Christmas dinner planning- advice!

[Michellexxx]

So, we haven't ordered any food yet- we usually order M&S, mostly out of convenience to be honest. However, kids are slightly older now, in that we might get away with some proper prep etc.

I am looking for advice on what we can prep in advance- potatoes, veg etc.

There is a roulade recipe in a magazine that i have that can be made to a certain stage a couple of days in advance, so I am going to make that. What else can we prepare before Christmas day?

Pigs in blankets wrap and freeze, cauliflower cheese the day before, goes in the fridge, or make cheese sauce well in advance and freeze them just need to steam cauliflower and pour over sauce on the day, mashed carrot and swede can be done a few days in advance and refrigerated or longer and frozen. Homemade sausage meat stuffing freezes well in balls or a loaf. Potatoes peeled first thing and left in water, drain and put in fresh water before boiling. Buy prepped sprouts (not cooked ones), just not worth the faff. You can do the gammon the day before. Only DH and DM eat spiced red cabbage so we just buy that from m&s

All your veg can be done the day before, use bowls to put the trimmings and prepared veg in and do it in front of a Christmas film. Red cabbage can be cooked and frozen for a month. There's a good recipe in Good Housekeeping magazine.

You can also par boil the veg but imo it's only worth it for ones you're going to roast

We have made the prep on christmas eve an event. Christmas music and or films.

Everyone helps. potatoes for mash peeled and roasties par boiled.
All veg prep-carrots, parsnips, sprouts etc fetching last minute things from shop etc

wrap asparagus in pancetta, prep blinis etc for bits in the day with fizz

Do absolutely everything-lay table, get serving platters/utensils etc out and label them for everything so there is no stress on the day

I put everything prepped in ziplock bags with water/ice and lately have put in a cool bag in the garden to save fridge space.

I also make an oven plan and write all of the timings down as can flustered on the day-I start with when we want to eat and back up from there

I'm going to post some links I added to a similar thread yesterday that may be worth perusing for advice and ideas - they are similar threads from previous years (1st 4 are from Christmas threads, but last 2 are AIBU's so be warned!):

Basic hosting tips

Host a large family

Cheat's advice to hosting

Things to make ahead for Christmas dinner (Possibly the most relevant for your query)

Cooking the Christmas dinner advice

Cooking Christmas dinner tips

You can make the gravy ahead and freeze.
Make the brandy butter ahead.
Mince pies can be made well in advance and either frozen uncooked or bake till almost done then freeze ready to finish off when required.

Thanks. Should I cooked the sausage meat/pigs in blankets then freeze?

Will definitely prep the veg the day before too. I did make gravy one year but felt like the effort of it v buying the readymade stuff from m&s wasn’t really worth it.

Has anyone made homemade pate before? Is it worth the hassle?

Mary Berry christmas book has loads of tips for things you can prepare in advance and / or freeze

Stuffing balls / pigs in blankets - I would freeze uncooked, then defrost on christmas eve

Those of you that par boil you potatoes for roasties, how do you store them?

Last year I prepped my roast potatoes, Brussel sprouts, parsnips, carrots and Yorkshire puddings about three weeks in advance.

Directions for roast pots below, they were delicious.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/freeze-ahead-roasties

Sprouts I peeled etc, brought to boil then into ice to stop cooking, froze and on the day fried up in butter with bacon. Carrots and parsnips, peeled, sliced, parboiled, frozen then roasted on the day.
Cauliflower & leek cheese prepared and frozen and went in oven on day for 30 mins.
We always have double potato so I made the mash the day before.
It was the easiest Christmas day dinner I'd ever done frankly, aside from putting the meat in (we had slow cooked lamb as that was the request from the teens) it took about an hour on the day to make dinner for 8 people.

@Tiredmummy2014 I boil potatoes, roast for 20-30 mins. Remove any excess oil with kitchen paper. Leave on the tray, in a cool place overnight, covered with a clean tea towel. Next day, cook in hot oven for another 30 mins or so

Thank you @notanothertakeaway 🙂

My Christmas day prep is:
Breakfast:
Mini danish and cocktail sausages (mix 1:1 hoisin & honey, mix sausages in and bake. For the final 5 mins sprinkle sesame seeds over the sausages) And whatever chocolate is in the stocking.

Dinner is a cold starter - carpaccio & the only prep is the dressing which I make a few days earlier. Then the broth stock for the soup is made ahead and frozen so that goes into a slow cooker and the last ingredients in the morning. Red cabbage also gets made ahead and frozen and just gets reheated prior to serving.

We do either a turkey crown or venison steaks, roasties, sprouts (shred in a food processor, fry pancetta, then stirfry the sprouts, and add a little cream at the end.) Roast parsnip and carrots. Ready made stuffing (can also be made ahead)
Dessert is a trifle. I do the custard layer and jelly layers in the days before so it's just the cream to whip on the day.

So really there's not a huge amount of prep on the morning - but I crack open the prosecco for the arduous task anyway!