Building a 2.5 hour break into Christmas meal cooking

[PermanentTemporary]

So. I'm hosting teenage ds and very elderly dm for Christmas lunch. At 9am I will leave house to go and get my dm from her nursing home an hour away. Should be back with her by 1130. We need to eat about 1-130.

Im doing roast duck, roast potatoes, gravy, pigs in blankets, orange sauce, green peas, some sort of carrots, followed by Christmas pudding with brandy butter and chocolate roulade with cream. Then at 3pm I have dsis and teenagers arriving for cheese and biscuits, chocs and fruit. I'll set off about 4-430 with dm back to the nursing home.

I think before 9am if the duck and pigs are defrosted, the potatoes parboiled, the puddings ready on platters with the orange sauce ready in the fridge, that we've got plenty of time to do nice jobs like decorate the table, whip cream and put chocs on pretty dishes with dm.

Are there any potential problems I've missed??

Personally I think re-cooked potatoes are never as good as fresh.

My timesaver when I'm not cooking for a hoard is to microwave potatoes instead of par-boiling. For 3 people about 6 mins should do it with minimal water. It means you don't have to hover waiting for them to boil over. Let them steam dry under a tea towel whilst you go and get your Mum and you'll be good to go.

Have a wonderful day.

I agree reheated roast potatoes aren't anywhere near as nice as fresh, Cuck00soup. Par boiling in advance doesn't seem to make any difference to the quality though, if anything, it makes them fluffier and crispier. You're supposed to freeze or refrigerate parboiled potatoes overnight to remove the moisture when making triple cooked chips so I guess it works the same for roast potatoes. If it's good enough for Heston, it's good enough for me

Oh parboiled and chilled could definitely work. I'm going to need a bigger fridge 😬

No, no DP, I'm a widow and my bf will be exchanging appropriate gifts with his ex wife Christmas is complicated...