Christmas Day Lunch Timings

[DiamondBright]

Would someone be so kind as to share their plan? I'm still quite new to doing Christmas at home post divorce and wondering if I'm making life difficult for myself.

I'm trying to write out a plan from taking the turkey out of the freezer on the 23rd to start defrosting right through to serving up the dessert on Christmas Day. I thought a list to tick off might reduce stress.

Obviously we won't have the same food planned but I'm sure it will still be useful, hopefully lots of hints and tips for getting ahead.

I did all mine on Alexa last year and saved a screenshot so I could do the same this year.

That is brilliant @Wildernesstips . I might nick that for myself

Get a copy of the Christmas edition of Good Housekeeping or similar, or a supermarket in house magazine. They always have a Christmas meal timetable included which you can base your own meal around.

Or the BBC News website food section will also have some good advice.

My own tips are
A few days before hand get out all the trays/dishes you are going to use in the oven and make sure they fit in it together.
Use foil trays, especially the turkey one, as liners inside ceramic etc dishes, a lot of them aren't very sturdy and you don't want your hot turkey in a heap on the kitchen floor.
Take short cuts, eg dress up bought cranberry sauce with a splash of port, use brandy flavoured cream instead of making brandy sauce etc etc.

My rough timings are:

• turkey in ~7am, rotated ~9:30, out ~11:45, served 1pm on the dot.
• roast potatoes in to boil 11:40, out 11:50, into oven 11:55

everything else works around that.

As long as you remember the turkey can come out 1hr+ before eating and make a plan based on weight of your turkey+stuffing then it isn't too bad.

Thank you, all advice welcome.

I have BBC good food Christmas magazine, haven't read it yet, I'll go and look now.

@TeenMinusTests

My rough timings are:

• turkey in ~7am, rotated ~9:30, out ~11:45, served 1pm on the dot.
• roast potatoes in to boil 11:40, out 11:50, into oven 11:55

everything else works around that.

As long as you remember the turkey can come out 1hr+ before eating and make a plan based on weight of your turkey+stuffing then it isn't too bad.

That was my plan re the turkey, get it out to defrost on the 23rd, in to brine Christmas Eve evening, then roast it timed to come out at least an hour before serving so it can rest and I can do everything else.

Last year I underestimated how long some dishes I made beforehand and chilled overnight took to reheat on the day, wasn't a big deal but dinner was later than planned and I felt more stressed than I needed to. I have fewer guests this year and want to keep it chilled, I'm trying to limit the number of side dishes this time, I was over ambitious last year and it wasn't necessary.

The BBC good food Christmas Day guide suggests cooking things like pigs in blankets and stuffing early on and setting them aside to be reheated last minute.

I usually cook for around 10-14 people on Christmas day. I have limited oven space but I like to do lots of different side dishes so it does take a lot of planning.

Turkey is cooked on the morning and comes out of the oven about an hour before serving. Alongside the turkey I also cook the pigs in blankets and stuffing. These are then kept in the food warmer on the counter whilst everything else cooks. Lamb goes in the slow cooker on the morning and is ready about half an hour before serving.

Anything that can be made in advance and frozen, I prepare way ahead of time. Potato dauphinoise, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes and cauliflower cheese are all made ahead and frozen. These are all cooked in the oven once the turkey comes out (except mash which goes in microwave).

Vegetables done in the steamer and ready just before serving.

Turkey and lamb gravies are prepared on the hob whilst the veg steams. Things like bread sauce, cranberry sauce, mint sauce etc are delegated to a relative during this time.

Best thing to do is decide what time you want to eat and work backwards from there. It helps that we don't do lunch until about 3pm so I'm not up at 6am messing around in the kitchen.

I haven't done a plan but I usually work backwards from the time we want to eat and plan it that way.

The last couple of years we followed a tip from Jamie Oliver to cook the turkey early and cover it in foil/tea towels while you cook the other stuff.
Stays hot/moist and so much more room in the oven!