Christmas dinner - Tips needed!

[Friedseasalt]

Hosting for the first time this year. Only 6 adults and one toddler so not too many people. How do you prep the night before/early in the morning or what are your tips? Don't want to be away from my toddler all morning cooking so want to try and be organised. Starter will be prawn cocktail & Pate, main gammon & Turkey and trimmings, desert cheesecake.. Thanks v much in advance!

This is what I do:
1. Roasties done in advance: https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/get-ahead-roast-potatoes.html
2. Gravy https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/jamies-get-ahead-gravy.html
3. Stuffing and Yorkshire puds courtesy of Aunt Bessie
4. Bread sauce from a packet
5. Carrots and parsnips - I use this recipe and follow the freezing instructions https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/honey-butter-carrots-and-parsnips/
6. We don’t have both red cabbage and cauliflower cheese. It’s one or the other. Both can be made ahead.
7. Sprouts - trim the night before and leave in an airtight container in the fridge
8. Turkey - season and rub in butter the night before. The first adult to wake up gets the turkey out of the fridge straight away. It needs to come up to room temperature before you put it in the oven.
9. Lay the table the night before.

Make a list of everything that you want to make and put timings in it. Count your dishes and see what will fit in the oven at the same time. I find planning it all out like this with notes about what time things have to happen and what dish etc to use - don't forget to factor in time to physically take things in and out of the oven etc!

You'll see from doing this what can be done the day before or given to other people.

Write yourself a backwards timetable, starting at the end with the time you want to serve, if that makes sense? Check you have enough pans, plates etc., if not, ask your family to bring them in advance. Make sure you have room in your fridge - it sounds like the prawn cocktails and cheesecake might take up a bit of room in there, so have a clear out.

I make and freeze most of it so it ends up as a posh, homemade, ready meal that just goes in the oven!

Jamie Oliver has a good program about getting prepared for Xmas dinner (I found it helpful anyway - I don't necessarily follow the exact recipes but gives you a good idea.

I prep as much as I can before (and freeze if possible )- things like pigs in blankets, stuffing, red cabbage.
Blanch parsnips night before and tray up ready.

I normally do potatoes on the day but I'm going to try prepping them the night before this year.

Stuff turkey day before.

write down what needs to go in when. Alexa timers are helpful.

Top tip- Don't drink too much before dinner goes out!

The turkey will stay hot for ages after you take it out, and the more resting the better, so nearly all the other things can be cooked while the turkey is resting. Especially the veg.

Clear space in the fridge and freezer in the weeks leading up to it so that all your stuff that you need room for will fit in. We often have a veg box outside with carrots, sprouts, spuds etc.

Top tip- Don't drink too much before dinner goes out!

That would be mine too! I slug mulled wine all morning and suddenly it's the King's speech !

We have Xmas dinner on Xmas eve, cold meat and mash on Xmas day x

The most stressful thing is not having enough oven space to roast all the veg etc. But I watched Jamie Oliver a few years ago and he changed the way I did it. You can remove the turkey and let it rest for an hour and it will still be hot. Keep it in its tray, wrap it tightly in thick tin foil and then wrap it in a very thick bath sheet. Works a treat, much easier to carve and you can reload the oven with potatoes, veg and anything else needing heated.

Use frozen baby sprouts, much tastier than fresh and need no prepping.

Buy bread sauce/cranberry etc from M&S.

On Christmas Eve I peel and cut potatoes, carrots and parsnips and parboil. Drain and allow to cool and then put in roasting trays coated in fat. Prep and blanche sprouts and put in oven dish with pancetta and chestnuts, dot with diced butter. Red cabbage is made well in advance and frozen. Stuff turkey and put pigs in blankets in oven dish and then cover all dishes with cling film or foil and put in fridge. On Christmas Day, I cook the turkey and then wrap in foil and towels to rest while everything else goes in the oven. Ready made gravy that just needs heating on the hob. I also make a reverse timetable based on the weight of the turkey after stuffing

I part roast potatoes the day before. Get all veg ready the day before and cook or part cook anything that won't spoil. Same with pigs in blankets, cook the day before and either heat up in the microwave or chuck in with the roast potatoes. Roast potatoes go in when the turkey comes out, as they will only take half an hour (since they are already part roasted). Stuffing goes in when the roast potatoes go in.
gravy prepared in advance and heated through last minute, same with bread sauce.
Table laid the night before, if possible.
serving dishes sorted out the day before and labelled with post its so you know what is going in which. This also saves last minute panics when you realise you haven't actually got a serving dish for the sprouts.

all this assumes you are doing roast turkey and no starter.... If I did starters nobody would have room for turkey and I would have to do loads more cooking etc. between courses!

