), would I be correct in assuming I'd need a 2.5kg one to feed the 9 of us with fewer leftovers? Will I need a metric tonne of vegetables and where do I store all these things?

And the table! Our dining table will sit 6 at a stretch, and is in the kitchen. I was thinking about looking into a decorators pasting table (obviously with table cloth etc), but DH thinks this won't be strong enough to support people eating. Would we be better bringing the dining table in to the living room and seeing if we can wangle a folding picnic table from friends to stick at the end of the table?

This is a big deal - we've not done Christmas dinner together as a family since I moved out 10 years ago, it's DN's first Christmas and for some reason my dad is being quite morbid about it potentially being the last time we (my nuclear family) have Christmas dinner all together. Help please!.

This might help www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/your-christmas-portion-planner

That is helpful, thank you! I think I'm going to need to be more organised with my oven timings this year with the size of oven. 2.5kg of potatoes seems loads!

I’d get two bags of potatoes, two sprouts and two parsnips. And I’m a huge fan of Birdseye frozen steamed veg. You get individual packs of mixed veg (veg varies depending on what you want) which take a couple of minutes in the microwave and taste perfect. Makes a massive difference both to available hob space and number of saucepans needing to be washed up.

I also do stuffing and pigs slightly earlier, wrap them in tinfoil and put them on the floor of the oven to keep hot, which saves shelves. I did see a rack designed to give you more oven shelf space; I think it may have been in Lakeland.

I agree with your DH, I don’t think a wallpaper table will be strong enough, but what about something like this? www.wayfair.co.uk/Symple-Stuff--Gillsville-Aluminium-Folding-Camping-Table-V113190346-L65-K~U002089235.html?refid=GX200082348166-U002089235&device=c&ptid=975609305717&targetid=pla-975609305717&network=g&ireid=117705774&device=c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6I6PrIjj8wIVyfZRCh21-QG1EAYYBCABEgLAuPD_BwE

I know you can hire tables too if you have a local hire centre near you. And tell them to bring chairs with them. If you haven’t got enough matching plates, Wilkos do plain white ones for a really nice price with charger plates for around £1.50 I think. And wine glasses are in Asda for 50p each.

Just in case that link doesn’t work, it’s a folding aluminium camping table for four for £21 from Wayfair and something popped up offering £15 off your first order.

My advice would be to cook turkey early - it can stay covered on the side for a couple of hours leaving the oven free to cook the other stuff. Roast potatoes always take a lot longer when you do lots so put them on earlier- you can always take them out for a bit if you think they are cooking too quickly.
Thirdly you need a strong table. Have a look on facebook local to see if there is a small one the same hight to add to yours. I prefer my dinner table out of the kitchen as I am a messy cook.

Ooh, yeah, definitely agree with NaturalBlonde. Gordon Ramsey rests his for the same amount of time as he cooks it, which is what we’ve copied and it’s always hot, moist and delicious. Just put tin foil and a towel over it.

Don't be afraid to reheat, when you're short on oven space some dishes will need to come out of the oven and sit covered while other things cook and then go back in to finish and reheat, or even be popped the microwave for things like mashed potatoes. A tiered steamer for veg on the hob is essential.

Definitely as the PPs have said get the turkey done and out of the way early, a couple of layers of foil and a towel will keep it warm and it'll be better for resting.

Most importantly write a list of the things you're preparing, absolutely everything even if it's just opening a jar and putting something in a dish then do a timeline starting with when you want to eat and working back and think it through, is it feasible with your oven space? do you have enough roasting tins? serving dishes? serving spoons etc. What do you need to buy or borrow?

Write down when each thing needs to go into the oven/pan and how long it needs and either print out the recipe or add notes, for example, you might not need a recipe for a dish you make regularly but it might be worth noting what spices it needs and quantities.

Make as much in advance as possible even if it's component parts, so for example a dish needs a spiced butter, you can do that a couple of days in advance, saves a step on the day.

No starter or a cold starter delegated to someone else.

People will recommend lots of help in the kitchen but I find that more stressful unless your kitchen is huge, getting people to bring pre prepared dishes is better and doing as much in advance as possible.

That's a good point about the turkey resting. I usually do a boneless breast joint (for 4) and let that rest while the roasties and other veg are cooking. With the cooking - it's not so much the hob space as the oven space once the potatoes have been par-boiled! Pigs in blankets and stuffing can go in the bottom of the oven (I think?!) which is fine. DB is selectively vegan wanting a nut roast instead of turkey so I'll see if I can make a small one of those ahead to reheat on the day. DH and I would usually have pate and oatcakes for a starter, but my lot aren't really pate people - they're more of a prawn cocktail or soup persuasion when it comes to starters so I'll have a think about what I could do that's easy and not taking up too much space.

Technically speaking, our grill has an oven function too but I'll need to try that out in advance before planning on using it. I tend to roast the carrots and sprouts from fresh anyway. I think I'll ask my mum to keep trifles in her fridge to bring with them, and I'll have other freezer dessert as well as the Christmas cake.

I enjoy an elaborate spreadsheet and A Plan so I'll work on that over the next wee while. It's occurred to me a bigger turkey joint will also take longer to cook so a spreadsheet/system of lists is going to be a must.

Have agreed with DH about the decorators table - the current plan is to see if MIL is using her folding picnic table, and bring that plus our kitchen table in to the living room. Chairs will be easy enough because we were going to replace our kitchen table this month anyway, so we'll have 4 chairs plus 2 three-seater benches. It means DH and DB will be tasked with rearranging the living room before and after we eat, but it'll all be part of the fun.

Unless it’s unseasonably warm you can leave some things outside or in the boot of your car. Once the meat goes in the oven you will have room in the fridge for drinks so don’t worry about those until then.

As you prep put veg etc into ziploc bags and you’ll be able to fit more in your fridge. Poundland do smallish flat cookie sheets and I find these quite useful to stack in the fridge.

Piping bags (also a Poundland staple) are great for sauces, drizzles, coulis etc. You can make ahead, and knot the bag until you’re ready to go and then just snip the bottom. If you do this, keep a sharpie handy to label things.

PS don’t mind your dad! I’ve lost count of the number of “last Christmas with …” that I’ve hosted and they’re all still hanging in there I think saying that often enough wards off trouble.

If we need an extra table, usually for food rather than people, we use our garden table.

I normally host for 12 and my kitchen is tiny. I prep the veg on the 23/24th. I use thick food grade plastic bags and use them to line a pan. Peel spuds or veg, add water and salt and then tie each bag. They go into a large plastic back in the garage and stay cool until needed then I just cut the bag and put it into a pan. I find the grill oven to be perfect for my pigs in blankets and stuffing balls. I also have a tower hot plate to help keep things warm as the sheer volume means it's much slower to plate up etc. I also stack all my clean dishes that we will be using in the dishwasher and put out on a short cycle timed to end ten minutes before serving time.... that way the plates are hot and that also helps the food to stay hot. Put somebody wise in charge of drinks and seeing the table.