Okay rather embarassing, but could someone please help me re; roast dinner..?

[ErikaMaye]

My little man is due November 16th, and DP, him and I will be spending our first Christmas together. I'm really excited about it. But the thing is I have never cooked a full roast before I can cook, but have no idea when it comes to this!! How much stuff with I need of each if its for the two of us? What order do I need to prepare and cook things in? Can I get a pre-stuffed turkey from anywhere because I don't think I could stand to do that in between new born nappy changes?!

Please don't laugh at me too much I really want to make Christmas a special day for us - yes I know we will be exauhsted, and we will probably be eating in our PJs! But I really want to get this right

Thanks in advance.

Your going to cook Christmas dinner with a mnth old baby! Don't be too easy on yourself will you

If you are going to do it then buy everything prepared in advance, precut veggies, pre-peeled spuds, turkey crown is probably better for the two of you. It doesn't really matter if you have too much as you can reheat it for Boxing Day.

Also buy lots of pizzas so that when you wake up on Christmas morning and realise that you can't be bothered you can still have something to eat!

you are mad, my love, mad

order it all pre-done from Waitrose or M&S - go into town and pick up some of their leaflets.
Spuds come ready-basted in a foil tray so you just shove them in the oven, veg ready to stick in microwave etc. If there are only two of you it's a waste to get a turkey - get a chicken or a boned rolled joint.

If it looks expensive ask for it as a Christmas present from your mum or PIL.

it is part of the late-pg nesting thing, I bet your ds is here within a week

Definitely a nesting thing. I've just agreed to have Christmas at our house this year for the first time ever and DC2 is due to be delivered by ELCS around the 20th December !!!

But...my Mum's coming here to cook it all. DH cannot cook and I will not want to leave the house so she's coming here to cook me Christmas diner while I sit on the sofa and feed.

Agree with other posters who say get a turkey crown for the two of you. It should be just enough. Also the buying of pre-prepared veg.

That way all you should need to do is put the meat in the oven 90 mins ish before you want to eat, potatoes 45 mins later, sausages wrapped in bacon (cause it is not Christmas without them) about 15 minutes later and microwave the veg while it rests

times all guessed - pre-prepared stuff will say cooking times on the labels - get everything out the night before, decide what time you want to eat and work backwards to make yourself a plan. So, if you want to eat at 2 and the turkey crown takes 90 mins, it needs to go in at 12.30, Potatoes take 45 mins, need to go in at 1.15 etc. Write this down and use it to help you get everything in the oven on time

I know it feels like not doing it "properly" but it will taste just the same, create much less waste and mean you can cook a full roast dinner with just a few minutes work. You will want to be cuddling your newborn and showing him the tree lights, not peeling spuds and washing sprouts on Christmas day!

Oh, and good luck and congratulations for your baby

two words: Aunt Bessie's

seriously.

get a pre-basted bird from a supermarket and get Aunt Bessie's roasties.

with a tiny little baby, you shouldn't be doing anything at all.

I wouldn't waste your money on a turkey as there will be far too much of it leftover.

Get a corn-fed free-range chicken, a nice big plump one. If you want to stuff it, I recommend that you get ready-made stuffing.

Now do a Jamie Oliver. Set the oven at 220°C.
Wash the chicken inside and out.
Peel back the breast skin to make a pocket between the skin and meat and stuff with rosemary, thyme and a knob of butter.
Make deep cuts in the thighs and stuff these with rosemary and thyme.
Salt the chicken all over and then massage olive oil into the skin.
Pop into oven for 10 mins on its back.
Then for 10 mins on its front.
Finally turn onto back again, heat down to 180°C and roast for an hour.

Plenty of salt on the skin will ensure crispy skin.

Whilst the chicken is roasting you can roast sprouts with sweet chestnuts.

Also, roast potatoes are lovely with a few flakes of chilli.

Congrats on the baby and hope it all turns out just the way you want it!

If it's the two of you then don't even think about roasting a turkey -- get a chicken instead, or turkey breast fillets or a turkey crown.

Really, if you are going to have a 5-week-old baby then I think your DP should be reading up on how to cook Christmas dinner...