I always do Christmas pudding and a cold, light dessert. Traditionally orange jelly with mandarins in, because everybody likes it and it's easy to eat when you're already stuffed with turkey. Very few people eat the Christmas pudding on Christmas day, so if anyone does want it I just cut a slice and hear it in the microwave, rather than cooking the whole thing.

I do a light evening meal of smoked salmon and brown bread and butter for those who like it. (I dont) pate if anyone wants it, a cheeseboard, fresh tomato salad, grapes, crackers for the cheese, crusty rolls to go with the pate, chutneys of various kinds, nuts and mini mince pies and yule log if anyone (the children) want something sweet. Then we sit around the table nibbling until we feel like going to bed, mainly. At some time parents of the children will put them to bed, and various people will take stuff into the kitchen and deal with it (fill the dishwasher etc.) but it's mainly a chance to chat and nibble on nice food in a relaxed atmosphere.

We've always done veg prep on Christmas eve. Now there's going to be 3 possibly 4of us we do have a traditional Christmas dinner.

My top tip would be to share the load with your other half. They watch the toddler whilst you prep the spouts/ you watch the toddler whilst they peel the spuds. It’s your Christmas too.

I may be projecting here but I suspect far too many women spend their Christmas Day running around looking after children and making huge stressful meals whilst their husbands sit back and enjoy the day.

Hopefully that’s not the case here but I thought I’d mention it just in case!

That sounds idyllic… but liable to cause riots here!🤣

Others have mentioned planning and I agree with that in spades.

With a detailed time plan and some advanced prep (all veggies prepped the day before) you should be able to keep Christmas morning fairly stress free and have dinner on the table on time.

Do you have a partner or other family who will help? I found that by having a written time plan of what needs to be done and when means that helpers can look at it too and provide effective help. For example, I will have entries that say things like set out cheese and biscuits, set table, warm plates. Anyone willing to lend a hand can glance at the plan and see what needs doing.

When DD was a child and PILs always spent Christmas with us, Christmas morning had to accommodate:

• Get turkey in oven first thing
• Examine stocking contents
• Light breakfast for DD (but not PIL)
• 9:30 Mass
• Then breakfast for everyone (PILs very traditional and wouldn't eat before mass)
• Then open the rest of presents
• Phone other family to say Happy Christmas and thanks for pressies
• And finally finish cooking Christmas dinner to be on table by 1:30pm

Looking back it sounds frantic but, honestly, with a realistic plan and helpers it can get done.

Having said that I find it much more relaxing now nobody feel so the urge to go to church!

One other tip, which can be good but you have to time it right, put a nice shirt, top or Tshirt in a bag in the freezer about 15 minutes before you are due to serve dinner. Then, even if you get hot and bothered with the cooking, at the last minute you can slip in to something refreshingly cool just before you sit down to eat. Of course, if you leave it there too long it gets a bit stiff and you have to whack it with a wooden spoon or something and it is not such a pleasant experience

Thank you SO much for all the tips, so so useful. I feel like I have a plan now and all written down. Do most of you eat between 2-3 or earlier?

I always host

I make as much as I can in advance and freeze.

I write a backwards timetable

I get my dishes out the week before and put post it notes on them so I know they fit in the oven and what goes in what dish

Delegate. I cook the meal but dh is in charge of all drinks/coats/serving nibbles etc. kids lay the table and load the dishwasher after.

@Friedseasalt we eat at 1.00. Time for church beforehand if anyone wants to go... time to clear up afterwards before King's speech and presents, then time to get hungry again before evening meal

For only 6 people I'd just do one starter to make life easier!

I never do sit-down starters - the main meal is big enough.

But it's nice to pass around canape-type bites with drinks beforehand, so you could serve the pate/prawns on blinis, etc. Keeps things a bit simpler!