Help me to not spend Christmas in the kitchen please

[SugarAndLemon]

I see people here speak of a cozy and fun Christmas Eve, going for walks on Christmas morning, and I don't know how they do it. My husband does an equal amount of food prep/cooking but it feels like Christmas is spent in the kitchen rather than enjoying the day. Even the night before we are prepping food rather than relaxing. Can you help us?

We don't have many people to feed and want to do a traditional roast with sides. Ordering or relying on pre-prepared food is not an option unfortunately. Where are we going wrong and how can we better arrange our days?

Is anything pre prepared a no go?

We cook the meats the day before (chickens in oven, pork in convection oven and lamb in slow cooker) and that makes a massive difference to Christmas Day.

You’ll have to explain why you can’t buy some things pre-prepared, how many people you’re catering for, how many are guests, whether any has an allergy, what exactly you’re cooking.

You haven’t given us much to go on, OP.

How much prep do you do? It shouldn’t take that long to prepare the food?

@Jumpingintochristmas not impossible but it is very difficult to find prepared food that meets various dietary requirements in our family.

Talk us through your requirements

[quote SugarAndLemon]@Jumpingintochristmas not impossible but it is very difficult to find prepared food that meets various dietary requirements in our family.[/quote]
Of any of these people are guests, ask them to bring something that just needs heating up.

Also, we still need more info, OP.

I make things ahead and freeze- gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce etc.

It also helps to have your meal later- dinner rather than lunch.

What is your menu and how many people are you catering for?

My first piece of advice would be to keep things simple, so your prep and your timetable are straightforward.

I do everything in the morning. Dh preps the vegetables, I do the rest. The Yorkshire puds and gravy are the last thing to cook. I have a range cooker, so multiple things can go on and there’s none of that moving things around.

If you’re anything like my family you’ll have an almost endless list of “essential” sides and sauces that take aeons to prepare. So step 1 is do less. Step 2, do some things a bit ahead eg cauliflower cheese, or the cheese sauce at least (to give an example) is fine in the fridge for a couple of days. Bread sauce too. Gravy or at least the foundations of.

We set up a small bench table with nuts and drinks on. People mooch between kitchen and dining room.. Enlist helpers. All dc do a veg here! I never feel stuck in the kitchen!

Start making things now and putting them in the freezer? Ive already got stuffing & two trays of cauliflower cheese made in the freezer. Red cabbage freezes really well, as does gravy. You can even par boil your roast potatoes, let them steam dry well and then freeze. You could also parboil them a day or two before Christmas and just keep them covered somewhere cold.

For a real crowd when I’ve needed a beef joint and a turkey I’ve even been known to cook the meat & carve it on Christmas Eve. All you need to do is lay the slices in baking trays, cover with a little stock, then reheat in the oven covered in foil. Of course that’s not ideal but it’s a life saver when you’re cooking for big numbers, and means the oven can be dry & hot for your perfect roast potatoes.

I prepare and freeze lots beforehand, I cook meat the day before (carve and pour juices over)

So on the day, I warm up food, cook Yorkshire puddings & roast potatoes.

Older teens all get allocated a job (laying table, warming plates, carrying food out, pouring wine etc.)

DH helps a lot (not a cook but filled my instruction) stirs sauces, tides up, plates up meat etc.

I am not in the kitchen very long in the day, and I always have company with me when I'm busy, I'm usually relaxed and happy with a few wines in me by the time dinner is served.

Good luck!

I make ahead as much as possible - roast potatoes (parboiled and frozen), pigs in blanket, stuffing balls, sauces etc.

It's the one day a year I use disposable foil roasting tins for everything. No washing up.

Sorry for being so vague! Only seven people to cook for and two are small DC. I think some of the posts about the list of endless sides is part of our problem as the main seems to take less time and prep. How many sides is reasonable? Prepared food is tricky because we are a family of various intolerances and allergies. A typical roast dinner cooked from scratch is generally okay but often the same dishes when bought prepared have various allergens/cross-contamination.

I don't know what dishes are acceptable to cook a day ahead so have previously made everything on Christmas Day itself. I would be happy to do the meat or some sides a day ahead but didn't know if that was a done thing.

Helps to know what the dietary requirements are, so what sides absolutely have to be made by you and which could maybe come from M&S. Cauliflower cheese is certainly one you can make in advance.

Do you have a freezer OP?
I make and freeze: red cabbage; bread sauce; stuffing; Parmesan parsnips. I also wrap sausages in bacon for pigs ion blankets and freeze. All of this can be done any time from now.

You can premake and freeze most things as people have said. Stuffing, gravy, red cabbage, pigs in blankets, bread sauce, cranberry sauce. You can even par boil and freeze the potatoes. Re veg do peas and buy pre prepared carrots. I do the sprouts the day before and leave in water.

Ours is very simple:

Roast pork (the only meat acceptable to everyone)
Roast potatoes
3 veg
Gravy
Cranberry sauce
Apple sauce

I cook for 9 with no pre-prep, I don't know what you could possibly be doing to take so long. Just bung the turkey in first thing. Cook 5 veg, some potatoes and gravy, dh does the roasties and you're done. I do pre-prep the table but that's it. You must be going overboard on the side dishes, tbh. I figure, If great uncle Bertie just can't do without bread sauce he can make it.

I prep all my veg now and freeze it. Par boil the potatoes for roasties, put them on the tray you'll be roasting them on (I use a disposable tinfoil tray), wrap in clingfilm and freeze. Then they just need sticking in the oven to roast on the day. Same with any veg, parboiled parsnips for roasting work the same as the potatoes. I buy a bag of frozen sprouts because not enough people eat them to warrant buying fresh, it would be a waste. If you serve Yorkshire puddings then I'd definitely buy those ready made unless dietary requirements demand otherwise. Roast your meat the day before, I tend to put it in early so I can crack on with Christmas Eve stuff.

5 veg? What do you have?

We also have 5 veg (only time of the year we do):
Carrot batons
Mashed swede
Sprouts
Red cabbage
Parmesan parsnips

I missed the mashed swede off my previous list of things that can be prepped ahead and frozen.