Don't forget to have a stock of nappies in, if you aren't using washables -- I remember one Christmas Day driving around trying to find somewhere open to buy nappies because my brother and SIL hadn't brought enough for my 3-week-old niece.

The main thing is to realise that you may not have your perfect Christmas - you may not want to cook a full Chgristmas dinner, you may have had a sleepless night, you may just be knackered and just want to sit and watch Eastenders.

I say this not as a miserable old cow, but as someone whose daughter was born on 14th December. I was so desperate for Christmas to be perfect (I was a teenage mum and thought I had to 'prove' myself) that I was up at the crack of dawn peeling potatoes and crying into the veg because I had overcooked it. Looking back I should have sat in the sofa all day with a Terry's Chocolate Orange cuddling my baby. Instead I was very tearful and stressed out and ful of self loathing because my daughter's first Christmas wasn't like something out of the films.

Don't pur pressure on yourself to be Nigella Lawson, good on you for wanting to create a happy day, but listen to the practical advice above and make it easy on yourself. Roast dinners are notorious for being a stressy dinner to cook - I love cooking, love Christmas and usually have loads of guests Christmas day, and even after all these years I am still tempted to launch the turkey out the window and hiss at everyone to eff off home at several points during the day! So, do things easily, like pre-prepeared Turkey in a foil tray, already cut up carrots, sprouts, broccoli, ready prepared roast potatoes, stuffing balls. You can probably buy the lot on Tesco or Iceland and it need not cost a fortune.

And, as anotehr poster says, get a load of pizzas in in case you think sod this on Christmas morning!

They don't say 'mums go to Iceland' for nowt
You can gets lots of pre-prepared veg, potatoes, side dishes - hell, even your turkey from there if needs be

Totally agree - don't attempt a from-scratch affair. Roast dinners are faffy - you are tied to the kitchen for a good few hours.

Even Nigella ordered in from M&S after her kids were born (OK, I made that bit up, but she probably did!).

Thanks for all your advice. I didn't realise that you could get everything pre-prepared

GetOrf I don't know, maybe that's part of it too, although if so the pressure is definately coming from myself. I didn't think I'd be doing my own family Christmas for quite a while.

Will definately be taking everything in and getting ready sorted veg I can justify that to myself as long as I make my own gravy at least

And yes - some pizzas just in case sound like a good idea

As Mrs Badger said you can everthing ready prepared from M+S (and I assume all supermarkets do the same now). My Mum went mad last year as she was coming to us and basically bought two of everything from M+S. I usully do my own roaties but Mum bought some ready prepared ones that come in their own tray that you just bung in the oven. You can even buy ready to roast veg in their own tray

I would get you DH primed, get ready to bung in oven stuff and a just work out timings to cuck it all in oven

ah they key thing about M&S and Waitrose vs other supermarkets is that you can order it in advance

so you fill in all the forms online like now, and then just pop in on the morning of the 24th and they have a bag marked 'Mrs W. Badger' packed and waiting for you - no last-minute scramble round the shelves...

bliss, I tell you

Ooh, I didn't know that MrsBadger.

Do they not Substitute? ie, give you rubbish rather than what you wanted - like Tesco who brought me filo pastry instead of puff pastry this morning!?! I can't make Tarte Tatin with filo pastry!

If they don't it'll be an M&S Christmas at our house too

Ooh I hadnt thought of that. I usually get my stuff from M+S (using Waitrose this year) and have to travel 20 odd miles there and have been known to arrive and have a panic surprise that they had all gone and have to go to another store

no they don't substitute - because you (and hence they) order now ie in November, so they know exactly how many stuffed turkey crowns / trays of bacon-wrapped saus / etc they need to deliver to which store for collection on which day by who.

M&S food ordering

Waitrose food ordering - and they deliver to your door FOR FREE as well.

gosh yes just do an m&s christmas! all pre done, all tasty. and they have nice puddings too. easy peasy but looks good so you feel you did a good job. enjoy your baby!

Ooh just done it. I've not used Waitrose to deliver so had to register and got confused re the deliver to door. Still wouldn't be Christmas fighting for a car parking space at Christmas

I'm sold. Will do order this week

Thanks MrsBadger - for the suggestion and the links!

Ohhh fantastic! Thank you for the links MrsBadger