Christmas Dinner in a Box

[PrincessTinselToes]

In an attempt to make Christmas less stressful we’re going away to a remote cottage for Christmas. We’d still like a proper Christmas dinner, but not one that has me slaving away in the kitchen for hours and missing time relaxing with the kids and watching them open presents and enjoying terrible TV.

To this end I’d like to ask for personal experiences of Christmas “dinner in a box” (or just as easy alternatives). I don’t want to have to peel and prep veg, make my own stuffing, wrap sausages in bacon or make my own gravy so a box full of ingredients and instructions isn’t what I want, as I’m perfectly capable of assembling that all myself, I just don’t want to. I also don’t want to go through the palaver of heating 6 sad, individually packaged ready meals, so something in between I suppose?

Add to that, I’m not entirely sure how well-stocked the cottage is, so something that comes in or with its own foil roasting tins would be ideal (I’m usually against disposable anything, but for my own sanity and space in the car I think this will be necessary).

What experience do people have of these types of boxes? Are there any particularly good ones or ones to avoid? I’d also be open to buying all the components separately as long as the prep I need to do is minimal and ideally all from one place so I can place an order to be delivered or picked up en route.

Thanks in advance!

I've never ever (in all the 30+ years I've been hosting), bought a frozen turkey with all the bits inside that you have to defrost for days on end and arse about.

I don't understand it ... buy it ready to cook. You hear about people putting them in the bath and all sorts of madness.

I would personally buy pre made starters and desserts, M&S gravy, all M&S sides including stuffing to bung in the oven at the end.

I would do my own roasties and also my own pigs in blankets just as they are so easy and so much nicer home made.

Turkey I would do a crown the day before and plate up with hot gravy or get a small M&S joint and do it in the morning.

I would do roasties earlier Christmas morning and take out before last half hour then cover on the side and blast last half hour just before serving.

Do you have an air fryer? If so take it as it’s good to give things cooked earlier a quick reheat but keeps them crisp.

Buy several foil throw away trays (it’s a one off)

I basically always do Christmas dinner an “easy” way. I hardly ever buy an actual whole turkey, and on the rare year I do I always think it wasn’t that nice. I often get a couple of big chickens, which cost about £15 for both compared with about £70 for a turkey.

Last year though I got a slow-cooked stuffed turkey joint wrapped in bacon with gravy from M&S and I couldn’t believe how nice it was. In fact I went back and got 3 more to put in the freezer and have at intervals as a Sunday roast. You can get basically the same ones fresh or frozen.

We don’t have roasts that often as they are not my DG’s favourite, but when we do I always use shortcuts. I buy an M&S cauliflower cheese, I use Aunt Bessie’s frozen mini roast potatoes - they are actually nice and cook really quickly. I just do the bits I am bothered about - eg I get the nice sausages we like and wrap them in pancetta, but I buy a tub of nice gravy.

This all sounds like I can’t cook, but I’m actually a really good cook - I spend ages making curries etc from scratch and I have won multiple trophies for baking. I just can’t be arsed making roast dinners!

@Crunched we looked at Aktar last year thinking we would do it this year, but it isn’t clear whether they’ll be doing it or when! Cote looks like a good alternative.

It is just us 4 & MIL this year and we looked at eating out but the only local place with prices is £110 a head - I’d rather spend that on food/convenience (not saying £110 is not how much they should charge, as they have to pay staff etc, just more than I want to pay).

For many years now I've bought everything prepared in foil trays from M&S and just bung it into the oven.
My MIL who cooks enough to feed twenty people is horrified every single year that her poor son has to eat package meals.
Her son is the one who heats up the M&S meals and is quite happy doing it.

If I was you OP, I'd look at going to the sun for Xmas and forget that it even is Xmas.

Put yourself first. Your immediate family will understand. The rest of your family can do whatever they like themselves.

OP, ironically, last year friends found it quite stressful doing an online shop for Christmas; waiting for slots to become available, worrying that a key ingredient wouldn’t be delivered etc. I went shopping on the 23rd December and the supermarket was empty, because everyone else had shopped online! I didn’t have to worry about staying in or whether I had forgotten anything.

I suggest you buy/make pigs in blankets, stuffing, roast potatoes now and freeze them. You could even cook and slice a turkey or even better a turkey crown, it slices more easily, now. Put it in a foil tray cover with gravy and reheat on Christmas Day. Spreading it out over the next couple of months makes it more manageable. Your OH can do some of it now too. If you do do this, either start clearing a shelf in your freezer so that you can keep everything together ready to put into a freezer bag, or make sure it’s labelled and you keep a separate list so you know you have everything. You could even put reheating instructions on the labels. Buy fresh veg already prepared a few days before.

