Festive but extremely quick and easy Christmas lunch ideas

[LazyCrazyAndStupid]

Have at the last minute invited some friends for Christmas day for lunch. I'm a lousy cook and also have two very young children so very little time to prepare anything. I'd still like to dish up something tasty and special. Any ideas? I'm a vegetarian so have got no idea how to cook meat but wouldn't mind offering meat dishes for our friends.

I'm also happy (in fact very, very happy) to use ready made food or any short cuts if anyone can recommend anything but nothing insanely expensive, please.

Yes, the avoidance of food poisoning is definitely wanted!!

I really wanted to make some meat options for the older kids. They have specifically asked to come to ours so I want it to be special. We've had them for Christmas previously and the food has always been quite rubbish. Lots of Quorn oven snacks kind of things and jalapeno poppers and pasta.

I'm planning to go shopping on Friday, which is the earliest I can do it. Supermarkets will still have stuff won't they?

By the way all the suggestions have been great and I'm planning to make a shopping list after reading every post in detail again. One person's weird is another's gourmet delicacy so I'm grateful for all suggestions. I think there's a lot of useful info here as well for post Christmas gatherings as I'm unlikely to discover my inner nigella anytime soon.

Really like this and thanks for putting together an entire menu but when you say "ham" what do you mean?

I'm wondering can I get some sort of meat thet can be fried instead of baked? Maybe that's a safer option if the oven is dodgy. I don't think the kids will like steak though. Can I get a ham fillet (is that a thing?) And fry it? Will it be less chewy, ie, easier to eat than streak?

Is there any kind of fried meat that most kids really like? To be honest I'm more worried about having something thwt the kids will like rather than the adults. So it should be child / teenager friendly but still festive (I mean not fish sticks or pizza).

Having said that I think home made pizza might have been very popular and the kids could have put their own toppings but is that too unchristmassy?

It’s tough combining hosting with young dc
LazyCrazyAndStupid. Can any of your adult guests bring some food and contribute and help you out a bit?

I imagine the supermarkets will be gearing up for big shopping days on Friday and Saturday though. Good luck with it all and hope you and your family have a brilliant Christmas.

Are sausages christmassy? They can be friend, can't they? Don't all kids love sausages? My DD does.

No, unfortunately, I can't ask them to get food. I don't know maybe I'm getting unnecessarily worried about this.. They often eat on the way up to ours anyway. I know all the kids like pasta and pizza but I kind of just want it to be a bit special and festive for them. Maybe I'll make a bowl of pasta and tomato sauce anyway and I'll definitely have frozen pizza on stand by

Just buy a chicken in a bag with herbs and garlic butter

But everything else ready made to want in the microwave- mash , carrot and swede , sprouts with pancetta and garlic butter , frozen Yorkshire puds, tubs of gravy and bread sauce . The only thing I'd do from scratch is roast spuds and parsnips . Even then you can get ready peeled .
Get stuffing balls . Pigs In blankets.

Easy Xmas dinner ! I'm doing this Boxing Day .

Sausages are a great idea for the kids and you can probably find thick slices of packaged ham that you can just heat up or fry on the stove for the adults. Fry sausages day before and just heat them on the stove when you’re frying/warming up the ham that’s been precooked at the store. So it will still be festive with the ham (with cranberry relish) and sausages. And you won’t have to worry on the day if the meat has been cooked through or not.

@LazyCrazyAndStupid

Just looking at what you said above

They have specifically asked to come to ours so I want it to be special. We've had them for Christmas previously and the food has always been quite rubbish. Lots of Quorn oven snacks kind of things and jalapeno poppers and pasta.

It's quite possible that one of the reasons the children have asked to come to yours for Christmas is because the oven snacks and pasta is exactly the kind of food they enjoy! A lot of youngsters aren't necessarily into meet or roast dinners . The more I am reading of your thread here I would recommend you stick to preparing food you are comfortable with .

If you haven't got any Christmassy plates and dishes, have a look in charity shops, which are full of them right now, very cheaply.

I haven't read all pps, but you can get a ready cooked ham from the butcher, and then serve a buffet with it to avoid the oven

This is a good idea.

Hi OP, given that your oven is on the Fritz, I wouldn't try cooking a joint. How about:

Start with traditional prawn cocktail (easy and only needs defrosting and making the sauce and it's nicer on chopped apple rather than lettuce.

Pizzas cut into Christmas tree shapes and the kids put on their own toppings

Make ice cream sundaes

If I was a kid and got served that I think I'd fall over with joy.
It all sounds like you would be able to do that without a mass of stress and you'd officially be THE COOLEST.

I'd stick with the buffet idea. Some posher sliced ham, loads of Christmassy flavours around at the mo. Cocktail sausages, cheese, scotch eggs, pork pies and veggie versions of! Prawns, smoked salmon... loads of options. Put cranberry sauce, mustard etc out and it will be really festive.
Get some Xmas paper napkins and stick a little tree of some sort in the table.

Are they expecting a traditional Xmas day lunch or will they be ok with something different?

She has already said they are not expecting roast Turkey and the trimmings . And it appears she has a dodgy oven anyway .

OP, I see you planned going shopping today - if you possibly can I would strongly recommend leaving it until tomorrow. In my experience the supermarkets are always RAMMED on the 23rd, and a lot quieter on Christmas Eve.

You could ask the guests to all bring a dish, that way the effort is shared. You could reheat things in the microwave?

Can you afford to buy an air fryer before Xmas?

Maybe you could all chip in for a takeaway curry?

It sounds like a fun day whatever you end up doing!

I’d go for a cold-ish platter that just requires assembling rather than lots of cooking:
• cold meats - gammon/ham/precooked chicken - probably cheaper or salamis/bresaola etc
• gherkins/pickled onions
• cheeses - cheddar/Comte/Brie
• grapes/figs/apples/pears
• jar of chutney
• crackers
• olives
• garlic bread
• sausage rolls/mini sausages pre cooked - these can be fancied up by making a honey & mustard sticky sauce
• herby potatoes - microwave bag of or potatoes and add Mayo, spring onion, chopped bacon for potato salad
• salmon mousse/pates
• dips & crudités - dips already done and bag of carrot batons, chop up cucumber/pepper

Dessert - either a microwave Christmas pudding (lots of alternatives out there like speculoos/chocolate maybe appeal more to kids) or something frozen - think vienetta/roulade and serve with cream/ice cream and a large tub of chocolates. Or even better, box of after eights and play the after eights game - great fun for all ages

Tip it all onto the table, a little bit of chopping and microwaving and then let people pick themselves, relax and enjoy!