Every year I go to M&S and buy a large lamb joint from the ‘sous vide’ range plus Yorkshire puddings, prepped vegetables, stuffing and gravy.

DH heats it all up while I lie on the sofa watching telly.

I cook the other 364 days a year, I’m not spending all day at Christmas doing it as well.

I did this too. I thought it was excellent. Cook is very reliable and I’d recommend.

One memorable xmas, adult child had flu, I had a chest infection and child's partner had infected sinus.

Adult child was four days over flu, so volunteered to do the dinner shop. We got whatever they laid hands on I M@S.

It was beef ribs, peas and broccoli and potatoes in cream.

it was delicious.

m@S do a banging ready meal.

M&S is meant to be excellent. Book early though

I can recommend Donald Russell. They do a slow cooked turkey and pre-prepared everything else. You just stick everything in the oven for the requisite cooking time and an excellent, low stress Christmas dinner is ready with minimal faff. Which sounds like what you want.

Last Christmas we were away. We purchased most of our food from cook. Would recommend. Minimal washing up too.

Can I just add a health and safety warning: if you use foil trays please be very careful getting hot food out of the oven as they can bend and potentially spill hot fat etc! Maybe use a flat metal tray under the foil tray. Thank you!

Have a look at the Cook range. Its great quality, and at the higher end of the 'ready/convenience' foods and minimal faff.
Here's the link
www.cookfood.net/?srsltid=AfmBOop6RrebVTBnZv62XdwceycnnQIozvrwJqIGPXpL1IHjW-ih9Hdk

My local butcher does a box with turkey crown, beef, pigs in blankets, stuffing balls, goose fat roast potatoes gravy etc all prepped and ready to go in oven, so just need to add veg on. Was a lot easier! And it was 90 pounds and fed 6 2 years ago so not bad price either!

If your DP makes beans on toast, would that be such a problem? You'll be together with your kids, you can make sure there's cheese, crackers and chocolates, he does the heavy lifting. The kids can help him draw up a list, and with prep, depending on their ages.

As others have said, cooking in a self-catering cottage can be hit and miss, and you should be avoiding stress, so let him do it.

It's just me and my DS for christmas, and I stopped cooking Christmas dinner when my Dad died. We have cheese, crackers, MandS party food and a Christmas Colin and we have a lovely day, there is so little stress.

Drop your expectations and relax.

I like the look of the Cote veggie box, I'm not veggie but the meat ones are out of my price range when it's just me, I'll buy some pigs in blankets to go with it!

I buy everything f ready prepped from M&S and it’s still a palaver getting everything ready at the same time just due to the number of things. If I were you I’d decide on a pared back menu of things you can mostly get ready the day before and heat up on the day, more like a Sunday roast than a Christmas dinner.

I would order everything from Cook or M&S at Ocado.

The Cote boxes look amazing! I used to really stress out over fixing English Christmas dinners....but then discovered the M+S/Ocado range of stuff. Last year though, I kept things very simple: I just bought the online Ocado family roast deal, and added some extras. We don't have roast dinners very often at all (I tend to cook ME food at home as that's where we're from), so any roast meal is a real treat for us!! It was lovely. Nice and simple to sort/do, minimal faff, no food wasted etc. There was just four of us at Christmas and I chose a roast chicken rather than turkey. Just had the one type of meat (roast chicken), and plenty of different veg to go with, and some pig in blankets and yorkshire puddings.

You can prep, parboil and freeze potatoes for roasties up to 3 weeks before. I drizzle them with duck fat as prefer it to goose fat and a bit of semolina, freeze on open trays then bag when full frozen (so they don’t clump). On the day, I just put them straight into hot fat in a tray from a freezer. Makes amazing roasties. You can keep them frozen on the trip quite easily at that time of year.

M&S pre-order might work well? We're managed that at holiday homes several times- just pick the bung-in-the-oven options and it makes for a decent Christmas meal.

No need to stress regardless of a new baby I cook most food the night before have done for years it really is better this way regardless of children etc if you cook the brunt of the stuff night before it's really Christmas day i do not get why people slave over a stove Christmas day !

I would go somewhere nice maybe Waitrose, M&S and get ready made starters, luxury range of ready to cook roasties, pigs in blankets, a tray of stuffing, nice cauliflower cheese and prepped veg dishes and a nice joint/bird and any other trimmings and then a delish pre made dessert!

Par-boil it all yourself and fill a shelf in your freezer in November. Pop everything in those silver trays. Then just get it out and defrost on the way to your trip, shove in oven.